Gender and Law

Balancing between sex equality and religious interests has been a challenge for Israel’s constitutional law from the state’s inception. In recent years, however, the expanding repertoire of practices known as women’s exclusion has brought forth this tension with new formulations, intensity, and public sensitivity. This article maps the three decades of Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ or “the Court”) adjudication on women’s exclusion. The modesty requirements and sex-based physical segregation that have become rampant in Israel, require re-articulations of the scope and status of the right to equality, as well as other constitutional rights such as dignity and liberty. The thirty-year database compiled for the purpose of this article encompasses all women’s exclusion cases decided by the HCJ. The database was built based on a novel definition of women’s exclusion cases as a legal field, developed and explained in this article. The database reveals what might be defined as diminishing constitutional adjudication. In the nineteen nineties, the Court has labored in elevating sex equality, developing a doctrinal structure that guards it against religion-based demands to legitimize exclusion norms. In contrast, in the past decade, the Court has almost completely refrained from reviewing cases on the merit or writing reasoned opinions, adopting ad-hoc problem-solving approaches or taking dispute resolution approaches prompting the parties to find compromise, without delineating the legal framework that should guide the disputes.

Familias no tradicionales, relaciones no monógamas y el "nuevo" Código Civil (P. de la C. 1654) "La sociedad contra-sexual demanda la abolición de la familia nuclear como célula de producción, de reproducción y de consumo. La práctica de la sexualidad en parejas . . . está condicionada por los fines reproductivos y económicos del sistema heterocentrado.

Women's struggle for emancipation can be characterized, among other elements, as an ongoing process for, first, entering the legal system and second, attempting to change it. This, nonetheless, stirs up conflicts and certain perplexities, as appropriately summarized by Alejandra Ciriza under the label the Wollstonecraft dilemma: the politicization of sexual difference, which constitutes the center of feminist struggle in modernity, faces a twofold obstacle. On the one hand, the presentation of sexual difference in the public sphere leads to the transformation of any question related to it into a vindication of rights. On the other hand, the judicialization and institutionalization of such demands lead to the recognition of the limits and impossibilities of a politics of rights (Ciriza , 2004, p. 210). Given the fact that there is this uncontestable and paradoxical relationship between women's political struggle for equality and the legal system, this paper aims to evaluate a specific approach to law, that is, Luhmann's account of law as a social system from a feminist perspective. The question guiding the discussion proposed here is the following: is the theory of law as a social system able to incorporate feminist contentions to law? In order to do so, the Luhmaniann theoretical framework and its most important concepts is presented and discussed. Then, this framework is reviewed through a feminist perspective, particularly by the confrontation with a feminist agenda of law that is based primarily on feminist legal theory and theories of patriarchy. At the end, I hope to accomplish the twofold intention of thi s paper: first, to point the limits of Luhmann's approach to law from a feminist standpoint and, second, to show the relevance of gender analysis in the legal field.

This paper is primarily concerned with a legal instrument used as means of “sanctioning” for a crime of violence, rape, in Turkey for almost a period of 65 years (1926-1990). The punishment for the crime to be lessened statutorily depending on the fact that the victim of the case to be a “prostitute” is my muse to be a representation of (de)construction of  “modernity” and “womanhood” in Turkey. In order to evolve my argument I focus on the “story” of article 438 (abolished in 1990) of the Turkish Penal Code

The debate below, on the role of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, prompted by William O. Beeman's 2001 article, "Iranian Women's Situation has Improved under the Islamic Republic" was conducted in 2001 as part of the Gulf12000 project at Columbia University, directed by Gary Sick. Normally, these on-line discussions are reserved for members, but
this topic is of such general interest and aroused such intense emotions, that Keddie and Karimkhany asked permission of the participants to edit and reproduce the discussion for a wider audience. The final version was edited by Nikki R. Keddie, Professor Emerita of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, based on the selection and organization of the texts by co-editor Azita Karimkhany, alumna of Columbia University and researcher in Middle Eastern studies. For additional information on Gulf/2000, see the project website
at http://gu]f2000.coJumbia.edu/.

