Women, Law and Patriarchal Relations: Perspectives Within the Sociology of Law

In this paper I wish to examine three important theoretical perspectives within the sociology of law, with a view to determining their usefulness and relevance in the development of an analysis that integrates sexual difference.e and gender relations or in other words, a sociology of law that is not blind to the significance of gender and the specificity of men\u27s and women\u27s lived experience. The literature in the area of sociology of law has begun to flower, and sophisticated critical scholarship has emerged. The work of a feminist in the sociology of law is thus well assisted with an excellent literature in the area of law, and an equally exciting feminist scholarship. This is all to the good, we are very much in need of solid, accessible theoretical work. The issues relating to women and the law are becoming both more complex and opaque, as the Canadian state moves in response to women\u27s demands for real equality by extending formal rights, enacting gender neutral legislation, prosecuting all complaints of domestic violence, and remaining steadfastly intransigent with respect to the retention of the abortion prohibition in the criminal law