1. INTRODUCTION

It goes without saying that John Eekelaar is a giant of family law, not just in the United Kingdom, but across the world. His writing on children’s rights, in particular, has been field-defining, and no student essay (or, indeed, academic article) is complete without a reference to his work. What is less well known is the quieter contribution Professor Eekelaar has made to the thinking – and writing – of those around him. Whether it be in conferences, workshops, or through his work on the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, his engagement with the ideas of others – and particularly young scholars coming through the ranks, unsure of their academic footing – has encouraged a new generation of family lawyers.

This chapter seeks to build on Professor Eekelaar’s later work on law, gender and the understanding of identity, which will be examined in section 2. Section 3 will then explore the role that the law plays in defining and confining the concepts of sex and gender, and how this corresponds with individual sex/gender identification. Section 4 will examine the reasons why the law wishes to regulate sex/gender, and highlight the advantages and disadvantages that this has for various groups within society. Section 5 will then go on to provide possible models of reform, proposing a new way forward that does not rely on sex/gender as a uniform and unchanging legal identity, but as a legal concept whose definition changes depending on the context in which it is employed. Finally, section 6 will provide some brief conclusions.

2. DEFINING IDENTITY

In his 2018 article ‘Family Law and Identity’, Eekelaar explored the meaning of ‘identity’, and described two versions of this concept. The first, he termed ‘individual identity’, which relates to an individual’s personal characteristics, and perception of their self. This internally driven concept of identity corresponds closely with an individual’s personality traits and features, which are seen as central and self-defining.