ABSTRACT
First, the tools of feminist analysis can be employed to question the centrality of the child, that is, whether the law is more effective in protecting the interests of others, principally the adults who care for the child, than in safeguarding the child.37 Secondly, feminist perspectives challenge the gender neutrality of law. Liberal feminism accepted the existence of natural or essential differences between the sexes but sought equal treatment of the sexes within the law. Radical feminism located the explanation for the oppression of women within the differences between the sexes. A constructivist approach sees differences as socially constructed and seeks, by exposing the way in which discourses construct subjects differently, to create the space for alternative understandings to emerge. Consequently, feminist perspectives may expose treatment of the child within the law as pre-gender or gender neutral, masking the extent to which the identity and experiences of the male and female child are distinct.
