Human rights and gender justice
Our academics shine a light on injustices and dangers to the sustainable and equitable future of global communities and societies. Working to UN Sustainable Development Goals, we use research and action to hold power to account and to make sure we champion the rights of everyone in our community.
Safeguarding the rights of indigenous peoples
Middlesex has contributed to United Nations’ recommendations to advance the rights of indigenous peoples around the world.
Indigenous cultures are under threat of extinction because of the way development is being imposed on them, destroying their land and way of life. Despite some significant progress, challenges to indigenous peoples’ rights to lands, territories and resources remain enormous, with many indigenous peoples still not recognised by national governments.
These were some of the key findings of our analysis, which we contributed to the UN’s State of the World’s Indigenous People: Rights to Lands, Territories and Resources report.
Our work helped inform a series of recommendations for a way forward. These include: governments collecting more data on indigenous identity through census and household surveys; and including indigenous peoples’ land rights when reporting on the UN Sustainable Development Goals – the global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
Fighting for gender justice
We challenge the oppression of women and we recognise that being a woman is not just one identity. We look at intersecting oppressions including age and race and consider differences and outlooks among women.
Change for women students
Middlesex University Students’ Union (MDSXU) represents and campaigns for change for women on our London campus and nationally. Their #FreePeriods campaign has provided free sanitary products to students on campus that need them. MDXSU Women Students group have worked on initiatives around tackling lad culture and body positivity.
Equality for women staff
The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021 ranked us #12 out of 776 institutions for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDG5 Gender Equality. We are proud that equal numbers of men and women are promoted in our staff community and that we have gender balance in senior leadership. We have signed up to the Athena SWAN Charter to strengthen our efforts in this area.
Support for women globally
In Pakistan, we empower entrepreneurial women to develop their craft and generate sustainable incomes for their families. This is an inclusive and locally-led approach to alleviate poverty through training and knowledge exchange. Around the world, our internationally funded Gender, Justice and Security Hub delivers innovative interdisciplinary research on the challenge of achieving gender justice and inclusive security in conflict-affected societies.