Avoiding or pursuing gender just transitions

Abstract

The primary focus of gender just transition has been on the nature of work. But what is the role, if any, of law in this process? This article explores an under examined legal concept, the standard of review, through the lens of the landmark judgment, KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz v Switzerland, from the European Court of Human Rights. It argues the Court’s innovative with respect to the standard of review, creating an interrogative and deferential standard, is conceptually confusing and ill-suited to gender justice transitions. This approach alleviates male living patterns from scrutiny and continues to perpetuate women’s exclusion from the constitutional structure of the state. Drawing on feminist jurisprudence from a range of apex and regional courts as well as the empirical evidence on the impacts of climate change, it argues that courts should always calibrate the standard of review to intensely scrutinise when gender justice transition is the crux of the case.