Editorial
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1358229120932539 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
Welcome to the International Journal of Discrimination and the Law. In this issue we
bring you five articles which, although very different, share a central theme: the pursuit
of justice using traditional anti-discrimination frameworks. Three of the articles - those
by Khanzina et al, Saunders and Van de Graaf - consider the effectiveness of national
anti-discrimination law and policy frameworks, De Vos’s contribution explores the
provision of EU law and, in his article Coddou McManus seeks to situate anti-
discrimination law within social and political theory. As all five of the articles clearly
demonstrate, anti-discrimination law – even in its traditional guise – is still an important
driver of social change with plenty of scope for further expansion and alternative appli-
cation and interpretation.
In their consideration of gender equality in Kazakhstan, Zhanna Khamzina, Yermek
Buribayev, Yerkin Yermukanov and Aizhan Alshurazova undertake an analysis of social
and labour legislation. In common with many jurisdictions and despite the existence of
an anti-discrimination framework, women in Kazakhstan continue to experience high
levels of inequality evidenced by wage differentials and discrimination on the grounds of
pregnancy, motherhood and marital status. Using the results of a complex analysis of
existing data sets, laws and policies, and international comparative sources, the authors
argue that targeted state action is necessary. Such interventi on should consist of an
in-depth gendered analysis of current provisions, equality impact assessment of all new
law and policies and gender mainstreaming across all areas of social and labour legis-
lation. Only by adopting this systematic approach will the lives of women in Kazakhstan
be improved.
Hannah Saunders takes the UK’s 2010 Equality Act as the focus of her article in
which she explores the extent of the provisions dealing with disability in the context of
their application to cases of severe disfigurement. Saunders considers the modeling
underpinning the current legislative approach and undertakes a detailed assessment of
the relevant case law to argue that the term ‘disfigurement’ should encompass a broad
range of appearance-altering conditions based on the extent to which a person’s appear-
ance is affected by an impairment. This would require the currently disparate concepts of
disability and appearance to be brought together in order to extend the reach of the Act’s
protection to enable discrimination on the grounds of disfigurement to incorporate
visible conditions such as obesity as a means of overcoming the stigmatisation experi-
enced by affected individuals.
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
2020, Vol. 20(1) 3–4
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1358229120932539
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