Fathers' Rights, Feminism and Canadian Divorce Law Reform: 1998-2003

In: Studies in law, politics, and society, Band 35, Heft 1, S. 29-63

Abstract

This chapter addresses a five-year phase of protest activity set in motion by fathers' rights & shared parenting groups' resistance to the Federal Child Support Guidelines, which were incorporated into Canada's Divorce Act in 1997. Drawing upon Department of Justice discourses, parliamentary hearings & debates, & advocacy websites it examines the dynamics & outcomes of the protest cycle. It argues that the government's legislative response signals a failure of fathers' rights activism in Canada. This failure is a consequence of the collective identity that advocates & their supporters enact & celebrate in various public arenas, the effectiveness of feminist counteraction, & the contingencies of governance in Canada's left-of-centre advanced liberal democracy. 3 Appendixes, 83 References. [Copyright 2005 Elsevier Ltd.]