The OxHRH is thrilled to announce the publication of its second working paper series based on our conference Gender, Race and Poverty: Addressing Multiple Identities Through Law, held in Sao Paulo in November 2014 in conjunction with our project partners, GV Direito SP and the University of Witwatersrand.

The eights papers bring together the challenges and insights from the lively and impassioned discussions from the conference on the many complex issues that arise from the intersection between gender, race and poverty. The paper have been published in the peer-reviewed journal Revista Direito GV and now are available as part of the OxHRH working paper series.

Helena Alviar Garcia (Universidad de Los Andes) analyses from a gender perspective the evolution of social policy in Colombia in relation with macroeconomic development policies and family since 1966. Carmen Hein de Campos (Pública da Universidade Vila Velha) provides nuanced insights to the challenges to fully implementing Brazil’s legal framework for addressing gender-based violence. The law has failed to fully respond to the insights of intersectional theory, Meghan Campbell (Oxford University) argues that CEDAW is pioneering a new approach to intersectionality that embraces all of women’s identities and experiences.

Debora Diniz (Universidade de Brasília) explores the gender biases in studies on prisons in Brazil. Accessing abortion is crucial to realize gender equality, Cathi Albertyn (University of Witwatersrand) provides a sophisticated analysis of the ebbs and flows of abortion law in changing social and political conditions in South Africa. Vanessa Alves Viera (Universidade de São Paulo) and Clio Nudel Radomysler (Universidade de São Paulo) investigates the role of the Public Defender’s Office in promoting the recognition of women’s different identities. Luciana Simas (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Miriam Ventura (Instituto de Estudos em Saúde Coletiva ), Michelly Ribeiro Baptista (Advogada) and Bernard Larouzé (Sorbonne Université) critical evaluate the decisions that involves incarcerated women and their child born in prison. The working  paper series concludes with Ana Gabriela Mendes Braga (Universidade Esadual Paulista)discussing the strategies, the problems and the consequences involved in the defense of women’s rights in relation to the criminal justice system under a feminist perspective.

These eight papers draw on expertise from around the globe and make an important contribution to the continuing discussion on the potential of human rights to solve intersectional discrimination.