You have full access to this open access chapter. This chapter critically analyses different socio-legal phenomena through a feminist prism on gender.
With an aim to promote gender equality, it addresses the problems of structural gender inequalities in both private and public social spheres. Outlining the political, economic and ideological connection between laws and specific social contexts, it uncovers hidden effects of social reproduction and construction of gender and sexuality. Deconstructing the gender binary system and provoking a heterosexual matrix, it shows how traditional, patriarchal gender roles determine and establish the social position in the structure of society.
Dealing with the gender in sensitive education, production, and reinforcement of gender inequalities in the labour market, and media re presentation of gender and symbolic violence, it shows how widely accepted values and gender roles shape, and ultimately define, the access to social resources, professional positions and social status. Limiting research to only some areas of this broad socio-legal thematic, this chapter addresses some policies for overcoming structural inequalities based on gender.
Authors are listed in alphabetical order. You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF. This chapter aims to address and contribute to the understanding of some key concepts and contexts, explaining the implications and causal factors of gender inequality. In this sense, this chapter hopes to contribute to a better understanding of the specific legal chapters that will be presented hereafter. It will discuss institutionalised gender inequalities within the educational systems, labour market, politics, and media, among others.
These main concepts and topics on gender and their implications in everyday life, will shed light on how gender inequalities operate. In turn, it will lead to a better comprehension of the structural gender determinants of law, and their application in the law disciplines throughout the subsequent chapters. The key concepts and points that will be covered in this chapter are: social reproduction of gender and sexuality; gendered power relations in law and society; gender regimes of inequality; structural inequalities; gender socialization; gender segregation; gender representation; hegemonic masculinity; rape culture; structural violence, and global patriarchal legacies.
