Examining specific areas of family law from a feminist perspective, this book assesses the impact that feminism has had upon family law. It is deliberately broad in scope, as it takes the view that family law cannot be defined in a traditional way. In addition to issues of long-standing concern for feminists, it explores issues of current legal and political preoccupation such as civil partnerships, home-sharing, reproductive technologies and new initiatives in regulating family practices through criminal law, including domestic violence and youth justice.

1. Introduction: Feminism and Families Plus Ca Change? 2. Family Friendly?: Rights, Responsibilities and Relationship Recognition 3. Shared Households: A New Paradigm for Thinking about the Reform of Domestic Property Relations 4. What is a Parent? 5. Parents in Law: Subjective Impacts and Status Implications Around the Use of Licensed Donor Insemination 6. After Birth: Decisions about Becoming a Mother 7. The Ethic of Justice Strikes Back: Changing Narratives of Fatherhood 8. Domestic Violence, Men's Groups and the Equivalence Argument 9. Feminist Perspectives on Youth Justice 10. Working Towards Credit for Parenting: A Consideration of Tax Credits as a Feminist Enterprise 11. 'The Branch on Which We Sit': Multiculturalism, Minority Women and Family Law 12. Feminist Legal Studies and the Subject(s) of Men: Questions of Text, Terrain and Context in the Politics of Family Law and Gender