AP/SOSC 1350 9.00

Gender And The Law

This course explores the role of gender within the context of Canadian law. Using a feminist socio-legal perspective to situate the law in its larger social context, attention is paid to the intersectional production of gender within a legal context. As such, gender is understood to be shaped by race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and (dis)ability. Moreover, the course highlights the socio-legal studies perspective that there is a reciprocal relationship between law and society, where law both shapes, and is shaped by, Canadian society as a whole. As such, this course draws on a variety of disciplines, including law, gender and women’s studies, critical masculinity studies, sexuality studies, criminology, history, political science, and sociology.

The relationship between gender and the law is examined by applying theoretical concepts to the evolution of legislation and case law in areas such as criminal law, family law, poverty law, employment legislation, immigration law, multiculturalism policy, and the Indian Act. Some of the major themes to be covered include: feminist approaches to the law; competing conceptions of how, and in whose interests, the law operates; how a multiplicity of masculinities and femininities are dealt with by law; the relationship between the law and the social construction of “normalcy” and “deviance”; and debates about whether the law constrains or enables meaningful social change.