Maternity Discrimination is an ever increasingly important area of the law around the world, affecting both women and men as they juggle parenthood and the workplace. Pregnant Pause provides readers with a better understanding of the issue of maternity discrimination and inequality by looking at the primary role of legislation, and its impact on the court process at both national and international levels for those suffering maternity discrimination. It also discusses the two most important trade agreements of our day - namely the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Union Treaty - in a historical and compelling analysis of maternity discrimination and employment. By providing a detailed examination of the relationship between maternity issues in the workplace and the law, the book will be an important read for all those concerned with equality.

Laws Relating to Sex, Pregnancy, and Infancy examines case law and legislation in regards to reproduction, pregnancy, and infancy. Cusack explores the winding pathways of legal precedence and action on the social conditions of pregnancy and childbirth, and draws from criminal and court procedures and behavioral science to determine if the law is acting in the best interest of those vulnerable populations. Cusack surveys interpersonal, familial, and societal problems presented throughout history and currently facing contemporary generations, questioning whether the criminal justice system can evolve to support the growing needs of its citizens most in need of legal assistance.

Feminist and Queer Legal Theory: Intimate Encounters, Uncomfortable Conversations is a groundbreaking collection that brings together leading scholars in contemporary legal theory. The volume explores, at times contentiously, convergences and departures among a variety of feminist and queer political projects. These explorations - foregrounded by legal issues such as marriage equality, sexual harassment, workers' rights, and privacy - re-draw and re-imagine the alliances and antagonisms constituting feminist and queer theory. The essays cross a spectrum of disciplinary matrixes, including jurisprudence, political philosophy, literary theory, critical race theory, women's studies, and gay and lesbian studies. The authors occupy a variety of political positions vis-A -vis questions of identity, rights, the state, cultural normalization, and economic liberalism. The richness and vitality of feminist and queer theory, as well as their relevance to matters central to the law and politics of our time, are on full display in this volume.

Comparative in both approach and framework, Family Law, Sex and Society provides a critical exposition of key areas in family law, exploring their evolution and development within their historical, cultural, political and legal context.
Cross-referencing to English law throughout, this comparative textbook pays particular attention to the transformation of marriage; the development of divorce laws; matrimonial property; the legal recognition of unmarried heterosexual and same-sex cohabitants; the universal adoption of the best interests standard for children in domestic and international legislation; and the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on family law in a variety of jurisdictions.
Divided into different sections, Family Law, Sex and Society includes coverage of:

• a jurisdictional and historical survey of some of the main themes in Family Law, as well as consideration of the evolution of the Western family
• the English law relating to divorce, marital property and children and a comparison with the equivalent law in the civil law jurisdictions of France and Germany
• family law developments in other common law countries such as Australia and New Zealand, selected American jurisdictions, parts of Africa and some Far Eastern countries; and hybrid jurisdictions like Japan and Russia
• an analysis of the law relating to unmarried cohabitation and domestic partnerships in civil law jurisdictions such as France, Germany and Sweden in comparison to Anglo-American law
• a comparative analysis of the laws relating to domestic violence.

Family Law, Sex and Society offers valuable socio-legal and socio-cultural insights into the practice of family law, and is the only textbook that provides a unified, coherent and comparative approach to the study of family law as it operates in these particular jurisdictions.

There has been a widespread resurgence of rights talk in social and legal discourses pertaining to the regulation of family life, as well as an increase in the use of rights in family law cases, in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. Rights, Gender and Family Law addresses the implications of these developments - and, in particular, the impact of rights-based approaches upon the idea of welfare and its practical application. There are now many areas of family law in which rights and welfare based approaches have been forced together. But whilst, to many, they are premised upon different ethics - respectively, of justice and of care - for others, they can nevertheless be reconciled. In this respect, a central concern is the 'gender-blind' character of rights-based approaches, and the ontological and practical consequences of their employment in the gendered context of the family. Rights, Gender and Family Law explores the tensions between rights-based and welfare-based approaches: explaining their differences and connections; considering whether, if at all, they are reconcilable; and addressing the extent to which they can advantage or disadvantage the interests of women, children and men. It may be that rights-based discourses will dominate family law, at least in the way that social policy and legislation respond to calls of equality of rights between mothers and fathers. This collection, however, argues that rights cannot be given centre-stage without thinking through the ramifications for gendered power-relations, and the welfare of children. It will be of interest to researchers and scholars working in the fields of family law, gender studies and social welfare.

