En los últimos años ha cobrado relevancia académica, en el ámbito de los derechos humanos, un debate sobre la propuesta de la estudiosa estadounidense Martha Albertson Fineman de entender la vulnerabilidad como una condición humana universal, innata y constante. Esta nueva conceptualización de la vulnerabilidad se ha presentado como la base teórica de un paradigma alternativo a la teoría liberal del Estado y de los derechos. El presente trabajo analiza algunos puntos críticos de este nuevo paradigma en su relación con la idea de igualdad, especialmente en la medida en que se presenta como una nueva formulación de la idea de igualdad sustantiva, capaz de transcender las limitaciones que se señalan a la noción liberal de igualdad formal y al derecho antidiscriminatorio construido sobre esa noción. PALABRAS CLAVE.Martha A. Fineman, vulnerabilidad, igualdad jurídica, igualdad sustantiva, indefensión. ABSTRACT.The proposal advanced by US theorist Martha Albertson Fineman for reconceptualising the notion of vulnerability as a human condition, universal, inherent and constant, has acquired growing academic moment in the field of human rights.This new conceptualisation has been presented as the theoretical foundation for a new political and legal paradigm, alternative to liberal theory. This essay assesses some critical points of this new paradigm in its relation with the idea of equality, especially inasmuch as vulnerability appears as a new formula for substantive equality, capable of transcending the limitations of the liberal notion of formal equality and the antidiscrimination law that is founded thereupon. KEY WORDS.Martha A. Fineman, vulnerability, legal equality, substantive equality, defencelessness• La investigación sobre la que se basa este trabajo ha recibido financiación del 7º Programa Marco de la Comisión Europea (FP7/2007-2013) a través del proyecto FRAME (acuerdo nº 320000). Este trabajo se ha beneficiado asimismo del debate mantenido en el Grupo de Investigación sobre Igualdad y Derechos de la red HURI-AGE (http://www.tiempodelosderechos.es/).

Women's equality claims have occupied the forefront of the European debate on face-veil bans; most claims have been denounced as mere manipulation for anti-Islamic and/or anti-immigrant political agendas, and the dilemma between anti-sexist and anti-racist struggles has been argued to be false. This article examines how opportunistic manipulation of gender equality claims and the 'ethnicisation' of sexism have been assessed and confronted in the scholarly debate opposing the bans, as well as the impact that this debate has had on women's equality claims and the intersectionality issue. I argue that the women's oppression argument has not been fully considered, because it would have disrupted the anti-racist struggle due to unresolved problems with understanding intersectionality. keywords face-veil bans; equality; non-discrimination; intersectionality; Islamophobia; feminist theory feminist review 110 2015 (55-67) © 2015 Feminist Review. 0141-7789/15 www.feminist-review.com feminist review 110 2015 between Islamophobia and post-feminist agency

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