Goals

Here are just a few of the many questions that the Law, Gender and Society course seeks to answer:
- What is the difference between 'sex' and 'gender'? How does the law deal with these two concepts?
- How does the law deal with the rights of trans* people? And the situation of people born intersex?
- Despite advances in non-discrimination law, why are women still de facto paid less than men? What responses does the law offer to combat feminicide?  

In so doing, the course addresses the question of how gender - as a notion referring to a political, social and cultural construction of sex difference - is understood by the law in contemporary societies.

The course therefore examines the impact of gender on the various branches of law.

The course focuses in particular on the transversality of the concept of gender in legal sciences, since fundamental rights - to which it is intimately linked - must now be approached not only from a vertical perspective (i.e. the relationship between individuals and public authority) but also from a horizontal perspective (i.e. the relationship between individuals themselves).

Content

The course is divided into seven main themes. Each of them is approached from the point of view of a specific problem and shows how the law provides a response. The course shows how the law takes account of national, European and international legal constraints to respond to gender-related issues. These themes cover, on the one hand, the formal legal sources (national, European and international) and the major principles (equality and non-discrimination, etc.) relating to the gender issue and, on the other hand, the key players in the understanding of gender issues (in particular the institutes focusing on gender issues such as the Institute for Gender Equality, for example).

The main themes analysed are as follows:

    Defining the concept of gender in law;
    Transsexualism, transgenderism, intersex and the law;
    Sexual orientation and gender;
    Reproductive rights and gender;
    Gender violence;
    Religions, law and gender;
    Work, business, public service and gender.

Teaching methods

The course is taught exclusively in French.

The course is both lecture-based and interactive. Students are strongly encouraged to participate actively in the course. This is all the more so as the course tends to address current societal issues around the theme of law and gender.

During the lecture, theory is explained on the basis of concrete cases, giving priority to current events and official documentation.

The recommended approach is descriptive, technical and critical.

Assessment method

Assessment takes the form of a written examination for each session.

In particular, the examination aims to assess

    The student's ability to define the basic concepts, to specify their constituent elements and to reason on the basis of them (which presupposes that they have been rigorously assimilated);
    An understanding of the subject as a whole (i.e. from the problem that the law seeks to solve to the solution it proposes);
    The student's ability to use the code and to reason in legal terms in order to analyse a question posed on the basis of gender-related issues in society (in particular on the basis of case law seen and not seen in the course);
    The ability to study the concepts covered in the course with a view to solving a simple practical legal case on the basis of the principles analysed in the course.

Language of instruction

French