Empathy, a Hallmark of Equality: Shaping Fearlessness Into Transformative Decision-Making and Teaching

Abstract

Whether acting as lawyers, activists, judges, policy makers or academics, there is a void in our equality agendas. This void has enabled the contemporary state to rationalise inequality through the propagation of fear. How can we talk about equality if we do not talk about the current crisis of fear? What shapes our contemporary fears? How might we surpass them? Two contemporary narratives, both from judges, offer the possibility of prevailing over certain kinds of fear to meet equality outcomes. With everything to lose in hostile political circumstances, Justice Attaee’s fearlessness materialises from her lived experiences of inequality from where empathy naturally flows for the benefit of women’s equality against the hostile tide of both Afghan politics and global betrayal. Having never walked ‘in the shoes’ of lgbtqia+ persons, fearlessness for Justice Venkatesh, a deeply conservative judge, is put to the test. Taking on the social fears of himself and others, he cultivates the skill of empathy through the rare and unconventional choice of experiential immersion. Both justices serve as examples for creating inclusive experiential courses on empathy and social context within legal/judicial education institutes and practice, where the lives of those most impacted become central to such learning.