{"id":27124,"date":"2026-01-12T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/?p=27124"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T09:40:15","slug":"call-for-contributions-women-in-international-law-vol-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/call-for-contributions-women-in-international-law-vol-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for Contributions: Women in International Law Vol. 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

V\u00f6lkerrechtsblog welcomes blog post proposals for its upcoming symposium \u2018Women in International Law Vol. 5\u2019. The \u2018Women in International Law\u2019 symposium is an online symposium held annually in March and hosts blog posts, interviews, and\/or podcasts on topics relating to women\u2019s rights, feminist approaches to international law, and the struggles of women in international legal academia. For an overview of the symposium, as held in the previous years, see\u00a0here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>. Contributions to these past versions of the symposium were included in the blog\u2019s most-read articles every year.<\/p>\n

This year, the symposium will focus on \u2018Motherhood and International Law\u2019<\/strong>. The idea for the symposium\u2019s thematic focus arose from an interview held on the occasion of another symposium<\/a> on the blog. There the interviewee, Tania Atilano, stressed<\/a> that \u2018if we are serious about achieving gender equality in academia, we need to speak more openly about motherhood, caregiving, and academic careers\u2019. In the context of that same symposium, pregnancy and motherhood were brought up also in other interviews. Hilary Charlesworth shared<\/a> her special recollection of drafting the renowned article<\/a>, \u2018Feminist Approaches to International Law\u2019, while being pregnant and then alongside her sleeping baby. Moreover, Angelika Nu\u00dfberger shared<\/a> the family-related considerations that she had while planning her academic steps following the completion of her doctoral studies. In light of all these remarks, the Organising Committee of the \u2018Women in International Law\u2019 symposium decided to devote this year\u2019s edition to exploring how motherhood relates to both international law and legal academia.<\/p>\n

To this end, we invite interested contributors to reflect on the following general themes:<\/p>\n

1. The Role of Mothers in the Shaping of International Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mothers have been traditionally referred to or depicted as \u2018heroines\u2019 in art (see, e.g., here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>) and literature (see, e.g., here<\/a> and here<\/a>). In (international) law in particular, mothers have made their presence loud and clear, especially when states have failed to protect, or have breached, the rights of their children. In this vein, mothers have fearlessly initiated litigation proceedings before various fora to seek justice for their children\u2019s loss. Such proceedings have inter alia addressed the United Nations\u2019 and the Netherlands\u2019 failure to protect<\/a> them from the Srebrenica genocide, the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings<\/a> of their children, or their children\u2019s femicide<\/a> or their killing<\/a> by members of a former political party\/Nazi organisation. Which examples of such litigation, in your view, have had an impact on international law? In which fields or approaches to international law can this impact be traced?<\/p>\n

2. The Role of International Law in the Protection of (Prospective) Mothers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The drafters of international and regional treaties have taken special consideration of motherhood and mothers. The ILO Maternity Protection Convention<\/a>, as well as provisions in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women<\/a> and the Maputo Protocol<\/a>, are testaments to this. Similarly, even though their wording may not explicitly aim at protecting (prospective) mothers, various human rights treaties have been interpreted as doing so. Does international law manage to properly protect all <\/em>mothers? What remains missing?<\/p>\n

In this vein, how could the discriminatory gaps in the protection of the reproductive rights of specific groups of mothers, such as Black<\/a> or Roma<\/a> mothers, or of women in same-sex partnerships<\/a>, be eliminated? Does international law impose any relevant obligations on States and\/or directly on health care workers, thereby enhancing reproductive justice for all? Or does the jurisprudence of international and regional fora instead reinforce uneven and unequal protection of reproductive rights?<\/p>\n

Similarly, it has been stressed that pregnant persons and mothers face not only physical but also mental health<\/a> risks<\/a>. These risks are further exacerbated during armed conflict<\/a> and in post-conflict<\/a> regions. How does international law protect mothers and pregnant persons in such circumstances? How could this protection improve?<\/p>\n

3. Motherhood, Knowledge, and Legal Academic Career<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although motherhood can be influential<\/a> for a scholar\u2019s research activities, it also affects the development of their academic career. Caring responsibilities, which continue to be primarily associated with motherhood<\/a>, intensify the challenges of maintaining a sustained presence of mothers in the fast-moving and demanding world of academic publishing.\u00a0This, in turn, has been noted to take a toll on the perception<\/a> of their productivity and work, and ultimately career progression, particularly<\/a> among early-career researchers. Student mothers have also reported adverse implications for their academic performance, which have been understood<\/a> as reducing their future earning potential.<\/p>\n

Against this background, various questions arise. What is the relationship between motherhood and the inaccessibility of knowledge or epistemic injustice? How does this relationship affect knowledge production and reinforce gendered roles, gendered financial inequalities, and dependencies? How can academic institutions break the chain and better support (prospective) mothers?<\/p>\n

4. Non-Motherhood and International Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alongside women\u2019s progressively increasing decision to remain single<\/a> or not to re-focus<\/a> their lives around a partner, there has been a rise in non-mothers, in other words persons who choose or happen to be childfree. Meanwhile, non-mother academics have reported<\/a> being persistently presumed as \u2018natural\u2019 caregivers due to their sex or gender, and that they feel expected by students and university staff to put in the time and energy that mothers are assumed not to have. In this sense, the message conveyed to women academics is clear: they should perform \u2018caring responsibilities\u2019 and are excused from doing so if they are already fulfilling such duties as mothers.<\/p>\n

In light of the above, further questions arise. To what extent do international law and relevant jurisprudence protect the rights of non-mothers or one\u2019s choice not to become a parent? Is the language of the relevant provisions and jurisprudence mindful of non-mothers\u2019 choices and lifestyles? How does non-motherhood impact one\u2019s personal academic trajectory, and what role does it play in reinforcing, challenging, or reshaping formal or informal hierarchies and power structures in legal academia?<\/p>\n

The list of proposed topics and the questions outlined above is not exhaustive. Contributions addressing other issues that fall within the theme of \u2018Motherhood and International Law\u2019 are also welcome. Contributions viewing the symposium from a critical perspective (e.g., FAIL, TWAIL, SWAIL) are particularly welcome.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in participating in the symposium, please send your contribution of approximately 1.500 words, in English and in line with our guidelines for authors<\/a>, to katsoni@voelkerrechtsblog.org. Please mention \u2018Call for Papers \u2013 WiL Symposium\u2019 in the subject line. Submissions should also mention the affiliation of the authors.<\/p>\n

Deadline for the submission of blogposts: Sunday, 8 February 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notification on selected submissions: Sunday, 15 February 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Symposium: Monday, 2 March 2026<\/strong> \u2013 Friday, 6 March 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

V\u00f6lkerrechtsblog welcomes blog post proposals for its upcoming symposium \u2018Women in International Law Vol. 5\u2019. The \u2018Women in International Law\u2019 symposium is an online symposium held annually in March and hosts blog posts, interviews, and\/or podcasts on topics relating to women\u2019s rights, feminist approaches to international law, and the struggles of women in international legal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6639],"tags":[],"authors":[7533,7010,7495,6022],"article-categories":[3577],"doi":[],"class_list":["post-27124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","authors-celine-chausse","authors-polina-kulish","authors-rishiti-choudaha","authors-katsoni","article-categories-our-own-news"],"acf":{"subline":""},"meta_box":{"doi":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27124"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27153,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27124\/revisions\/27153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27124"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=27124"},{"taxonomy":"article-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-categories?post=27124"},{"taxonomy":"doi","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doi?post=27124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}