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Women's Labour, Relationship Breakdown and Ownership of the Family Farm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Lori Chambers
Lori Chambers
Affiliation:
Department of Women's Studies, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON P7B [email protected]
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Abstract

The dominant story of matrimonial property law reform in English Canada treats the farming family case of Murdoch v. Murdoch as the great catalyst for change, but there are persistent inequalities affecting farm women, even in provinces that have made progressive changes in the law of relationship breakdown. The farm is the quintessential family business and is both place of residence and source of income. Since the farm is not readily divisible, it is not surprising that all the major marital property law cases to reach the Supreme Court of Canada have involved farm property. What is surprising is that most provincial property reforms, though inspired by the Murdoch case, explicitly exclude farms from division, and those that include farms in the property to be divided still have mechanisms that tend to favour husbands. This article examines Canadian courts' gendered conceptualization of what constitutes a family business by examining the cases on farm property and the related legislative reforms. Feminists, and all women who have benefited from matrimonial property law reform, have an obligation to recognize the problems created by our persistent failure to understand the farm as simultaneously home and place of business.

Résumé

Au Canada anglais, le discours dominant de la réforme du droit lié aux biens immobiliers matrimoniaux considère le cas familial de Murdoch c. Murdoch comme un grand catalyseur du changement. Néanmoins, il existe toujours des inégalités affectant les femmes sur les fermes et ce, même dans les provinces qui ont apporté des changements progressifs en terme du droit liés à la rupture d'une relation conjugale. La ferme représente l'entreprise familiale par excellence. Elle constitue à la fois une résidence familiale ainsi qu'une source de revenu. Étant donné que la ferme n'est pas facilement divisible, il n'est pas surprenant que tous les cas immobiliers matrimoniaux majeurs qui se sont rendus à la Cour suprême du Canada ont impliqué des fermes. Ce qui est toutefois surprenant est le fait que la plupart des réformes immobilières provinciales, inspirées par le cas de Murdoch, excluent toujours la possibilité de diviser les fermes. Même les réformes qui permettent l'inclusion de la ferme dans la division des biens immobiliers ont des mécanismes ayant tendance à favoriser les maris. Cet article examine comment les cours canadiennes mettent de l'avant une conceptualisation de l'entreprise familiale fondée sur le sexe, en examinant les cas légaux qui incluent des biens immobiliers agricoles ainsi que les réformes législatives connexes. Les féministes ainsi que toutes les femmes qui ont bénéficié des réformes liées aux biens immobiliers matrimoniaux doivent reconnaître les problèmes créés par notre incapacité persistante de considérer la ferme comme étant simultanément une résidence familiale ainsi qu'une entreprise.

Keywords

farmfarmingmarital propertyproperty divisionrelationship breakdownferme ou exploitation agricolepropriété matrimonialedivision de la propriétérupture de relation
Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , April 2010 , pp. 75 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2010

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