24 April 2025
Back to Binary Basics
On April 16 2025, the UK Supreme Court delivered its decision on a fundamental question regarding the interpretation of the terms “sex” and “woman” under the Equality Act. The Court unanimously held that, under the Equaliy Act, the meaning of the word “woman” must be restricted to “biological” women, and does not include trans women, even those who have legally changed their gender under the Gender Recognition Act. The decision risks undermining the UK’s equality law framework and marks a troubling regression in gender rights. Continue reading >>
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12 November 2024
Hansa Mehta
Imagine if the very first article of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948, referred “all men”, rather than “all human beings”, and asked us all to act in the spirit of “brotherhood”. Thankfully, that is not how it reads, and for this, credit is due to an Indian woman: Hansa Mehta, whose contribution UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recognized in his speech celebrating 70 years of the UDHR when he said: “without her, we would literally be speaking of Rights of Man rather than Human Rights.” Continue reading >>
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27 August 2024
Mainstreaming Gender in EU Arms Export Controls
With the third review of the EU Common Position on Exports of Military Technology and Equipment (EU Common Position) well underway, there is a critical opportunity to align this document with international instruments that incorporate gender considerations in the arms trade. In light of this, the post examines the increasing integration of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) within arms trade legal frameworks and calls for the EU Common Position to explicitly reference gender beyond its already present human rights considerations. Continue reading >>
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09 August 2024
Non-Binary Gender Markers in Italy?
In July, the Italian Constitutional Court recognised the existence of non-binary people for the first time in Italian history. Although the decision as such is a big step for queer rights in Italy, the Court stops halfway. In contrast to the German “Dritte Option” decision, the Court does not set clear instructions or deadlines for the Parliament. Italy’s current far-right political climate likely means non-binary gender markers will not be introduced by the Italian Parliament anytime soon. Continue reading >>
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09 May 2024
KlimaSeniorinnen and Gender
This blog post discusses the relevance of the KlimaSeniorinnen case to the discussion of vulnerability and intersectional gender in climate litigation. To date, very few climate cases have addressed the gendered dimensions of climate change and there was some hope that this case would. However, as this post argues, despite the fact that KlimaSeniorinnen is a case about the impacts of climate change on elderly women, the Court fails to meaningfully engage with gender as a determinant of the harms suffered by individuals. Gender remains an overlooked issue in climate litigation.
Continue reading >>24 November 2023
Verfassungswidrige Sprachverbote
In Hessen haben sich CDU und SPD für ihre Koalitionsverhandlungen auf ein Eckpunktepapier geeinigt, in dem sie auch ankündigen festzuschreiben, „dass in staatlichen und öffentlich-rechtlichen Institutionen (wie Schulen, Universitäten, Rundfunk) auf das Gendern mit Sonderzeichen verzichtet wird und eine Orientierung am Rat der deutschen Sprache erfolgt“. Gemeint ist damit ein Verbot geschlechtergerechter Sprache nicht nur für Schulen, sondern auch für grundrechtsberechtigte (und ‑verpflichtete) Körperschaften und Anstalten des öffentlichen Rechts. Ein solches Verbot wäre offensichtlich verfassungswidrig – doch seine Ankündigung bringt politischen Profit. Continue reading >>22 November 2023
Deregulating Legal Gender in the Shadow of Social Ascription
On 23 August 2023, the German government published a bill on Gender Self-Determination (hereinafter also referred to as SBGG-E). The bill is currently under debate before the German parliament (Bundestag) and is subject to heated socio-political debate. Its primary objective consists of deregulating the conditions for altering and deleting the gender entry provided by the German Civil Status Act. Aside from a strong commitment to deregulating legal gender (Section 1 SBGG-E), the bill sets boundaries and conditions for gender recognition. While some appear self-explanatory, others are infused by what I will hereinafter refer to as the ‘logic of social ascription’. Continue reading >>16 June 2023
Das Konzept der Nachhaltigkeit auf dem Pfad des Feminismus?
Faktisch sind Frauen* stärker von den Auswirkungen durch die Überschreitungen der planetaren Grenzen, insbesondere des Klimawandels und der damit verbundenen Naturkatastrophen, betroffen. Obgleich nicht alle Frauen* und keineswegs nur Frauen* tangiert sind, ist eine sog. genderspezifische Vulnerabilität messbar, da sich Gender oft mit anderen Merkmalen wie einer schlechteren sozio-ökonomischen Stellung oder einem erschwerten Zugang zu Ressourcen z. B. Land und Finanzmitteln überschneidet. Frauen* sind aber nicht nur passive Betroffene, sondern übernehmen auch aktiv Führungsrollen zugunsten von Klimaschutz und Klimawandelanpassung, beispielsweise im lokalen Wassermanagement oder in der Rechtsdurchsetzung. Continue reading >>
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26 October 2020