Project

Aims

The Future of Legal Gender is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).   The project started in May 2018 and will conclude in March 2022, following a 1-year extension.

The aim of the project is to critically explore the question of “legal gender” . This is a term we use for the different ways in which law explicitly treats people as having a gender or sex  that is stable, unitary, binary and carried with them.  Focusing on the jurisdiction of England and Wales, we ask: What would be the social, cultural and political implications if the ways that state law treated people’s sex/ gender radically changed?  What concerns, problems and challenges would such proposals invoke, particularly for thinking about equality and social justice?  The project will draw on experiences in other countries, the legal approach taken towards other social characteristics, such as religion, ethnicity and sexuality, and the views of activists, policy-makers, NGOs, lawyers and the wider public.

Read more about the project’s aims.

 

Photo by Delila Ziebart on Unsplash

Phase One: Legal systems for determining and regulating gender 

Phase One looked at legal systems for determining and  regulating gender around the world.  In light of law reforms being proposed and introduced internationally, its aim was to put the radical proposal of abolishing legal gender status into conversation with policy-makers, activists and NGOs. 

Read more about Phase One.

 

Photo by Delila Ziebart on Unsplash

Phase Two: Assessing different reform frameworks

Phase Two explored the implications of either radically reforming or abolishing the current system by which people are legally gendered, including through registering sex at birth.   The research was divided into four separate strands.

Read more about Phase Two’s strands.

 

Photo by Delila Ziebart on Unsplash

Phase Three: Concluding assessment with wider public and policy engagement

We have now entered Phase Three of the project. We will provide a concluding analysis of the viability, strengths and weaknesses of different law reform options based on interdisciplinary scholarship and the research we have carried out. We will also produce a legislative guide, outlining some key provisions that a decertification law would require, along with some options, questions, and commentary. This will combine our research findings with feminist and other critical principles for law reform.

Read more about the project’s final phase here.