In-Person | Conference: Women, Gender and Constitutionalism

About the Conference

On the occasion of the newly published book Women, Gender and Constitutionalism in Latin America, edited by Francisca Pou Giménez, Ruth Rubio Marín and Verónica Undurraga Valdés (Routledge, 2024), the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism invites you to join an international group of academics to engage with questions of constitutionalism through the lens of gender.

The Book

Women, Gender and Constitutionalism in Latin America (Routledge, 2024) discusses how and to what extent constitutional design and practice in Latin America have helped in combatting the subordination of women and LGBTQIA+ people. Covering eleven jurisdictions, this book offers an overview of common features and challenges revealed by a gender-sensitive approach to contemporary Latin American constitutional law and practice. The chapters identify the key elements of the constitutional gender order, examining jurisprudential and legislative developments in areas such as equality and non-discrimination; self-determination and gender identity; quotas and gender parity; family structure and same-sex marriage; sexual and reproductive rights; gender-based violence; and work, care and economic citizenship.

In the context of a constitutionalism that has been celebrated as particularly innovative and socially engaged, the book assesses constitutional performance in the quest to supersede the separate gendered spheres tradition and the subordination of women and sexual minorities to heteronormative hegemony.

The book provides much-needed insight into matters that are relevant for legal and socio-legal scholars, an ever-growing number of social actors and movements, and all those interested in comparative constitutionalism and in the intersections between law and gender.

Speakers

Dr Elena Brodeala, University of Kent
Gabrielle Elliott-Williams, The University of West Indies & UCL (Faculty of Laws)
Dr Berihun Gebeye, UCL (Faculty of Laws)
Natalia Morales Cerda, UCL (Faculty of Laws)
Prof Verónica Undurraga Valdés, Universidad Adolfo Ibánez
Prof Erin Delaney, UCL (Faculty of Laws)
Dr Francisca Pou Giménez, National Autonomous University of Mexico
Prof Ruth Rubio Marín, University of Seville

Programme

16:15-16:30 Welcome by Professor Eloise Scotford, Dean of the Faculty of Laws, University College London

16:30-17:45 First Panel - Inter-regional dialogue: Experiences in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America
Location: Moot Court
Speakers: Elena Brodeala, Gabrielle Elliott-Williams, Berihun Gebeye, Natalia Morales Cerda, Verónica Undurraga Valdés

5:45-18:00: Break
Location: Keeton room

18:00-19:15 Second Panel - Reception and Discussion: Women and Constitutionalism: Constitutional Resilience
Location: Keeton room
Speakers: Erin Delaney, Francisca Pou Giménez, Ruth Rubio Marín

 

About the Speakers

Elena Brodeala is Lecturer in Law at Kent Law School. She holds a PhD in Law from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and an LLM from Yale Law School. She has been Adjunct Lecturer at Sciences Po, France; Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Zurich, Switzerland; and Odobleja Fellow at the New Europe College in Bucharest, Romania.

Gabrielle Elliott-Williams is PhD Candidate in Law at University College London and Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, Mona. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the West Indies and a Master of Law degree from the University of Cambridge.

Berihun Gebeye is Lecturer in Law at the Faculty of Laws, University College London. He holds an SJD/PhD in Comparative Constitutional Law from the Central European University and law and human rights degrees from Haramaya University (LLB), Addis Ababa University (LLM) and Central European University (LLM).

Natalia Morales Cerda is PhD Candidate in Law and Graduate Lecturer in Public Law at University College London. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Master of Law degree from the University of Chile, and a master’s degree in Gender Studies from the University of Sussex.

Verónica Undurraga Valdés is Professor of Law at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile. She was President of the Commission of Experts of the 2023 Chilean constitutional process.

Erin Delaney is Leverhulme Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law and Director of the Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism at the Faculty of Laws, University College London.

Francisca Pou Giménez is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, and a member of the Mexican National System of Researchers (Level III).

Ruth Rubio Marín is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Seville, Seville, Spain, a member of the Faculty of The Hauser Global Law School Program at New York University, and the holder of the UNIA UNESCO Chair in Human Rights.

 

About the GCDC

The Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism, based at the UCL Faculty of Laws, seeks to advance scholarly understanding of the relationship between democratic government and the rule of law in domestic, comparative, and transnational perspective, with a particular focus on identifying the supporting conditions for constitutional resilience in electorally competitive political systems. Read more about the group and its work.

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