Visible Women: Locating Women in Financial Failure, Bankruptcy Law and Bankruptcy Reform

31 Pages Posted: 6 Mar 2014

See all articles by Linda E. Coco

Linda E. Coco

Barry University - Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law

Date Written: January 2014

Abstract

The secondary status assigned to women is the result of a culturally imposed system of meanings supporting a particular division of power and labor. Dividing the sexes and assigning distinct roles and statuses provides the basis of the social order. These structures of meaning are so deeply ingrained that they are barely recognized for the violence they impose on the financial experiences of single women.

The impact of the economic inferiority and the principle of exclusion is invisible financial suffering. The applications of bankruptcy law and processes appear to be gender neutral. They appear to be rational and fair. However, their impact is uneven and skewed to a particular perception of a woman’s economic status. BAPCPA’s emphasis on women as support creditors tied to the absent and irresponsible male breadwinner, reinforces the dominant gendered economic roles. It obscures the fact that the majority of single bankruptcy petition filers in the United States are women.

Keywords: Bankruptcy, Gender, BAPCPA

Suggested Citation

Coco, Linda E., Visible Women: Locating Women in Financial Failure, Bankruptcy Law and Bankruptcy Reform (January 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2404915 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2404915

Linda E. Coco (Contact Author)

Barry University - Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law ( email )

6441 East Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32807
United States

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