The article discusses the notion of vulnerability implemented in asylum cases regarding gender
violence on trafficked women. The findings of a case study of 70 administrative and judicial
decisions are analysed and compared with notions of vulnerability developed by the Court of
Cassation and the European Court of Human Rights. The analysis illustrates the different role
that gender plays in the decision when considered, on the one hand, as a subjective ascription
or, on the other, as a hermeneutical category in light of which the whole legal framework
should be interpreted.
