ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that despite innovative feminist work that seeks to re-examine care by setting aside its roots in the sexual division of labour and women's work, in the field of post-separation parenting law at least, feminists ignore the gendered nature of care at their peril. Feminist work on child custody did not originally emerge from the C. Gilligan ethic of care tradition, which is often cast as abstract, idealist, and essentialist. The chapter discusses feminist approaches to care in this field before considering the relationship between care and autonomy. It describes a small number of interviews conducted with advocates for women and for fathers' rights who have been involved in parenting law reform consultations in the UK and Canada. It reviews six interviews conducted in 2003 and 2004 with equivalent Canadian group representatives from a larger set of interviews, attempting to choose a range of groups and voices.
