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International and European Protection of the Rights of Women and Members of the LGTBIQ+ Community

Code: 106968 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Sociocultural Gender Studies OB 2

Contact

Name:
Lidia Ballesta Marti
Email:
lidia.ballesta@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

For a good follow-up of the course, it is recommended to have an adequate knowledge of the basics of the subjects Fonaments del Dret  and  Gènere i Dret


Objectives and Contextualisation

  • Know the fundamental legal concepts related to the rights of women and LGBTIQ+ persons at the international and European levels.
  • Understand the legal structure of the rights of women and LGBTIQ+ persons at the international and European levels.
  • Know the international organizations and European institutions that develop gender policies and protect the rights of women and LGBTI+ persons, as well as the evolution of these policies in Europe.
  • Understand the instruments for the international and European protection of the rights of women and LGBTIQ+ persons.
  • Know the practices of international courts and monitoring bodies regarding gender issues.
  • Understand and gain a critical view of gender actions and policies and the development of the rights of women and LGBTI+ persons in the international sphere, as well as the progress and setbacks.

Learning Outcomes

  1. CM01 (Competence) Propose examples of legal solutions to discrimination against women and the LGTBIQ+ community.
  2. CM02 (Competence) Propose consequences for direct, indirect or multiple discrimination against sex, gender or sexual orientation.
  3. KM03 (Knowledge) Identify the issues related to equality between men and women in legislation and case law.
  4. SM62 (Skill) Select different tools for analysing and explaining how gender equality policies are formulated, decided, implemented and evaluated.

Content

 PART I: Women's Rights in the International System 
  • Unit 1: Introduction to Public International Law and Systems of International Human Rights Protection.
  • Unit 2: Evolution and Instruments for the Protection of Women's Rights in International Law. 
  • Unit 3: Practice of International Monitoring Bodies in Gender Matters.

PART II: Women's Rights and Gender Policies in Europe

  • Unit 4: Introduction to Different Regional Systems of Protection of Women's Rights in Europe.
  • Unit 5: Protection Instruments and Actions of the Council of Europe; The Istanbul Convention.
  • Unit 6: Gender Equality in the European Union; Legislation, Case Law, and Institutional Actions.

PART III: LGBTIQ+ Rights in the International System 

  • Unit 7: Evolution of LGBTIQ+ Rights Worldwide and Their Development in Europe.
  • Unit 8: Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union on LGBTIQ+ matters.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Master classes 35 1.4
Practical Lessons 35 1.4
Type: Supervised      
Final Project 10 0.4
Type: Autonomous      
Reading papers 20 0.8
Research and preparation of assignments 20 0.8
Study 30 1.2

The learning process is based on lectures combined with student work. Student work involves studying, reading texts, researching documentation, and preparing assignments. It is the responsibility of the Lecturer to provide theoretical frameworks and problems, as well as appropriate guidance to provide students with the necessary tools for understanding legal issues and the methods to resolve them.

All of this will be realized through various activities in the classroom, preceded by student preparation: lectures, oral presentations, simulations and debates, practical case resolutions, jurisprudence discussions, etc. These activities will be specified in a schedule that will be posted on the Virtual Campus before the course begins.

Note: 15 minutes of a class will be reserved for students to complete evaluations assessing the faculty's performance and the course/module, as it is scheduled by the institutional program

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Case study - Part I 10% 0 0 CM01, CM02, KM03, SM62
Case study - Part II 10% 0 0 CM01, CM02, KM03, SM62
Case study - Part III 10% 0 0 CM01, CM02, KM03, SM62
Final exam 40% 0 0 CM01, CM02, KM03, SM62
Midterm exam Part I 30% 0 0 CM01, CM02, KM03, SM62

Ordinary Assessment

Consists of the following activities:

  • Case Study activity of Block I (10%) - No reassessment. 
  • Case Study  activity of Block II (10%) - No reassessment. 
  • Case Study  activity of Block III (10%) - No reassessment. 
  • Midtterm Test of Block I (30%) - No reassessment. 
  • Final exam (40%) - Possibility of reassessment.

At the beginning of the course, the professor will inform about the content and characteristics of each activity and their scheduling.

All assessment activities will be conducted in person in the classroom. At the time of each assessment activity, the professor will inform students of the procedure and date for reviewing grades.

One single Assessment

Consists of the following evidence:

  • Final exam (50%)
  • Research paper applying the knowledge of the subject to a specific topic agreed upon with the teacher. From this paper, two pieces of evidence are extracted:
    • - Written paper to be completed during the course (25%)
    • - Oral presentation of the research (25%)

For the one single assessment option, submission of the paper, completion of the exam, and oral presentations will take place on the same date indicated in the subject's program, which will be accessible from the virtual campus.

