The Centre for Human Rights at the Faculty of Law is very fortunate to be hosting the renowned visiting scholar Prof Rebecca Cook at the University of Pretoria. Prof Cook is Professor Emerita and Co-Director of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programmeat the University of Toronto in Canada.

Prof Cook will be lecturing on three of the Centre’s Master’s programmes: LLM/MPhil (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa), LLM/MPhil (Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Africa) and the LLM/MPhil (Multidisciplinary Human Rights). She will also be the keynote speaker at the launch of the new PULP publication ‘Strengthening the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the African region through human rights’ which was edited by Charles Ngwena and Ebenezer Durojaye.

Prof Cook’s lectures will be dealing with gender and women’s health issues, with a special focus on gender stereotyping. Gender stereotyping occurs in different sectors of society and Prof Cook’s research examines gender stereotyping in the education, employment, health and military sectors. She is also interested in the impact of gender stereotyping on women’s access to justice.

In 2010 she co-authored the publication ‘Gender Stereotyping, Transnational Legal Perspectives’ with Simone Cusack. Prof Cook is joined by her husband Prof Bernard Dickens, Professor Emeritus of Health Law and Policy at the University of Toronto, Canada. Together with Prof Cook, Prof Dickens is the Co-Director of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program at the University of Toronto.