Law and the Quest for Gender Equality

For centuries, law was used to subordinate women and exclude them from the public sphere, so it cannot be expected to become a source of equality instantaneously or without resistance from benchmark men—that is, those who are white, heterosexual, able-bodied and middle class. Equality, furthermore,...

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Yazar: Thornton, Margaret
Materyal Türü: Online
Dil:İngilizce
Baskı/Yayın Bilgisi: ANU Press 2023
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Online Erişim:ONIX_20230712_9781760465506_6
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author Thornton, Margaret
author_browse Thornton, Margaret
author_facet Thornton, Margaret
author_sort Thornton, Margaret
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description For centuries, law was used to subordinate women and exclude them from the public sphere, so it cannot be expected to become a source of equality instantaneously or without resistance from benchmark men—that is, those who are white, heterosexual, able-bodied and middle class. Equality, furthermore, was attainable only in the public sphere, whereas the private sphere was marked as a site of inequality; a wife, children and servants could never be the equals of the master. Despite their ambivalence about the role of law and its contradictions, women and Others felt that they had no alternative but to look to it as a means of liberation. This skewed patriarchal heritage, the subtext of this collection of essays, has continued to impede the quest for equality by women and Others. It informs not only gender relations in the private sphere, as illustrated by domestic violence and sexual assault, but also the status of women in the public sphere. Despite the fact that women have entered the paid workforce—including the professions—in large numbers, they are still expected to assume responsibility for the preponderance of society's caring. The essays show how maternal and caring roles, which are still largely viewed as belonging to an unregulated private sphere, continue to be invoked to detract from the authority of the feminine in the public sphere. The promise of antidiscrimination legislation in overcoming the heritage of the past is also shown to be somewhat hollow.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1014802025-07-17T10:01:07Z Law and the Quest for Gender Equality Thornton, Margaret feminist jurisprudence public/private legal profession legal academy caring responsibilities thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues For centuries, law was used to subordinate women and exclude them from the public sphere, so it cannot be expected to become a source of equality instantaneously or without resistance from benchmark men—that is, those who are white, heterosexual, able-bodied and middle class. Equality, furthermore, was attainable only in the public sphere, whereas the private sphere was marked as a site of inequality; a wife, children and servants could never be the equals of the master. Despite their ambivalence about the role of law and its contradictions, women and Others felt that they had no alternative but to look to it as a means of liberation. This skewed patriarchal heritage, the subtext of this collection of essays, has continued to impede the quest for equality by women and Others. It informs not only gender relations in the private sphere, as illustrated by domestic violence and sexual assault, but also the status of women in the public sphere. Despite the fact that women have entered the paid workforce—including the professions—in large numbers, they are still expected to assume responsibility for the preponderance of society's caring. The essays show how maternal and caring roles, which are still largely viewed as belonging to an unregulated private sphere, continue to be invoked to detract from the authority of the feminine in the public sphere. The promise of antidiscrimination legislation in overcoming the heritage of the past is also shown to be somewhat hollow. 2023-07-19T04:06:32Z 2023-07-19T04:06:32Z 2023-07-12T14:24:46Z 2023 book ONIX_20230712_9781760465506_6 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/63885 9781760465506 9781760465490 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/101480 eng Global Thinkers Series open access image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/63885/1/book.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/63885/1/book.pdf ANU Press ANU Press 10.22459/LQGE.2022 10.22459/LQGE.2022 975ba519-3ce2-4517-95bf-b847729fbcf1 9781760465506 9781760465490 ANU Press 424 Canberra open access
spellingShingle feminist jurisprudence
public/private
legal profession
legal academy
caring responsibilities
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups
thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups
thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues
Thornton, Margaret
Law and the Quest for Gender Equality
title Law and the Quest for Gender Equality
title_full Law and the Quest for Gender Equality
title_fullStr Law and the Quest for Gender Equality
title_full_unstemmed Law and the Quest for Gender Equality
title_short Law and the Quest for Gender Equality
title_sort law and the quest for gender equality
topic feminist jurisprudence
public/private
legal profession
legal academy
caring responsibilities
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups
thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups
thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues
topic_facet feminist jurisprudence
public/private
legal profession
legal academy
caring responsibilities
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups
thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups
thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAQ Law and society, sociology of law::LAQG Law and society, gender issues
url ONIX_20230712_9781760465506_6
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