Journal article
"There's no gender bias here!": Gender equality and family court custody decisions - The legacy of McMillan v Jackson
Sister in Law, Vol.1, pp.33-51
1996
Abstract
In the recent decision of McMillan v Jackson, the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia clearly denounced judicial reliance on stereotypical gender assumptions regarding proper parental roles, in the determination of custody applications:
Whilst a trial Judge does not, and is not, expected to leave his or her common sense and worldly experience outside the door of the court, a Judge must leave outside the court any pre-conceived notions which he or she may entertain, as a private individual, about the roles which males and females ought to adopt in society.
However, any claims that such a pronouncement signals a Family Court free of gender bias and committed to gender equality, at least in relation to custody determinations, are somewhat misguided. This paper discusses the approach taken by the Full Court in the McMillan case to gender equality and exposes the limitations of this approach in assisting efforts to counter the oppressive effects on women of the systemic and institutionalised gender role divisions which are ever prevalent in Australian families and reinforced in our laws relating to custody.
Details
- Title
- "There's no gender bias here!": Gender equality and family court custody decisions - The legacy of McMillan v Jackson
- Authors/Creators
- L. Vickers (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Sister in Law, Vol.1, pp.33-51
- Publisher
- Enid Russell Society, School of Law, Murdoch University
- Identifiers
- 991005544426007891
- Copyright
- Enid Russell Society
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Law
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher URL
- http://www.murdoch.edu.au/School-of-Law
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