Search

Since the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, the implementation of the child's right to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings (Article 12 UNCRC) has been a major concern in the theory and practice of child law internationally. Little empirical research has however been undertaken on the socio-legal conditions of children's participation in legal procedure. This paper will examine these conditions from the specific perspective of the gendered order of society. It will compare juvenile justice and child protection law in order to show how different legal concepts of the child can be gendered and how this influences the procedural position of children. Drawing on examples from empirical research undertaken in Switzerland, it will explore how gendered legal concepts structure the interaction between children and authorities and how processes of children's individual gendered subjectivation are part of child law practice. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A gender-free society is one of the visions that have been developed in feminist, transgender and intersex theory as an alternative to the existing gender order. These visions depart from the idea that through social change, gender can be "undone" to the point that it is not relevant any more as a normalising instrument prescribing the classification into either male or female and heterosexuality as a norm. In this utopian state of society, being "female", "intersex" or "transgender" is no reason for disadvantages or discrimination - or more radically, these classifications do not exist anymore. The paper explores how this vision could be used on one hand as a tool for reflection on the current use of the categories of sex and gender in law as well as in gender and law scholarship. On the other hand it might serve as a direction for legal reform for the 21st century. Thereby one of sociology of law's "classical" issues has to be addressed: the question of the use of law as an instrument of social change. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]