Motherhood and Family Law

Abstract

Throughout the broad sweep of history and related disciplines, including the law, can be found instruction with respect to the issue of motherhood. In one sense, it transcends culture; in another, it is a cultural construct. It is imbued with gender specificity and is profoundly important to children. This thesis explores motherhood’s relationship with family law and seeks to illustrate how, through uneasy tensions over time, it may have been compromised in modern child care law in New Zealand. It discusses whether parenting law should continue to adopt a gender neutral approach or whether, in considering a child’s welfare and best interests, there may be a case for greater recognition and restoration of gendered parenting relationships and perhaps, therefore, a repeal of s4(3) of the Care of Children Act 2004.