Criteria for Passing the Course:

In any case, to pass the course, a final grade must be obtained, which is the weighted average of all assessment evidence, higher than 5/10, and additionally obtaining a minimum grade of 4/10 in the synthesis exam.

Criteria to determine as NOT Assessable

When students have not been able to provide enough evaluation evidence, they will be classified as non-evaluable. It will be non-assessable as long as the student has presented 2 or less evaluable activities and does not make the synthesis exam.

Reassessment

Access to the reassessment process is granted to those who do not pass the course overall (5/10) and have also obtained a minimum of 3/10 in each evidence, including the synthesis exam.
Recovery will consist of a comprehensive exam covering the entire course, which will count for 100% of the grade.

Use of AI, Plagiarism, and Other Irregularities:

For the completion of papers, the use of AI is permitted but limited to 3 citations of maximum 3 lines per 10 pages of work.

It is essential to cite the AI and the prompt in the format provided below:

**Format:**

Author. (Date). Name of tool (Version of tool) [Large language model]. URL

**Example Bibliography Citation:**

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

**Example In-Text Citation:**

(OpenAI, 2023)

**Example Footnote:**

OpenAI, May 25, 2023. Prompt: Describe the main characteristics of the Convention of Belem do Parà.

The use of AI without citation or notice is considered plagiarism in all respects.

If a student commits plagiarism or any other irregularity that may significantly affect the grade of an assessment task, that assessment task will be graded as 0, regardless of any disciplinary process that may be initiated.

If multiple irregularities occur in the assessment tasks of the same course, the final grade for that course will be 0.


Bibliography

Legislation

  • Còdigo de Igualdad de Género. BOE.ES, 2023.  https://www.boe.es/biblioteca_juridica/codigos/codigo.php?id=304_Igualdad_de_Genero_&modo=2
  • EUR-Lex - Buscador de legislación y jurisprudencia de la UE:  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=es

Web sites

  • CEDAW: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

  • ONU mujeres: http://www.unwomen.org/es/
  • Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/UDHRIndex.aspx
  • EIGE - Instituto Europeo de la Igualdad de Género: https://eige.europa.eu/es/in-brief
  • Consejo De Europa: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cm/home
  • Comisión Europea : https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality_en
  • European Pariment LGTBI Intergroup: https://lgbti-ep.eu/
  • FRA - Agencia Europea de Drets Fonamentals: https://fra.europa.eu/en/theme/gender


Bibiliography:

 

  • Belavusau, Uladzislau, and Kristin Henrard. EU anti-discrimination law beyond gender,  edited by Uladzislau Belavusau and Kristin Henrard. Primera edició. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2019. Print.
  • Capellà, Margalida (Capellà i Roig). Las decisiones del comité para la eliminación de la discriminaciónde la mujer: en el marco general de la protección internacional de los derechos humanos / MargalidaCapellà i Roig. Palma, Illes Balears: Universitat de Les Illes Balears, 2014. Print.
  • Guth, Jessica. Gender and the Court of Justice of the European Union / Jessica Guth, Sanna Elfving. London;: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020. Print.
  • Hellum, Anne, and Henriette Sinding Aasen. Women's Human Rights: CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law. Vol. 3. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013. https://bibcercador.uab.cat/permalink/34CSUC_UAB/1c3utr0/cdi_proquest_ebookcentral_EBC1303706
  • Lengua Parra, A. (2019). La trans-formación del Derecho: La evolución del Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos para proteger la identidad de género de las personas trans. Ius et Veritas, 2019(59), 208–225. https://doi.org/10.18800/iusetveritas.201902.013
  • Martín Martínez, M. M., & Barbé, E. (2024). La Violencia contra las mujeres en un orden internacional en transición (Primera edición). Thomson Aranzadi.
  • Martín Sánchez, María. La Perspectiva de género en la protección internacional de los derechos humanos: diálogo multinivel y deconstrucción de estereotipos / María Martín Sánchez. 1a edición. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch, 2020. Print. Disponible online : https://biblioteca-tirant-com.are.uab.cat/cloudLibrary/ebook/show/9788413781617
  • Rivas Vañó,Alicia. LGBTI en Europa: la Construcción Jurídica de la Diversidad, Editorial: Tirant loBlanch, 2019, ISBN: 9788491904809 https://biblioteca.tirant.com/cloudLibrary/ebook/show/9788491904809?showPage=0

Software

Campus Virtual UAB


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan/Spanish second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan/Spanish second semester morning-mixed