Albany Law School

LL.M. (1984) Columbia University School of Law, New York;
LL.B. (1982) University of Natal, Durban, South Africa;
B.A. (1980) Natal, Durban, South Africa, B.A. (Majors: Economic History; Comparative African Government and Administration)

Prof. Penelope (Penny) Andrews is the School’s 17th President & Dean, effective July 1, 2012. Andrews is the first female President for the school since it opened in 1851. 

Previously Andrews was the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, City University of New York School of Law.  Prior to joining CUNY, Andrews was a Professor of Law and Director of International Studies at Valparaiso Law School, where she taught courses such as International Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law.

Dean Andrews, who was born and raised in South Africa, has extensive international experience, including teaching at law schools in Germany, Australia, Holland, Scotland, Canada and South Africa. An annual award in her name—The Penelope E. Andrews Human Rights Award—was inaugurated in 2005 at the South African law school of University of KwaZulu-Natal. Along with numerous other awards, she holds a “Women of South Africa Achievement Award,” as well as Albany Law’s Kate Stoneman Award, which she received in 2002. 

In 2005 she was a finalist for a vacancy on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the highest court in South Africa on constitutional matters. She has consulted for the United Nations Development Fund for Women, and for the Ford Foundation in Johannesburg, where she evaluated labor law programs. She earned her B.A. and LL.B from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, and her LL.M from Columbia University School of Law, New York. 

She has published extensively on topics centered on gender and racial equality, South African legal issues, Australian legal issues, and international justice. 

Andrews was named after a nationwide search led by the firm Isaacson, Miller.  Andrews and four other candidates spent several days on the campus speaking with the law school community. She replaced Interim President & Dean Connie Mayer, who returned to her former position as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.  

Read more about Dean Andrews background and vision for the School.

Rethinking Strategies for Pursuing Women's Human Rights

Using her experience of living under apartheid and witnessing its downfall and the subsequent creation of new governments in South Africa, the author examines and compares gender inequality in societies undergoing political and economic transformation. By applying this process of legal transformation as a paradigm, the author applies this model to Afghanistan. These two societies serve as counterpoints through which the book engages, in a nuanced and novel way, with the many broader issues that flow from the attempts in newly democratic societies to give effect to the promise of gender equality. Developing the idea of “conditional interdependence”, the book suggests a new approach based on the communitarian values which underpin newly democratic societies and which would allow women’s rights to gain momentum and reap greater benefits.

Broad in its thematic approach, the book generates challenging and complex questions about the achievement of gender equality. It will be of interest to academics interested in gender and human rights, international and comparative law.

Order a copy of From Cape Town to Kabul from the publisher

"Andrews asks the hard questions that should cause us to re-examine our assumptions about the freight attached to the language of human rights, political and legal strategies for achieving substantive equality, and the contestation within the feminist discourse and legal theory. Beautifully written, this book is a fabulous resource for academic institutions and communities."

--Val Napoleon, University of Victoria, Canada

"The author analyses the obstacles to achieving gender equality in two very different countries and concludes that there is not 'a one size fits all' solution. The book is a fascinating read. And its message is timely: we cannot give up, we must continue to seek ways to meet the challenge of gender inequality."

--Kate O’Regan, Justice of CCT of South Africa​

 

Dean Andrews appeared on WAMC's The Roundtable to talk about From Cape Town to Kabul: Rethinking Strategies for Pursuing Women’s Human Rights on Jan. 10, 2013.

Dean Andrews appeared on The Capitol Pressroom to talk about From Cape Town to Kabul: Rethinking Strategies for Pursuing Women’s Human Rights on Jan. 18, 2013.

Dean Andrews appeared on WNYT's Forum 13 to talk about From Cape Town to Kabul: Rethinking Strategies for Pursuing Women’s Human Rights on Feb. 3, 2013.

