Gender and Structural Inequalities from a Socio-Legal Perspective

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter critically analyses different socio-legal phenomena through a feminist prism on gender. With an aim to promote gender equality, it addresses the problems of structural gender inequalities in both private and public social spheres. Outlining the political, economic and ideological connection between laws and specific social contexts, it uncovers (hidden) effects of social reproduction and construction of gender and sexuality. Deconstructing the gender binary system and provoking a heterosexual matrix, it shows how traditional, patriarchal gender roles determine and establish the social position in the structure of society. Dealing with the gender (in)sensitive education, production, and reinforcement of gender inequalities in the labour market, and media (re)presentation of gender and symbolic violence, it shows how widely accepted values and gender roles shape, and ultimately define, the access to social resources, professional positions and social status. Limiting research to only some areas of this broad socio-legal thematic, this chapter addresses some policies for overcoming structural inequalities based on gender.