Full Description
This thoughtfully edited volume explores the operation of equality and discrimination law in times of crisis. It aims to understand how existing inequalities are exacerbated in crises and whether equality law has the tools to understand and address this contingency.
Experience during the COVID-19 crisis shows that the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for 'exponential inequalities' related to racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, and ableism. Yet, the field of equality law (which is meant to be addressing such discrimination or inequality) has had little immediate relevance in mitigating these exponential inequalities. This is despite the fact that countries like the UK have a rather recent and state-of-the-art legislation in the field, namely the Equality Act 2010.
Exponential Inequalities offers readers an understanding of how these inequalities came to be and how crises such as the global pandemic, the climate emergency, or the economic downturn, can exacerbate an already untenable situation. It illuminates both the structural and the conceptual, as well as the practical and doctrinal difficulties currently experienced in equality law, and discusses whether or not equality law even has the tools to both understand and then address this contingency.
Written by a team of internationally recognized experts, Exponential Inequalities provides a comparative perspective on the functioning of equality laws across a range of contexts and jurisdictions and represents an essential read for scholars and policy makers alike.
Contents
David B. Oppenheimer: Foreword
1: Shreya Atrey and Sandra Fredman: Introduction - Exponential Inequalities: What Can Equality Law Do?
I. UNDERSTANDING EXPONENTIAL INEQUALITIES
2: Aleta Sprague, Amy Raub, and Jody Heymann: Protecting Workers' Equal Rights During Crisis and Recovery: Constitutional Approaches in 193 Countries
3: Diane Elson and Marion Sharples: Addressing Intersecting Inequalities Through Alternative Economic Strategies
4: Aaron Reeves, Kate Andersen, Mary Reader, and Rosalie Warnock: Social Security, Exponential Inequalities, and COVID-19: How Welfare Reform in the UK Left Larger Families Exposed to the Scarring Effects of the Pandemic
5: Meghan Campbell: The Proportionality of an Economic Crisis
6: Kelley Loper: Intersecting Crises and Exponential Inequalities: The View from Hong Kong
II. ADDRESSING EXPONENTIAL INEQUALITIES
Section A: Comparative and International Law
7: Colm O'Cinneide: New Directions Needed: Exponential Inequalities and the Limits of Equality Law
8: Mark Bell: More than an Afterthought? Equality Law in Ireland During the Pandemic
9: Jessica A Clarke: A Public Policy Approach to Inequality
10: Beth Gaze: Responding to Exponential Inequalities in Australia: Beyond the Limits of Equality and Discrimination Law
11: Helena Alviar García: The Interaction of Laws Enabling Gender Equality with Other Legal Regimes: Limiting Progress in Times of Crisis
12: Catherine O'Regan: Equal Access to Vaccines: Exposing the Limits of International Human Rights Law?
Section B: Vulnerable Groups
13: Alysia Blackham: A Life Course Approach to Addressing Exponential Inequalities: Age, Gender, and COVID-19
14: Anna Lawson and Lisa Waddington: Disability in Times of Emergency: Exponential Inequality and the Role of Reasonable Accommodation Duties
15: Jule Mulder: Remote Working, Working from Home and EU Sex-Discrimination Law
16: Marta Machado and Taís Penteado: COVID-19 and Exponential Reproductive Rights-related Inequalities in Brazil
17: Aparna Chandra: A Life of Contradictions: Group Inequality and Socio-Economic Rights in the Indian Constitution
18: Victoria Miyandazi: An Equality-Sensitive Approach to Delivering Socio-Economic Rights During Crises: A Focus on Kenya
19: Catherine Albertyn: The Role of Equality Law in Expanding Access to Social Goods and Services in South Africa: Lessons after the Pandemic