Law Review articles

"Sixty Years on: The Human Rights Movement Today", 24 University of Maryland Journal of International Law, (2009) 47

"Who's Afraid of Polygamy? Exploring the Boundaries of Family, Equality and Custom in South Africa", 2009 UNIVERSITY OF UTAH LAW REVIEW, No. 2, 351

"'Democracy Stops at My Front Door': Obstacles to Gender Equality in South Africa", 5 LOYOLA CHICAGO JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (2007)15

"Big Love? The Recognition of Customary Marriages in South Africa", 64 WASHINGTON AND LEE LAW REVIEW (2007) 211

"Learning to Love After Learning to Harm: Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Gender Equality and Cultural Values", 15 MICHIGAN STATE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (2007) 41

"The South African Judicial Appointments Process", 44 OSGOODE HALL LAW JOURNAL (2006) 565

"Some Middle-Aged Spread, A Few Mood Swings and Growing Exhaustion: The Human Rights Movement at Middle Age, 41 UNIVERSITY OF TULSA LAW REVIEW (2006) 101

"Perspectives on Brown: The South African Experience, 49 NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL LAW REVIEW (2004-2005) 1155

"Reparations for Apartheid's Victims: The Path to Reconciliation?" 53 DE PAUL LAW REVIEW (2004) 1155

"Transitional Perspectives on Women's Rights", 14 INTERIGHTS BULLETIN (2004) 143

"Two 'Colored' Women's Conversation About the Relevance of Feminist Law Journals in the 21st Century, 11 COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF GENDER AND LAW (2003) (co-author Taunya Banks) 498

"Critical Challenges: A Conversation on Complicity and Civility in Legal Education", 1 SEATTLE JOURNAL FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE (2003) (co-authors Sharon Hom and Ruthann Robson). 601

"Women's Human Rights and the Conversation Across Cultures", 67 ALBANY LAW REVIEW (2003) 609

"Evaluating the Progress of Women's Rights on the Fifth Anniversary of the South African ConstitutIon", 26 VERMONT LAW REVIEW (2002) 829

"From Gender Apartheid to Non-Sexism: The Pursuit of Women's Rights in South Africa" 26 NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND COMMERCIAL REGULATION (2001) 694

"Making Room for Critical Race Theory in International Law: Some Practical Pointers" 45 VILLANOVA LAW REVIEW (2000) 855

"Globalization, Human Rights and Critical Race Feminism: Voices from the Margins" 3 JOURNAL OF GENDER, RACE AND JUSTICE (2000) 373

"The Constitutional Court Provides Succor for Victims of Domestic Violence: S v Baloyi" 16 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS (2000)

"Violence Against Women in South Africa: The Role of Culture and the Limitations of the Law" in 8 TEMPLE CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS LAW REVIEW Vol. 2 (1999) 425

"Affirmative Action in South Africa: Transformation or Tokenism" 15 LAW IN CONTEXT Vol. 2 (1999)

"Striking the Rock: Confronting Gender Equality in South Africa" 3 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF RACE AND LAW (1998) 307

"Violence Against Aboriginal Women in Australia: Redress from the International Human Rights Framework" 60 ALBANY LAW REVIEW (1997) 917

"A Resource for Justice: South Africa's Legal Resources Centre" IN 2 EAST AFRICA JOURNAL OF PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS, No. 1 (1995)

"Spectators at the Revolution: Gender Equality in a Post-Apartheid South Africa"

in LAW AND ANTHROPOLOGY: INTERNATIONAL YEARBOOK FOR LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Volume 7 (1994)

"Justice in a Post-Apartheid South Africa" 15 LEGAL SERVICES BULLETIN No. 3 (June 1990)

"Some Observations about Lawyering for the Poor in a Changing South Africa" 12 AFRICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFIC NEWSLETTER No. 1 (June 1990)

"Legal Education in a Changing South Africa" 1 AFRICAN LAW REVIEW No. 5 (March 1990)

"A Small, Sweet Victory" An analysis of the Transvaal Court MAJESTIC TOWERS judgment involving the rights of Black domestic workers to receive visitors; and public interest law in South Africa. 14 LEGAL SERVICES BULLETIN No. 5 (October 1989)

