The LAWGEM project will contribute to socially inclusive and better-quality higher legal education across Europe, through introduction of gender equality perspective into the new master`s legal studies curriculum. This innovative curriculum of master`s legal studies Law and Gender, which will encompass all relevant fields of legal education and legal practice will be the first sample of the gender sensitive review of the traditional legal knowledge at all levels of higher education. It will be developed in joint collaboration of 5 universities from Serbia, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Germany. Project activities include joint work of the professors from five Consortium members through online communication, face to face work at conferences (multiplier events), and transnational project meetings, all aiming towards the development of master`s study program consisting of mandatory and optional courses as the main intellectual output. Professors from the participating universities will take part in creating syllabi related to the courses with defined content and particular themes, aims, outcomes, relevance and innovative teaching materials - textbook and other resources. In the syllabi, the themes which cover specificity of gender sensitive approach in the legal field for which the course syllabus is created will be included, including difference in comparison with traditional approach to their legal course as well as to general legal studies. Following this output, the Textbook: Gender Sensitive Legal Education will be developed. This Textbook will be the pioneering all-encompassing attempt to systematically integrate gender perspective into the field of law, and will be necessary teaching material for the implementation of the master`s study program. It will be only the basic teaching material and complemented by two other important outputs: Life Long Learning Online Platform and Gender Equality Legal Clinic. The project output Empirical Survey Tool for Gender Equality will serve as a foundation with necessary empirical data for the development of curriculum and will be based on a systemic approach to all relevant dimensions for researching the quality of gender equality in academic institutions. The aim is to get empirically valid insights about the given state of affairs in these universities regarding the value statements and gender issue awareness of their staff members and use this data in development of syllabi. Presentation of the comparative research results will enable a very systemic exploration of gender relevant issues to a general, professional and educational public and thus further influence gender-mainstreaming in education system. In order to provide access to students and professors from all backgrounds and ability to participate in the courses, a Life Long Learning Online Platform (LLLP) will be created. All syllabi and relevant texts, links, the textbook will be available on this platform. LLLP will be used for the pilot implementation of the Curriculum and Legal Clinic during the year 2022. LLLP will also be used for informal learning on gender equality, constant and wide dissemination and raising awareness on the issue of gender equality, and presentation of examples of gender inequality expression in any field of life in all participating universities and wider. It will be especially useful from the time when accredited Law and Gender study program will be implemented at the universities and become a widely available good practice with all accompanied intellectual outputs. In addition, Legal Clinic, as one of the major outputs of the project will present additional, interactive and practically oriented legal education, which connects theoretical education with judicial practice, and enables students to meet the legal practitioners - attorneys and judges and to work with them on the case law analysis and with the real clients. It represents a practical teaching method of engaging students to actively participate in the life of their community and make them sensitive for the needs of particularly vulnerable groups and people that lack relevant legal information due to reasons of social or economic nature. This project will promote internationalisation through mobility and exchange of students and professors and dissemination of gender sensitive legal knowledge at European and global level. It will contribute to social inclusion through development of gender-sensitive approach through integration of issues related to discrimination ( based on sex, gender, sexual orientation) into education, also through participation of students, especially coming from vulnerable groups in development of syllabi and dissemination. As a long term impact, the project will contribute to the employment capacities of students in the master's program, and offer new frame of knowledge much needed for different jobs and skills necessary in all legal or human rights/human resources related occupations.
The main objective of Law and Gender master`s program is to offer students a systemic reconsideration of legal education from gender equality perspective. General aim is to raise gender equality awareness and competences within the higher education community and especially in the frame of legal education. A long-lasting aim is preparing LAWGEM students, i.e. new generations of legal professionals – lawyers, judges, prosecutors, public administrators, and new generations of experts coming from social sciences and humanities to affirm a gender equality approach in their future occupations. Employment capacities and international competitiveness of LAWGEM students will be enhanced by equipping them to take part in a gender competent manner in different jobs, like international, public and local government bodies, non-governmental organizations, industry, scientific educational and professional institutions. By implementing the LAWGEM project we want to promote internationalization through mobility and exchange of students and professors, social inclusion through a development of a gender-sensitive approach to intersectional discrimination, and dissemination of gender competent legal knowledge at national, European and global level.
The LAWGEM project has been developed in a collaboration of 5 universities from Serbia, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Germany, with an aim to contribute to socially inclusive and better-quality higher legal education, through introducing a gender equality perspective into the new master`s study program Law and Gender. This innovative Curriculum encompasses all relevant fields of legal education and represents the pioneering example of a systemic gender sensitive and gender competent reconsideration of legal knowledge both in positive law and interdisciplinary fields. The idea underlying the application is in a belief that reassessing laws in a gender sensitive perspective will contribute to shape a new generation of professors, judges, attorneys and public servants who will contribute to improving equality within society. We applied with an aim to acquire gender perspective in legal education, which will be beneficial for our universities and for higher education in Europe and elsewhere. The achieved outcomes urged our five universities to enhance the cooperation, which will be sustainable and long-lasting, through a future common application for Erasmus Mundus Joint Master devoted to Law and Gender, as well as other European projects.