Felicity Kaganas Introduction Feminism and feminist activists have made their mark when it comes to domestic violence. It is largely through feminist efforts that men’s violence to women has become visible and that domestic violence is now seen as a serious social problem.[475] Since the days of the 1970s, when the Chiswick women’s refuge was […]

The heroic narrative has become particularly significant through the rhetoric of Bob Geldof;[471] it conjures up the image of the father taking on a hazardous battle against the odds in order to be able to play a part in his children’s lives. Of course this image may accurately reflect the experience of some fathers who […]

Richard: The simple truth was as the judge said in his own words ‘It is normal for the children to live with their mother so that is where they will live.’ Frankly I think that is a load of rubbish. It is not normal for the children to live with their mother. It is normal […]

As I have suggested above, it is ‘care talk’ that can be particularly significant in the emergent narratives of fatherhood. In Re R (a child), the putative father wanted to care and, although he had no experience of so doing, the desire to do so was seen as noble. In cases of divorce, the situation […]

‘Welfare talk’ is typically based on the argument that it is always in the interests of children’s welfare that they should have extensive contact with their fathers, even to the point of shared residence. As noted above, this is in line with government policy and also reflects the leanings of the courts and CAFCASS.[465] Unlike […]

Reading cases can provide only a partial insight into the scope of these new narratives of fatherhood; in particular, Appeal Court cases are not a window onto everyday life. Although such cases involve ‘real’ people, they become stylised and symbolic, and the arguments put forward for both sides are carefully manu­factured and crafted. Cases, taken […]

The case I wish to consider in detail is Re R (a child).[456] This was a case in which a man sought to claim parental responsibility in relation to a child who was not genetically related to him. In many ways, this case is the exact antithesis of ‘old’ paternity suits, in which mothers who […]

When considering the significance of demands for equality and justice for fathers on divorce, it is important to recognise that groups such as Families Need Fathers or Fathers4Justice were forged out of a sense of loss of privilege and in competi­tion with mothers, whom they defined as being too powerful in matters to do with […]

A new ‘truth’ appears to have been established in which all debates about children and residence after divorce or separation are premised on the assumption that courts favour mothers over fathers.[446] This ‘injustice’ is treated as self-evident[447] because, statistically, after divorce or separation, children are still far more likely to live with their mothers than […]

The first issue which needs some clarification is the relevance here of the frame­work of the ethic of justice and the ethic of care, some twenty years after the work of Carol Gilligan was first published and after much has been published which further refines and develops these ideas.[439] It might be thought that enough […]