• xmlui.mirage2.page-structure.header.title
    • français
    • English
  • Help
  • Login
  • Language 
    • Français
    • English
View Item 
  •   BIRD Home
  • IRISSO (UMR CNRS 7170)
  • IRISSO : Publications
  • View Item
  •   BIRD Home
  • IRISSO (UMR CNRS 7170)
  • IRISSO : Publications
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Browse

BIRDResearch centres & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesType

My Account

LoginRegister

Statistics

Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors
Thumbnail - Request a copy

Reversed Accounting: Legal Professionals, Families and the Gender Wealth Gap in France

Bessière, Céline (2022), Reversed Accounting: Legal Professionals, Families and the Gender Wealth Gap in France, Socio-Economic Review, 20, 1, p. 233-256. 10.1093/ser/mwz036

Type
Article accepté pour publication ou publié
Date
2022
Journal name
Socio-Economic Review
Volume
20
Number
1
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Pages
233-256
Publication identifier
10.1093/ser/mwz036
Metadata
Show full item record
Author(s)
Bessière, Céline
Abstract (EN)
This article describes how legal professionals and families contribute to the widening, legitimation and concealment of the gender wealth gap. It is based on ethnographic observation, study of legal files and statistical data on gender wealth inequality in France. Despite formally equal law, family wealth arrangements in moments of estate planning and marital breakdown tend to reproduce gender inequality. The main legal professionals involved are lawyers and notaries. In their interactions with family members, they carry out reversed accounting, a logic of practice in which the result comes first and computation comes after. As families and legal professionals strive to preserve real estate and businesses, or to minimize taxes, they produce inventories, estimations and distributions of assets which disadvantage women, even though shares appear to be formally equal. Female legal professionals, as well as female clients, may endorse this concern, and thus, also unwittingly contribute to the gender wealth gap.
Subjects / Keywords
gender inequality; wealth; family; accounting; law; France

Related items

Showing items related by title and author.

  • Thumbnail
    Reversed Accounting. Legal Professionals, Families and the Gender Wealth Gap in France 
    Bessière, Céline (2019-06) Communication / Conférence
  • Thumbnail
    Legal Professionals, Families and the Gender Wealth Gap in France 
    Bessière, Céline (2019-06) Communication / Conférence
  • Thumbnail
    Reversed Accounting Behind Closed Doors. An ethnography of inheritance planning and marital breakdown in France 
    Bessière, Céline (2018-11) Communication / Conférence
  • Thumbnail
    The Patrimonial Government of Families : How Family Justice Contributes to Wealth Inequality in France 
    Bessière, Céline (2016-04) Communication / Conférence
  • Thumbnail
    Gender Wealth Inequality in French Families  
    Bessière, Céline (2017) Communication / Conférence
Dauphine PSL Bibliothèque logo
Place du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny 75775 Paris Cedex 16
Phone: 01 44 05 40 94
Contact
Dauphine PSL logoEQUIS logoCreative Commons logo