Same-Sex Parenting and Occupational Justice: An Analysis of a Marriage Equality Law

Abstract

Chile’s Marriage Equality Law (Law No. 21,400) expanded legal recognition for same-sex couples, yet questions remain regarding how diverse forms of parenting are recognized within its framework. This study aims to analyze how same-sex parent families and their parenting occupations are discursively constructed in the law’s legislative history. A qualitative document analysis was conducted using Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be? approach in dialogue with Critical Discourse Analysis, examining statutory text, parliamentary debates, and policy documents. While the law broadens access to marriage and specific forms of legally recognized parenting, inclusion is partial. Key areas—such as filiation, adoption, assisted reproduction, and nonmarital families—remain restricted or unaddressed, reproducing forms of occupational injustice. Parenting is shaped by legal and discursive frameworks, and critical policy analysis helps reveal how these frameworks produce occupational injustice across diverse family contexts.