Gender-Legal Expertise on the Way to the EU: Rule of Law, Gender Procedures and Requirements for the Legislative Process – Comparative Experience

We are pleased to invite you to a scientific-expert discussion examining how gender mainstreaming requirements are reshaping legislative drafting, parliamentary procedures, and the broader rule-of-law architecture required for EU accession. The event brings together legal scholars, parliamentary practitioners, gender experts, and comparative law specialists from Ukraine, Poland, and other Central-Eastern European and post-Soviet countries.

The discussion is co-organised by the EU Law Discussion Group of the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, together with the Centre for Rule of Law Studies of the Faculty of Law, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the Faculty of Law and Administration of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Faculty of Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University.

It is organised within the framework of the research project "Reforming Parliamentary Service for Enhanced Governance and European Integration: A Comparative Study of Ukraine and Poland", which examines the institutional capacity of parliamentary services to support expertise-driven law-making during periods of accelerated structural reform.

The event opens with greetings from the organising institutions and is structured around two thematic panels, separated by a coffee break and followed by closing remarks.

The first panel, Applied Dimensions: Legislative Procedures, Parliamentary Practice and Reform Experience, moderated by dr. Barbara Havelková, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, addresses the applied legislative and procedural dimensions of gender-legal expertise, drawing on recent reform experience in Ukraine, Poland, and the wider region – including gender impact assessment mechanisms, committee structures, and the working practice of parliamentary staff.

The second panel, Theoretical Foundations of Gender-Legal Expertise in Legislative Processes, moderated by prof. dr hab. Monika Florczak-Wątor, Professor at the Jagiellonian University, explores the constitutional, doctrinal, and comparative foundations of gender-legal analysis in EU member states and candidate countries, situating gender equality norms within the classical architecture of legislative procedure.

The event will take place in Oxford and will be streamed online for remote participants. Attendance is free of charge, but registration is required, as places for in-person participation are limited.

Please register using the following link: https://forms.gle/RPwv71RwYhajxSqP9 

Registered participants will receive the final programme and, where applicable, connection details closer to the date.