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35 Law & Ineq. 311 (2017)
Mapping Gender: Shedding Empirical Light on Family Courts' Treatment of Cases Involving Abuse and Alienation

handle is hein.journals/lieq35 and id is 319 raw text is: 311 Mapping Gender: Shedding Empirical Light on Family Courts' Treatment of Cases Involving Abuse and Alienation- Joan S. Meiert and Sean Dicksontt Introduction Catharine A. MacKinnon's genius has been in, among other things, rendering the invisible visible. In Toward a Feminist Theory of the State,1 by identifying the subtle and implicit ways that gendered assumptions drive law and culture, MacKinnon awakened millions to the fundamental gender inequality at the foundations of our legal system and culture. MacKinnon's insight is profoundly applicable to today's state family courts-civil courts adjudicating child custody. Where MacKinnon pointed out the male-gendered assumptions often hidden within law and culture, an extensive scholarly literature and thousands of reports from the field suggest that men's violence in the family is often rendered invisible by family court practices. *. Portions of this Article, specifically Part II, have already been reported in Joan S. Meier, Child Custody Outcomes in Cases Involving Parental Alienation and Abuse Allegations, (2014), http://www.ncdsv.org/GWUChild-Custody-Outcomes-in- Cases-Involving-Parental-Alientation-and-Abuse-Allegations_4-25-2014.pdf. t. Professor of Clinical Law at George Washington University Law School; Founder and Legal Director of the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP). My deepest thanks go to my co-author, Sean Dickson, for his superb work in both completing and systematizing the research underlying this study and computing and interpreting the statistical results. Without him, this study would not have seen the light of day. I also wish to thank Rosie Griffin, Esq., who, as a 2L and intern, did the first round of research that launched the study. Finally, I thank my colleagues at the American Association of Law Schools who encouraged me to publish this pilot data, and the many law professors, judges, and others who have discussed these results with me during presentations. This Article is dedicated to Catharine A. MacKinnon, whose ground-breaking and paradigm- shifting work provides a north star which guides our work toward gender equality. ft. Senior Manager of Health Systems Integration at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. Sean's work addresses systematic discrimination across sectors, with a focus on discriminatory benefit design and pharmaceutical coverage within private and public insurance systems. Sean received his J.D. and M.P.H. from the University of Michigan and his B.A. in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago. In 2016, Sean was recognized as one of the 30 Top Thinkers Under 30 by Pacific Standard magazine. 1. CATHARINE A. MACKINNON, TOWARD A FEMINIST THEORY OF THE STATE (1989).

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