Women and human rights framework

As we discussed in class, women’s rights are currently placed in the human rights foundational framework. This framework is used for women’s rights because its purpose is to elevate the status women’s issues to basic human rights to mobilize people for change. However, this framework is problematic for a host of reasons and I don’t consider this framework to be appropriate in addressing women’s rights. It seems that basic human rights (i.e. education, quality healthcare, etc.) are considered more important than women’s rights, and are addressed more by human rights and civil liberties groups.

The issue with the human rights framework is that it is individually oriented, which makes larger political and justice issues invisible. Human rights framework focus on issues that affect people on the individual level (i.e. marriage equality), which can be effective if individual rights were the only issue in a given context. In many cases, human rights campaigns that tackle women’s rights issues don’t address the larger systemic and historical issues that perpetuate a cycle of poverty, subordination, and violence against women.

Furthermore, the human rights framework limits the visibility of women’s movement issues. Due to the use of ICTs in human rights awareness campaigns, certain issues receive priority over others. This method is problematic as many issues are connected, therefore choosing one to “fight” for can be counterproductive to the goal of women’s rights movement throughout the world. For example, violence against women has received international attention as a human rights issue, however, economic oppression, access to quality education, and lack of political rights aren’t collectively included or considered to be contributors to the “principal” issue. The lack of cross-sectionalism within the human rights monotheistic framework makes it an inappropriate approach to viewing women’s rights.

The human rights framework can be challenged as the primary framework for women’s rights issues. A multi-pronged set of concepts can be applied to address women’s issues so that context, specificity, and systemic issues that women face are addressed. A civil liberties

framework would focus on general human rights, however, it would respond to particular issues that women face because of biological sex and gender (includes political/ legal issues). This framework will consider the unique issues women face and expand its current agenda to include a form of gender mainstreaming throughout its initiatives.

Moreover, a socioeconomic framework would be effective in addressing women’s rights to complement the civil liberties framework. A socioeconomic view of women’s rights would

emphasize de-stabilizing women’s economic subordination and oppression. This view contends

that women’s economic independence will empower women and cultivate change through a

tickle-down approach. As we have read, women of the global south are usually exploited as

cheap laborers, and therefore, are subject to a variety of injustices in the workplace. The socioeconomic framework will also understand that economic injustices are directly linked to the cycle of poverty, in which women are disproportionately affected. This approach to women’s rights would focus on empowering women through economic and cultural avenues.

However, the framework is based on an androcentric model that places women’s experiences and rights under the same umbrella of men’s experiences and rights. According to Okin, the idea of international human rights was based on a male model and a sphere of privacy within the household was recognized but not addressed (Okin, 2000, p. 28). The specific injustices of women can be invisible under this framework.

Okin, S.M. (2000). Feminism, Women’s Human Rights, and Cultural Differences in Decentering the Center: Philosophy for a Multicultural, Postcolonial, and Feminist World edited by Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 26-46.