Intersectional Discrimination and the Europeanization of Romani Women’s (Reproductive) Rights: Pushing the Equity Boundaries

During the summer of 2021, the Czech Senate voted to compensate thousands of Romani women who were forcibly sterilized by the Czech (once Czechoslovak) authorities between 1966 and 2012. According to the newly approved law, survivors are eligible for a compensation of about 12.000€ each. A rather paltry amount for a huge violation of fundamental rights. Yet, this is considered a major victory and applauded as a landmark vote. The new legislation has indeed a profound symbolic significance: it contributes to delegitimizing the historical restrictions on Romani women’s rights recurrently perpetuated all around Europe and that have remained unpunished for centuries. Building on the case of involuntary (non-consensual) sterilization of Romani women in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, this chapter first retraces the Europeanization of Romani women’s (reproductive) rights, focussing on the political and legal actors involved in the process of seeking justice – such as, courts, policy-makers, politicians, activists and civil society. It then explores the concept of discrimination from a critical (race) theory and intersectionality perspective. Doing so, it shows how a substantial understanding and application of intersectional discrimination and a critical approach to concepts such as race, culture, ethnicity and gender by courts and policy-makers, can contribute to pushing the boundaries of human rights, “bring[ing] us closer to realizing the[ir] emancipatory potential” (Oprea 2017) and fostering equity and social justice.