Feminism, Law and Citizenship: Paris Call for June 2020

FEMINISM, LAW AND CITIZENSHIP, University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris, Call for conference papers, 24-26 June 2020

Citizenship may be defined as the status of a citizen with its attendant duties, rights and privileges. It thus governs the relationship of individuals and the state they live in. Questioning the relationship between feminism, law and citizenship unsurprisingly builds on feminist legal theory, whose central claim posits the law as a fundamental tool in the historical subordination of women.

When the French Revolution pioneered “universal” suffrage in 1789, it was male-only and remained so until 1944, in spite of the struggle of feminist activists who immediately reacted to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen with the publication in France of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (Olympe de Gouges, 1791) and in England of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792). This (in)famous example illustrates but one aspect that may be encompassed in this relationship, which will vary according to each historical and geo-political context.

If women’s suffrage is now accepted in virtually all countries, the link between gender, law and citizenship is also paramount in terms of property rights, reproductive rights, protection against discrimination, including intersectional discrimination. When the Irish decided in May 2018 to remove the ban on abortion from their Constitution, Clare Daly TD underlined in the Irish Parliament that the relationship between women and society was being transformed, echoing a reaction to the decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria, Australia: “With that comes our full citizenship”.

This international conference thus proposes to explore contemporary issues in the field of feminism, law and citizenship and invites papers related, but not limited, to the following perspectives:

• Democracy and the rise of populism
• Feminist activism
• Gender and sexuality
• Gender equality
• Intersectionality
• Reproductive rights and reproductive justice
• Women’s rights

The conference is addressed to academics, researchers and professionals working in any discipline including law, philosophy, history, sociology, gender studies, politics, cultural studies and area studies. The conference will be both in French and English.

Proposals of up to 300 words in French or English and a brief biographical note should be sent by 30 September 2019 to:

Alexandrine Guyard-Nedelec (if in French): alexandrine.guyard-nedelec@univ-paris1.fr

or Rosemary Auchmuty (if in English): r.auchmuty@reading.ac.uk

International conference organized by University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and University of Reading, together with the Gender, Law and Society Working Group of the Research Committee for the Sociology of Law (RCSL)