There is a problem in child custody cases in the United States. Despite the law stating that child custody decisions should be made in the best interest of the child, many child custody cases have been dictated based on traditional gender stereotypes. Leighton E. Stamps, PhD, found that judges have maternal preference in divorce and child custody cases when surveying state judges in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee about the quality of parenting provided by mothers versus fathers. This problem has negatively impacted many parents and children because parents are given a lesser role in childcare because of their gender and the parents that are chosen to be the primary caregivers are not always in the child’s best interest. A possible cause of this problem is the environment in which a judge is raised in or integrated in. Perhaps a study which investigates child custody decisions and its correlation with the environment of a judge through interviews could remedy this situation.

This research will benefit both parents and children everywhere because 50% of children witness their parents divorce. A gender bias within child custody cases can go against a child's best interest and cause turmoil for a parent given a lesser role in their child's life. This study can help determine the cause of the gender bias in child custody cases and thus, create a basis for eliminating this problem.

Cheyenne Collier

colliche002@stu.sumnersd.org

I assume, based on my lit review, that there is a gender bias within child custody decisions. 

My hypothesis is that the environmental factors of parenting styles and family type are going to show more correlation to gender bias in child custody cases than the factors of political science.

Gender Bias- Preference or prejudice toward one gender over the other.

Environmental Factors- The factors of a judge's environment, or the way they live/how they were raised.

I will be using a survey method to evaluate the relationship between the way a judge responds to a child custody case and the judge's environment. This survey will be given to family law judges of all ages.

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Chao-ju Chen. “The Chorus of Formal Equality: Feminist Custody Law Reform and Fathers’ Rights Advocacy in Taiwan.” Canadian Journal of Women & the Law, vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2016, p. 116. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3138/cjwl.28.1.116.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Judges as susceptible to gender bias as laypeople -- and sometimes more so." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 April 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180419141541.htm>.

“Custody Decisions in Social and Cultural Contexts.” Columbia Journal of Asian Law, vol. 17, no. 2, Spring 2004, p. 227. , search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aqh&AN=14536590&site=ehost-live.

Leighton E. Stamps PhD (2002) Maternal Preference in Child Custody Decisions, Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 37:1-2, 1-11, DOI: 10.1300/J087v37n01_01