The term ‘protective mothers’ is used in the literature on child abuse to refer to women who take proactive steps to protect their children from abuse and violence. Protective mothers who take children overseas to bring violence or abuse to an end are increasingly finding themselves the subject of a petition under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague Convention). The Hague Convention was formulated in the late 1970s prior to widespread recognition of the role of abuse and violence in separation and divorce. It requires the prompt return of children taken from one signatory country to another with only narrow and limited exceptions. This paper argues that the Hague Convention has the effect of trivialising domestic violence and child abuse and perpetuating stereotypes of protective mothers as mentally ill and malicious. One website for protective mothers calls this experience ‘getting Hagued’.  This paper will examine how the Hague Convention has misunderstood the gendered nature of international child abduction before going on to analyse the impact of ‘getting Hagued’ in two important Australian cases of international child abduction.

This essay focuses on the definition of ‘consent’ in the context of rape, which was introduced in the Indian Penal Code by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013. The first part assesses the standard of consent under Section 375 and its subsequent application by the Courts. Examining the Delhi High Court’s detailed and controversial engagement with the concept of consent in Mahmood Farooqui v. State (NCT of Delhi), I argue that reforms introducing a consent definition couched in affirmative terms, without shifting the evidentiary burden of proof were inadequate. The second part examines the affirmative consent standard in light of Catherine MacKinnon’s recent proposal for a rape definition based on gender inequality and not consent. While assessing the workability of MacKinnon’s definition focused on unequal or coercive circumstances, I argue that any remodeling of the consent standard should have both equality and autonomy at its core.

On 15 July 2004, a public protest was staged in the state of Manipur, in India’s Northeast, to oppose the rape and custodial killing of a young Meitei woman, Thangjam Manorama, by soldiers of a counter-insurgency paramilitary battalion, the Assam Rifles, who suspected she was a militant. At this protest, several women appeared nude, holding a banner that read ‘Indian army rape us’. This analysis considers how we might read the nudity and the statement ‘Indian army rape us’. I argue that the language of law, human rights and women’s rights as human rights, are inadequate to analyze the protest and the events surrounding it because they do not situate the protest within larger political struggles in the Northeast. Further, such universalist approaches take categories like ‘Indian citizen’, ‘woman’ and ‘tribal’ as a given and do not allow for an engagement with how these categories are mutually constituted, or the law’s complicity in their constitution. Accordingly, concerns about contested notions of citizenship that are at the heart of the Manipur protest cannot be adequately addressed within this framework. Instead, I suggest a postcolonial feminist analytics as an alternative means to engage with the political questions raised by the protest.

The victim subject is a transnational phenomenon. It occurs, at least
within legal discourse, in both the "West" and the Third World. However,
the Third World victim subject has come to represent the more victimized
subject; that is, the real or authentic victim subject. Feminist politics in the
international human rights arena, as well as in parts of the Third World,
have promoted this image of the authentic victim subject while advocating
for women's human rights.
In this Article, I examine how the international women's rights movement
has reinforced the image of the woman as a victim subject, primarily
through its focus on violence against women (VAW). I use the example of
India to examine how this subject has been replicated in the post-colonial
context, and the more general implications this kind of move has on
women's rights.

This paper focuses upon some of the legal moves which have brought adult heterosexual non-marital cohabitation patterns, popularly termed "live-in" relations, into public focus in India. These legal moves do not unambiguously signify legal sanction and recognition of new forms of non-marital heterosexual cohabitation patterns in India as some popular and judicial readings seem to suggest. Through a critical examination of some recommendations and aspects of the Malimath Committee and the debates ensuing from the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, it is shown that the legal changes are primarily directed at taking cognisance of women's vulnerable position within conventional forms of non-marital relations. Contradictory interpretations and conflicting implications arise in the absence of such legal changes being explicitly cognisant of and responsive to diverse forms of live-in relations prevalent in contemporary society.

