Mediating wife assault: Battered women and the "new family."

Abstract

As the battered women's movement was fighting to politicize wife assault, a movement towards mediation services in and around tie court system was also growing. Today, cases of wife assault and other disputes involving battered women and their partners may be channelled into mediation, where assumptions of equality in the family offer little or no protection to the battered woman. This paper presents the growth of mediation and the effects of mediation philosophy as examples of the failure of reform based on a concept of the public and private as distinct spheres. The public/ private dichotomy is now of limited use to feminist arguments, for mediation, although it has limited public accountability, is interdependent with the more formal court process. This study of the ramifications of mediation offers evidence that the theme of the new, egalitarian family is seeping into the family court system, where it conflicts with the more traditional view of the dependent wife, to the disadvantage of battered women. Fighting for formal legal intervention alone fails to address other legal processes and ideologies faced by battered women. Awareness of both formal and administrative justice, and recognition of the ways in which they interact are essential for addressing the legal response to wife assault. Toward this end, a revised conceptualization of the public and private distinction is encouraged.