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- Title
Bastardy, Gender Hierarchy, and the State: The Politics of Family Law Reform in Antigua and Barbuda.
- Authors
Lazarus-Black, Mindie
- Abstract
The article discusses the family law reforms in Antigua and Barbuda. In a landmark act at the end of 1986, the Parliament of recently independent Antigua and Barbuda legally banished bastardy and made "illegitimacy" legitimate. This article summarizes a portion of the author's dissertation related to family laws. "The Status of Children Act," and two companion measures, the "Births Act" and the "Interstate Act," redefine centuries-old kinship relationships and restructure the duties, obligations, and property rights of kin. Three important changes resulted. For the first time, discrimination against a person on the basis of birth status is now illegal; men can acknowledge their illegitimate children by complying with a simple procedure; and all children so recognized inherit from their fathers' estates. In this article, the author explains why these statutes and the events that contextualize their passage mark a critical turning point in the history of Antiguan family organization and in the use of family law as an instrument of class, kinship, and gender relations.
- Subjects
ANTIGUA &; Barbuda; ILLEGITIMACY; DOMESTIC relations; PARENT-child legal relationship; GENDER inequality; KINSHIP
- Publication
Law & Society Review, 1992, Vol 26, Issue 4, p863
- ISSN
0023-9216
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/3053821