Forensic Linguistics and Language and Law – Julien Longhi & Nadia Makouar
Gender in laws
This presentation intends to discuss the ways in which laws of different countries address gender and the representations the reveal about gender roles in the societies they regulate. These information will more especially be examined in comparison with the reality of tensions, place and role problematics LGBTQ+ people meet in their everyday life, although there are antidiscrimination laws, and as far as specific laws exist to protect them and make sure they are treated in equality of rights. On the pragmatic side, laws appear to be more intentional than operational as reality of life for the concerned people is often very different from what laws generally say. The question then is the gap in between what laws are supposed to aim at and rule, and the social facts and interactions that rule every day's life. People's rights and their place in the society they live in, seems to depend on gendered representations, whatever the laws seem to enunciate. The focus will be directed on three different countries : France, England and India, and on the way some of their laws address more or less specifically the LGBTQ+ community place in society, and how this does or not affect their everyday life. More especially, France and England will be compared in terms of same sex couples marriage and families and their rights; India, will be examined as it has a third gender registered in its Constitution. The global problematic of gender and the law is here about the presupposed (intended) equality of rights for women and men, and how it meets the reality of their life.
NB: this work is the result of a "Délégation CNRS" with field research in the 3 concerned countries, and based on 36 interviews + bibliography
