Is it time to re-examine human rights theory to adequately address gender-based violations?
Keywords:
Catherine MacKinnon, Arati Rao, Violence against Women, Gender, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Human Rights Theory, Liberal FeminismAbstract
According to the United Nations “one in three women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence–mostly by an intimate partner” (UN Women 2015). Furthermore, it is estimated that every second woman killed globally, was killed by her partner. Over 60 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was passed and more than 20 years since The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was adopted by the General Assembly, violence against women can still be described as a global pandemic. The issues raised in the early 90s by the feminist move- ment on whether the liberal framework and rights approach can sufficiently address the topic of gender based violence is, thus, still equally relevant in today’s society.
References
Bibliography
“UN Women.” Infographic: Violence against women. November 6, 2015. http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/multimedia/2015/11/info- graphic-violence-against-women.
MacKinnon, Catharine. “Rape, Genocide, and Women’s Human Rights.” In The Philosophy of Human Rights, by Patrick Hayden. Minnesota: Paragon House, 2001.
Rao, Arati. “Right in the Home: Feminist Theoretical Perspectives on Inter- national Human Rights.” In The Philosophy of Human Rights, by Patrick Hayden. Minnesota: Paragon House, 2001.
