Theories of Equality and Rights

The course has two learning objectives.
The first objective is to introduce students to the philosophical analysis of the different meanings and functions that references to equality have in legal and political discourses, of the links between equality, justice, freedom and fundamental rights, and of the relation between the promotion of these values and the recognition of differences.
The second objective is to provide students with knowledge and understanding of how ideas of equality, justice and freedom have been and are today declined within the theoretical reflection and political action and claims of feminism and of other emancipatory social movements and of how they have been and could be translated into legal norms.
The course is part of the multidisciplinary programme on Rights, labour and equal opportunities (Diritti, lavoro e pari opportunità - DiLPO).

At the end of the course students should have acquired:
- knowledge and understanding of the philosophical analysis of the idea of equality in its different declinations (of status, rights, treatment, opportunity, results), of the relation between equality and differences of sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, opinion, capabilities, and of the problems concerning the promotions of equality in society;
- knowledge and understanding of the different phases of the development of feminist thought, of the main steps in the process that has resulted in the inclusion of women among rights-holders, of how that process has led to a revision of the very ideas of fundamental rights and equality, and of the problematic relation between equality and citizenship;
- capability to apply acquired knowledge to the analysis and discussion of public controversies about legislation and social policies aimed at promoting equality and implementing fundamental rights, paying special attention to the rights of women and of sexual and cultural minorities.