That the Louise Woodward case has attracted so much public attention and media coverage testifies to the many issues it raises concerning contemporary child-rearing practices on both sides of the Atlantic. The case has not yet completely run its course, but this has certainly not inhibited comment on the jury's finding that the 19-year-old au pair is guilty of murdering nine-month-old Matthew Eappen. From the perspective of a different legal tradition it is foolhardy and ill-advised to pronounce definitively on the rights and wrongs of the case. There is a right of appeal and a possibility that the charge of manslaughter could still be substituted for second degree murder. But clearly part of the drama lies in the utter conviction among many eminent members of the US legal profession that the verdict is a miscarriage of justice, insofar as it should have been based on the notion of reasonable doubt.
The wider social implications are what have really attracted attention in the English-speaking world. Here was a professional couple, both highlyqualified medical specialists, who employed a relatively low-paid au pair to look after their two young children. At a time when there is a strong public debate about the acceptability of teenage motherhood, a whole layer of prosperous people is prepared to entrust its children to teenage au pairs. This is the class issue running through public commentary on the case.
It overlaps with the debate about gender models, roles and family structures. As one American feminist writer has put it, the case "shows once again how impossible it is for mothers to measure up today. If you're a working mother, you're neglecting the kids. If you're at home full-time, you're a bad role model. If you're a welfare mother, you're a monster". Economic necessity is an increasingly present and imperative factor. Many American families find it is essential that both partners work if living standards are to be maintained or improved. The argument applies irrespective of occupation, and affects that great social category, the American middle class, which bestrides so many different kinds of community. When combined with frenzied increases in productivity and a lamentable absence of adequate time off from work compared to the average European family, it is not surprising that such legal cases stir debates about the proper shape of American family life.
The Louise Woodward case illustrates differences as well as similarities between US and European societies. The case highlights the absence of provision for child care in relation to employment. Whether, and how, it will be properly provided will be an important test of European versus American models of societal welfare.