1.2 Meaning, Nature, Kinds and Scope of Gender Justice

Gender = the socially-constructed roles-and-identities (the masculinity-and-femininity's cultural script) — distinguished from sex (the biological category): the classic sex-gender distinction (the construction's point: what society makes of biology — and therefore what law can change). Gender justice = the fair treatment of all genders — the equality-and-dignity's realisation in the gendered world: the discrimination's removal (the formal face) + the disadvantages' correction (the substantive face) + the structures' transformation (the transformative face — the patriarchy's institutional dismantling). The nature: (i) an equality project (the equal-rights foundation); (ii) a correction project (the special measures — the affirmative action's justification: the historical wrongs' repair); (iii) a universal project (not "women's charity" but the human-rights integrity — the justice for all genders, men-and-boys included: the gender's relational nature); (iv) a multi- level project (the international standards + the constitutional guarantees + the statutory reforms + the community practices). The kinds: (i) formal gender justice (the law's equal treatment — the de jure face); (ii) substantive gender justice (the outcomes' equality — the de facto face: the equality-in-fact's test); (iii) transformative gender justice (the structures' change — the patriarchy's-and-stereotypes' dismantling). The scope: the political (the representation-and- participation); the economic (the property-employment-inheritance); the social (the family- marriage-violence); the cultural (the stereotypes-practices); the bodily (the reproductive-and- sexual autonomy); the legal (the law's own gender audit — the discriminatory provisions' repeal — Nepal's three-decade reform story).