Ann Stewart was recently interviewed at a conference in Coimbra, Portugal about her recent book and her work on gender studies.

To listen to the interview Click here and then click on Podcast

Ann Stewart was invited to give the inaugural Tove Stang Dahl memorial public lecture at the Law Faculty at the University of Oslo Norway on 7^th March.

The title of the lecture was ‘Who do we care about? Reflections on gender , law and justice ‘ based on her book 'Gender Law and Justice in a Global Market' (CUP 2011)

Tove Stang Dahl was a Norwegian legal scholar, criminologist, Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo from 1988 until her death, and a pioneer of feminist jurisprudence. She was one of the founders of the field of women's law as an academic discipline at the University of Oslo. Anne Hellum Professor of Women’s Law introduced the lecture. It was attended by leading academics as well as policy makers and activists with interests in gender and law issues within Norway and internationally. The lecture was followed by a very stimulating audience discussion.

On 8^th March Ann gave a guest lecture to staff and students involved with the Women's Law and Human Rights international masters’ programme. The topic was ‘Disability Discrimination by Association: A Case of the Double Yes’ and involved a discussion of Ann’s published work with her colleagues, Sylvia Niccolai and Catherine Hoskyns on Coleman v Attridge Law in the European Court of Justice (Social and Legal Studies 20 (2): 173-190.)

The study day on violence against women organised by the Law School in conjunction with local women's groups, and featuring contributions from Alan Norrie and Donna Chung, has been nominated for a programme action award by the organisation Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland. For details of these awards and previous nominations see http://soroptimist-gbi.org/our-work/programme-action-awards/

Rebecca Probert has been shortlisted for a prize in the 2011 Family Law Awards. The Family Law Awards 2011 will be hosted by Clive Coleman and are an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the many successes and outstanding achievements of family law practitioners. They are an opportunity for Family Law and its readers to acknowledge the hard work and commitment throughout the year among the nominees and the profession as a whole.

The Awards will take place on 18 October 2011 at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, London.
For more details of this award see the link below. http://familylawawards.com/#/nominees/4555349264

Shaheen Ali presents a keynote paper at international workshop in Helsinki “Friend or Foe? Law Reform as double edged sword for women. Some Critical Reflections on Selected law reform in Pakistan and implications for women’s human rights” at the international workshop Women's Agency and Law: Perspectives from the Nordic and the Global South, organized by the Helsinki Collegium of the University of Helsinki, Finland on 30 May 2011.

ABSTRACT:

This presentation attempts to problemmatize the concept of law reform in the Muslim world as an effective tool of social engineering and advancement of women’s rights. It raises a number of questions in this regard including inter alia:

Has law reform proved to be an ally or foe of Muslim women in post-colonial jurisdictions including Pakistan? Under the broad framework of this overarching question, we seek to investigate the following:

To what extent has law reform in Pakistan responded to the demands of the women’s movement?

Women activists have often invoked Islamic law to seek law reform. As a strategy, how has this approach impacted on gender justice?

Can law reform counter discriminatory plural legalities (such as misogynistic customary practices)?

After providing a brief historical overview of law reform impacting on women in the global south focussing on the Indian sub-continent (as it was then) the paper will move on to focus on law reform in Pakistan. It will interrogate the application and impact of selected laws including the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939 (DMMA); Muslim Personal (Shariat Application)Act 1937 (MPL);the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 (MFLO); the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) 1979 and the Women Protection Act 2006 (WPA)of Pakistan.

http://www.clickorlando.com/royal-wedding/27561663/detail.html

See article here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/apr/05/royal-wedding-william-kate-law

The laws which govern the marriages of the British royal family have led to heartbreak, farce and confusion, and are unfit for the twenty-first century. In an era that values human rights and free choice, there is little certainty over questions as fundamental as the effect of marrying a Roman Catholic, or of marrying without the Queen's consent. Question marks still hang over the legal basis for royal civil marriage. Obscure acts of Parliament have threatened to render members of the royal family illegitimate and prevented others from following their hearts. Drawing on a wide range of sources including once-secret files in the UK's National Archives, The Rights & Wrongs of Royal Marriage recounts episodes from the eighteenth century right down to the present day that would not look out of place in Yes, Minister or The Mikado. Professor Rebecca Probert, the leading authority on the marriage law of England and Wales, is as characteristically clear when explaining the complexities of royal marriage law as she is in her other groundbreaking studies. Her prose is concise and elegant, and full of historical anecdotes that will have royalists and republicans alike laughing aloud and wide-eyed with astonishment.

For more details of this event click here

For more details of this publication click here. 

Congratulations to Professor Shaheen Ali who has been re-elected to the post of Vice-Chair of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.