Institute for the Study of Gender, Law and Policy

Mission

The mission of the Institute for the Study of Gender, Law, and Public Policy at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law is to facilitate teaching, research, and scholarship concerning gender as it relates to law and public policy. The Institute will also facilitate interdisciplinary exchange within Hofstra University. Through sponsoring courses, conferences, roundtables, and other events and generating publications, it will contribute to the knowledge of the academic community at Hofstra and of the broader community on this issue.

The Institute’s starting premise is that gender remains a salient category of analysis and that problems of gender inequality in society persist. The Institute will focus on current issues of law and policy relevant to gender equality, including regulation of the family, sexuality, corporations and the professions, the workplace, educational entities, and other institutions of civil society. Governmental and other public initiatives that relate to gender equality will also be examined. Reflecting Hofstra Law's faculty's expertise, the Institute will focus on domestic and global dimensions of gender equality. Because many factors – such as cultural and religious traditions, economics, ethnicity, race, and sexuality – shape individual and societal perceptions of gender, the Institute will invite the insights of disciplinary approaches in addition to law.