Family Law in Action

Divorce and Inequality in Quebec and France

By Emilie Biland
Translated by Annelies Fryberger & Miranda Richmond Mouillot
Categories: Social Sciences, Sociology, Law & Legal Studies, Law & Society, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Women’s Studies, Family Studies
Series: Law and Society
Publisher: ENS-Editions, UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774866392, 320 pages, February 2023
Paperback : 9780774866446, 320 pages, October 2023
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774866491, 320 pages, February 2023
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774866545, 320 pages, February 2023

Table of contents

Introduction

1 Why the Liberalization of Divorce Leads to Unequal Access to Justice

2 How Gender and National Context Shape the Legal Profession

3 The Legal Encounter as a Situated Nexus of Power

4 How Family Justice Frames Unequal Parenthoods

5 Family Law and the Welfare State: Intertwining Economic Inequalities

Conclusion

Notes; References; Index

Description

The right to divorce is a symbol of individual liberty and gender equality under the law, but in practice it is anything but equitable. Family Law in Action reveals the persistent class and gender inequalities embedded in the process of separation and its aftermath in Quebec and France. Drawing on empirical research conducted on their respective court and welfare systems, Emilie Biland analyzes how men and women in both places encounter the law and its representatives in ways that affect their personal and professional lives. This rigorous but compassionate study encourages governments to make good on the emancipatory promise enshrined in divorce law.