Familial ideology,family law and mediation: Law casts more than a ‘shadow’

Pickett examines the contemporary debate among feminists over the risks of mediation as an alternative to the formal legal process in the area of child custody disputes. Pickett argues that the dichotomous nature of many feminist critiques of mediation suggests that law can operate outside the influence of a familial ideology which disadvantages women and which plays a large part within the discourse of the family mediation movement. Instead of seeing law and mediation as radical alternatives, with law as the preferred choice, Pickett suggests that these two modes of discourse are best seen as forming a continuum in terms of the superversion and regulation of the family.