Montenegrin gender ‘protections’ and the limits of gender equality laws

Our basic argument is that Montenegro has an approach to gender equality law that appears and claims to be gender-progressive but actually (sometimes intentionally sometimes not) perpetuates gender subordination. What looks like a lack of effective enforcement of gender equality provisions is, we argue, actually much more complex. Gender equality laws can be deployed in ways that contravene real equality goals. We also argue that Montenegro it is not alone in the apparent internal contradiction of having high-quality gender laws ‘on the books’ and unexpectedly poor results. Instead, similar situations are widespread, and gender equality legal discourses often lack adequate tools to conceptualize and address their complexities. We propose, then, a different analytical approach to gender equality law that takes into account contradictions in, and regressions inherent in, (some) gender equality policies.