Gender Diversity in Public Law Between Recognition and Control

by Osella, Stefano

• ISBN13: 9780198935049
• ISBN10: 0198935048
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2026-08-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

What is the significance of sex characteristics and gender identity in public law? Why are these personal attributes important for the legal relationship between the person and public authorities? What happens when people do not conform to the assumptions about sexual anatomy and gender identity that are presupposed in the law? Gender Diversity in Public Law explores these questions through an extensive analysis of jurisdictions across Europe, Latin America, and Asia. By integrating comparative law with gender and constitutional studies, the volume examines how gender diversity is both recognized and regulated in different legal systems.

This book shows that sex characteristics and gender identity are central to public law. It demonstrates that legal systems are not based solely on the existence of men and women. Instead, they rely on the presence of men, women, and nonbinary individuals, each characterized by specific physical and identity traits. When people exhibit sex characteristics and/or a gender identity that defy legal assumptions and definitions, public law intervenes and actively shapes the subjects it requires. At the same time, legal systems are gradually becoming more inclusive of gender diversity, and this book investigates how emerging models of recognition are transforming public law to recognize gender-diverse people.

Gender Diversity in Public Law offers a comparative perspective on the complex relationship between gender diversity and public law, shedding light on a crucial aspect of this field-one that has remained largely understudied until now.

Author Biography

Stefano Osella, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong

Stefano Osella is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on comparative public law, constitutional theory, human rights, and gender and the law. He holds an LLB and LLM (laurea in giurisprudenza) from the University of Turin, a Magister Juris from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in Law from the European University Institute. Before joining the University of Hong Kong, he was a Hauser Postdoctoral Fellow at NYU School of Law and held postdoctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Germany) and Bocconi University (Italy).