Equality Norms Research Articles

Beyond Performative Compliance: Local Forms of Resistance to Anti-FGM Campaigns in Ethiopia

Abstract The Afar region, one of the hot spots of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, has attracted several international and local anti-FGM campaigns including the longitudinal global UNFPA-UNICEF joint initiative. The region is often praised as a showcase for the acclaimed social norm change brought by intervention projects. Religious leaders and traditional birth attendants (TBAs) were among the key local actors targeted as agents of change and norm mediators. The declaration passed by the religious leaders outlawing FGM, and the numerous community public declarations made all applauded the success in social norm change. Such accounts are often in tune with a narrative of linear progress of norms whereby global norms of gender equality successfully diffuse to local settings. The discourse pronouncing the diffusion of global norms often overshadows the norm contestations and resistance happening at the grassroots level. Based on an ethnographic study conducted in the Afar region, this contribution examines the different aspects of norm contestation and resistance happening at the grassroots level throwing light onto the resurgence of FGM in the region where the practice continued beyond the observational gaze of the government and other stakeholders. Furthermore, the article discusses the discursive strategies that the local community adopted ranging from performative compliance, negotiation for a milder form of the practice to devising alternative ways and platforms for performing FGM. The article critically reflects on the direct and subtle forms of resistance, the framing of the debate and the interplay of several factors that undermined the efficiency of the interventions.

Gaslighting and dispelling: Experiences of non-governmental organization workers in navigating gendered corruption

How does corruption adopt gendered guises and how do women combat it in practice? Theorizing from the basis of a 30-month ethnography within a women’s non-governmental organization (NGO), the article proposes gaslighting as a way of interpreting gendered corruption, owing to its elusive but pernicious nature. Gaslighting is posited as the deployment of tactics to make women doubt their sanity and as a means of securing personal advantage. Gaslighting triggers embodied forms of struggle, and the article offers the notion of dispelling as denoting the persistent, patient and reiterative counter-practice of NGO practitioners to assert democratic norms of liberty and equality. The article provides rich empirical insight both into how corruption is enacted through the citing of patriarchal norms and how such norms are contested through the bodies of practitioners. These insights are important at a time when governments globally claim gender equality while undermining it in practice.

Introducing the Special Issue: Interview with Swati Parashar about Women and Feminism in Global Politics

Gender issues and feminist studies are rare in Russian Political Science. This gap is surprising given the increasing international recognition of womens rights, as well as growing interest in mainstreaming gender equality norms and removing key obstacles to womens advancement. This special issue addresses this gap by bringing together studies that use feminist optics to examine a variety of political spaces, including those where feminism has not yet become an ideological mainstream. Presenting the contributions and the core ideas that unite them, we discussed with Professor Swati Parashar non-Western feminisms and problematic legacies of Western feminisms. Guiding our conversation were questions such as: What is feminism today? What is feminist foreign policy and what is its potential? In what ways can gender equality quotas contribute to the political empowerment of women? How can international organizations encourage diversity in womens representations from the Global South?

Charities & Discrimination: Is Charity Law Always a Better Solution than Public Policy?

Abstract Discrimination by charities raises questions about the appropriate extent of equality regulation and has implications for government outsourcing through charities and for the provision of tax concessions. Professor Parachin has recently provided a justification for denying the application of public equality norms to charities through the public policy test of charity law. This paper builds on that work by considering whether liberal societies might, however, have good grounds to apply public equality norms to charities in circumstances such as the provision of outsourced government services, state enforcement of egoistic giving, or where doing so is a proportionate means to prevent harm.

Intra-conservative Bloc Contestations on Gender Equality in Turkey – Norm Reception in Fragmented Normative Orders

This research problematizes the contested nature of the global norm diffusion by focusing on intra-group rivalries and fragmentations shaping local responses (often reactionary and resistant) to global norms. Such an examination is important primarily to account for what leads to shifts in the local reception of norms over time. This study empirically explores local fragmentation, rivalry and change in response nexus in the example of the reception of the global gender equality norms in Turkey by the conservative normative bloc. It reveals that the conservative bloc is not a monolithic normative order and that there are two main competing receptions of the gender equality norm within the group in Turkey. With a firm emphasis on Turkey’s first initiating and later withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the study elaborates how the institutionalized conservative response to gender equality has shifted from a compromising acceptance to a rejection over time.

