Gender Perceptions and the Law

Published in 1998. This collection of papers, written by leading lawyers and sociologists in the UK, focuses on the relationships between gender and the law in the context of three areas of law: family law, criminal law and equal rights. The papers argue that gender roles within society affect the legal rights of individuals and impact on procedures they go through to enforce their rights or to gain redress for wrongs done to them. By failing to recognize the social and economic situations in which men and women are placed, the law perpetuates inequalities in their positions. Where attempts are made to ensure equality between the sexes, the result is often the exact opposite, because the legal system treats individuals as equals operating in a vacuum, ignoring the argument that equal treatment does not necessarily mean the same treatment, but can mean different treatment to ensure equality of result. Topics include: c Disputes in the area of parental child custody rights c The rights of surviving spouses to their deceased partner’s estate c Theories for violent behaviour in women as contrasted with men c Gender bias in criminal sentencing c The role of European law in promoting sex equality in the work place c Pornography and free speech c Homosexuality as a civil right of citizenship