WG Gender, Law and Society

Coordinators: Barbara Giovanna Bello and Letizia Mancini


Since October 2012 the “Gender, Law and Society” Working Group, initially co-chaired by Alexandrine Guyard-Nedelec (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France) and Barbara Giovanna Bello (University Statale of Milano, Italy) has replaced the previous “Gender and Law” Working Group. While the new Working Group organises activities in line with the approach adopted before, which focuses on the gendered nature of law and the legal construction of gender, it also aims at broadening the scholarly agenda and scientific programme. Taking as a starting point the law in its contexts, the Working Group aims at providing space for reflection on issues such as regulating gender in a global world, the intersections between gender and other grounds defining identity, as well as other new or updated approaches to gender coming into being (e.g. in the framework of transnationalism, super-diversity, etc.). More specifically, among the questions of the Working Group are those concerning how gender is involved in globalization processes, how migration processes are gendered and what gendered effects result from these processes; how gender interplays with other grounds in shaping the experience of women belonging to different kinds of minorities (ethnic and religious minorities, LGBTs, disabled women, migrant groups, etc.); how women and men shape their relations in today’s fluid societies. Additionally, the working group aims at promoting a debate on the implications of the enlarged notion of gender, accepted for instance in the preamble of the EU Recast Directive 2006/54, which embraces different gender identities arising from gender reassignment.


Information

The group is a network of about 100 scholars from all around the world. Information is sent out by email. In order to make the group more interactive and participatory, we are launching a small survey among the Working Group’s members concerning future initiatives and ways of cooperating.


Biannual Meetings

We organized the first meeting as part of the International Congress “Sociologie du Droit et Action Politique”, jointly organized by the ISA/RCSL 2013 and SciencePo Toulouse, which took place in Toulouse. The second meeting is scheduled for the Third ISA Forum of Sociology “The futures we want: Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World” which will take place in Vienna, 10-14 July 2016.

We plan to apply for an international Workshop to be held at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in 2018. Panels at other socio-legal meetings

– RCSL/ISA Conferences At the International Congress “Sociologie du Droit et Action Politique”, jointly organized by the ISA/RCSL 2013 and SciencePo Toulouse, the Working Group organised the workshop entitled “Gender renewal(s)?”.

At the Third ISA Forum of Sociology “The futures we want: Global Sociology and the Struggles for a Better World” on 10-14 July 2016, the Working Group organises the workshop entitled “Resisting Oppression, Fighting Violence and Transforming the Law and Politics: Women’s Action Across the World.

On 28 March 2014, the Working Group participated in the one-day conference “Race, Sex and the Intersectional Approach”, jointly organised by the French Research Group on Racism and Eugenics (GRER) and the Network for the study of Women, Sex and Gender in English speaking countries (SAGEF), which took place at University Paris Diderot-Sorbonne Paris Cité.

We organised one session, titled “Gender equality issues and rationales in the light of globalization” at the Conference for the 25th anniversary of the IISL in May 2014.


Cooperation between Scholars

Some scholars cooperate on individual projects and on invitation of colleagues. Several of our members have also given presentations and papers in different countries on “Gender, law and society”; they are circulated on the list, as well as CFPs and other opportunities in the field of study. As an example, the coordinators of the working group delivered a paper (upon invitation) within the Conference run by the European Law Students’ Association (ELSAInternational) on the topic of Austerity Measures in light of the European Social Charter.
 

Barbara Giovanna Bello – barbaragbello(at)gmail.com

Letizia Mancini – letizia.mancini(at)unimi.it

E-mail address of the working group: genderwg(at)gmail.com

For details about the WG Gender, Law and Society activities, see the report presented to the RCSL Board on 18 March 2024

Page last updated 31 May 2016, except coordination: updated 1 June 2022, and 2024 Report, placed 27 June 2024