The Gender of Capital : How Families Perpetuate Wealth Inequality / Céline Bessière, Sibylle Gollac.
2023
HQ1237.5.F8 B4813 2023eb
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Title
The Gender of Capital : How Families Perpetuate Wealth Inequality / Céline Bessière, Sibylle Gollac.
Author
ISBN
9780674292796
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2023]
Copyright
©2023
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (320 p.)
Item Number
10.4159/9780674292796 doi
Call Number
HQ1237.5.F8 B4813 2023eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
305.420944
Summary
Two leading social scientists examine the gender wealth gap in countries with officially egalitarian property law, showing how legal professionals-wittingly and unwittingly-help rich families and men maintain their privilege.In many countries, property law grants equal rights to men and women. Why, then, do women still accumulate less wealth than men? Combining quantitative, ethnographic, and archival research, The Gender of Capital explains how and why, in every class of society, women are economically disadvantaged with respect to their husbands, fathers, and brothers. The reasons lie with the unfair economic arrangements that play out in divorce proceedings, estate planning, and other crucial situations where law and family life intersect.Céline Bessière and Sibylle Gollac argue that, whatever the law intends, too many outcomes are imprinted with unthought sexism. In private decisions, old habits die hard: families continue to allocate resources disproportionately to benefit boys and men. Meanwhile, the legal profession remains in thrall to assumptions that reinforce gender inequality. Bessière and Gollac marshal a range of economic data documenting these biases. They also examine scores of family histories and interview family members, lawyers, and notaries to identify the accounting tricks that tip the scales in favor of men.Women across the class spectrum-from poor single mothers to MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos-can face systematic economic disadvantages in divorce cases. The same is true in matters of inheritance and succession in family-owned businesses. Moreover, these disadvantages perpetuate broader social disparities beyond gender inequality. As Bessière and Gollac make clear, the appropriation of capital by men has helped to secure the rigid hierarchies of contemporary class society itself.
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Access limited to authorized users.
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Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
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text file PDF
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Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Mai 2023)
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print 9780674271791
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Preface to the English Edition
Introduction
1. The Family as an Economic Institution
2. Family Reproduction versus Women's Wealth
3. Acquit the Strong and Condemn the Weak
4. Sexist Accounting under Cover of Egalitarian Law
5. Tax Avoidance and Family Peace at the Expense of Women
6. Can the Courts Make Up for Wealth Inequality?
7. The Particular Hardships of Proletarian Ex-Wives
Conclusion
Statistical Appendixes
Ethnographic and Archival Sources
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Contents
Preface to the English Edition
Introduction
1. The Family as an Economic Institution
2. Family Reproduction versus Women's Wealth
3. Acquit the Strong and Condemn the Weak
4. Sexist Accounting under Cover of Egalitarian Law
5. Tax Avoidance and Family Peace at the Expense of Women
6. Can the Courts Make Up for Wealth Inequality?
7. The Particular Hardships of Proletarian Ex-Wives
Conclusion
Statistical Appendixes
Ethnographic and Archival Sources
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index