"Autonomy and the Miskito Indian Community of Nicaragua" 2 ABORIGINAL LAW BULLETIN No. 32 (June 1988)

"Apartheid: The Legal Death of the Black Worker" 14 HUMAN RIGHTS No. 2 (Spring 1987)

"The Legal Underpinnings of Gender Oppression in Apartheid South Africa" 3 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY (June 1986)

"Corporate Codes of Conduct Under Apartheid: An Assessment" 3 TRANS AFRICA FORUM No. 3 (Spring 1986)

"Apartheid: The Road to Disaster" 6 BLACK HEIGHTS No. 2 (Spring 1985)

"South African Labyrinth: A Study of the Migrant Labour System in South Africa" (co-authored with Anne McDonald) LOS ANGELES WEEKLY (November 1984). Also published in JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDENTS' SOCIETY University of California, Los Angeles (December 1984)

 

Books

FROM CAPE TOWN TO KABUL: RECONSIDERING WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS (Ashgate 2012)

LAW AND RIGHTS: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON CONSTITUTIONALISM AND GOVERNANCE (co-edited with Susan Bazilli 2008)

THE POST-APARTHEID CONSTITUTIONS: PERSPECTIVES ON SOUTH AFRICA'S BASIC LAWS (co-edited with Stephen Ellmann 2001)

GENDER, RACE AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE: A CROSS-NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF PROGRAMS OF COMPENSATORY DISCRIMINATION (Editor, 1999)

 

Chapters in Books

"Law and Society" in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOUTH AFRICA (Krista Johnson and Sean Jacobs eds. 2011) 173

"Without Fear, Favor or Prejudice: Judicial Transformation and the Independence of the Judiciary in South Africa" in LAW AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS (Scott Cummings ed. 2010) 197

"The Judiciary in South Africa: Independence or Illusion?" in JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE IN CONTEXT (Adam Dodek & Lorne Sossin eds. 2010) 466

"Imagine All The Women: Power, Gender, and the Transformative Possibilities of the South African Constitution", in POWER, GENDER, AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN AFRICA AND THE DIASPORA (Muna Ndulo ed. 2009) 213

"South Africa", in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HUMAN RIGHT (David P. Forsyth ed. 2009) 2023

"Incorporating International Human Rights Law in National Constitutions: The South African Experience", in PROGRESS IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (Rebecca Bratspies and Russell Miller eds. 2008) 837

"The South African Constitution as a Mechanism for Redressing Poverty" , in DEMOCRATIC REFORM IN AFRICA: ITS IMPACT ON GOVERNANCE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION (Muna Ndulo ed. 2006) 57

"The South African Bill of Rights: Lessons for Australia" in COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON BILLS OF RIGHTS (Christine Debono and Tania Colwell eds. 2004)

"The Step-Child of National Liberation: Women and Rights in the New South Africa", in THE POST-APARTHEID CONSTITUTIONS: REFLECTIONS ON SOUTH AFRICA'S BASIC LAW (Penelope E. Andrews and Stephen Ellmann eds. 2001) 326.

"Aboriginal Women in Australia and Human Rights" in WOMEN AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW (VOL. 3) (Kelly D. Askin and Doreanne M. Koenig eds. 2001) 731

Violence Against Aboriginal Women in Australia: Redress from the International Human Rights Framework" GLOBAL CRITICAL RACE FEMINISM: AN INTERNATIONAL READER (Adrien Wing ed. 2000) (reprint from Albany Law Review - see below)

Personal Narrative in Dear Sisters, Dear Daughters: Words of Wisdom from Multicultural Women Attorneys Who've Been There and Done That, Multicultural Women Attorneys Network, American Bar Association (Karen Clanton, Ed. 2000) 96

"Affirmative Action in South Africa: Transformation or Tokenism" 15 GENDER, RACE AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE: A CROSS-NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF PROGRAMS OF COMPENSATORY DISCRIMINATION (Penelope E. Andrews (ed. 1999)

"Affirmative Action in South Africa: Some Theoretical and Practical Issues" in THE CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH AFRICA FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE (Sandra Liebenberg ed. 1995).

