Notre Dame J.S.D. Graduate Ewa Rejman Champions Global Reform for Mothers’ Rights Through Groundbreaking Work in International Legal Frameworks
Ewa Rejman, a recent graduate of the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D.) program at the University of Notre Dame Law School, is steadily emerging as one of the foremost voices in the fight for mothers’ rights within international law. With a firm commitment to promoting justice, equality, and dignity for women navigating the challenges of motherhood in both developed and developing countries, Rejman’s research and advocacy work are transforming conversations around the intersection of gender, parenthood, and human rights law.
Rejman’s journey to this influential role is deeply rooted in both personal conviction and academic excellence. Originally from Poland, she has long been driven by a sense of purpose connected to human dignity and the protection of vulnerable populations. At Notre Dame, a law school with a globally recognized emphasis on human rights and Catholic social teaching, Rejman found fertile ground to pursue a topic that too often escapes center-stage attention in legal scholarship: the legal recognition and protection of motherhood as a vital social role.
For her J.S.D. dissertation, Rejman focused on the normative foundations of mothers’ rights in international human rights law, examining the ways motherhood is framed, protected, or neglected in international treaties, national constitutions, and regional human rights instruments. Her research spans a wide range of global sources, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In particular, she analyzed the role that these documents and international bodies play in shaping how societies perceive the maternal role—both its biological realities and its social dimensions.
What Rejman discovered was a complex and often contradictory legal landscape. While many international human rights instruments acknowledge the significance of motherhood, few offer a comprehensive framework to protect the rights of mothers as distinct from general protections for women or caregivers. This gap, Rejman argues, has real-world consequences. Without a robust legal infrastructure, millions of women across the globe face systemic discrimination, economic insecurity, and social exclusion as a direct result of becoming or being mothers.
Her work points to the challenges faced by mothers in regions where legal protections are minimal, but it also critiques the limitations in legal systems across Western democracies that claim to champion gender equality. For instance, Rejman identifies how maternity leave policies, while present in many legal systems, often fail to accommodate the realities of motherhood beyond the first few months of a child’s life. She also addresses how caregiving responsibilities disproportionately fall on mothers due to entrenched cultural assumptions, with little corresponding legal recognition or support.
One of the core arguments of her dissertation—and her broader legal activism—is the need to treat motherhood not as a private, domestic concern but as a matter of public justice. Rejman advocates for an approach that goes beyond family law or employment law to include human rights law, international labor law, and even constitutional law. This holistic framing, she believes, would allow for a better understanding of the structural inequalities mothers face and would encourage governments and international bodies to take concrete action.
Notre Dame’s J.S.D. program provided the ideal platform for this interdisciplinary exploration. The program’s emphasis on rigorous scholarship, mentorship from world-class faculty, and engagement with real-world policy issues enabled Rejman to deepen her research and refine her voice as both a scholar and an advocate. Faculty members who specialize in human rights and social justice mentored her closely, encouraging her to bridge doctrinal legal analysis with lived human experience—a hallmark of Notre Dame’s legal education.
Beyond the academic realm, Rejman has made it her mission to ensure her research reaches policymakers, legal practitioners, and grassroots activists. Her recent presentations at global forums, including a high-profile panel at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, have garnered attention for her bold critique of the status quo and her innovative proposals for reform. She has also contributed amicus briefs in international litigation concerning maternal health and gender discrimination, bringing her scholarly insights into the courtroom and legislative chamber.
In one such case currently under review by the European Court of Human Rights, Rejman’s submitted brief argues for the recognition of structural discrimination against single mothers in social housing allocation, based on her findings about systemic biases in welfare and legal frameworks. Her brief has been cited by multiple NGOs working in the field, reflecting her growing influence in shaping not just academic dialogue but also tangible legal outcomes.
Central to Rejman’s vision is the notion of “maternal justice”—a term she coined to encapsulate the interconnected rights of mothers to economic stability, workplace protection, healthcare access, political voice, and personal dignity. She calls for a rethinking of how international law conceptualizes equality, arguing that formal gender neutrality often fails to address the unique burdens mothers face.
Rejman notes that international law must go beyond simply prohibiting discrimination against mothers. Instead, it must proactively support motherhood through positive legal obligations on states—obligations that include adequate parental leave, accessible childcare, maternal healthcare, and protections against dismissal or economic retaliation for caregiving duties. This, she believes, is essential to achieving substantive, rather than merely formal, equality for women worldwide.
Her work also pushes back against the idea that motherhood is purely a matter of personal choice and therefore outside the purview of legal intervention. “Motherhood is socially necessary,” she often says. “It sustains communities, economies, and the next generation of human beings. When society benefits from this labor, society should protect and reward it.” This perspective aligns with Catholic social teaching, particularly the principle of subsidiarity and the preferential option for the vulnerable—concepts that inform Notre Dame’s legal mission and deeply resonate in Rejman’s arguments.
In the coming years, Rejman plans to expand her work through the establishment of an international research consortium on maternal rights, bringing together scholars, legal practitioners, medical professionals, and activists from around the world. The goal is to compile comparative legal data, share best practices, and push for reform across national and international legal systems. She also intends to publish a book based on her dissertation, aimed not just at academics but at policymakers and civil society leaders.
Rejman’s advocacy is already inspiring a new generation of legal scholars and practitioners to take up the mantle. Through guest lectures, mentorship roles, and public writings, she is mentoring young women—especially law students and early-career lawyers—who want to challenge the legal invisibility of mothers. She often reminds them that the personal is not only political, but also legal. Law, she insists, has the power to either entrench or dismantle injustice. And in the case of mothers, too often it does the former.
Her former professors at Notre Dame praise her unyielding moral clarity and scholarly rigor. One faculty advisor commented, “Ewa is exactly the kind of scholar the world needs right now—someone who not only diagnoses deep injustices but also charts a credible and principled path forward.”
In a world increasingly shaped by intersecting crises—economic inequality, population decline, migration, and the gendered impact of climate change—Rejman’s work arrives at a critical moment. The question of how societies treat mothers, and whether legal systems will rise to the occasion to support them, is no longer a marginal issue. It is central to questions of justice, sustainability, and global human flourishing.
Through her scholarship and activism, Ewa Rejman is ensuring that mothers are no longer afterthoughts in the architecture of international law. Instead, they are placed where they belong—at the center of our shared legal and moral concern. As she continues to advance her vision of maternal justice, the international legal community—and the world—will be watching closely.
