The Indian Supreme Court Takes a Stand Against Honour Crimes
Despite India’s liberal and secular commitments, honour killing has remained a social reality. A report by the National Crime Records Bureau records at least 288 cases of such violence in...
A Difficult Time for Women’s Autonomy in the Indian Courts
The Kerala High Court judgment annulling the marriage of Hadiya, a 24-year-old homeopathy student from Kerala with a Muslim man, Shafin Jahan, and the Supreme Court of India instigating a...
Brazil’s Landmark Decision on Transgender Persons’ Official Documents
Language is a powerful tool, though often overlooked by fields unattached to linguistics. Vocabulary choice is especially sensitive when addressing legal aspects of equality and non-discrimination, where the rights of...
Ms X v Mahmood Farooqi: A Dangerous Precedent for Interpreting Consent in Rape Cases in India
In a recent case before the Indian Supreme Court, Ms X v Mahmood Farooqi, the court refused to overturn a Delhi High Court decision which set a dangerous precedent that...
Gender Equality through Economic Development (with Isabel C. Jaramillo Sierra)
In September 2015, the UN adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all people. These are the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to...
What the Right To Privacy Judgment Means for India’s Marital Rape Exception
Following Puttaswamy v Union of India – in which the judges unanimously and unequivocally ruled that a right to privacy exists – the marital rape exception found in the Indian...
Gaining More from Human Rights: Access to Health Care and Surviving Childbirth is not Enough
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all, at all ages. Within the maternity care context this requires a reduction in maternal mortality...
Tackling FGM In India: Is It Time For A New Law?
According to a study conducted on members of the Bohra community in India, a startling 75% of the daughters of the 94 participants were subjected to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)...
A Step Closer to Equality: LGBTQ+ Rights in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
In a landmark advisory opinion delivered on January 9th, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights stated that the twenty-three states parties to the American Human Rights Convention must legalize same-sex...
First Criminal Conviction under Belgium’s Anti-Sexism Act
A man who made sexist remarks to a female police officer was sentenced to pay a €3,000 fine and became the first person to be convicted under Belgium’s 2014 Anti-Sexism...
Women’s Suffrage in Germany
Given the political and constitutional history of the 18th and 19th centuries, universal suffrage and free and fair elections are a hard won freedom in Germany. Currently, Article 38 of...
Transforming Women’s Lives Through Education
The virtues of education are uncontested. It is a multiplier right, it creates an empowered workforce and citizens, and perhaps most important, it leads to personal development and fulfilment. The...