This volume is a collection of articles by scholars across disciplines to create a discourse of family law independent of Religious Personal Law, whilst striving for fairness and justice to all. It demonstrates the artificiality of the public-private divide and seeks the systematic development of ideas for a fair and just family law in contemporary India. The book does not merely document the pathologies of power within the family but also makes proposals for remedying these inequities. It is not confined to considering what changes need to be inducted into existing family law to make it more just, but also strategises on the means and methods of effecting the change. It lifts the familial veil and scrutinises the status, rights and disabilities of some of the subordinated members of the family. The volume is an invitation to redefine family law with the twin tools of reflection and responsibility. It will interest those in law judges, legislators, law reformers as well as those in women and family studies, policy makers and policy analysts, apart from the general reader.

Feminist and Queer Legal Theory: Intimate Encounters, Uncomfortable Conversations is a groundbreaking collection that brings together leading scholars in contemporary legal theory. The volume explores, at times contentiously, convergences and departures among a variety of feminist and queer political projects. These explorations - foregrounded by legal issues such as marriage equality, sexual harassment, workers' rights, and privacy - re-draw and re-imagine the alliances and antagonisms constituting feminist and queer theory. The essays cross a spectrum of disciplinary matrixes, including jurisprudence, political philosophy, literary theory, critical race theory, women's studies, and gay and lesbian studies. The authors occupy a variety of political positions vis-A -vis questions of identity, rights, the state, cultural normalization, and economic liberalism. The richness and vitality of feminist and queer theory, as well as their relevance to matters central to the law and politics of our time, are on full display in this volume.

This book examines some of the mechanisms which are currently conceived as affording individual security. The idea of security includes emotional and financial components. These interconnect so that such common concepts as 'trust' in someone and 'care taking' include both ideas of emotional and financial support. State policies on security rest on perceptions of two other institutions, the family and insurance, both of which are subject to change. At one time the extended family was seen as a major security-providing institution, but the contemporary nuclear family is more fragile. The concept of insurance originally entailed ideas of community and mutual aid; however, the institution has developed, in its modern private form, as a profit-driven entity. This book addresses various uses of state power in providing security for individuals, and outlines different ways in which this can be done.

A critical reader of the history of marriage understands that it is an institution that has always been in flux. It is also a decidedly complicated one, existing simultaneously in the realms of religion, law, and emotion. And yet recent years have seen dramatic and heavily waged battles over the proposition of including same sex couples in marriage. Just what is at stake in these battles? This book examines the meanings of marriage for couples in the two first states to extend that right to same sex couples: California and Massachusetts. The two states provide a compelling contrast: while in California the rights that go with marriage--inheritance, custody, and so forth--were already granted to couples under the state's domestic partnership law, those in Massachusetts did not have this same set of rights. At the same time, Massachusetts has offered civil marriage consistently since 2004; Californians, on the other hand, have experienced a much more turbulent legal path. And yet, same-sex couples in both states seek to marry for a variety of interacting, overlapping, and evolving reasons that do not vary significantly by location. The evidence shows us that for many of these individuals, access to civil marriage in particular--not domestic partnership alone, no matter how broad--and not a commitment ceremony alone, no matter how emotional--is a home of such personal, civic, political, and instrumental resonance that it is ultimately difficult to disentangle the many meanings of marriage. This book attempts to do so, and in the process reveals just what is at stake for these couples, how access to a legal institution fundamentally alters their consciousness, and what the impact of legal inclusion is for those traditionally excluded. Kimberly Richman is Associate Professor of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of San Francisco.

