ABSTRACT
It was estimated that more than 1 million marriages would end in divorce in 1994, with more than 75% involving children (Mathis & Yingling, 1990). For many, the marriage was terminated through litigation, an approach steeped within the patriarchal structure that perpetuates the traditional gender-biased power imbalance. Others, however, chose a nonadversarial process, such as divorce mediation. This approach is designed to counter the problems inherent in the adversarial process, particularly balancing power differentials. Although this is a worthy goal, the extent to which this is possible must be critically examined. In other words, does divorce mediation, in fact, correct the inequities of the traditional adversarial court system or does it function to maintain the hegemonic distribution of power inherent in a patriarchal society. This chapter addresses this concern by examining divorce from an historical perspective, what divorce mediation is, and its advantages and disadvantages as it attempts to operate within existing societal and political constraints.
