Thread by @mpilhlt

The legal history of diversity is not a simple tale of progress from intolerance to tolerance, nor did it just take place in the ‘West’. We asked our colleagues for lesser-known turning points (positive and negative) over the centuries.
#GDD22 #DiversityAtMPG
A thread 👇👇👇

15/01/1955: The Federal Labour Court ruled that the principle of equal rights and the prohibition of discrimination (art.3(2)(3) 🇩🇪 Basic Law) include the principle of equal pay for women and men for equal work and that this principle binds the parties to collective agreements.

18/10/1929: In Edwards v AG of Canada, the Privy Council affirms that women may be appointed to the 🇨🇦 Senate, overruling the Canadian Supreme Court decision that women were not ‘persons’ under the relevant statute. Diversity through literal & liberal statutory interpretation!

1865: The Industrial and Reformatory Schools Act (Queensland) equated young natives with ‘neglected children’, establishing reformatories where they were disciplined alongside vagrant and delinquent youths. Their alleged racial diversity was associated with deviant behaviour.

1/10/1956: Elisabeth Liefmann-Keil was appointed the first female professor of economics in 🇩🇪. She studied with the founders of the Freiburg School of Law and Economics, and, although she was discriminated against as a ‘half-Jew’ in the Third Reich, Walter Eucken supported her.

1930: Turkish women gained voting rights in local elections. On 5 December 1934, these rights were extended to national parliamentary elections, earlier than many other countries.

2021: For the first time, ‘Roma’ is included as an ethnicity in the UK census, providing an official opportunity for one of Europe’s most marginalised communities to be counted and heard.

1871: The Universities Tests Act was adopted in England according to which Roman Catholics, non-conformists and non-Christians received the chance to become professors, students and officers at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham.

In 1975 school attendance for girls became mandatory in Tunisia: a decisive turning point against sexism, elitism and determinism – all of which are tangible hurdles to diversity.

1942: Varlik Vergisi was introduced – a tax applied to non-Muslims in Turkey. Under international pressure it was repealed two years later.

Slavery in Tunisia was abolished in 1846. Yet, it wasn’t until 2018 that racial discrimination was penalised and the possibility of seeking redress for verbal and physical acts of racism was enacted.

During WW1, an approximate number of 500000 Senegalese, Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan and Malgasy Tirailleurs from the colonies were sent on the frontline of the 🇫🇷army. The significant role and discriminations experienced during the war were only recognized in the XXI century.

Following the Women’s Legal Practitioners Act 7 of 1923, Irene Antoinette Geffen became the first woman in South Africa admitted to the bar. However, it was 72 years later, in 1995, that Navanethem Pillay became the first woman of colour to do the same.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Liberia were among the founding members of the United Nations in 1945. However, it was not until after decolonisation during the late 1950s and 1960s that African membership rose.

Following the Women’s Legal Practitioners Act 7 of 1923, Irene Antoinette Geffen became the first woman in South Africa admitted to the bar. However, it was 72 years later, in 1995, that Navanethem Pillay became the first woman of colour to do the same.

On 13 May 1888, Brazil was the last country in the world to abolish slavery. But did you know that this was largely due to the efforts of black abolitionists in the courts? Look at the story of former enslaved and black lawyer Luiz Gama: legalhistoryinsights.com/hidden-thunder…

Non obstante quacumque consuetudine etiam immemorabili. Contrary to what one might think, this formula used by the #SCC hid the search for balancing universal #CanonLaw and local traditions from the perspective of safeguarding the unity of the Church while respecting #Diversity

In traditional Chinese, ‘Quan’ (权) means ‘power’ and was used in a derogatory way. After 1840, China entered a semi-colonial society, when Western legal culture was introduced to China, and ‘Quan’ changed to be connected with legal rights and oriented to the value of justice.

11/01/2011: The German Constitutional Court decides that the legal requirement of sterilisation for trans people wanting to officially change their sex is in contravention of German Basic Law.

@threadreaderapp please kindly unroll