THEME 4: EQUALITY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ANTI-DISCRIMINATION
This research cluster of the Equality Studies Centre brings together scholars from across UCD with an interest in working on matters of Equality, Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination and their intersections. It is an interdisciplinary research cluster, drawing its members from the fields of law, politics, sociology, education and health amongst others, with the goal of exploring key issues in the broad thematic area from a range of perspectives. It is focused in particular on the role of law and legal protections in monitoring and addressing inequality and implementing equality goals. As such, it engages critically and practically with, but also goes beyond, the key national and international frameworks, covenants and forms of legislation for securing equality and human rights to a wide range of groups. It is also interested in socio-legal perspectives, and approaches which situate legal frameworks, mechanisms and claims within the social, cultural, political and economic environments of their emergence and usage.
This research theme is connected at UCD to our flagship undergraduate programme, (opens in a new window)Law with Social Justice, which is jointly run by the UCD School of Law, and the UCD School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice. Prospective students may also be interested in The Masters in Equality Studies at the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, and the Diploma in Employment Law at the School of Law.
The Equality Studies Centre has thematic and membership links with UCD Centre for Human Rights, and offers some collaborative opportunities between the two centres. However, given the foundational emphasis of the ESC on equality issues, this theme will not replicate but will rather complement the ongoing work of the Centre for Human Rights.
This cluster is co-convened by Sara Benedí Lahuerta ((opens in a new window)sara.benedilahuerta@ucd.ie) and Liam Thornton ((opens in a new window)Liam.Thornton@ucd.ie) with centre director, Marie Moran ((opens in a new window)marie.moran@ucd.ie)
Associated members:
Judy Walsh
Liam Thornton
Sara Benedí Lahuerta
Marie-Luce Paris
Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila
Eugenia Siapera
Krisna Ruette-Orihuela
Muireann Ni Raghaillaigh
Donna Marshall
Colm McLaughlin
Joe McGrath
Deirdre McGillicuddy
Siobhan Kane
Graham Finlay
Aisling Swaine
Featured Projects
Economic and Social Rights
Economic and social rights obligations encompass a broad range of areas, from the right to work, right to housing, right to social assistance and right to fair determination of entitlement. Cluster members engage with domestic, European and international obligations, as well as situating these obligations within their societal context. The theme of economic and social rights are explored in a number of cross-cutting ways. From judicial protection of economic and social rights, to questions on equal access to such rights in particular for groups marginalised by political and societal approaches, the interaction of such rights in fields of equality law, employment law, social work and in welfare states are explored within this cluster. The cluster engages with the Economic and Social Rights Academic Network-United Kingdom and Ireland in exploring protections for economic and social rights.
(opens in a new window)https://esranuki.wordpress.com/
Twitter: (opens in a new window)https://twitter.com/ESRANUKI
Feminist Constitutional Futures
A new project relating to feminist constitutional futures (FemCon) on the island of Ireland is currently under development. This project, led by researchers from UCD, Durham University and the University of Birmingham seeks to lay the basis for new interventions in feminist constitutional drafting and design across Northern/Ireland. The project looks to remove obstacles to feminist constitutional interventions, imagine new ways of creating and thinking about constitutional texts and run practical experiments which can inform future community and political practice. Fem Con prefigures alternative legal futures for Northern/Ireland. An all-island project, FemCon is not predicated on any particular legal/political outcomes for the island but rather in building feminist knowledge, practice and imagination in constitution writing and practice.
(opens in a new window)http://www.feministconstitutions.com
Twitter: (opens in a new window)https://twitter.com/FemConFutures
Bridging the Gender Pay Gap through Transparency
Systemic differences in wages on the basis of gender have been actively contested at various levels for at least seventy years, with little progress. Around the globe, many jurisdictions are now turning to pay transparency as a tool for eliminating the Gender Pay Gap (GPG) by empowering women with information and placing the onus on the employer to achieve a fair pay structure. This project evaluates how and to which extent pay transparency regulation can contribute to address the GPG. To this effect, the online workshop ‘Bridging the Gender Pay Gap through Transparency. Comparing Supranational, National and Non-Governmental Approaches’ was co-organised by UCD and the European Women Lawyers’ Association (EWLA) on the 22nd and 23rd of September 2021. The aim of the workshop was to discuss key challenges and best practices from a wide range of national jurisdictions and a non- profit certification system (The Fair Pay Innovation Lab). A book partly based on the workshop contributions (Bridging the Gender Pay Gap through Transparency? Comparative Approaches and Key Regulatory Conundrums, co-edited by Sara Benedí Lahuerta, Katharina Miller and Laura Carlson) is currently under preparation for publication with Edward Elgar.