PERAN GERAKAN PEREMPUAN DALAM PROSES INSTITUSIONALISASI NORMA KESETARAAN GENDER INTERNASIONAL

This study aims at analyzing the role of women movement in Europe and US in creating gender equality norm. Using qualitative approach and life cycle of norm theory developed by Finnemore & Sikkink, this study tries to explain the development of gender equality norm through three stages, they are norm emergence, norm cascade and norm institutionaization. The result shows that there is the strong involvement of women movement in each stage, starts from the aftermath era until the modern era, when the internatioal organization such as Nation Leagues and United Nations are started to emerge. Step by step shows the women movement’s startegies in promoting gender equality norm to be institutionalized through international organization.

Formation of the modern paradigm of countering gender-based violence in the activities of international organizations

The author conducted a retrospective review of the activities of international organizations through the prism of their role in forming the legislative foundation for combating gender-based violence. It is noted that for the first time at the international level the norm of equality of all people was enshrined in Art. 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. An important step towards combating gender-based violence was the signing in 2011 of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The Istanbul Convention visualizes the issue of gender-based violence. It has been determined that women and girls are increasingly exposed to severe forms of violence, such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, forced marriage, crimes committed in the name of so-called "honor", and genital mutilation, which constitutes a significant violation of human rights. for women and girls and is a major obstacle to achieving equality between women and men.
 The author singles out three conditional periods of formation of the modern paradigm of counteraction to gender - based violence in the activity of international organizations: 1) 1945 - 1974. The basic foundations of gender equality are laid at the level of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Combating gender-based violence was not considered through the prism of sex discrimination. The activities of the world community were aimed primarily at combating discrimination against women in the political, socio-economic and cultural spheres of society. 2) 1975-2010.During this period, all 4 World Conferences on the Status of Women were held. In 1979, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Articles 30 of the Convention clearly define discrimination against women and propose an agenda for action at the national level to end such discrimination. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly in 1993, contains a definition of violence against women. 3) 2011 - to the present time. This period covers the process of realizing the scale of the spread of gender-based violence. A key event of this period was the adoption in 2011 of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. Activation of the world community to intensify the fight against gender-based violence. Adoption of sustainable development goals, in which gender equality is recognized as the general idea (Goal 5) and condition of sustainable development.

Postcolonial Logic and Silences in Strategic Narratives: Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy in Conflict-Affected States

ABSTRACT Drawing on a postcolonial perspective and theories of strategic narratives and silences, this article looks at how Sweden’s feminist foreign policy (FFP) was reported in the media of conflict-affected states. It improves our understanding of feminist foreign policy reception by showing that from twenty selected countries, only newspapers in ten states had content on the FFP. It is argued that this modest media coverage was guided by a lack of interest in the FFP expressed in silence as an indirect way of resistance to norm promotion. This lack of interest is conceptualised as a postcolonial disengagement with Sweden’s strategic narratives. The article further demonstrates that in the remaining ten countries the media transmitted Sweden’s strategic narratives without subjecting them to critical scrutiny. This lack of scrutiny is conceptualised as a postcolonial allowance of FFP narratives in conflict-affected states. The conceptualisation of norm reception through postcolonial disengagement and allowance advances our understanding of acceptance and rejection of gender equality norms advocated by ethical foreign policies in marginalised states. The article contributes to the emerging work on postcolonial FFP and Women, Peace and Security (WPS) by improving our knowledge on local actors’ agency in countries affected by conflict.

Gendered Norms and Family Roles in the Narratives of Hungarian Elite Members and Their Partners

Abstract Our paper contributes to studies on the enduring underrepresentation of women in elite positions through the analysis of elite members’ and their partners’ narratives on career and partnership. Using a dataset of 34 individual interviews (17 couples) among Hungary’s political, economic, and cultural elite, we explore how narrators project themselves in the context of their marital relationships and family roles. We identify three pairs of narratives during our analysis. Narratives show the positions from where narrators discuss the theme of career and partnership as elite member/partner, power couple/non-power couple, and male/female. Our findings show that narrative positioning is significantly gendered, and it is strongly connected to the traditional gendered role system. Having an elite position or pursuing a career calls for explanation only from women. In the meantime, a non-power couple position calls for explanation from men, which suggests the increasing presence of the norm of equality in the Hungarian elite.

The meaning of respect under varying context conditions

The concept of respect figures prominently in several theories on intergroup relations. Previous studies suggested that the experience of being respected is primarily related to the feeling of being recognized as an equal, as opposed to social recognition of needs or achievements. Those studies focused, however, on either minority groups or ad hoc groups, thereby possibly giving equality recognition an advantage. This article extends previous findings by comparing societal groups situated in various contexts. We examined eight groups from four countries. We anticipated and found that the link between respect and equality recognition was stronger for groups that are in the position of minorities compared to groups associated with majorities. Owing to the moral and legal force of the norm of equality, disadvantaged minorities in particular might be able to improve their societal position by founding their claims on the equality principle. Need recognition, in contrast, was less influential for minority groups than for majority groups. While we observed these context-dependent variations, an internal meta-analysis showed that feeling recognized as an equal was, overall, the strongest indicator for feeling respected. This suggests that demands for respect could often be addressed by establishing relationships in society that are based on mutual recognition as equals, while the implications of achievement and need recognition should additionally be considered in specific contexts.

