By building on similar research on Russia, this research proposal asks why are there only three judgements on sex equality delivered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Romania? This low number of judgements is paradoxical given that Romania, like Russia, is a very gender unequal country and has one of the highest number of applications pending before the ECtHR. Moreover, two out of the three mentioned judgements were brought by men. By undertaking a socio-legal approach, the proposed research aims to uncover the barriers that women face in claiming their rights before the most powerful human rights institution in Europe. Such research is particularly important because of its contribution to the literature on gender and the law in former Communist countries and due to its potential to make a practical impact.

A full-length study is available here.