24 June 2025
From Erosion to Evisceration
Last week, the Supreme Court decided the case United States v. Skrmetti. As Ryan Thoreson has argued on this blog, the Court’s opinion rolls back existing understandings of sex discrimination in ways that will likely play out in future cases. Building on that insight, I examine how the Court narrows what counts as sex discrimination and strips the concept of stereotypes of its constitutional force. The most troubling aspects of the decision, however, appear in concurrences written by the ultraconservative members of the Court, which confine the reach of equal protection to formal legal classifications alone. Continue reading >>
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16 June 2025
Whose Values?
Value-based reasoning features prominently in CJEU case law, most recently in AG Ćapeta’s opinion in Commission v. Hungary. However, what is treated as absolute within the Union turns flexible and conditional in cases concerning asylum, integration, as well as anti-discrimination. A closer look at the “feminist” cases (WS, K and L, and AH and FN) reveals how “Western values”-centred reasoning is deployed at the Member State level and re-elaborated by the CJEU as the fundamental value of gender equality – opening the door to ideological reinterpretations. Continue reading >>
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27 December 2024
Legalizing Utopia
Nachhaltige und geschlechtergerechte Städte sind bereits visualisiert. Das Recht kann schon jetzt dafür genutzt werden, sie in die Realität zu übersetzen. In der aktuellen Debatte rund um das Ampel-Aus wäre es aus gleichstellungspolitischer Sicht wichtig, die Initiativen zur Stärkung der integrativen Stadtentwicklung, wie sie etwa in einem Gesetzentwurf des BMWSB enthalten sind, nicht aus dem Blick zu verlieren. Continue reading >>06 October 2024
Lore Maria Peschel-Gutzeit
Lore Maria Peschel-Gutzeit was a judge, lawyer and Senator of Justice in Hamburg and Berlin. She fought for the introduction of part-time work and family leave for female civil servants, which was introduced in 1968 and has since become known as "Lex Peschel". Continue reading >>
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12 August 2024
On the Basis of ‘Backwardness’
Following the reinstatement of a quota system that reserved 56% of vacancies in public service posts for former freedom fighters by the High Court of Bangladesh, students in Bangladesh have demanded reformation of the quota system. On 21 July, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh overturned the decision by the High Court and ordered the government to limit the quota to 7%. It thereby eliminated the quota of 10% previously reserved for women. This reflects a dangerously narrow conception of equality which could negatively impact Bangladesh’s use of special measures such as quotas to redress women’s subordinated status. Continue reading >>
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07 August 2024
Breaking with Conservatism?
The Japanese Supreme Court has been described as “the most conservative constitutional court in the world”. And, though lower courts can sometimes be more active, the Japanese judiciary as a whole tends also to be referred to as conservative. However, recent developments challenge this view. In particular, Japanese courts have begun to issue rulings in favour of the rights of sexual and gender minorities on issues like same-sex marriage and gender recognition. Do these decisions suggest that the conservatism of the Japanese judiciary has been overstated – or are they signs of change? Continue reading >>
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22 July 2024
A Union of Equality?
Last Thursday, Ursula von der Leyen, the new – and former – President of the EU Commission presented the ‘Political Guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029’, her ideas and priorities for the coming mandate. This blogpost will examine whether the Guidelines are living up to the scale of the gender-related concerns and challenges that are facing the Union, as Ursula von der Leyen promises. It identifies a shift in tone in the Commission’s pledges to promoting gender equality and outlines some proposals that the German Women Lawyers Association (djb) has advanced in order to help tackle these challenges. Continue reading >>
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23 May 2024
Elisabeth Selbert
Dr. Elisabeth Selbert, who took her A levels in self-study and completed her law degree in six semesters, did her doctorate – ahead of her time – on the principle of irretrievable breakdown of marriage. As a member of the Parliamentary Council, she was one of the four ‘mothers’ of the German Constitution. The inclusion of ‘Men and women shall have equal rights’ in Art. 3 (2) of the Basic Law (‘Grundgesetz’) is her merit. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the ‘Grundgesetz’, this contribution aims to portray her life, achievements and impact in a short profile. Continue reading >>12 April 2024
Gender, Equality, and the Predicaments of Faith
In the context of the rise of the global right, feminist debates on gender and sexual rights can and have at times slipped into a left and right ideological divide. In reflecting on the ways in which gender equality has been addressed in the context of Indian constitutional law over the past two decades, what emerges is a more complex picture. Continue reading >>
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08 March 2024
Substantive equality, not flowers
And we stand in solidarity with the women all over the world who are still fighting for equality! Continue reading >>
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