This unique text offers a discussion of one of the most important movements in legal scholarship today: feminist legal theory. The first of two volumes, Foundations examines theoretical issues about the interaction between law and gender. The second volume will explore the application of feminist legal theory to specific substantive areas of the law, such as criminal law, family law, employment law, and the legal profession. In this first volume, thirty-eight articles by distinguished legal scholars and feminists address issues of equality, difference, separate spheres, essentialism, legal methodology, and theories of law. The essays, published in widely dispersed legal publications, are thematically arranged, with introductions by the editor, to provide a text for students, a convenient source for scholars and policy makers, and a comprehensive introduction for general readers. Author note: D. Kelly Weisberg is Professor of Law at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. She has published several other books, including Child, Family and State: Cases and Materials on Children and the Law (co-authored with Robert Mnookin).