Is mediation gender biased?
Use of mediation in divorce cases has been criticized by some as being biased against women, the contention being that women have less bargaining power than men during the mediation process. There is no merit to this according to a study published in Mediation Quarterly, a publication sponsored by the Academy of Family Mediators (now the Association for Conflict Resolution). The authors of the study analyzed a statistically significant sample of mediated and adversarial cases for differences in financial outcomes between the two formats. No differences were found between mediated and adversarial cases in (a) family income or liability outcomes for women, (b) likelihood of periodic alimony being received, or (c) amount of alimony received. Of interest, however, were the findings that women in mediated cases obtained (a) a significantly greater percentage of assets than women in adversarial cases, (b) periodic alimony for a significantly longer duration and, (c) significantly more child
