Invitation to Online Book Launch of Feminist Legislation Project on Sept. 25

Below is an invitation to a book launch of the Feminist Legislation Project from co-editor Becky Batagol. More information about the book project is here:   

Please come to the launch of the Feminist Legislation Project: Rewriting Laws for Gender-Based Justice edited collection created and edited by me, Professor Kate Seear, Assoc Prof Heli Askola and Dr Jamie Walvisch.

This book is the result of 7 years of Monash-led collaborative feminist work across Australia by leading law academics, lawyers, activists and those with lived experience of the problems we identify. We decided to go past the usual academic criticism of law and to actually show what legislation could look like if its concern was to create justice for women and those who experience gender-harm. 

Each chapter contains a short piece of legislation – proposed in order to address a contemporary legal problem from a feminist perspective. These range across criminal law (sexual offences, Indigenous women’s experiences of criminal law, laws in relation to forced marriage, modern slavery, childcare and sentencing), civil law (aged care and housing rights, regulating the gig economy; surrogacy, gender equity in the construction industry) and constitutional law (human rights legislation, reimagining parliaments where laws are made for the benefit of women). The proposed laws are, moreover, drafted with feedback from a senior parliamentary draftsperson (providing guidance to contributors in a personal capacity), to ensure conformity with legislative rigour, as well as accompanied by an explanation of their reasons and their aims. Although the legislation is Australian-based, the issues raised by each are recognisably global, and are reflected in the legislation of most other nations.

This is the world's first feminist legislation project and we think its methods can be applied worldwide. It also has great potential to lead to law reform as the book contains 16 proposals for law reform, complete with second reading speech and legislative drafting.  It will appeal to scholars of feminist legal studies, gender and the law, gender studies and others studying or working in relevant legal areas.

 

The book launch, which will take place at the Sky Room (Monash Business School), Level 14, at 30 Collins Street in Melbourne's CBD, on Wednesday 25 September, 5-7pm. We will organise Zoom access for those who can't attend in person. The invitation is attached and you can RSVP here by 16 September.

 

The book is open access, meaning it is free, not behind the usual academic paywalls and available to read and download here.