When companies violate women’s human rights.

Adequate and efficient remediation is required in cases of human rights violations by companies. Women clearly benefit from remediation since they are disproportionally affected by business activities (including feminization of irregular labour and reinforcement of discrimination by gender neutral trade agreements). The 2019 Gender Directive from the United Nations Working Group for Businesses and Human Rights argues that remediation must be responsive to gender issues in order to change ‘patriarchal norms and unequal power relations’. However, it is not clear what this involves. This postdoctoral research project will therefore examine the indicators and the quality of gender responsiveness in remediation in disputes involving business and human rights. The research outcomes can help adjudicators identify gender blindness and bias in such disputes.

Nissen was awarded a postdoctoral grant from the FWO for the first part of this research project and a ‘chargé de recherches’ grant from FNRS for the second part of this research.