Combining feminist legal theory with international human rights concepts, this book examines the presence, participation and treatment of children in a variety of contexts. Specifically, through comparing legal developments in the US with legal developments in countries where the views that children are separate from their families and potentially in need of state protection are more widely accepted. The authors address the role of religion in shaping attitudes about parental rights in the US, with particular emphasis upon the fundamentalist belief in natural lines of familial authority. Such beliefs have provoked powerful resistance in the US to human rights approaches that view the child as an independent rights holder and the state as obligated to proved services and protections that are distinctly child-centred. Calling for a rebalancing of relationships within the US family, to become more consistent with emerging human rights norms, this collection contains both theoretical debates about and practical approaches to granting positive rights to children.

This book presents papers from an International Symposium on Contact Disputes and Allegations of Domestic Violence: Identifying Best Practices, held in London in May 2017. The editors invited a group of international experts to explain the approaches taken in their jurisdictions to allegations of domestic violence in child contact cases, with a view to identifying international best practices in such cases. The book includes contributions from England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Sweden and Spain, as well as information presented at the symposium from New Zealand and Australia. The chapters include attention to particular issues such as specialist domestic violence courts, judicial training and hearing children's voices. Collectively, the chapters identify a set of common problems experienced across all of the jurisdictions, including an overwhelming emphasis on the value of children's ongoing contact with non-resident parents and the consequent minimisation of domestic violence and the muting of the voices of children who do not wish to have contact with abusive parents. Best practices in taking domestic violence seriously and providing adequate protection from further abuse for children and non-abusive parents were less in evidence. However, the concluding chapter draws together details of several initiatives and approaches which offer promising ways forward. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law.

Focusing on moral, social and legal responsibilities as opposed to rights or obligations, this volume explores the concept of responsibility in family life, law and practice. Divided into four parts, the study considers the nature of family responsibility; constructions of children's responsibilities; shifting conceptions of family responsibilities; and family, responsibility and the law. The collection brings together leading experts from the disciplines of sociology, socio-legal studies and law to discuss responsibilities prior to birth, responsibilities for children, as well as responsibilities of children and of the state towards family members. The volume informs and challenges the developing conceptualization of responsibilities which arise in interdependent, intimate and caring relationships and their legal regulation. It will be of great interest to researchers and practitioners working in this complex field.

This comparative study investigates the place of Hindu divorce in the Indian legal system and considers whether it offers a way out of a matrimonial crisis situation for women. Using the narratives of the social actors involved, it poses questions about the relationship between traditional jurisdictions located in rural areas and the larger legal culture of towns and cities in India, and also in the UK and USA. The multidisciplinary approach draws on research from the social sciences, feminist and legal studies and will be of interest to students and scholars of law, anthropology and sociology.

Conjugal Misconduct reveals the hidden history of controversial and legally contested marital arrangements in twentieth-century America. William Kuby examines the experiences of couples in unconventional unions and the legal and cultural backlash generated by a wide array of 'alternative' marriages. These include marriages established through personal advertisements and matchmaking bureaus, marriages that defied state eugenic regulations, hasty marriages between divorced persons, provisional and temporary unions referred to as 'trial marriages', racial intermarriages, and a host of other unions that challenged sexual and marital norms. In illuminating the tensions between those who set marriage policies and those who defied them, Kuby offers a fresh account of marriage's contested history, arguing that although marital nonconformists composed only a small minority of the population, their atypical arrangements nonetheless shifted popular understandings of marriage and consistently refashioned the legal parameters of the institution.

Published in 1999. Despite considerable comment about divorce reform and the post-divorce family, in the press and in academia, by professionals and politicians, much has been left unsaid. There are 'undercurrents' of divorce which are not visible and are not discussed because they do not fit into the dominant discursive framework for talk about divorce. This book brings these undercurrents to the surface and does two things. It explains how and why aspects of divorce and the lives of those divorcing, have become marginalized in professional and political discussion and it makes visible the practical and legal effects of such exclusion. It argues that there are good policy reasons for this particular socio-legal critique at this time, as the implementation of the Family Law Act 1996 gets underway.

