Intersectionality in international anti-discrimination law: addressing poverty in its complexity

© 2015 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. The concept of intersectionality has been progressively incorporated into international anti-discrimination law. This article considers the nature of this incorporation and the different understandings of the term and related concepts by United Nations treaty body committees. It discusses the importance of intersectionality within a substantive equality framework in challenging poverty that is often complex in nature. This is illustrated with examples from the field of social security in India, Australia and South Africa as they concern issues of race, gender, caste and class. The article suggests the need for a clear conception of intersectionality embedded within a substantive approach to equality and for greater uniformity of this equality framework across the human rights treaty system

Beyond the Pale: The Development of Yiddish Socialism

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

Bloody unfair: Inequality related to menstruation – considering the role of discrimination law

Drawing on growing social awareness, activism and scholarship, this article examines menstruation as an equality issue and the implications for discrimination law in Australia. It discusses the complex nature of inequality that arises in relation to menstruation. It also considers intersectional discrimination (when a combination of attributes generates a new form of discrimination) that occurs in relation to menstruation facing different groups: women and girls with disabilities, incarcerated women, and transgender, gender-diverse and intersex people. The article considers how some forms of inequality related to menstruation might be addressed through discrimination law (workplace adjustments and provision of menstrual products in carceral settings) and points to limitations of discrimination law or its application, such as in relation to sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities and strip searching of incarcerated women. It concludes that Australian discrimination law can only have a limited impact in addressing menstrual inequality. This is because: (a) the structure of the law is attribute-based and thus cannot address the complex intersections of sex and other attributes; (b) it cannot address structural inequality; and (c) it cannot adequately contend with embodied and abjected legal subjects. These conclusions have radical implications beyond menstruation inequality in contributing to broader discussions of how law can re-imagine gender difference and advance equality

Basic Income, Gender and Human Rights

Basic income has been a prominent policy proposal from a range of quarters in the context of uncertainty over the future of work and the problem of growing economic inequality. More recently it is being considered in some countries as a possible response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. A basic income is an unconditional, tax-financed, government payment provided to every member of society. It has recently been articulated by the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, as a human rights issue. It has also been the subject of long-standing debate amongst feminists about its likely benefit for women and gender equality. This article explores the intersections between basic income, gender and human rights. It provides some background to the discussion of a basic income within human rights and within feminism before considering how a human rights lens informed by gender might deepen the debate on basic income and contribute to the development of social policies that address gendered poverty and inequality. It also gives some thought to the value of a human rights framing of basic income for the feminist project

Chromosome characterization and variability in some Iridaceae from Northeastern Brazil

The chromosomes of 15 species of Iridaceae of the genera Alophia, Cipura, Eleutherine, Neomarica and Trimezia (subfamily Iridoideae) were examined after conventional Giemsa staining. The karyotypes of Alophia drummondii (2n = 14+1B, 28, 42 and 56), Cipura paludosa (2n = 14), C. xanthomelas (2n = 28) and Eleutherine bulbosa (2n = 12) were asymmetric; Neomarica candida, N. caerulea, N. humilis, N. glauca, N. gracilis, N. northiana and Neomarica sp. (2n = 18); N. cf. paradoxa (2n = 28), Trimezia fosteriana (2n = 52), T. martinicensis (2n = 54) and T. connata (2n = 82) were all generally symmetric. New diploid numbers of 2n = 56 for Alophia drummondii, 2n = 18 for N. candida, N. humilis, N. glauca, and N. gracilis, 2n = 28 for N. cf. paradoxa, and 2n = 82 for T. connata are reported. The karyotypic evolution of the studied species is discussed

Contextual logic for quantum systems

In this work we build a quantum logic that allows us to refer to physical magnitudes pertaining to different contexts from a fixed one without the contradictions with quantum mechanics expressed in no-go theorems. This logic arises from considering a sheaf over a topological space associated to the Boolean sublattices of the ortholattice of closed subspaces of the Hilbert space of the physical system. Differently to standard quantum logics, the contextual logic maintains a distributive lattice structure and a good definition of implication as a residue of the conjunction.Comment: 16 pages, no figure

Disposable Menstrual Products as Law's Objects

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; During the past few years, scholars and activists have increasingly engaged with law as a means to challenge stigma, silence, and disadvantages associated with menstruation. Menstrual items (predominantly in the form of disposable menstrual products) are becoming increasingly prominent in this “legal turn.” There have been legislative reforms to provide access to free menstrual items, litigation and legislative reforms to remove taxes on menstrual products, legislative reforms on product safety and environmental sustainability of menstrual items, and water and sanitation hygiene (‘WASH’) policies and guidelines in the context of international development interventions that focus on access to menstrual items.&#x0D; As regulation of disposable menstrual products assumes greater prominence in legal doctrine, feminist legal scholars are increasingly evaluating the impacts of such laws on menstruators, including in the context of diverse experiences of menstruation and menstrual injustice. But what can disposable menstrual products themselves tell us of law? In this Essay we take an object-informed approach to law in the specific context of disposable menstrual products. What insights about law might these objects provide, and how do these insights deepen our understanding of law’s relationship to menstruation, menstruators, and the worlds in which menstruators are situated? What can we appreciate about law’s role in defining, as well as recognizing and responding to, the diversity of experiences related to menstruation? How do menstrual items nuance our understanding of agency in relation to menstrual injustice? And what do these objects tell us about the limits and challenges of using law to achieve justice in relation to the embodied experiences of people who menstruate?&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; Part II introduces some key contributions to feminist legal thinking on materiality and objects, which informs our analysis of disposable menstrual products as law’s objects. Part III introduces some of the critical threads in scholarship on disposable menstrual products, including how they relate to diversity and materiality of experiences of menstruation. Then, we turn in Part IV to explore what disposable menstrual products tell us about law’s role in menstruation, using the recent laws introduced in Scotland as a case study.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; </jats:p

Introduction to Categories and Categorical Logic

The aim of these notes is to provide a succinct, accessible introduction to some of the basic ideas of category theory and categorical logic. The notes are based on a lecture course given at Oxford over the past few years. They contain numerous exercises, and hopefully will prove useful for self-study by those seeking a first introduction to the subject, with fairly minimal prerequisites. The coverage is by no means comprehensive, but should provide a good basis for further study; a guide to further reading is included. The main prerequisite is a basic familiarity with the elements of discrete mathematics: sets, relations and functions. An Appendix contains a summary of what we will need, and it may be useful to review this first. In addition, some prior exposure to abstract algebra - vector spaces and linear maps, or groups and group homomorphisms - would be helpful.Comment: 96 page