Level 11 1 The Esplanade Perth
This event is now full and we are managing a Waitlist. Please contact membership@lawsocietywa.asn.au for event enquiries.
How Many More Women? Exposing how the law silences women
By Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida
Spend an evening to explore the issues powerfully set out chapter after chapter in How Many More Women? written by internationally acclaimed human rights lawyers Jennifer Robinson and Keina’s Yoshida.
Facilitated by Karess Dias, Solicitor, State Solicitor’s Office, this event will welcome special guest author Jennifer Robinson lived-streamed from the USA and panellists Dr Michael Douglas, Senior Lecturer, UWA Law School and consultant in litigation at Bennett; Katrina Williams, Principal Lawyer John Curtin Law Clinic & Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Curtin University and Clare Mould, Special Counsel, Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
How Many More Women? at its heart examines broken systems and explores changes needed to ensure that women’s freedom, including their freedom of speech, is no longer threatened by the laws that are supposed to protect them. It investigates what happens when women speak out about gendered-based violence and questions if we have fair and equal legal systems globally to protect the rights of survivors.
With a spike in survivors speaking out, followed by a spike in legal actions against them and the media, this book provides a very timely investigation into how the legal system operates and is often weaponised to silence women and the media who speak out.
This book is another brick through the windows of our legal systems: a brilliant, trenchant analysis of what is wrong with the law. – Helena Kennedy, KC.
‘This is one of the few facts that Robinson and Yoshida want all women to remember: that a simple conversation with friends can result in a gag order, writing about lived experiences without naming a perpetrator can even get you sued’ (Artshub Nov 2022)
Reading the book before the event is encouraged, although not essential. How Many More Women? is available from Dymocks and Booktopia.
Read the book, join the discussion, ask a question or simply immerse yourself in the conversation.
Light food and refreshments will be served.
Registration from 5.45pm, for a 6.00pm start.
All of the legal profession and members of the community are welcome to register for this Law Week event.
With thanks to our Sponsor
.
*Published by Allen & Unwin
About the book
In this powerful and accessible exploration of our legal systems, two human rights lawyers break open the big judgments, developments and trends that have and continue to silence and disadvantage women
From two internationally acclaimed lawyers comes a masterful and urgent exploration of the legal response to MeToo in both Australia and around the world.
We are in a crucial moment: wave after wave of women are breaking through the cultural reticence around gender-based and sexual violence. But even as they have grown empowered to speak, a new form of systematic silence has made itself more and more evident: the spike in survivors speaking out has been followed by a spike in legal actions against them – in defamation, in contract, in breach of confidence.
The law is currently being wielded to reinforce the status quo. Our criminal justice system is impeded by a flood of civil cases that act as gag orders. Defamation laws inhibit media from giving platforms to central voices. Binding non-disclosure agreements signed under duress keep the truth submerged.
Please click here to find out more information about the book
*Photograph: Kate Peters
About the authors
Jennifer Robinson is an Australian human rights and media lawyer, who is internationally recognised for her work. She is a practising barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London and has acted in key civil liberties, freedom of speech and information cases in the UK, regional courts, international tribunals and UN special mechanisms.
Dr Keina Yoshida is an human rights lawyer, media lawyer and feminist. She is a practising human rights barrister at Doughty Street Chambers and has a recognised expertise in women’s human rights. Keina is part of the Feminist International Law of Peace and Security research team at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security, at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
