Legal Perspectives on the Intersections of Religion, Race and Gender – Problems and Solutions

Abstract

The paper analyses the intersections of religion, race and gender from a legal perspective. Existing legal scholarship in this
area has provided a number of accounts, reporting mainly from European jurisdictions, as well as from the jurisprudence of the
European Court of Human Rights. The aim of this paper is to first explain how law has contributed to the exclusion of individuals linked to
a specific religion, race and gender. Examples of religious discrimination claims highlight particular detriment experienced mostly, but not
exclusively, by religious and ethnic minority women in the majority of jurisdictions. These instances reflect that religion is more often than
not the main or sole focal point in court or legislation, whereas the deliberate or accidental effect on women and/or ethnic minorities is
conveniently ignored. In its second part, the paper will then move on to elaborating potential solutions for such undesirable outcomes of
law. The available legal solutions entail various advantages and disadvantages, however, a model of ‘reasonable accommodation’ will
be proposed as the preferable answer at this point in time. Nevertheless, the paper also provides reasons for complementing legal
solutions with non-enforceable measures, such as the facilitation of interfaith dialogue and the raising of awareness of equality and
diversity.