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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | A feminist perspective on the law reform process: an evaluation of attempts to establish a Family Court in South Africa |
Author: | Goldblatt, Beth |
Year: | 1997 |
Periodical: | South African Journal on Human Rights |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 373-400 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | family law women law Equality and Liberation Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights Family Life |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.1997.11834950 |
Abstract: | This article examines how gender inequalities permeate and shape the law reform process in South Africa, resulting in the virtual exclusion of women's, particularly disadvantaged women's, interests from many law reforms. This is done on the basis of an analysis of the history and current position of law reform processes relating to the establishment of a Family Court. An overview of law reform initiatives towards a Family Court in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s is followed by an assessment of current developments, notably the work of the Hoexter Commission of Enquiry into the Rationalisation of the Provincial and Local Divisions of the Supreme Court, which was appointed in March 1995. The Commission was required to make recommendations as to the manner in which existing Supreme Court structures could be brought into line with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993. The analysis reveals that many of the problems faced by poor, black women users of the court are generally not reflected in the Family Court debate. The law reform process towards the establishment of Family Courts has been long and relatively fruitless. Recommendations are made for the inclusion of women in the law reform process. Notes, ref. |