Manisha Mathews

Manisha completed her LLB Law and LLM International Human Rights Law degrees at the University of Leicester. She was later awarded the College of Arts and Law Doctoral Scholarship to complete her PhD at the University of Birmingham. Prior to starting the PhD, she was appointed as a Teaching Associate in Criminal Law at the University of Leicester in 2019. During the completion of her PhD, she worked as a Teaching Associate in Equity, Trusts, Wills and Formalities, Land Law and Gender and Law at the University of Birmingham in 2020-23. Whilst working as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Birmingham, Manisha has taught seminars on Family Law, Land Law, Legal Solutions and Legal Skills and Methods. Manisha has also previously delivered lectures and acted as the co-module lead for Land Law.

In addition, Manisha has worked as a Research Assistant to Professor Fiona de Londras at the University of Birmingham in 2022-23 where she particularly assisted with projects on access to abortion under Ireland’s reformed abortion law. Manisha has also worked as a Research Assistant on the ‘Fragmented Families’ project that was created by Dr Charlotte Bendall and Dr Samantha Davey in 2023. The project sought to uncover grandparents’ experiences with engaging with mediation and/or the legal system when seeking contact with their grandchildren.

Manisha’s research interests broadly centre on human rights law, family law and gender equality. The research that Manisha had conducted during her PhD explored how fathers in the UK experienced discrimination when they attempted to be actively involved in childcare. Her research uncovered that the primary ways in which fathers were stigmatised as carers were through: (i) the provision of limited leave entitlements under employment law; (ii) the workplace harassment encountered by fathers from colleagues and managers when fathers used leave; and (iii) the judgments that were established in response to claims initiated by fathers in the court system that they had experienced discrimination when provided with less support than mothers to perform childcare responsibilities. Her thesis ultimately advocated for the inclusion of “paternity” as a protected characteristic under s.4 of the Equality Act 2010 and as a ground of discrimination under art.14 of the Human Rights Act 1998 to protect the position of fathers in childrearing.