Course Description
The course will analyse the concept of gender from an international law perspective (starting from the definitions of gender included in international legal instruments, such as the Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence). It will follow the evolution of the principle of non-discrimination in international human rights law.

It will focus, thanks to the works of feminist international lawyers, on the shortcomings of international law, and international human rights in particular, to take into account women’s rights. The evolution of women’s rights at the international and regional level will be discussed, with particular regard to freedom from violence.

The purpose is to critically reflect on the role of women in international law and to investigate how difficult was, and still is, the path to achieve de facto gender equality: from the right to vote to the reproductive rights, women have struggled over the centuries. Although the focus on women will be privileged, the course will devote at least four classes on non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

After an introductory part, during which the legal framework of the analysis will be provided, the course will be mainly based on case studies. Each week a specific topic will be studied through judgments and decisions rendered by international, regional (such as the European Court on human rights, the Inter-American Court on human rights, and the African court on human and peoples’ rights) and national courts. The students will be asked to study and comment decisions according to a structure that will be provided in class.

Topics will be dealt with are, among others: culturally-motivated crimes (female genital mutilation for example), domestic violence (judgments such as Campo Algodonero v. Mexico decided by the Inter-American Court on human rights), the concepts of sameness and difference (US jurisprudence), abortion rights (UN bodies, regional and national judgments), access to maternal health, obstetric violence, gender equality (women’s surname and the remarriage period before Japanese courts, the transmission of the father’s surname to the children in Italian law, etc), gender stereotyping (some cases from both UN bodies and regional courts), rape (national and regional jurisprudence, along with international criminal case law), eugenic laws (US and Japan in particular). We will also reflect on how the judiciary can be biased due to stereotypes on the basis of gender.

UNIT 1
Some basic notions of international law to start with. What is a treaty? What is the principle of non-discrimination? How must judgments and decisions be analysed? Which is the difference between a judgment of a court and a decision of an UN treaty body?
Why should a State be responsible for violence against women?

UNIT 2
The notion of gender in law, in particular international law.
Definition of gender from a socio-legal perspective, studying two international treaties that contain a definition of gender: the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention.

UNIT 3
Women’s rights are human rights
Evolution of women’s rights, and the notion of violence against women. Why were women’s rights so neglected?
The unit will also delve into the notion of discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation.
Debate in class on the notion of gender and non-discrimination in the country of origin of the students.

UNIT 4
Gender equality
Class no. 1: introductory class on domestic violence. Presentation of the judgments /decisions to be discussed in Class no. 2. Students will be required to read at least one of the cases (10-15 pages) and identify the elements of the judgments: facts, admissibility, applicable law, merits, reparations (if present). Students will be provided with some questions/bullet points in order to easily identify the most interesting part of the judgments/decisions. Cases will be selected among international, regional and national jurisprudence.
Class no. 2: analysis of the cases (at least 3) with discussion in class. The professor will lead the discussion.
Case studies: US, Japan, Italy. Some examples of the application of the concept of gender equality.

UNIT 5
Domestic violence
Class no. 1: introductory class on domestic violence. Presentation of the judgments /decisions to be discussed in Class no. 2. Students will be required to read at least one of the cases (10-15 pages) and identify the elements of the judgments: facts, admissibility, applicable law, merits, reparations (if present). Students will be provided with some questions/bullet points in order to easily identify the most interesting part of the judgments/decisions. Cases will be selected among international, regional and national jurisprudence.
Class no. 2: analysis of the cases (at least 3) with discussion in class. The professor will lead the discussion.

UNIT 6
Female genital mutilation and genital cosmetic surgery
Class no. 1: introductory class on domestic violence. Presentation of the judgments /decisions to be discussed in Class no. 2. Students will be required to read at least one of the cases (10-15 pages) and identify the elements of the judgments: facts, admissibility, applicable law, merits, reparations (if present). Students will be provided with some questions/bullet points in order to easily identify the most interesting part of the judgments/decisions. Cases will be selected among international, regional and national jurisprudence.
Class no. 2: analysis of the cases (at least 3) with discussion in class. The professor will lead the discussion.
For this topic, students will be asked to reflect on whether human rights law is truly universal.

