EUniWell Open Lecture Series: Is Equality Law Up to the Challenge?
08/02/2023
Lecturer: Dr. Meghan Campbell
Related EUniWell Arena: 2) Individual and Social Well-Being
About this lecture:
The current global political climate is revealing the fragility of equality. Achievements in especially for women, children, racial minorities, disabled persons and sexual and gender minority rights are being rolled back and hollowed out. The rise of conservative populism, the concentration of wealth, the impacts of the climate crisis and the continued repercussions of COVID-19 have perpetuated and cemented inequalities in the lives of so many people. The promise of the constitutional right to equality is tantalizing. But is equality law up to our contemporary challenges? Drawing on the jurisprudence from the US, Canada, South Africa, the UK, India, this presentation explores the potential within equality law. It traces the evolution of equality law from identical treatment to a more substantive conception and consider how this substantive conception can speak to current inequalities. The presentation also canvasses theoretical and doctrinal challenges equality law faces in responding to new crisis and emergencies. It concludes by reflecting on ways forward so that the right to equality remains a pillar of transformative social justice.
About the lecturer:
Meghan Campbell is Reader in International Human Rights Law at the University of Birmingham. Her research explores how the international human rights system can best respond to gender inequality and poverty. Her monograph Women, Poverty, Equality (Hart Publishing, 2018) explores how the concept of equality in the UN Convention on the Discrimination on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women can be interpreted to address gender-based poverty. She is one of the editors of Feminist Frontiers in Climate Justice and has published peer-reviewed articles on gender equality, human rights, international legal system and public law and provided written evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights and Women and Equalities Committee on Brexit and human rights.
Join the webinar:
Zoom: https://bham-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/88166242333?pwd=cUFMaHdHOXkyeHl5QW03clBOZDZKUT09