Working group

Socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination

We are a group of legal scholars and practitioners concerned with the structural and pervasive issues arising from socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination.The working group aims at promoting and facilitating academic and practical collaborations on the research and tackling of socio-economic inequality and related issues. These contributions are materialised in different forms such as conferences, seminars and workshops, publications, litigation, and policymaking.

Socio-economic inequalities and poverty discrimination working group inaugural conferenceLondon, October 3rd 2025
University College LondonSupport: UCL Global Centre for Democratic ConstitutionalismSubmissions closed

Media

Socio-economic inequalities often escape the grasp of law under the premise of doctrines of neutrality often themselves underlined by economic ideologies. Emerging interpretations challenge the limitations of law in delivering socio-economic justice. Anti-discrimination law has increasingly tackled poverty discrimination as a central issue in addressing the entrenchment of socio-economic inequalities.
Read below some of our members' contributions to the topic and other useful materials.

Publications by membersGideon Basson, Poverty discrimination under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act: A transformative substantive equality approachNiels Petersen (ed), Equality' Guardians: How Courts Conceptualize Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination GuaranteesSarah Ganty, Poverty as Misrecognition: What Role for Antidiscrimination Law in EuropeJuan Carlos Benito Sánchez, Towering Grenfell: Reflections around Socioeconomic Disadvantage in Antidiscrimination LawJustin Winchester, Too taxing, too much taxing, or not progressive enough? The introduction of a wealth tax as an equality imperative in South AfricaMichael G Marcondes Smith, Equality Restricted: The Problematic Compatibility between Austerity Measures and Human Rights LawCathi Albertyn, Contested substantive equality in the South African Constitution: beyond social inclusion towards systemic justiceSerde Atalay, Housing and Social Control: Reassessing the Protection Asymmetries of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights

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