Clinical Legal Education for Gender Justice in Europe

Zara Saeidzadeh; Bojana Cuckovic; Dragica Vujidanovic

doi:10.19164/ijcle.v30i1.1322

Authors

Zara Saeidzadeh Örebro University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1464-8874
Bojana Cuckovic University of Belgrade
Dragica Vujidanovic University of Belgrade

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19164/ijcle.v30i1.1322

Abstract

Generated directly from the field, this paper elaborates on the knowledge shared during the process of a research project called LAWGEM (New Quality in Education for Gender Equality – Strategic Partnership for the Development of Master’s Study Program on LAW and GENDER) in an effort to develop a Gender Equality Legal Clinic to sensitise students about gender issues within legal education in Europe. The paper elaborates on the experience of two countries, Sweden and Serbia through discussing the challenges in achieving gender justice. Finally, it introduces Gender Equality Legal Clinic as a learning outcome of LAWGEM project for legal pedagogical purposes.

Author Biographies

Zara Saeidzadeh, Örebro University

Zara Saeidzadeh is a postdoctoral researcher in Gender Studies at Örebro University in Sweden where she defended her PhD thesis on “Trans and Sex Change in Iran: A Socio-Legal Study of Gendered Policies and Practices” in June 2020. Zara has been working as a researcher in Center for Feminist Social Studies and Center for Violence Studies at Örebro University. Zara's research falls within the field of social studies of gender, sociology of law and trans* studies. In her current work, she focuses on violence against trans* people in intimate relations, family and employment, drawing on the social and legal status recognition and trans* citizenship.

Bojana Cuckovic, University of Belgrade

Associate Professor of Public International Law and Human Rights Law at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. She has a PhD in Public International Law obtained at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law in 2012, and she holds an LLM degree in International Law and International Organizations acquired at Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne University (France) in 2006. She teaches a number of courses at various levels of studies (undergraduate, master and doctoral studies): Public International Law, Human Rights Law, EU Environmental Law and Policy, EU Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy, International Environmental Law and Legal Clinic on Trafficking in Human Beings. Bojana Čučković took part in a number of international projects, both in the capacity of the head of the research team and as a research team member. She has been engaged as an expert and consultant by a number of international governmental organizations (IOM, Council of Europe, OSCE). Some of her research dealing with different issues of public international law and, in particular, international human rights law, focused on gender perspectives as well. This includes studies related to the protection of women asylum seekers and certain vulnerable categories of female asylum seekers, such as victims of gender-based violence. In addition, her research was dedicated to gender-sensitive interpretation of obligations to protect individuals against trafficking in human beings, especially the relevance of international standards within national legal order.

Dragica Vujidanovic, University of Belgrade

Full professor at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, where she teaches Political and Legal Theories and Gender Studies at the undergraduate level, Introduction to the Political System of the EU at master studies in European Integration, and Contemporary Political Theories at master and doctoral level. She has also been the Head of the Master in European Integration programme (MEI) since 2005. She published the following books: The Budapest School – Theory of Radical Needs, Nikšić 1988), the textbook Political and Legal Theories, Belgrade 1996, Political Philosophy of Ronald Dworkin, Belgrade 2007, Civil Society and Political Institutions, Belgrade, 2009, Civil Society in Contemporary Context, Belgrade 2009 (in English), Democracy and Human Rights in the EU (co-authored with M. Jovanović and R. Etinski; in English), Maribor/Belgrade 2009, Serbia in the Maelstrom of Political Changes, Belgrade 2009 (in English). She was also co-editor for 8 books, and the co-author for the textbook Gender Studies, Belgrade 2017. She organised an international conference at the Faculty of Law, entitled “Gender Equality in Higher Education: International Good Practices and Local Contexts”, October 2017. She was the coordinator of a research team working on a pioneering project dedicated to the development of an Action plan for achieving gender equality at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. She was the coordinator for the Tempus JEP Project 2004-2008; as the Head of MEI she took part in a successful Jean Monnet module, 2017-2020, “Free Trade Agreement and European Integration of SEE Countries”; she is the coach in the Gender Coaching Program, within a Swedish-Serbian Police Co-operation Programme active between 2016 and 2018, and 2018-2020; she was part of the COSTA team (project in the application phase: Populism and Courts: Protecting Rights in the EU); she is the coordinator for Belgrade University for a project in the application phase: “Jean Monnet Academic network supporting the EU policy towards Western Balkans with emphasis on cooperation based on reconciliation – ANETREC”. In the role of disseminator, she took part in the EC project GenderTime, Paris 2016, and Schift GEAR, Brussels 2016.

She also published articles in national and international scientific journals, and chapters in books, focusing on gender equality: “Family Structures and Civil Society Perspectives in Present-Day Serbia”, in: P. Ginsborg et.al. The Golden Chain: Family, Civil Society and the State, Berghahn Publishers, Oxford and New York 2013; “Gender Equality in a Legal Environment” – The Case of Serbia”, in: SEELLS ed. Legal perspectives of gender Equality in SouthEast Europe, Skopje 2012; “Gender mainstreaming in law and legal education”, Annals of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade – Belgrade Law Review, Year LXIII, 2015, No 4. She published articles on gender issues in Serbian, as well: “Perspectives of gender equality in a legal Context – the Case of Serbia” (2012), “Gender and Legal Regulation” (2013); “Theoretical-methodological Framework for Understanding Gender Relations” (2016), “Gender Relations in Serbia in the Transitional Era” (2016), “Patriarchy and Position of Women in the Ancient Epoche” (2018), “From Gender Blind to Gender Inclusive Higher Education in Serbia: Gender Action Plans”.