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När domstolen blundar för våldet - En genusrättsvetenskaplig diskursanalys av konstruktionen av kön i mål om vårdnad, boende och umgänge där fäder brukat våld mot mödrar

Holmström, Hilda LU (2022) JURM02 20222
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Arbetet utgör en analys av vilka föreställningar om kön som skapas och åter-skapas i mål om vårdnad, boende och umgänge där fäder brukat våld mot mödrar. En utgångspunkt i arbetet är att våldet förstås utifrån könskategorier, eftersom det främst är fäder som är våldsutövare och mödrar som är våldsut-satta. Arbetet antar ett feministiskt och socialkonstruktionistiskt angreppssätt, vilket innebär att arbetet vilar på en grundsats om att kunskap är socialt skapat. Således förstås även kön som socialt konstruerat. För att uppnå syftet med arbetet studerar jag rätten utifrån diskurser, det vill säga hur rättens kommuni-kation visar på dess dominerande förståelse av världen. Detta görs genom Bacchis WPR-analys, där ett visst antal frågor... (More)
Arbetet utgör en analys av vilka föreställningar om kön som skapas och åter-skapas i mål om vårdnad, boende och umgänge där fäder brukat våld mot mödrar. En utgångspunkt i arbetet är att våldet förstås utifrån könskategorier, eftersom det främst är fäder som är våldsutövare och mödrar som är våldsut-satta. Arbetet antar ett feministiskt och socialkonstruktionistiskt angreppssätt, vilket innebär att arbetet vilar på en grundsats om att kunskap är socialt skapat. Således förstås även kön som socialt konstruerat. För att uppnå syftet med arbetet studerar jag rätten utifrån diskurser, det vill säga hur rättens kommuni-kation visar på dess dominerande förståelse av världen. Detta görs genom Bacchis WPR-analys, där ett visst antal frågor besvaras, om hur ett problem framställs, hur det hade kunnat framställas annorlunda och vilka föreställning-ar som ligger bakom problemframställningen.
En stor del av arbetet utgörs av en rapport från Jämställdhetsmyndigheten, som visar att domstolar sällan nämner eller beaktar uppgifter om våld i mål om vårdnad, boende eller umgänge. I andra fall omnämner domstolen uppgifterna som samarbetssvårigheter eller konflikter. Bland annat framgår av rapporten att uppgifter om våld framförs i minst 64 procent av målen som granskas, men i endast cirka åtta procent beaktas våldet i hög grad. Utifrån rapporten har jag summerat hur domstolen begripliggör problemet om fäders våld mot mödrar, nämligen som: en könlös konflikt som löses genom att föräldrarna är överens, som saknar uppenbara implikationer för barnet och som är underordnad kon-taktprincipen. I arbetet följer sedan en feministisk problematisering av fäders våld mot mödrar, med ett större fokus på barnperspektivet samt på kön och makt. Diskurser jag identifierat som föregår domstolarnas problemframställ-ning delas upp i tre huvudkategorier: moderskap, faderskap och familj; mäns våld mot kvinnor och våld i nära relation; samt samarbete och samarbetssvå-righeter. Rättens kommunikation om moderskap, faderskap och familj ger uttryck för en föreställning om att fadern är normen i en utåt sett könsneutral lagstiftning, eftersom det stöd rätten förmedlar främst tillvaratar fäders intres-sen. Därtill framställs gemensam vårdnad som huvudregel eftersom ett barn förmodas behöva båda sina föräldrar för att må bra. Rättskällor framför även att umgänge med fadern är det bästa för barnet. Det kan rentav tolkas som att det snarare är en fars rätt att umgås med sitt barn än det motsatta förhållandet. Vad gäller huvudkategorin om mäns våld mot kvinnor och våld i nära relation framställs våld i rättskällorna som en könlös konflikt mellan två jämbördiga parter. Rättskällorna fokuserar till stor del på just konflikter och mindre på våld. Därutöver har jag identifierat en föreställning om att fäders våld mot mödrar inte innebär någon risk för barnet. Det saknas förståelse för konse-kvenser av fäders våld mot mödrar, framför allt beträffande barnperspektivet. I den sista huvudkategorin om samarbete och samarbetssvårigheter framställs en tydlig föreställning i rättskällorna om att samförståndslösningar är det bästa för barnet. Överenskommelser, samarbetssamtal, medlare och informations-samtal syftar till att skapa förutsättningar för att föräldrarna ska komma över-ens, men problematiserar inte att föräldrars samförståndslösningar inte alltid måste vara det bästa för barnet. Samtidigt ger rättskällorna uttryck för en före-ställning att just mödrars samarbetssvårigheter innebär en stor risk för barnet. Det framställs som en stor brist att utöva exempelvis umgängessabotage, även om det är barnet som vägrar. Eftersom mödrar oftast är boendeföräldrar är det också främst mödrar som beskylls för samarbetssvårigheter och umgängessa-botage. Rättskällorna antar en sträng hållning mot samarbetssvårigheter, sam-tidigt som fäders våld mot mödrar som ovan nämnt inte framställs som en stor risk för barnet.
