Law and Gender
Joanne Conaghan - OUP Oxford, 2013
Gender
is an increasingly prominent aspect of the contemporary debate and
discourse around law. It is curious that gender, while figuring so
centrally in the construction and organization of social life, is
nevertheless barely visible in the conceptual armoury of law. In the
jurisprudential imagination law is gender-less; as a result legal
scholarship for the most part continues to hold on to the view that
gender plays little or no role in the conceptual make-up, normative
grounding, or categorical ordering of law. The official position is that
the idea of law and legal fundamentals are, or at least ought to be,
gender-independent. This book challenges these long-held assumptions.
Exploring the relationship between law and gender it takes gender as a
core concept and analytical tool and examines how law is conceptualized,
organized, articulated, and legitimated. How can gender be given
meaning in legal texts, doctrine, and practices, and how can gender
operate within the law while simultaneously appearing to be outside it?
The relationship between gender and the law is relevant to virtually all
areas of law including in particular criminal law, tort law, family
law, employment law, and human rights. Increasingly issues of gender are
perceived as the concern of all, reflecting broader debates in the law,
including those of equality and sexuality. Covering the key theoretical
and substantive areas of jurisprudence, this volume by Joanne Conaghan
will be essential reading for all interested in gender studies and legal
theory more widely. It offers a clear, concise introduction to gender
studies and central feminist concerns for a legal readership.
