Reading Bourne’s and Derry’s Gender and the Law (Routledge 2018)

In this review of Bourne’s and Derry’s Gender and the Law, we reflect on how legal discourses constitute and are constitutive of gender and sexuality norms. We find that Bourne’s and Derry’s book is firmly grounded in both historical legal analysis and contemporary critique and challenges the notion of gender neutrality, which is commonplace in many legal system. It argues for a multifaceted understanding that draws on feminist, queer, as well as transgender theories. Bourne and Derry revisit the discursive power of law through which gender norms are perpetuated and scrutinise its role in reinforcing oppressive gender stereotypes across different legal domains including employment, relationships, and criminal law, inter alia. Their work is divided into eleven chapters. Each of the chapters explores a different facet of gender and law, ranging from historical perspectives on women’s rights to practical implications and issues of implementation in relation to consent and reproductive rights, to name but two. The book represents a useful contribution to the research in discourse analysis on gender and law and offers a helpful foundation for further empirical research in legal linguistics and legal semiotics. At the same time, it is a plea in favour of rigorously dismantling of systemic patriarchal and heteronormative structures within legal discourse locally, regionally, and globally. We suggest that while Bourne’s and Derry’s focus is primarily on the UK and European context, the insights presented clearly have global relevance. This is particularly evident when assessing the social critique the book pursues when assessed against the normative catalogue of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on the insights gained from Bourne and Derry’s work, we call for the transformative integration of gender-critical perspectives into research in legal linguistics and legal semiotics and point out the need to address gender biases in legal discourses with a view to achieving justice and equality for all in legal systems around the globe.