Synopses & Reviews
This pathbreaking book examines the experiences of women in the legal profession in Australia. Based on interviews with more than 100 women lawyers, it sets out to explain why simply "letting in" more women to public life does not necessarily change the masculine culture of the profession.
This book includes contributions from Australia's leading feminist legal scholars and addresses the notion that there is a separation between public and private life. Although it is a myth that the line of demarcation between public and private was ever fixed, the relationship between the two spheres has become increasingly ambiguous. The trends towards state intervention in private life, on the one hand, and privatisation of heretofore public processes, such as wage-fixing and dispute resolution, on the other hand, have accentuated the emergence of fault lines. The authors consider the pros and cons of the changing visibility/invisibility dualisms that correspond with public and private in regard to a range of issues that significantly impact on women's lives, including sexuality, the family, work, violence, and participation in public life.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-305) and index.
About the Author
Margaret Thornton is Professor of Law and Legal Studies at La Trobe University.
Table of Contents
1. The Cartography of Public and Private, Margaret Thornton
2. Sexing the Subject (of Law), Ngaire Naffine
3. The Peripheral Worker: Women and the Legal Regulation of Outwork, Rosemary J Owens
4. (Out)Laws: Acts of Proscription in the Sexual Order, Gail Mason
5. Sexual Harassment and the Public/Private Dichotomy: Equality, Morality and Manners, Jenny Morgan
6. Women and Enterprise Bargaining: The Legal and Institutional Framework, Laura Bennett
7. Private Ordering in Family Law - Will Women Benefit?, Marcia Neave
8. The Weight of Silence: Talking about Violence in Family Mediation, Hilary Astor
9. Embodying the Citizen, Margaret Thornton
10. Reconceptualisations of Civil Society: Third World and Ethnic Women, Archana Parashar
11. Worlds Apart: Public/Private Distinctions in International Law, Hilary Charlesworth
12. The Gender of Judgments: An Introduction, Regina Graycar