The EU is often seen as one of the most progressive political organizations regarding gender equality, particularly in terms of work-life balance measures. These measures enable parents especially women, who are predominantly primary caregivers-to reconcile their working and caregiving responsibilities. Since the 1970s, the EU has adopted a wide array of legislative measures and policies to tackle these conflicts, inspired to a large extent by feminist activists' and authors' concerns. Over the past twenty years, however, these measures-which were originally influenced by gender justice imperatives-have become part of the neoliberal shift that is currently underway in Europe, and have promoted it. In this context, the article argues, they risk having a classist effect, privileging highly skilled, high-paid workers to the detriment of more economically vulnerable women. Drawing on political economy and EU and gender studies scholarship, the article traces these evolutions. The first part describes how these measures originated in the EU social agenda of the 1970s, and how they subsequently became part of a flourishing gender equality agenda in the 1990s. The second part examines how, starting in the 2000s, these measures became framed as 'social investments in human capital,' labor supply instruments, whose goal was to retain highly skilled female workers in the workforce. In parallel to that change, the economic model of the EU became more explicitly neoliberal. After the financial and sovereign debt crisis in 2008/09, the EU embraced labor flexibilization and austerity measures, while it acquired more powers to effectively monitor member states' fiscal and social policies. The final part describes why these measures will likely have a classist effect and will not deliver gender equality for all women, while also evaluating feminist ideas' relationship with the transnational triumph of neoliberalism, which the situation in the EU illustrates.

Since the crime has no gender then neither should our laws have one.The lawshould not distinguish between criminals on the basis of their sex.Anybody can commit crime, even women, for the same reasons that men can do. The one who has committed an offence is liable to get the punishment. If we talk about India, we can hardly find any legislation that aims to protect men or the third gender against violence or sexual crimes. The only legislation which has the concept of gender neutrality in it is the POSCO Act, 2012. The idea of gender-neutrality encompasses the concept of placing both the genders at par, not distinguishing their roles and treating them equally in all spheres. Gender neutrality is primarily about fairness and equality to all despite their background. It is a part of wider societal change that is meant to reveal the mechanisms of social injustice and to help with implementation of true equality in all respects. But gender neutrality is not an attempt to remove gender from people.The legal framework of every country is based on its societal skeleton. The concept of gender neutrality in the legal aspect refers to the idea of equality in the recognition of the rights of all individuals irrespective of their sexes. Thus, viewing the prevailing socio-legal conditions of India there is a paramount need toobtain gender neutrality in laws by underlining the shift in the societal trends.

Общество и право: исследовательские перспективы — сборник статей авторов семинаров «Общество и право» в Центре независимых социологических исследований. Книга посвящена разнообразным аспектам изучения права методами социальных наук. В книге представлены работы по широкому спектру тем в области теории социологии права, социальной истории права, гендерных аспектов права, законодательства переходного периода, деятельности профессионалов по применению правовых норм. Издание включает ранее опубликованные и оригинальные труды зарубежных ученых и вступительную статью редактора. Книга предназначена для научных сотрудников и преподавателей вузов, интересующихся аспектами правоприменительной практики, вопросами социологии права, методологией социальных теорий для анализа правовых норм.

The article offers a meditation on the symbol of the 'wolf in sheep's clothing', and notes how this has re-emerged as a cultural archetype recently in 'desire-led intimacy' cases between young ciswoman and their non-cis partners. It focuses on the recent cases of Gemma Barker and Gayle Newland. It asks how theatre and community arts can engage with this emergence and with the issues raised by these cases, and proposes a blueprint for a project combining theatre, mask and social networking engagement as a model through which young LGBT* people might explore queer issues and identity. This article reworks an earlier paper on the Gemma Barker case given at York University (see below Bera Conference, 9 Dec 2014).

Suffering it has been said, is in the eye of the observer and not in the eye of the
sufferer. Rape is one of the most heinous forms of sexual harassment against women.
It not only harms the victim physically but also drains her mentally. The victim of
forcible sexual intercourse is treated as an accomplice in the society which values
chastity as the most important attribute of womanhood and does not hesitate to test it
by subjecting the woman to the ordeal of fire without causing a ripple amongst the
onlookers.3 Rape transgresses into the right to privacy of the victim and cripples her
for life. Unfortunately, in a patriarchal society like India the victim is forced to suffer
for the act of the accused and is held responsible for her fate in one way or the other.
She has to relive the tragedy in the court rooms if she gathers enough courage to
prove her innocence. It is very unfortunate that it is the victim and not the accused of
rape who carries the social stigma for life

This is  Book is about Course "Gender & Law "which is written specifically in Pakistani context for the Undergraduate students to know basics about this subject in Non-controversial way .Book is reviewed by Mr. Rukhsar Ali from Quaid e Azam University, Islamabad.

