Chair: Jacqueline Bhabha, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University
10:45 a.m.
John C. Mubangizi, College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
A constitutional and human rights-based approach to reducing poverty and social exclusion in South Africa
Discussant: Lucie White, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
The paper considers the international human rights norms relevant to poverty and social exclusion in general and in South Africa in particular. Given that country’s history, a constitutional approach to reducing poverty and social exclusion – especially of women, children, and rural populations - is especially promising.
11:30 a.m.
Shreya Atrey, Max Weber Fellow, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
Poverty: An intersectional castaway in discrimination law
Discussant: Frank Dobbin, Sociology, Harvard University
This paper clarifies a contradiction in terms between discrimination law theory and practice to show that poverty’s intersectional character actually strengthens the case for its recognition as a ground for charges in discrimination law. Analysing leading examples of housing discrimination and housing rights from some of the most progressive discrimination law regimes – Canada, South Africa and India –it refutes the single-axis framework of discrimination law that points to its intersectionality and refutes the claim that the poor are not a group, when homelessness, for example, does lead to a claim for equal protection.
12:15 p.m.
Book presentation: Child Poverty, Youth (Un)Employment, and Social Inclusion (October 2016, Ibidem Verlag, Germany)
Presented by Maria Petmesidou (editor)
