Women, Law and Culture

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Introduction

   • Jocelynne A. Scutt

   Pages 1-14

3. Identity & Representation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15

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4. Identity & Representation

   1. ‘It’s Time to Go!’ ‘You’re Fired’: Australian Big Brother (2005) and Britain’s The Apprentice (2014)

      • Robin Joyce

      Pages 17-33

   2. Modern Laws, Human Rights and Marginalisation of Courtesan and Transgender Performers in India

      • Anna Morcom

      Pages 35-50

   3. Targeting Muslims Through Women’s Dress: The Niqab and the Psychological War against Muslims

      • Susan S. M. Edwards

      Pages 51-68

   4. The Asymmetrical Representation of Gender in Islamic Family Law

      • Nahda Shehada

      Pages 69-87

   5. War, Conflict and Gender Ideologies: Middle Eastern Images and Realities

      • Shadia Edwards-Dashti

      Pages 89-106

5. Space & Place

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 107-107

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   2. Woman as Cabbage to Women as Prime Ministers and Presidents: Demanding Women’s Rightful Space in the Film and Television Industry

      • Karen Buczynski-Lee

      Pages 109-126

   3. Accessing Urban Public Space for a Livelihood: India, Thailand and Philippines in Comparative Perspective

      • Gisèle Yasmeen

      Pages 127-140

   4. ‘No Place like Home’—The Human Rights of Women in Aged-Care

      • Greta Bird, Jo Bird

      Pages 141-159

   5. Defending Your Country…and Gender—Legal Challenges and Opportunities Confronting Women in the Military

      • Amy Gaudion

      Pages 161-180

   6. No Place for a Woman: Harmful Practices, Religion and State Responses

      • Pragna Patel

      Pages 181-202

6. Bodily & Psychic Integrity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 203-203

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7. Bodily & Psychic Integrity

   1. ‘For the Husband Is the Head of the Wife’: Ephesians 5

      • Patmalar Ambikapathy Thuraisingham

      Pages 205-220

   2. Why Does He Abuse? Why Does She Stay?

      • Cathryn Goodchild

      Pages 221-238

   3. Commodification of Women and Girls at Home: The Festering of India’s Male Violence

      • Lynette J. Dumble

      Pages 239-262

   4. Seeking Equality—Justice and Women’s and Girls’ Human Right Not to Be Subjected to Non-State Torture

      • Jeanne Sarson, Linda MacDonald

      Pages 263-281

   5. Conclusion

      • Jocelynne A. Scutt

      Pages 283-301

This book explores cultural constructs, societal demands and political and philosophical underpinnings that position women in the world. It illustrates the way culture controls women's place in the world and how cultural constraints are not limited to any one culture, country, ethnicity, race, class or status. Written by scholars from a wide range of specialists in law, sociology, anthropology, popular and cultural studies, history, communications, film and sex and gender, this study provides an authoritative take on different cultures, cultural demands and constraints, contradictions and requirements for conformity generating conflict.


Women, Law and Culture is distinctive because it recognises that no particular culture singles out women for 'special' treatment, rules and requirements; rather, all do. Highlighting the way law and culture are intimately intertwined, impacting on women – whatever their country and social and economic status – this book will be of great interest to scholars of law, women’s and gender studies and media studies. 

• Criminology
• Socio-legal studies
• Gender studies
• Queer
• Transgender
• Human Rights
• Criminal Law
• Cultural Studies
• Violence
• Domestic Abuse
• Identity

• University of Buckingham , Buckingham, United Kingdom

  Jocelynne A. Scutt

Jocelynne A. Scutt is a Barrister and Human Rights Lawyer, member of the Inner Temple (London) and Victorian Bar (Melbourne), and Visiting Professor and Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Buckingham, UK, where she teaches Criminal Law, Constitutional Law and Administrative Law, and Sex, Gender and Minorities in Law.

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