Meet the author - Jennifer Robinson
Channel: ANU TV
Date: 2023-04-18

Jennifer Robinson, in conversation with Kim Rubenstein on Jennifer's book, How Many More Women? Exposing how the law silences women, co-authored with Dr Keina Yoshida.

How Many More Women is a masterful and urgent exploration of the legal response to the MeToo movement in Australia and around the world. We are in a crucial moment: women are breaking through the cultural reticence to speak out about gender-based violence. But as they have grown empowered to speak, a new form of silencing has become more evident: the spike in survivors speaking out has been followed by a spike in legal actions against them and the journalists seeking to report their stories. This is the new frontier of gendered censorship. What happens when the law that is meant to protect us, silences?

From the conviction of a director of a domestic violence shelter in Croatia, to defamation proceedings brought against women who make accusations against their former husbands and partners, to nondisclosure agreements by powerful and wealthy men, this book explains why we need to advocate for free speech protections from an equality and human rights perspective. Who better to write a book about the human rights of women than two celebrated and brave human rights lawyers? They won't be silenced, and we should all follow their lead.

'This important book demonstrates how man-made laws and legal procedures bear down harshly and unfairly on women who try to exercise their free speech rights to complain about domestic violence and abuse. At a time when reform of defective laws of defamation and confidentiality is being considered in many English-speaking countries, the injustices eloquently described by these authors deserve special attention. Theirs is a book that should be read-with shame-by judges and politicians and with appreciation by news editors, journalists, and all concerned to enhance freedom of speech.' Geoffrey Robertson, KC

Jennifer Robinson, who grew up in Berry and attended Bomaderry High School, attended the Australian National University, where she was awarded the University Medal in Law and was a Distinguished Scholar in Asian Studies. Jennifer won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford where she attended Balliol College and graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law with Distinction and a Master of Philosophy in International Public Law.

Jennifer is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, from which she has acted in key human rights and media freedom cases in domestic and international courts and worked with clients such as Julian Assange, Richard Dawkins and the New York Times. She sits on the boards of Grata Fund, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at Oxford, and is a trustee of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Professor Kim Rubenstein, lawyer, academic, author, distinguished human rights advocate, is a champion of equal opportunity and active citizenship. Kim is a Professor in the Faculty of Business Government and Law at the University of Canberra , an Honorary Professor at the ANU, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Kim is a regular commentator in the media on citizenship and gender matters.