| Popis: |
Allocation of a child’s custody after divorce relies upon the universal principle of the child’s best interest. Nevertheless, it is argued that despite its seemingly gender-neutral nature, one of the shortcomings caused by the uncertainty of such a principle is that it paves the way for gender discrimination. As a result, the topic of child custody has increasingly been mentioned in the framework of equality between men and women, as shown by references made to the relationship between custody law and gender equality both in international instruments relating to women’s rights and in those relating to children’s rights. In this paper we analyze the relationship between different interpretation methods of the seemingly gender-neutral principle of the child’s best interest and gender equality in the context of allocation of custody after divorce. We go through the tender years, primary caretaker and joint custody concepts, which are the methods used or proposed to be used to concretize the principle of the child’s best interest in different law systems and in Turkish law and contemplate whether they enable to achieve the goal of gender equality. On the grounds of these findings we discuss whether it is possible to achieve a child custody law which can reconcile the principle of the child’s best interest with gender equality. |
