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The International Politics of Womanology
Examining the international politics of “womanology,” Carver and Bassett trace how legal, political, and institutional definitions of “woman” have been constructed, contested, and enforced since the postwar period. Beginning with Simone de Beauvoir’s foundational challenge to biological determinism, they situate contemporary debates within the global rise of women’s rights frameworks at the United Nations. The article centers on the UK Supreme Court’s April 2025 ruling on sex and gender, arguing that its reliance on “biological sex” and ordinary language reinstates rigid binaries that erase trans, intersex, and non-binary realities, with far-reaching global consequences for equality law and feminist politics.
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Michael Curtin
managing editor
Victor Faessel
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Janet Afary
Alison Brysk
Jan Nederveen Pieterse
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Daniele Archibugi
Neera Chandhoke
Scarlett Cornelissen
Ayça Çubukçu
Richard Falk
Bishnupriya Ghosh
Penelope Green
Marwan Kraidy
Jie-Hyun Lim
Matthias Middell
Laikwan Pang
Yeidy Rivero
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Celso Amorim
Ien Ang
Helmut Anheier
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Manuela Ciotti
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Donatella della Porta
Ana Maria Ochoa Gautier
Abdellah Hammoudi
Maria Immacolata Vassallo
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Aniko Imre
Koichi Iwabuchi
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Dominic Sachsenmaier
Saskia Sassen
Mona Kanwal Sheikh
Manfred Steger
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Anna Tsing
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Surichai Wungae