Tort Common Law Future: Preventing Harm and Providing Redress to the Uncounted Injured

Abstract How do courts root themselves in traditional tort principles and policies and also develop tort common law in ways that befit contemporary values? This essay argues that judges should weave classic tort aims of harm prevention and redress with contemporary norms of equality of persons, to provide a fuller accounting to people foreseeably risked and harmed by projects undertaken for financial gain. In essence, common law courts must re-ask the crucial question of who is a neighbor in a shrinking world in which risks and consequences can be traced somewhat farther. The article commends a few recent decisions that compel legal regard for a broader cohort of injured people and promote care for their wellbeing. It also encourages scholars to engage more deeply with the state court decisions that determine tort law’s reach.

XI—Equality, Friendship, and Politics

Abstract A growing number of theorists have argued for equality as an ideal of social relations. For these theorists, the ideal of relational equality is embedded in many social relationships in modern society with which people are familiar. Friendship, they argue, is a paradigmatic case of relational equality, in the sense that it is essentially constituted by two norms of equality: equal power or authority and equal consideration of interests. Furthermore, equality in personal relationships can support equality in the political relationship of citizens. This essay challenges these claims made by relational egalitarians. It argues that friendship is not constituted by the two norms of equality, and is a poor model for political relationships.

Anti-discrimination Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union before and after the Economic Crisis

Abstract Income inequality is at an all-time high in the Europe Union (EU). Implications from the economic crisis which broke out in 2008, and in particularly the austerity measures introduced by Governments in Eurozone countries receiving bailout programmes, created further inequalities, for example between men and women. This paper starts from the hypothesis that whereas other institutions in the EU have played a direct role in tackling the economic crisis, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) may have played a more indirect role, which nonetheless can have an overlooked value in particular for setting direction for legal norms of equality and anti-discrimination in Europe. The paper therefore addresses a legal-empirical question: To what extent does the anti-discrimination case law of the CJEU reflect the increased inequalities in Europe following the economic crisis? Based on a dataset of all anti-discrimination cases of the CJEU, I conduct a quantitative analysis of changes in the case law from before to after the economic crisis. I find that there is only weak evidence, which suggests that the case law of the CJEU reflects the increased inequalities following the economic crisis.

The Sami cooperative herding group: the siida system from past to present

ABSTRACT The Sami siida has been described as an organizational institution tailored to meet the dynamic demands of reindeer herding. Historically, it has been characterized as a relatively small group based on kinship. It was formed around a core sibling group and distinguished by a norm of equality where herding partners were equals regardless of social status. Moreover, it was informally led by a wealthy and skilfull person whose authority was primarily related to herding. One of the critical aspects of the siida was flexibility: composition and size changed according to the season, and members were free to join and leave the groups as they saw fit. This comparative study of the current status of the siida system in the Northern and Southern parts of Norway shows that the main difference between the historical representation of the siida system and today concerns a loss of flexibility. Only two herders reported to have changed summer and winter siida since 2000. Furthermore, while the siida continues to be family-based, leadership is becoming more formal. Nevertheless, decision-making continues to be influenced by concerns of equality.

Antitrust as Antiracism: Antitrust as a Partial Cure for Systemic Racism (and Other Systemic “Isms”)

We usually think of antitrust law as addressing violations of free market norms, not equality norms. The two, however, may be related. Systemic racism (and other systemic “isms”) is about power and its abuse. So is antitrust law. Moreover, antitrust may be able to fill gaps left by antidiscrimination law. In particular, antitrust law can address: entire markets, not just individual firms or discrete actions; power imbalances from differences in capital, not just disparities in compensation; financial allocations between owners and workers, not just between workers; and legal violations that shrink total worker pay and do not just distort its allocation. Antitrust law also relies on centrist free market principles. Those may be less controversial than tackling issues of race directly. To be sure, in part for that reason, antitrust laws are limited. They can at best remedy a small portion of the potential wrongs caused by systemic racism. But antitrust may nevertheless contribute valuably to systemic racial equality. It also may provide a model for how antidiscrimination law might be reframed to make it more effective in that regard.

