The image of blindfolded Lady Justice is well-known. The blindfold indicates the impartiality of the law. Justice must be done regardless of class, power or identity. However, in everyday practice law's blind neutrality does not always work out the same for everyone. A famous quote in this context is from Anatole France. In 1894 he wrote: 'The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steel bread.' Class and money are not the only elements causing different legal effects. The law is similarly biased in many other respects, due to many different factors, one of which is sex / gender (gender refers to the social, cultural and institutional construction of what it means to be a man or a woman). Gender bias is a multi-layered phenomenon. It is quite common to distinguish three forms of bias in law: first at the level of legal provisions itself, secondly regarding the effects of law in practice due to differences in position of men and women, and thirdly at an institutional or systematic level: invisible obstacles for an impartial application of the law such as sex-stereotypes and dominant gender ideology.

This course is about how law sometimes works out differently according to people's sex and / or gender. The focus is on public international law.

After an introduction to the theory, three major themes in international law are explored from a gender perspective. Among the themes to be discussed are human rights and international criminal law. The third theme is yet to be decided. Possibilities include the debate on universality and human trafficking.