Concept information
Preferred term
law and mothering
Definition(s)
- In the 1989 case of Brooks v. Canada Safeway Ltd., Chief Justice Brian Dickson of the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that a woman discriminated against on the basis of sex was contrary to human rights legislation and the equality guarantee in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982).The Canadian Justice deemed it “unfair to impose all of the costs of pregnancy upon one half of the population… [women] should not be economically or socially disadvantaged.” For Lorna Turnball, who described herself at the time as a “young feminist and newly minted law student,” Brooks “inspired hope and a belief that gender equality might actually be attainable.” She continued that it “stood as a defining moment of feminist engagement with the law.” At the time, this legal recognition of the work of mothering in Canadian law—pregnancy—made legal scholars like Turnball optimistic.Past and Current Approaches in LawComing into the 20th century, many countries allowed restrictions on the type of jobs women could hold (such as industrial work) on the basis that it could impair their ability to bear children. In addition, women could be required to leave their job if they became pregnant. [Source: Encyclopedia of Motherhood; Law and Mothering]
Broader concept(s)
Belongs to group
URI
http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/N9J-C94S3Q6F-B
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