ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 examines the possibilities and limitations of the strategy of categorical enlargement, which entails the (re-)interpretation of an existing protected characteristic to include a related or adjacent category of vulnerable population that may not originally have been considered as part of that protected characteristic. This chapter first considers the term “minorities,” a concept with great potential for the protection of vulnerable groups but that thus far undergone only very limited categorical enlargement. It then goes on to examine the more successful ways in which elements of anti-racism protections have been enlarged to cover caste-based oppression under the characteristic of “descent” and to classify discrimination against persons with albinism under the characteristic of “colour.”