"The Sense of Belonging" in NO FEAR OF FLYING (Jocelynne A. Scutt ed. 1993).

"Aborigines and the Law" (with Geoff Eames QC) in CIVIL LIBERTIES IN AUSTRALIA, Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (July 1991).

"Freedom From Discrimination" in HUMAN RIGHTS FOR SOUTH AFRICANS (M. Robertson ed. 1990).

"Racial Discrimination and the Law" in DISCRIMINATION: THE LAW, THE MEDIA AND EDUCATION, Seminar Proceedings, Victorians for Racial Equality (September 1987).

"Inside South Africa - The Players and Their role in Social Change: The Labour Unions" in SOUTH AFRICA: PROSPECTS FOR PEACE AND SECURITY, International Peace Academy (1987). (Proceedings of Conference on Peace and Security in Southern Africa, Arusha, Tanzania, March 1986).

Guest Editing

Editor's Introduction, Special Issue: "Feminist Advocacy, Constitutions and Law", 9 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF CONSTITUTIONALISM, Vol. 2 (2009)

Editor's Introduction (with Frank Munger): Special Issue: "Law, Poverty and Economic Inequality", 9 INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF CONSTITUTIONALISM, Vol. 1 (2009)

Guest Editor's Introduction: Special Issue: "Reconstruction and Reparations in International Law", THIRD WORLD LEGAL STUDIES (2002-2003)

Guest Editor's Introduction: Special Issue: "Global Issues in Compensatory Justice", 15 LAW IN CONTEXT No. 2, Spring 1999

Guest Editor's Introduction, Special Issue: "Women's Rights and Traditional Law: A Conflict?" THIRD WORLD LEGAL STUDIES (1994-95)

Book Reviews

Jens Meierhenrich, THE LEGACIES OF LAW: LONG-RUN CONSEQUENCES OF LEGAL DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA 1652-2000, Journal of African History (Forthcoming Fall 2010)

Susanne Karstedt, LEGAL INSTITUTIONS AND COLLECTIVE MEMORIES, 2010 Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Banda, Fareeda WOMEN, LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS, Journal of African Studies (2006)

TRANSNATIONALISM AND NEW AFRICAN IMMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA (Jonathan Crush and David A. McDonald (eds), JOURNAL OF ASIAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES (2005)

David Dyzenhaus, JUDGING THE JUDGES: JUDGING OURSELVES, "A Grand Exercise in Forgiveness or Justice Held Hostage to Truth: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission" (Review Essay), 24 MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 236 (Summer 2000)

Cook, Rebecca, HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES (1994), 2 SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS, Part 4 (1995)

Hirson, Baruch, YOURS FOR THE UNION: CLASS AND COMMUNITY STRUGGLES IN SOUTH AFRICA 1930 - 1947, LABOUR HISTORY (Spring 1991)

Meer, Fatima, HIGHER THAN HOPE: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF NELSON MANDELA, Penguin, FIRST EDITION ABC Book Program (March 1990)

Moore, Sally Falk, SOCIAL FACTS AND FABRICATIONS: "CUSTOMARY" LAW ON KILAMANJARO 1880 - 1980, JOURNAL OF INTER-CULTURAL STUDIES (Spring 1989)

Ndabandaba, G.L., CRIMES OF VIOLENCE IN BLACK TOWNSHIPS, 21 AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY No. 4 (December 1988)

Mathews, Anthony, FREEDOM, STATE SECURITY AND THE RULE OF LAW: DILEMMAS OF THE APARTHEID SOCIETY, 12 LEGAL SERVICES BULLETIN No. 8 (February 1988)

Ronalds, Chris, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND SEX DISCRIMINATION: A HANDBOOK ON LEGAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN, 12 LEGAL SERVICES BULLETIN No. 2 (April 1987)

Brink, Andre and Coetzee, J.M., (eds.) SOUTH AFRICA: A LAND APART, Penguin, FIRST EDITION ABC Book Program (October 1986).