Diskussionen i arbetet besvarar frågan om hur kön produceras och reproduce-ras i mål om vårdnad, boende och umgänge där uppgifter om fäders våld mot mödrar framkommit. Fortsatt manlig överordnad och kvinnlig underordnad reproduceras av rätten då könsaspekten berövas från våldet. Våldet normali-seras och framställs som en acceptabel del av manlighet. Kvinnlighet däremot sammankopplas med manipulering och onda avsikter. Gemensam vårdnad som huvudregel konstruerar moderskapet (och därmed det kvinnliga könet) som omvårdande och som ansvarig för barnets trygghet och fysiska och psy-kiska behov. Inom moderskapet konstrueras även ett ansvar att se till att bar-nets och faderns relation är bra. Faderskapet (och därmed det manliga könet) konstrueras som oförmögen att vara omvårdande och kopplas istället samman med auktoritet och rationalitet genom den bestämmanderätt som gemensam vårdnad innebär för fäder. (Less)
Abstract
This essay constitutes an analysis of which ideas about gender that are being produced and reproduced in custody, residence and contact cases, where fa-thers have been violent towards mothers. The essay is based on the under-standing that violence is connected to categories of gender, since perpetrators primarily constitutes of fathers while mothers are usually the victims of vio-lence. The essay assumes a feminist and social constructionist approach. This means that the essay is based on a notion that knowledge it being created so-cially. Thus, gender is also understood as socially constructed. In order to achieve the purpose of the essay, I study the law through discourses. That means that I study the law through how the communication of... (More)
This essay constitutes an analysis of which ideas about gender that are being produced and reproduced in custody, residence and contact cases, where fa-thers have been violent towards mothers. The essay is based on the under-standing that violence is connected to categories of gender, since perpetrators primarily constitutes of fathers while mothers are usually the victims of vio-lence. The essay assumes a feminist and social constructionist approach. This means that the essay is based on a notion that knowledge it being created so-cially. Thus, gender is also understood as socially constructed. In order to achieve the purpose of the essay, I study the law through discourses. That means that I study the law through how the communication of the law reveals its dominant understanding of the world. I use Bacchi’s WPR analysis to study discourses, where a few questions are answered, about how a problem is represented, how it could have been represented differently, and what ideas that has affected the representation.
The essay largely consists of a report from the Swedish Gender Equality Agency. The report shows that courts rarely mention or consider information about violence in custody, residence and contact cases. Sometimes, the court refers to information about violence as cooperation difficulties or conflicts. For instance, the report shows that information about violence is presented in at least 64 percent of the cases that are reviewed, but only in about eight per-cent of the cases, violence is significantly considered in court. Based on the report, I have summarized how courts understand and interpret the problem of fathers’ violence against mothers, namely as: a genderless conflict which can be resolved simply if the parents come to an agreement, which has no obvious implications for the child and which is subordinate to the principle of contact. The essay then presents a feminist problematization of fathers’ violence against mothers, with a greater focus on the children’s perspective and on gendered power. Discourses I have identified that precede the courts’ repre-sentation of the problem are categorized as follows: motherhood, fatherhood, and family; men’s violence against women and domestic violence; and coop-eration and cooperation difficulties. The law’s communication about mother-hood, fatherhood, and family expresses a conception that the father is the norm in an alleged gender neutral legislation. That is because the legislative endorsement primarily supports fathers’ interests. In addition, joint custody is presented as the main rule because of an assumption that the child needs both parents to be safe and healthy. The law also constitutes an idea that what is best for a child is contact with the father. It can actually be interpreted as a father’s right to have contact with his child, rather than the opposite way. Re-garding the category of men’s violence against women and domestic violence, violence is presented in the law as a genderless conflict between two equal parts. The law focuses largely on conflicts and less on violence. In addition, I have identified a conception that fathers’ violence against mothers poses no risk to the child. There is a lack of understanding concerning the consequenc-es of fathers’ violence against mothers, especially regarding the child. In the last main category, on cooperation and cooperation difficulties, a distinct idea is presented in the law that solutions by compromise are what is best for the child. Agreements, attempts of cooperation, mediators and information dia-logues aim to create conditions for the parents to come to an agreement. How-ever, they do not problematize the fact that parents’ solutions by compromise not always have to assimilate with what is best for the child. Additionally, the law gives expression to an idea that mothers’ cooperation difficulties pose a great risk to the child. It is presented as a major flaw to sabotage for example contact, even if it is the child that refuses the contact. Since mothers are usual-ly the residential parent, it is manly mothers that get blamed for cooperation difficulties and sabotage of contact. The law takes a strict stance against coop-eration difficulties, while fathers’ violence against mothers, as mentioned above, is not presented as a great of a risk for the child.
