Mehrdimensionale Diskriminierungen

Luisa Lehning examines the doctrinal legal treatment of the concept of intersectionality, taking account of structures of discrimination. At the center of her analysis is the question of whether the categorical framework of German constitutional and anti-discrimination law can adequately capture the disadvantages faced by persons who are marginalized in multiple ways. After introducing the key concepts, she explains the possibility and the necessity of a multidimensional interpretation of Article 3(3) of the Basic Law. With regard to legal conceptualization, she analyzes post-categorical approaches such as the anti-stereotyping approach and the concept of vulnerability. She then poses the question to what extent doctrinal tools-such as conflicts and cumulations of fundamental rights and additive interferences with fundamental rights-originally developed for liberty rights, can be transferred. Her starting point is the "shadow existence" often attributed to equality rights in the Basic Law and in constitutional jurisprudence. This is reflected in the frequent prioritization of liberty rights over equality rights and in a less developed body of equality doctrine. As a result, the dimension of disadvantage, which is particularly relevant for minority groups, recedes into the background. Ultimately, the author develops a doctrinal framework capable of identifying multidimensional forms of unequal treatment that have so far been insufficiently recognized in law and of determining their specific intensity for members of marginalized groups.