RESUMEN
La sociedad exige la vida en pareja, como un ideal y como un momento de realización personal. Sin embargo, al mismo tiempo, la sociedad determina roles en hombres y mujeres tan diferentes que ese ideal, en la práctica, se torna difícil. Esta es la paradoja de la media naranja. Múltiples testimonios de hombres y mujeres de una comunidad académica demuestran el origen y la vivencia cotidiana de roles de género en diferentes espacios y momentos. El derecho no hace más que reflejar los dualismos y esta paradoja. En una sociedad patriarcal hombres y mujeres perdemos. Urge un cambio de valoración de los roles asignados para lograr una sociedad más igualitaria, más justa y más solidaria.

ABSTRACT
Society demands women and men to live together. However, at the same time,
society determines different roles in men and women, so different that that ideal to
live together, in practice, becomes difficult. This is the half orange paradox. Multiple
testimonies of men and women from an academic community demonstrate the origin and daily experience of gender roles in different spaces and moments.
Law does reflects this paradox and its dualisms. We all, men and women, lose. It urges a change of assessment of the assigned roles to achieve a more egalitarian society, with more justice and solidarity.

Az Egyezmény jogi szempontból kifejezetten fontos nóvuma, hogy a nőkkel szembeni erőszakot olyan típusú erőszakként definiálja, ami a nők ellen irányul kifejezetten azért, mert nők, vagy nőket érint, sújt aránytalan mértékben. Ily módon, rendhagyóként, azonban szorosan elődei nyomdokain járva egyszersmind emberi jogi sérelemnek és a nőkkel szembeni diszkrimináció egyik fajtájának is nyilvánítja. Nem vákuumban jött létre, nem kezelhető izoláltan más nemzetközi, nőket megillető jogokkal foglalkozó, ill. női érdekeket érvényesítő dokumentumoktól; írásom egyik legfontosabb üzenete ez. Ennek megfelelően McQuigg felvetése nyomán igyekszem egy olyan folyamat mérföldköveként bemutatni, ami a nőkkel szembeni erőszak kérdéskörét emberi jogi kérdésként hivatott elismertetni.

En este documento algunas profesoras de la Línea de Investigación en Derecho y Género de la Universidad del Rosario ofrecen un análisis de los objetivos, impactos y retos de la creación e implementación del Núcleo de Profundización en Derecho y Género en el Pregrado de Jurisprudencia de la Universidad del Rosario.

This paper situates the impulse to criminalize triple talaq at the intersection of three interrelated debates: universal human rights through homogenized citizenship, law reforms in modern nation-states and the question of community identities in representative democracies. Even though each has historically produced different narratives of the uniformity of law, they do not account for the conflicts and contestations each of the fields produces. Analysing them in terms of the demand for a uniform civil code in India, this essay investigates the political understanding of the rights’ debate as revealed through the debate on Triple Talaq. It argues that, given the disconnection between the imagined uniformity and the actual practices of law in the everyday experience of Muslims as Indian citizens, the tangential factors that produce the banal violations of constitutional rights are framed in extra-juridical terms. Demanding that it requires an inquiry into the cultural terrain of law and the hierarchies that constitute the discourse of rights, this paper raises questions that the Triple Talaq debate poses to Indian feminism.

This paper considers the relationship between women, religion and the Australian state via an examination of federal anti-discrimination law. Much of the social research into religion-state relations over the last ten years, particularly with the rise of neo-liberalism, demonstrates that religious groups and ideas are actively involved in public debate, policy formation and implementation. While this has been examined by some scholars in social policy, particularly education, there has been little research on the relationship between women’s rights and post-secular politics. This essay will address this gap by firstly locating women’s rights in the context of global forms of neo-liberalism and specifically by examining Australian federal anti-discrimination legislation, which seeks to protect religious freedom by allowing religious groups general exemption from adhering to non-discriminatory employment and training protocols. It is argued via evidence, that such exemptions are premised on the treatment of women as other to masculine norms.

