Family Law, Gender and State

This text on family law provides an explication of legal principle and explores some of the assumptions relating to gender, sexual orientation, class and culture underlying the law. It examines the ideology of the family and the role of the law in contributing to and reproducing that ideology.

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This text on family law provides an explication of legal principle and explores, primarily from a feminist perspective, some of the assumptions relating to gender, sexual orientation, class and culture underlying the law. It examines the ideology of the family and, in particular, the role of the law in contributing to and reproducing that ideology. Structured around the themes of welfare, equality and family privacy, the book aims to offer the benefits of a textbook while also giving students a wide-ranging set of materials for classroom discussion, using the case method to demonstrate how various issues might be resolved. As well as providing a grounding in family law, the text sets the law in its social and historical context and encourages a critical approach by students to the subject. It provides an introduction to family law for undergraduates, but should also be useful to postgraduate students of family law.