Examining Understandings of Equality: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

Abstract:     
This article reflects on the ways in which developments in feminist legal theory, and in particular, the attention paid to theories of equality, have influenced developments in substantive law. The authors review the period between 1990 and 2002; the period of 12 years between the publication of the first and second editions of their co-authored book, The Hidden Gender of Law. They ask why (Australian) courts seem barely to have engaged with the sophisticated discourses of equality that have emerged not only from the academy, but also from some of the jurisprudence developed in other countries, notably Canada and South Africa. While the examples discussed are disparate, what unites them is the theme of equality.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 21

Keywords: equality, formal versus substantive equality, gender

JEL Classification: J16, D63, K10, K20

Accepted Paper Series