Category work in courtroom talk about domestic violence: Gender as an interactional accomplishment in child custody disputes

Abstract

This article examines how domestic violence and its effects on post-separation family life are dealt with within child custody disputes. Drawing on membership categorization analysis, audio-recorded courtroom testimonies from abused mothers seeking sole custody have been analysed. It was found that gendered categories like ‘male perpetrator’ and ‘female victim’ were central components in the mothers’ accounts of their legal claims, serving to support their claims of fearing the fathers of their children. However, the analyses also reveal that the opposing party attempted to contest and undermine such accounts during cross-examinations by substituting the very same categorizations. Such re-categorizations, for example from ‘female victim’ to ‘mad woman’, take the responsibility for the mother’s alleged fear away from the father. In exploring the relevance of gendered categories in mothers’ accounts, the article provides empirical examples of the subtle and complex ways through which gender discourses are manifested in child custody disputes in order to support or contest legal claims.