The single-mother and the law: romance novels making room for female voices in patriarchal spaces

Here's the abstract:

Single mothers are routinely subjected to scorn and censure from the media and political discourse, often dismissed as conniving welfare queens and as a drain on society. Research proves these images are fundamentally false. However, the biases these representations generate, expose single mothers to potentially punitive measures. Nowhere is this more starkly reflected than within the patriarchal structure of the law. The law has been a primarily male province and feminists in law and literature studies are demanding the inclusion of texts in law and literature courses that represent women and her particular demands upon the law. My paper argues that romance novels have the potential to forge such a space for the female voice and can issue a challenge that protests against the current status quo.