O direito é muito visado pelos movimentos sociais. Hoje em dia, lutas por reconhecimento 1 não são travadas apenas nas ruas e em projetos de resistência. Cada vez mais, são deslocadas para o interior do lobby na produção legislativa e para o interior das salas dos tribunais. Intervenções jurídicas devem impulsionar a emancipação de grupos desfavorecidos. O direito é, finalmente, um significativo meio de controle da sociedade: é democraticamente legitimado, comprometido com a observância dos direitos humanos e é imposto de forma institucionalizada, o que constitui seu poder especial. Da aplicação do direito são esperadas mudanças justificadas e sustentáveis. As reflexões a seguir ponderam se essas esperanças são legítimas. O apelo ao direito: uma esperança cética O recurso ao direito pode ser observado tanto no plano nacional como no internacional. Um bom exemplo disso é o movimento "direitos das mulheres são direitos humanos". Direitos são compreendidos por suas protagonistas como uma linguagem universal, da qual as mulheres se apropriam e que podem aplicar para a melhoria de sua situação. A Convenção dos Direitos das Mulheres da ONU, ainda que não tão observada em contexto nacional, é um importante, potencialmente poderoso impulsionador para tais reformas. 2 Seus amplos dispositivos possuem caráter de resposta a um mundo, no qual a diferença entre sexos ainda é concebida e explorada em detrimento das mulheres. 3 Outras características são tratadas de forma análoga, como origem étnica, classe ou orientação sexual: violência, exploração e marginalização 1 Axel Honneth, Kampf um Anerkennung. Zur moralischen Grammatik sozialer Konflikte, Frankfurt am Main, 1990 (em português: Luta por Reconhecimento. A gramática moral dos conflitos sociais. Editora 34, 2003). 891 social e econômica permanecem, como sempre, na ordem do dia. Frente a essa realidade, destacou Wendy Brown, seria impossível não querer um direito emancipatório. 4 Mesmo o passo feminista em direção ao direito foi realizado, no entanto, com uma grande porção de ceticismo, se seria possível, de fato, alcançar nele um aliado útil. 5 Um ponto de vista feminista clássico critica o direito enquanto fenômeno de exercício de poder masculino, que se condensa no sistema jurídico e se auto legitima. Quaisquer esforços por reforma jurídica se deparam com o problema de que todas as mudanças proporcionadas por meio do direito devem permanecer imanentes ao seu sistema. Direitos não superam nem a ordem estabelecida, nem seus mecanismos de reprodução, pois cada direito, mesmo aquele que alguém possui contra o Estado, representa, ao mesmo tempo, um empoderamento do Estado. 6

This article examines Canadian refugee law cases
involving domestic violence, analyzed through a
comparison with cases involving forced sterilization
and genital cutting. Surveying 645 reported decisions,
it suggests that Canadian adjudicators generally
adopted different methods of analysis in refugee cases
involving domestic violence, as compared with these
other claims. The article argues that Canadian adjudicators
rarely recognized domestic violence as a rights
violation in itself but, instead, demonstrated a general
predisposition toward finding domestic violence persecution
in cultural difference. That is, adjudicators
tended to recognize domestic violence claimants not as
victims of persecutory practices but rather as victims
of persecutory cultures. The article suggests that this
approach establishes incorrect criteria by which to
evaluate domestic violence claims, for two main reasons.
First, this approach does not accord due weight
to complex factors besides culture that make women
vulnerable to persecution in domestic settings. Second,
this approach erects legal and conceptual barriers for
women who cannot authentically narrate their experience
through the script of cultural vulnerability or who
cannot present as “victims of culture”. The article posits
that characterizing the violence suffered by refugee
women as a product of culture does more than erect
barriers for refugee claimants; it also operates as a
protective device that suppresses the commonality of
domestic violence across cultures and elides its domestic
prevalence. The article concludes by suggesting
that this approach replicates problematic assumptions
about gender violence and gender difference that make
it harder to address domestic violence both abroad and
at home.

The economic analysis of law seems to be a very attractive hypothesis; however, not very practical applications of this approach have been evident. It works best for the ascertainment of the punishment. In rape the costs of the crime are too high to be compensated or to be met by the state. But compensation should be given for making the punishment cost zero. There are no doubts that the economic theory of criminal law constitutes a body of literature which has contributed to the understanding of crime and law. Rape has been made the crime because there is no inexpensive way of protecting women’s body. Some societies did this by locking their women in houses. In modern times it would be a very costly solution. Thus, the State has been bestowed upon the duty to protect women’s right to their own body. Rape violates this right and thus is a crime.