Reading Small French Muslim political parties through the lens of Baldwin’s racial innocence

James Baldwin’s concept of racial innocence is, at its core, a tool for examining the process whereby a dominant group subjugates another while prominently, proudly maintaining an egalitarian self-image. Rather than merely point to the existence of such a seemingly untenable paradox, Baldwin uses his concept of racial innocence to interrogate how that paradox persists; how it is consciously and unconsciously maintained. In this paper, racial innocence is used to explain the process whereby Muslim political critique based on lived experiences of discrimination and marginalisation in France is rejected – and, specifically, rejected in a way that supposedly reinforces French norms of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

What to expect from opening up ‘black boxes’? Comparing perceptions of justice between human and automated agents

Advances in artificial intelligence contribute to increasing automation of decisions. In a healthcare-scheduling context, this study compares effects of decision agents and explanations for decisions on decision-recipients’ perceptions of justice. In a 2 (decision agent: automated vs. human) × 3 (explanation: no explanation vs. equality-explanation vs. equity-explanation) between-subjects online study, 209 healthcare professionals were asked to put themselves in a situation where their vacation request was denied by either a human or an automated agent. Participants either received no explanation or an explanation based on equality or equity norms. Perceptions of interpersonal justice were stronger for the human agent. Additionally, participants perceived human agents as offering more voice and automated agents as being more consistent in decision-making. When given no explanation, perceptions of informational justice were impaired only for the human decision agent. In the study's second part, participants took the perspective of a decision-maker and were given the choice to delegate decision-making to an automated system. Participants who delegated an unpleasant decision to the system frequently externalized responsibility and showed different response patterns when confronted by a decision-recipient who asked for a rationale for the decision.

Regulatory discretion: structuring power in the era of regulatory capitalism

AbstractDiscretion gives decision makers choices as to how resources are allocated, or how other aspects of state largesse or coercion are deployed. Discretionary state power challenges aspects of the rule of law, first by transferring decisions from legislators to departments, agencies and street-level bureaucrats and secondly by risking the uniform application of key fairness and equality norms. Concerns to find alternative and decentred forms of regulation gave rise to new types of regulation, sometimes labeled ‘regulatory capitalism’. Regulatory capitalism highlights the roles of a wider range of actors exercising powers and a wider range of instruments. It includes also new forms of discretion, for example over automated decision making processes, over the formulation and dissemination of league tables or over the use of behavioural measures. This paper takes a novel approach by linking and extending the significant literature on these changing patterns of regulatory administration with consideration of the changing modes of deployment of discretion. Using this specific lens, we observe two potentially contradictory trends: an increase in determining and structuring administrative decision, leading to a more transparent use of discretion; and the increased use of automated decision making processes which have the potential of producing a less transparent black box scenario.

The Need For Reconstruction of Family Domestic Duties Based On Equality Facing The Digital Technology Era

This study analyzes household problems amid the advances in digital technology civilization. The impact of digital technology covers broad aspects of human life, making it a necessity. Humans take advantage of digital technology facilities to meet their needs effectively and efficiently. However, technology brings negative aspects, such as changes in behavior, lifestyle changes, and communication patterns that characterize society’s social systems. Furthermore, there are shifts in relationships patterns between parents and their children, as well as from spiritual (fitrahwi) to patterned bonds with digital mechanisms. This problem needs to be solved by reconstructing domestic family duties based on equality norms. The orthodox-conventional approach restructures and modifies family management by considering religiousness, family psycho-social, and socio-culture based on moderation and humanistic justice promotion. Reconstruction is the rearrangement of the family management system by combining constructive old patterns with modern elements. As a result, the family acquire resistance to face the wave of technological civilization.

The implicit taxonomy of the equality jurisprudence of the UN Human Rights Committee

AbstractThe article analyses the individual communications of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) on how the latter conceptualizes equality under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It finds an implicit taxonomy in the case law that is not reflected in the doctrinal formulae that the HRC applies. The argument proceeds in several steps: First, I argue that the concept of equality in human rights treaties depends heavily on its operationalization by courts and quasi-judicial bodies, like the HRC. Second, I analyse the doctrinal formulae that the HRC has developed in order to specify equality. I argue that the doctrine is rather inconsistent and does not give significant guidance for resolving actual cases. Third, I present the results of a systematic analysis of the case law of the HRC. The latter shows a rather stable pattern which is not reflected in the doctrinal formulae: The best predictor whether the HRC finds a violation of Article 26 ICCPR or another equality norm of the Convention is the existence of a suspect criterion on which the challenged distinction was based. There are only very few cases in which a violation is found in the absence of a suspect criterion. The majority of these cases arguably concern arbitrary state actions. At the same time, the HRC has only rarely held that a state has not violated an equality norm despite the existence of a suspect criterion.