The discussion part of the essay answers the question of how gender is being produced and reproduced in custody, residence and contact cases where in-formation about fathers’ violence against mothers has been presented. Contin-ued male superiority and female subordinance are reproduced by the law when violence is deprived of the gendered aspect. The violence is normalized and presented as an acceptable part of masculinity. Femininity, on the other hand, is associated with manipulation. Joint custody as the main rule con-structs the mother (and thus the female gender) as the primarily caretaker for the child as well as responsible for the child’s security and physical and psy-chological needs. Within motherhood, a responsibility is also constructed to ensure that the relationship between the child and the father is good. Fathers (and thus the male gender) are constructed as unable to take responsibility for the child and its needs. Fatherhood is instead connected with authority and rationality through the right of decision-making that joint custody presents to fathers. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Holmström, Hilda LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
When the court refuses to see the violence
course
JURM02 20222
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Familjerätt, Rättssociologi, Rättsvetenskap, Genusrättsvetenskap, Diskursanalys
language
Swedish
id
9105266
date added to LUP
2023-01-24 08:58:52
date last changed
2023-01-24 08:58:52
@misc{9105266,
  abstract     = {{This essay constitutes an analysis of which ideas about gender that are being produced and reproduced in custody, residence and contact cases, where fa-thers have been violent towards mothers. The essay is based on the under-standing that violence is connected to categories of gender, since perpetrators primarily constitutes of fathers while mothers are usually the victims of vio-lence. The essay assumes a feminist and social constructionist approach. This means that the essay is based on a notion that knowledge it being created so-cially. Thus, gender is also understood as socially constructed. In order to achieve the purpose of the essay, I study the law through discourses. That means that I study the law through how the communication of the law reveals its dominant understanding of the world. I use Bacchi’s WPR analysis to study discourses, where a few questions are answered, about how a problem is represented, how it could have been represented differently, and what ideas that has affected the representation. 
The essay largely consists of a report from the Swedish Gender Equality Agency. The report shows that courts rarely mention or consider information about violence in custody, residence and contact cases. Sometimes, the court refers to information about violence as cooperation difficulties or conflicts. For instance, the report shows that information about violence is presented in at least 64 percent of the cases that are reviewed, but only in about eight per-cent of the cases, violence is significantly considered in court. Based on the report, I have summarized how courts understand and interpret the problem of fathers’ violence against mothers, namely as: a genderless conflict which can be resolved simply if the parents come to an agreement, which has no obvious implications for the child and which is subordinate to the principle of contact. The essay then presents a feminist problematization of fathers’ violence against mothers, with a greater focus on the children’s perspective and on gendered power. Discourses I have identified that precede the courts’ repre-sentation of the problem are categorized as follows: motherhood, fatherhood, and family; men’s violence against women and domestic violence; and coop-eration and cooperation difficulties. The law’s communication about mother-hood, fatherhood, and family expresses a conception that the father is the norm in an alleged gender neutral legislation. That is because the legislative endorsement primarily supports fathers’ interests. In addition, joint custody is presented as the main rule because of an assumption that the child needs both parents to be safe and healthy. The law also constitutes an idea that what is best for a child is contact with the father. It can actually be interpreted as a father’s right to have contact with his child, rather than the opposite way. Re-garding the category of men’s violence against women and domestic violence, violence is presented in the law as a genderless conflict between two equal parts. The law focuses largely on conflicts and less on violence. In addition, I have identified a conception that fathers’ violence against mothers poses no risk to the child. There is a lack of understanding concerning the consequenc-es of fathers’ violence against mothers, especially regarding the child. In the last main category, on cooperation and cooperation difficulties, a distinct idea is presented in the law that solutions by compromise are what is best for the child. Agreements, attempts of cooperation, mediators and information dia-logues aim to create conditions for the parents to come to an agreement. How-ever, they do not problematize the fact that parents’ solutions by compromise not always have to assimilate with what is best for the child. Additionally, the law gives expression to an idea that mothers’ cooperation difficulties pose a great risk to the child. It is presented as a major flaw to sabotage for example contact, even if it is the child that refuses the contact. Since mothers are usual-ly the residential parent, it is manly mothers that get blamed for cooperation difficulties and sabotage of contact. The law takes a strict stance against coop-eration difficulties, while fathers’ violence against mothers, as mentioned above, is not presented as a great of a risk for the child.
The discussion part of the essay answers the question of how gender is being produced and reproduced in custody, residence and contact cases where in-formation about fathers’ violence against mothers has been presented. Contin-ued male superiority and female subordinance are reproduced by the law when violence is deprived of the gendered aspect. The violence is normalized and presented as an acceptable part of masculinity. Femininity, on the other hand, is associated with manipulation. Joint custody as the main rule con-structs the mother (and thus the female gender) as the primarily caretaker for the child as well as responsible for the child’s security and physical and psy-chological needs. Within motherhood, a responsibility is also constructed to ensure that the relationship between the child and the father is good. Fathers (and thus the male gender) are constructed as unable to take responsibility for the child and its needs. Fatherhood is instead connected with authority and rationality through the right of decision-making that joint custody presents to fathers.}},
  author       = {{Holmström, Hilda}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{När domstolen blundar för våldet - En genusrättsvetenskaplig diskursanalys av konstruktionen av kön i mål om vårdnad, boende och umgänge där fäder brukat våld mot mödrar}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}