Journal article

Gendered Denials: Vulnerability Created by Barriers to Legal Capacity for Women and Disabled Women

Anna Arstein-Kerslake

International Journal of Law and Psychiatry | Elsevier | Published : 2019

Abstract

This article explores the vulnerability that is created when legal capacity is denied to women and disabled women. It argues that vulnerability is largely contingent on social constructs – as opposed to being an inherent quality of disability or gender. It discusses barriers to the exercise of legal capacity that women and disabled women experience – such as limitations on reproductive choice, higher rates of substituted decision-making, and unique experiences with forced mental health treatment. It then explores evidence that such barriers are dis-empowering and can leave women and disabled women vulnerable to abuse and marginalisation. It explores financial, physical and sexual abuse that c..

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University of Melbourne Researchers