Protecting children from child abuse using the legal system can be a complicated and sometimes devastating process for parents. Suspecting sexual abuse, a mother may seek a divorce and custody, oruif already divorcedurequest withdrawal of visitation rights. However, when unable to prove abuse, she may be labeled "hysterical" and jeopardize her case. A MotherAEs NightmareuIncest assists professionals and parents in reducing the likelihood that the legal system will backfire. Easy to read and including step-by-step strategies for success, this manual answers myriad critical questions asked by parents who encounter the possibility of incest, such as: + What happens to a child who experiences abuse? + What do I do if the abuse cannot be established? + How do I find out what my legal options are? + What can I do to keep emotionally balanced? + What will happen in the court system? While alerting readers to the very real dangers that await those who accuse a spouse of child sexual abuse, author John E. B. Myers helps parents and professionals navigate the current court system to work toward attaining victoryuand safety. He provides supportive and practical suggestions for documenting evidence and seeking an expertAEs advice. Myers demystifies the subject of incest and explains the requirements of the court system so that mothers will enter the legal arena prepared. This book is not only for mothers. Health professionals, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, pastoral counselors, and any other professional working to protect children from abuse will want to read and refer to A MotherAEs NightmareuIncest. Likewise, the book is also ideal for academics and students to use in courses that cover child abuse issues.

Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty explores the religious freedom implications of defining marriage to include same-sex couples. It represents the only comprehensive, scholarly appraisal to date of the church-state conflicts virtually certain to arise from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. It explores two principal questions. First, exactly what kind of religious freedom conflicts are likely to emerge if society embraces same-sex marriage? A redefinition of marriage would impact a host of laws where marital status affects legal rights-in housing, employment, health-care, education, public accommodations, and property, in addition to family law. These laws, in turn, regulate a host of religious institutions-schools, hospitals, and social service providers, to name a few-that often embrace a different definition of marriage. As a result, church-state conflicts will follow. This volume anticipates where and how these manifold disputes will arise. Second, how might these conflicts be resolved? If the disputes spark litigation under the Free Speech, Free Exercise, or Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment, who will prevail and why? When, if ever, should claims of religious liberty prevail over claims of sexual liberty? Drawing on experience in analogous areas of law, the volume explores whether it is possible to avoid these constitutional conflicts by statutory accommodation, or by separating religious marriage from civil marriage.

This collection brings together experts from a wide variety of legal disciplines to comment on the way in which different areas of law affect the functioning family today. It refocuses attention on the intact family and the legal issues that affect it. The volume brings a modern critical approach to bear on the broad range of subjects that used to constitute 'family law.' A key consideration in this collection is the way in which law itself is premised upon, and in turn constructs, a particular image of the family. By bringing different areas of law together, it is possible to explore how differing ideas about 'the family' inform different areas of law. This approach allows Law and the Functioning Family to analyse the extent to which the law is (in)consistent in its concept and treatment of the family, both within and across disciplines. This is particularly timely in view of the passage of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, the implications of which reverberate throughout family law and allied disciplines, and the Law Commission's plans to reconsider the position of cohabiting couples.

This book examines the interrelationship between law, culture, patriarchy and religion in the context of contemporary Bangladesh. It explores the role of Islam in society and politics generally, and its influence on gender equality in particular. The work focuses on the situation of married women. Taking a socio-legal approach, it analyses the changing nature of the dowry practice and its relation to women's increasing paid labour force activity. Despite anti-dowry legislation, it is argued here that the dowry system continues in the form of the appropriation of wives' income. The work calls for legal recognition of this action and the amendment of the Dowry Prohibition Act 1980 as a result of the changing social realities that are taking place in the lives of Bangladeshi women. An Islamic approach is applied to equality between men and women in addressing and analysing these issues. The book includes international comparisons on gender equality and discusses the role of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Descrimination Against Women (CEDAW), as well as the dowry system in South Asia. The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of law and religion, gender studies and international development.