Sex change surgery has been practised in Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa in 1982. Therefore, a medical and judicial process of transition has been regulated accordingly. However, this has not resulted in either the legalization of sex change surgery, nor in the recognition of transsexual identity within Iranian substantive law. Sex change surgery is allowed through Islamic law, rather than substantive law, in response to the existing social facts and norms, on the one hand, and structural cooperation with medical system, on the other. In this article, I argue that the Iranian heteronormative law's understanding of transsexuality has amounted to the misrecognition of trans persons' status within law and society. Using semi structured interviews, intersectional content analysis, and feminist methodologies, the findings indicate that transsexual bodies have gained meaning through religious and medical discourses within a framework of power relations, and that Iranian transsexual persons have reconstructed and redefined gender and gender relations in a way that informs their understanding of gender and sexuality beyond the existing Islamic legal and social norms. Moreover, intersectional analysis of the interviews demonstrates how the legal misrecognition of transsexuality creates space for a discourse which in itself leads to the misrecognition of other gendered identities, such as homosexuals and transwomen.

Sexism is based on gender stereotypes, which ascribe men and women fundamentally different, often contradictory qualities. These stereotypes are reinforced by religion, culture, history and economic conditions, which ensure that men occupy a higher social status, are considered superior and tend to be more socially valued than women, while the latter are seen as subordinate. These gender stereotypes are embedded in legal rules and to this day continue to influence law making. The most tangible examples can be found in family and labor law. In spite of legal reforms under the equal rights regulations in Germany, disparities persist, e.g. in tax law and social security legislation. Simultaneously, it remains to be analyzed and observed whether the legal regulations comply with the situation of women and men in society.
Also, in the application of law, particularly in legal proceedings, the question arises as to whether and where gender prejudice and preferences influence litigation. The article explores the effects of this influence and illustrates its consequences with examples from international comparative work.

Since gaining global attention in the 1980s, child sexual exploitation has been incorporated into a growing body of both soft and hard law at national, regional and international levels. This research analyses how the concepts of childhood, gender and sexuality are constructed and articulated within international discourse. It then applies Flat Law Theory to the case of Morocco in order to examine the interactions between international norms and the national context, including domestic law and cultural beliefs and practices, as well as the impact on policy and programmes addressing child sexual exploitation. It finds that although international discourse has a strong influence, Foucauldian sites of resistance can nevertheless be identified at the level of the state and society, which challenge international perceptions of gender and sexuality within the context of child sexual exploitation.

The gender pay gap – that is, the difference in wages between men and women for the same or substantially the same work, or work of equal value – still features prominently as a stumbling block in achieving South African gender equality. If South Africa is to dislodge its stagnant gender pay gap, especially for women in the middle and upper levels of the wage distribution, pay transparency – making gender differences in wages known to employees, government and the public – can compel employers to remunerate fairly and equally. We undertook a comparison between the global and national mechanisms of gender pay transparency to propose a way forward to increase transparency in gender pay for South Africa. In addition to a discussion of existing mechanisms, a summary of the gender pay transparency mechanisms of 16 countries is provided as supplementary material to the article. We found that South Africa could strengthen legislated transparency mechanisms, especially with regard to pay re...

Il 28 maggio 2021 alle 15 sulla piattaforma Teams si terrà il seminario "Con o senza diritto? Diritto e diseguaglianze di genere”, a partire dalla discussione dell'omonima sezione tematica pubblicata nel n. 15 della rivista "AG. About gender. Rivista internazionale di studi di genere" delle donne. L’incontro è promosso dal Gruppo di lavoro interuniversitario sulla soggettività politica delle donne, in collaborazione con la Rivista AG. About Gender.

The German Constitution of 1949 included - after vehement discussions at the constitutional convention and protests from the women's movement - the principle of equal rights for men and women in the equality clause. An explicit anti-discrimination rule was added. The long process of interpreting the principle and applying it to individual cases followed. The first step was to recognize that it was not only a "program sentence" or constitutional aim, but an individual right. It took decades to define the scope of the principle and to test regulations with gender implications whether they followed the constitutional principle. Many cases were taken to the Federal Constitutional Court, mostly by women from the German Women Jurists' Association. In 1976 the EU Equal Treatment Directive gave the development a new momentum, and, after the turn of the millennium the EU Antidiscrimination Directives, which in turn led to the German General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz) of 2007. Following a change in legal regulations and the resulting adjudication and the general "modernization" of society, German society changed profoundly. The strong classical breadwinner-housewife model is practically obsolete and Germany has one of the highest labor force participation rates of women. Family law has also been reformed several times. The most difficult part was the change in attitude and approaches.