Rebecca Cook
Professor Emerita & Co-Director, International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program

Jackman Law Building
Room J380
78 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5   

Tel.: 416-978-4446

Rebecca Cook, A.B., M.A., M.P.A., J.D., LL.M., J.S.D., is a Professor Emerita in the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine and the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, and Co-Director, International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, University of Toronto. She is Legal and Ethical Issues co-editor of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics and serves on the editorial advisory board of Human Rights Quarterly. Her published books include: Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives (2023), Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies (2014); Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives (1994); and Gender Stereotyping: Transnational Legal Perspectives (2010).  She is a Member of the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and the recipient of the Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Health by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO).

Education
A.B. - Barnard College, Columbia University (1970)
M.A. - Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (1972)
M.P.A. - Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government (1973)
J.D. - Georgetown University Law Center (1982)
Attorney - Washington, D.C. Bar (1983)
LL.M. - Columbia University, School of Law (1988)
J.S.D. - Columbia University, School of Law (1994)
Academic appointments
University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Professor Emerita
University of Pretoria (South Africa), Centre for Human Rights, Visiting Professor
Selected publications

Cook, R. J., ed., Frontiers of Gender Equality: Transnational Legal Perspectives, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. Publisher’s webpageTable of Contents online..

Cook, R.J., J.N. Erdman, and B.M. Dickens,  Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective:  Cases and Controversies (Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), 472 pp.     English edition.    Spanish edition

Cook, R.J. & S. Cusack.  Gender Stereotyping: Transnational Legal Perspectives (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), 270 pp.     English edition.   Spanish edition.

Cook, R.J. State Obligations to Eliminate Polygyny under International Law, Expert Report for the Attorney General of Canada, submitted to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, July 16, 2010, 105 pages.    English edition.      French edition.

Cook, R.J. & C. Ngwena, eds.  Health and Human Rights, International Library of  Medicine, Ethics and Law series (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2007) 628 pp.  

Cook, R.J., B.M. Dickens & M.F. Fathalla.  Reproductive Health and Human Rights: Integrating Medicine, Ethics and Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 554 pp.  English edition.      French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic editions.

Cook, R.J., ed.,  Human Rights of Women:  National and International Perspectives (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994), 634 pp.   English edition.   Chinese edition.

Research areas
Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law
Health Law
International Law
Reproductive and Sexual Health Law