This edited collection gathers together the principal findings of the three-year RELIGARE project, which dealt with the question of religious and philosophical diversity in European law. Specifically, it covers four spheres of public policy and legislation where the pressure to accommodate religious diversity has been most strongly felt in Europe: employment, family life, use of public space and state support mechanisms. Embracing a forward-looking approach, the final RELIGARE report provides recommendations to governance units at the local, national and European levels regarding issues of religious pluralism and secularism. This volume adds context and critique to those recommendations and more generally opens an intellectual discussion on the topic of religion in the European Union. The book consists of two main parts: the first includes the principal findings of the RELIGARE research project, while the second is a compilation of 28 short contributions from influential scholars, legal practitioners, policy makers and activists who respond to the report and offer their views on the sensitive issue of religious diversity and the law in Europe.

This book addresses women's rights to work and motherhood in Libya from a legal and international human rights perspective. In an attempt to solve the problem posed by the perception that there is an unsolvable conflict between the right of women to work and their right to motherhood, the author considers how these two sets of rights, as protected under international human rights law, can and should be recognised and promoted within the Libyan legal system. Including first-hand accounts of experiences of Libyan women, the study voices their struggle for their rights as guaranteed by domestic law, international conventions and Islam. Providing a rare insight into a region striving to find its new identity, the author assesses the adequacy of existing Libyan laws and, where warranted, offers proposals for legislative amendments to Libyan policy makers and its new Parliament at such a crucial time in the nation's history.

The first book to examine the critical area of land law from a feminist perspective, it provides an original and critical analysis of the gendered intersection between law and land; ranging land use and ownership in England and Wales to Botswana, Papua New Guinea and the Muslim world.

The authors draw upon the diverse disciplinary fields of law, anthropology and geography to open up perspectives that go beyond the usually narrow topography and cartography of land law. Addressing an unorthodox variety of sites where questions of women's access and rights to land are raised, this book includes chapters on:

• shopping malls
• ancient monuments
• nature reserves
• housing estates
• the family home.

An interdisciplinary and enlivening account of feminist perspectives on land law, it is an excellent addition to the bookshelves of students and researchers in legal studies, gender studies, social anthropology and social geography.

The first book to examine the critical area of land law from a feminist perspective, it provides an original and critical analysis of the gendered intersection between law and land; ranging land use and ownership in England and Wales to Botswana, Papua New Guinea and the Muslim world.

The authors draw upon the diverse disciplinary fields of law, anthropology and geography to open up perspectives that go beyond the usually narrow topography and cartography of land law. Addressing an unorthodox variety of sites where questions of women's access and rights to land are raised, this book includes chapters on:

• shopping malls
• ancient monuments
• nature reserves
• housing estates
• the family home.

An interdisciplinary and enlivening account of feminist perspectives on land law, it is an excellent addition to the bookshelves of students and researchers in legal studies, gender studies, social anthropology and social geography.

Increasing international cooperation in tackling the worldwide problem of child abuse and neglect has helped to raise the profile of this important issue. Scholarly literature on the problem is growing, yet there is still a pressing need for a legal comparative commentary on the issue of child abuse claims in tort. Addressing this omission, this valuable work investigates how the factual circumstances as laid out in the landmark English cases of X v. Bedfordshire County Council and Barrett v. Enfield London Borough Council have been dealt with by the European Court of Human Rights and in a number of key jurisdictions including the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, France, Germany and Italy. Examining the substantive tort law in these jurisdictions, the book highlights differences in procedure and compares alternative, non-judicial sources of compensation for claimants. It also offers suggestions for reform, providing a work that will greatly benefit all those working within this specific area of law or having an interest in the subject.

Examining specific areas of family law from a feminist perspective, this book assesses the impact that feminism has had upon family law. It is deliberately broad in scope, as it takes the view that family law cannot be defined in a traditional way. In addition to issues of long-standing concern for feminists, it explores issues of current legal and political preoccupation such as civil partnerships, home-sharing, reproductive technologies and new initiatives in regulating family practices through criminal law, including domestic violence and youth justice.