Since 2008, I am part of a research team on the judicial treatment of marital breakdowns in France and in Quebec. Today, our multidisciplinary team includes sociologists, political scientists, legal scholars, economists and geographers interested in social inequalities in civil justice (JUSTINES team website).
The results of the first stage of this research were published in 2013 in the book Couples at Court (Au tribunal des couples), Paris, Odile Jacob, Le Collectif Onze, 309p.
Nowadays, marital breakdowns are common. Anyone, because he or she is married or has children, may have to deal with family justice to resolve the consequences of a breakdown. This public institution is supposed to implement an equal right for all. But are litigants given the same attention according to their resources and living conditions? And does justice actually lead to greater equality between men and women?
This book brings us into the French Family Chambers of the Superior Courts, where family judges, clerks and lawyers face a large caseload. The book is the result of a collective survey of unprecedented scope, combining statistical data, observations of hearings, consultations of files and interviews with professionals. From the survey to the writing, this book is the result of the work of a team of sociologists gathered here under the name of Collectif Onze.
Le Collectif Onze is composed of Céline Bessière (Université Paris-Dauphine), Emilie Biland (Université Laval), Benoît Coquard (Université de Poitiers), Aurélie Fillod-Chabaud (Institut Universitaire Européen), Sibylle Gollac (CNRS), Wilfried Lignier (CNRS), Muriel Mille (Université Laval), Julie Minoc (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), Samuel Neuberg (EHESP), Sabrina Nouiri-Mangold (EHESS) and Hélène Steinmetz (ENS).
2018, “The Feminization of the Judiciary: What is the Problem ?”, Travail, Genre et Sociétés, Cairn International [with S. Gollac and M. Mille].
2014, « The Judge is Often a Woman, Professional Perceptions and Practices of Male and Female Family Court Judges in France », english electronic supplement of Sociologie du travail, vol 56, Supplement 1,e43-e68[with M. Mille].