human rights

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Equality: Formal vs Substantive & Why it Matters

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Equality: Formal vs Substantive & Why it Matters

You might be familiar with this image, which is a diagrammatic explanation of equality.*  You might even have instinctually understood it.  But the funny thing about equality is that we all think we know what someone is talking about when they talk about it, but it’s actually a complex concept with a number of perspectives that many people have never really thought about.

Before taking a subject on international human rights law and women as part of my Masters, I didn’t realise there were different types of equality, and wouldn’t have described myself as a radical feminist. In fact, I wouldn’t really have described myself as much of a feminist at all.

Equality is all well and good, but haven't we achieved it?  We have all these laws which say that men and women need to be treated equally, and you can't discriminate against someone because of their gender, sex or marital status.  What more is there?

The cost of apathy

I’ve been steadfastly refusing to engage with the stories about refugees in the media for some time now.  Child abuse and rape on Manus and Nauru, bribing boats to turn around, the ‘Cambodia Deal’, boats which have apparently miraculously stopped. I saw the headlines, I saw the stories, but I couldn’t bring myself to engage. Even yesterday, when photos of a tiny child washed up on a beach were circulating, I resolutely closed my eyes and scrolled past.

Am I a cold-hearted, unfeeling monster? Do I not care about the plight of millions of people around the world, and many in my own backyard, suffering and dying trying to exercise their fundamental human right to seek asylum or refuge?