For better or worse?: the marriage of human rights and social movements, a case study in Canadian equality litigation
| dc.contributor.author | Spencer, Jennifer | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Brodribb, Somer | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-02-27T00:02:58Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-02-27T00:02:58Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2000 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Women's Studies | |
| dc.degree.department | Faculty of Law | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Political Science | |
| dc.description.abstract | The use of equality by social movements is complicated by the constraints of rights-based liberalism and dominant ideologies of the family. The tensions between legal victory and fully realized social change are explored through a case study of social movement Charter arguments on same-sex spousal recognition (M. v. H., Supreme Court of Canada, May 20, 1999). Using Dorothy Smith's work on ideological codes, I map how the dominant liberal legal code and a formal equality decision organize and contain specific feminist, lesbian and gay goals for family status and equality. Legislative responses to the legal ' victory' are assessed as reasserting and reinforcing traditional familial ideology over equality considerations. The theoretical discussion of the utility of rights highlights how pragmatic strategies alone do not necessarily sustain progressive feminist and lesbian visions of social transformation. Caution is advised when engaging human rights mechanisms as part of a strategy for progressive social change. | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23363 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | |
| dc.title | For better or worse?: the marriage of human rights and social movements, a case study in Canadian equality litigation | |
| dc.type | Thesis |