Inaugural Professorial Lectures: A Gender Agenda?
This event has been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn will explore the challenging - and much challenged - issue of children's gender identity. At the intersection of law and medicine, the regulation and recognition of gender identity has become one of the most politically charged and legally complex issues in modern political discourse. Debates over identity documents, access to gender-affirming care, and participation in schools and sports now sit at the center of broader cultural conflicts about parental rights, bodily autonomy and religious freedom.
In this lecture, Professor Fenton-Glynn will consider the way in which the law not only responds to societal norms (or not, as the case may be), but also constructs them. In doing so, she will question the role of the state as the gatekeeper of identity, and whether it is time to move beyond traditional categories to embrace a (legal) gender-free world.
Join us for an evening of expert insight and engaging discussion as part of the Monash Law Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series.
Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn
Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn is a Professor of Law at the University of Monash, Australia. She was previously the Professor of Child and Family Law at the University of Cambridge, and Director of Cambridge Family Law.
Claire’s research lies in the field of children’s rights, comparative law and international human rights law. She has published on a wide range of issues including parenthood (especially international surrogacy), child trafficking and gender identity. Her first book, "Children's Rights in Intercountry Adoption" was awarded the Inner Temple Book Prize for New Authors, as well as the Cambridge Faculty of Law's Yorke Prize, and her second book, "Children and the European Court of Human Rights" was published in 2021 by OUP. Claire's work has been cited by the UK Supreme Court, the England and Wales Court of Appeal, the Law Commission of England and Wales, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children.
Claire is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. She was an Academic Fellow of Inner Temple, and has worked with organisations such as UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Irish Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, as well as the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, Save the Children, and Avocats Sans Frontieres on issues concerning child protection, human rights, and rule of law. She has also contributed to national and international media coverage on legal issues, including the BBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.
Event Details
- Date:
- 18 June 2026 at 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Description
This event has been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn will explore the challenging - and much challenged - issue of children's gender identity. At the intersection of law and medicine, the regulation and recognition of gender identity has become one of the most politically charged and legally complex issues in modern political discourse. Debates over identity documents, access to gender-affirming care, and participation in schools and sports now sit at the center of broader cultural conflicts about parental rights, bodily autonomy and religious freedom.
In this lecture, Professor Fenton-Glynn will consider the way in which the law not only responds to societal norms (or not, as the case may be), but also constructs them. In doing so, she will question the role of the state as the gatekeeper of identity, and whether it is time to move beyond traditional categories to embrace a (legal) gender-free world.
Join us for an evening of expert insight and engaging discussion as part of the Monash Law Inaugural Professorial Lecture Series.
Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn
Professor Claire Fenton-Glynn is a Professor of Law at the University of Monash, Australia. She was previously the Professor of Child and Family Law at the University of Cambridge, and Director of Cambridge Family Law.
Claire’s research lies in the field of children’s rights, comparative law and international human rights law. She has published on a wide range of issues including parenthood (especially international surrogacy), child trafficking and gender identity. Her first book, "Children's Rights in Intercountry Adoption" was awarded the Inner Temple Book Prize for New Authors, as well as the Cambridge Faculty of Law's Yorke Prize, and her second book, "Children and the European Court of Human Rights" was published in 2021 by OUP. Claire's work has been cited by the UK Supreme Court, the England and Wales Court of Appeal, the Law Commission of England and Wales, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children.
Claire is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. She was an Academic Fellow of Inner Temple, and has worked with organisations such as UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Irish Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, as well as the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Union, Save the Children, and Avocats Sans Frontieres on issues concerning child protection, human rights, and rule of law. She has also contributed to national and international media coverage on legal issues, including the BBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.
Event Contact
- Name
- law-engagement@monash.edu
- Phone
- Organisation