Gendered Rights on the European Stage: Do Marginalized Groups Find a ‘Voice’ in the European Court of Human Rights?

This article examines the pursuit of gender equality rights before the European Court of Human Rights from a comparative perspective.

Drawing on material from case reports from a number of European countries, this article investigates the application of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the non-discrimination provision) to instances of gender discrimination.

Using a theoretical framework of ‘intersectionality’, this article suggests that many cases that arguably have a gender component to them are not viewed as such by the European Court of Human Rights. Instead, they are treated as generic claims raising other civil or political rights and are thereby stripped of their important gender dimension. Two recent cases of the Court brought against Bulgaria (MC and Bevacqua) are, however, celebrated for a more gender specific analysis of the ‘private’ harms suffered by the victims in these cases.

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