A Closer Look at Bradwell v. Illinois

Gwen Howerr Jordan’s article “Horror of a Woman” is extremley insightful in that it delves deep into the legal reasoning and procedure in the Bradwell v. Illinois case.  Moreover, Jordan’s article reveals an important insight that challenges modern interpretations of Bradwell v. Illinois, suggesting that Justice Bradley’s infamous concurring opinion in which he supports continued separate spheres was perhaps not the dominant ideology of the day (Jordan 2009, 1202).  According to Jordan, the opinion’s endorsement of the separate spheres argument was not as widely and uncritically accepted as Justice Bradley implied at the time of the Bradwell court decision.  Moreover, when looking at the Bradwell case (and the actions of Myra Bradwell, herself), this context allows the modern day reader to view the case as a strategy used to pursue women’s emancipation and equality under the Fourteenth Amendment, including the ability of women to enter the public sphere.  Bradwell used her case to advance women’s rights beyond opening the legal profession to women by arguing the 14^th Amendment Equal Protection Clause should be applied to women and the Privileges and Immunities Clause barred sex-discrimination in employment. Though Bradwell’s fight did not end in a grand victory, “Bradwell was ultimately admitted to both the Illinois and the Supreme Court Bars.  By 1950 every state in the Union admitted women lawyers.  In 1971 the Supreme Court began using the Equal Protection Clause to strike down sex discrimination” (Jordan 2009, 1205). Jordan, by laying the foundation of Bradwell’s commitments and positions within women’s suffrage argues that Bradwell’s fight for a law license was primarily to advance women’s equality and that her own career choice (obtaining the license) was secondary. However, “Bradwell had never fought against marriage or motherhood, but she had always argued that being a wife and mother should not limit a woman’s citizenship status or be a barrier to a woman working in her chosen profession.  Bradwell wanted equal rights, not revolution” (Jordan 2009, 1218).