About the conference
Through keynote presentations and parallel paper sessions, the conference sets out to examine the construction of equality in the equality and anti-discrimination laws in the different Nordic countries. Towards this end, the conference seeks to situate the legal developments in the different Nordic countries in the context of a rapidly changing transnational, legal, social, political and economic landscape. The overall aim is to provide a legal, theoretical and critical basis for debates about past, present and future transformations of Nordic gender equality and anti-discrimination laws.
The program will be posted on the event page.
The Nordic Law and Gender Conference is a biannual event that started out in 2009.
Call for papers - parallel paper sessions
Rather than looking at equality and anti-discrimination laws in isolation, the parallel sessions will address encounters and contestations between equality and non-discrimination, and other legal principles in different areas of life and law. The overall aim is to explore the transformative potential of equality and anti-discrimination laws through empirical, dogmatic or critical approaches to different areas of life and law.
We invite papers that address the following and related topics:
Equality and gender diversity: The Nordic countries are facing challenges related to the extension of protection against discrimination beyond the binary and one-dimensional conception of gender, to fully also include sexual and ethnic minorities. How has international and European equality and anti-discrimination laws influenced the Nordic equality and anti-discrimination laws in this regard? Whether and to what extent has an expanded protection against individual and structural gender discrimination affected rights in other areas of law, such as personal law, family law, social insurance law, health law or education law?
Equality, cultural and religious pluralism: Cultural and religious pluralism is challenging Nordic ideas of cultural sameness as a precondition for equality. This is manifest in conflicts and tensions between discrimination grounds like gender discrimination and religious discrimination. How have conflicts and tensions between these and other discrimination grounds been resolved in the different Nordic countries in areas like family law, labor law, health law and welfare law.
Equality, care work and paid work: The unequal sharing of unpaid care work and paid work is a barrier to social, political and economic equality between women and men and between different groups of women. How has the interweaving of national, European and international equality and anti-discrimination laws affected the relationship between care work and paid work in e.g. labor law, family law, welfare law, social insurance law or pension law in the different Nordic countries?
Equality, sexual harassment and gender violence: Harassment and violence is a limitation of freedom that results in social, political and economic inequalities between women and men and between different groups of women. How has the interweaving of international, European and national equality and anti-discrimination laws affected individual and structural protection against sexual harassment and gender violence in areas like labor law, education law or criminal law in the different Nordic countries?
Equality and freedom of speech: There is a close connection between gender discrimination and gender stereotypes embedded in social, cultural and religious perceptions, norms and beliefs. How have tensions between national, European and international protection against gender stereotypes and the right to freedom of speech been resolved in areas like constitutional law, market law and criminal law in the different Nordic countries?
Legal mobilization: How and with what outcomes have international and European equality and anti-discrimination laws been invoked by individuals, women’s organizations, LGBTI organizations or national equal rights institutions to improve different groups of women’s and girls’ quest for equality and justice, e.g. with a view to strengthen protection against gender violence, sexual harassment and trafficking?
Nordic equality and anti-discrimination laws on the international scene: How have Nordic state and non-state actors contributed to the development of equality and anti-discrimination laws, policies and research at the international, regional and national level?
Legal education and research: What is the place of scholarship on equality and anti-discrimination law, gender and the law, women’s law and feminist jurisprudence in legal research and education at Nordic universities?
Deadline for abstracts
The deadline was 15 May.
Publication
An anthology with key note papers and papers from the parallel sessions will be published by a high level international publisher, edited in cooperation between the Institute of Women’s Law in Oslo and (gender and law scholars at) the University of Gothenburg. The University of Gothenburg will, as a follow up, host a publication seminar.
Publication in Nordic journals like Oslo Law Review and Nordic Journal on Law and Society will be promoted.