UNIT 7 (2 weeks)
Rape
Class no. 1: introductory class on domestic violence. Presentation of the judgments /decisions to be discussed in Class no. 2. Students will be required to read at least one of the cases (10-15 pages) and identify the elements of the judgments: facts, admissibility, applicable law, merits, reparations (if present). Students will be provided with some questions/bullet points in order to easily identify the most interesting part of the judgments/decisions. Cases will be selected among international, regional and national jurisprudence.
Class no. 2: analysis of the cases (at least 3) with discussion in class. The professor will lead the discussion.
For this topic, students will be asked to reflect on the #metoo movement, and on stereotypes.

UNIT 8 (2 weeks)
Reproductive rights
Class no. 1: introductory class on domestic violence. Presentation of the judgments /decisions to be discussed in Class no. 2. Students will be required to read at least one of the cases (10-15 pages) and identify the elements of the judgments: facts, admissibility, applicable law, merits, reparations (if present). Students will be provided with some questions/bullet points in order to easily identify the most interesting part of the judgments/decisions. Cases will be selected among international, regional and national jurisprudence.
Class no. 2: analysis of the cases (at least 3) with discussion in class. The professor will lead the discussion.
Students will be asked to reflect on stereotypes related to the role of women for medicine, on eugenic laws and on population policies. Cases of abortion, and forced sterilization will be covered.

UNIT 9
Stereotypes in the judiciary: can the application of the law be biased?
Class no. 1: introductory class on domestic violence. Presentation of the judgments /decisions to be discussed in Class no. 2. Students will be required to read at least one of the cases (10-15 pages) and identify the elements of the judgments: facts, admissibility, applicable law, merits, reparations (if present). Students will be provided with some questions/bullet points in order to easily identify the most interesting part of the judgments/decisions. Cases will be selected among international, regional and national jurisprudence.
Class no. 2: analysis of the cases (at least 3) with discussion in class. The professor will lead the discussion.

Assessment
Mid-term assessment: discussion in class and participation to the analysis of the judgments. Students will have the opportunity, if they want to, to contribute to the professor’s blog vawh.wordpress.com, commenting cases related to women’s health and reproductive rights.
Final assessment: a paper (5000 words) on the condition of women in the student’s country of origin or country of interest, and on some selected cases pertaining to a specific topic at their choice.

References 
C. Chinkin, The Boundaries of international law. A Feminist analysis (Manchester, 2000).

C. Bunch, Women’s rights as human rights: towards a re-vision of human rights, 12 Human Rights Quarterly (1990) 486.

M. Balboni (ed), The European Convention on Human Rights and the Principle of Non-Discrimination (Naples, 2017).

R. Cook, S. Cusack (eds), Gender Stereotyping Transnational Legal Perspectives (Philadelphia, 2009).

R. Cook, Reproductive Health and Human Rights: Integrating Medicine, Ethics, and Law (Oxford, 2010).

S. De Vido, Women’s rights in Japan, Federalismi.it, 2016, http://www.federalismi.it/nv14/articolo-documento.cfm?Artid=32043&content=Women%27s+Human+Rights+in+Japan&content_author=%3Cb%3ESara+De+Vido%3C/b%3E

R.Mestre i Mestre, S. Johnsdotter, Female genital mutilation in Europe. Study (Brussels, European Commission, 2015), https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/7fff7a7b-fc84-11e5-b713-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

R. Solinger, M. Nakachi, Reproductive States. Global Perspectives on the Invention and Implementation of Population Policy (Oxford, 2016).

Paragraphs taken from the book Violence against Women’s Health in international law, forthcoming for the Manchester University press.