Conny Roggeband (2019) International Women’s Rights: Progress Under Attack? (January 2019). KFG Working Paper Series, No. 26, Berlin Potsdam Research Group “The International Rule of Law – Rise or Decline?”, January 2019 (original) (raw)
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2018
Women’s social, economic and political equality and reproductive freedom have been rhetorically embraced by a majority of countries that have ratified international human rights treaties. At the same time, conservative states and non-state actors have waged a concerted campaign to undermine these principles at the United Nations. In this article, I trace the dynamics of what I call the strategy of norm spoiling. Norm spoiling is the process through which actors directly challenge existing norms with the aim of weakening their influence. Although utilizing traditional tools of norm entrepreneurship and human rights advocacy, it has distinctive characteristics. The reactionary nature of norm spoiling means norm challengers do not need to consolidate and institutionalize support for alternative norms in order to advance their agenda. Instead, they can frustrate and destabilize target norms through protracted efforts to block their development and diffusion. Moreover, because spoilers are united by shared antipathies rather than by a substantive vision of politics, spoiling coalitions are composed of unnatural and even counter-intuitive allies. Throughout the article, I document tactics used by women’s rights spoilers as well as their impact on international treaties, declarations and related policies. Women’s rights advocates would be wise to recognize these trends in order to defend progressive gains.
How do international women’s rights norms become effective in domestic contexts?
2006
Introduction 1. How to combine International Relations and feminist theories-epistemological considerations 1.1 Paradigms and epistemological debates in IR theorizing 1.2 The "radical reinterpretation of tradition" as source of feminist theory building 2. Theoretical pe rspectives on CEDAW: International regimes, global norm diffusion, and feminist transnationalism 2.1 International rule-formation and national adherence: Constructivist approaches in regime theory and research on domestic compliance 2.1.1 What is an international regime? 2.1.2 Human Rights regimes: The special case 2.1.3 Perspectives on regimes 2.1.3.1 Stages of regime building and operation 2.1.3.2 Intersubjective interpretations and learning processes 2.1.3.3 Regimes within the broader context of international society 2.1.3.4 Regimes constructing an intersubjective web of meaning 2.1.3.5 International treaties as concrete mechanisms of "we-ness" 2.1.4 Constructivist regime theory under scrutiny-final critical remarks 2.2 Human rights and global norm diffusion: the concepts of transnational networks and advocacy coalitions 2.2.1 Concepts of global norms and the process of their diffusion 2.2.2 Domestic dynamics reacting to global norms 2.2.3 Who brings domestic and international norms together? The power of transnational activism 2.3 Transnational discourses and practices on gender equality-feminist interpretations of international cooperation and global norms 2.3.1 International Cooperation under Feminist Eyes 2.3.2 Transnational feminism in theory and practice 2.3.3 Concrete Features of Transnational Feminist Networks 2.3.4 Global norms seen from "bottom up"-a transnational feminist perspective 2.4 Summary of theoretical discussion 3. CEDAW as a network structure-applied research methods 3.1 The "web of meaning" around CEDAW traced in multilevel analysis 3.2 Document analysis, expert interviews, and participant observation-description of applied research methods 3.2.1 Document analysis: the interpretation of written texts within broader discourses 3.2.2 Expert interviews: exclusive knowledge, competent assessment 3.2.3 Participant observation: detailed description, new questions, access to experts 3.3 Applied Methods in Summary 4. The formation of CEDAW: Intergovernmental negotiations within the multilateral context of the United Nations 4.1 The UN Context 4.1.1 Organizational structures: the tension between multilateralism and intergovernmentalism 4.1.2 Women's issues and multilateral agenda setting 4.1.2.1 Early consciousness-raising regarding the "woman question" 4.1.2.2 From legal status to socioeconomic rights for women 4.1.2.3 Transforming the "woman question"-consequences of the United Nations Decade for Women 4.1.3 The development of human rights standards: a gender-blind project? 4.1.3.1 The discursive gender-bias of human rights 4.1.3.2 The operational gender-bias in the UN human rights system 4.2 The emergence of CEDAW: linking "women" and "rights" 4.2.1 Starting the debate: The drafting process of the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women 4.
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Over the past two decades, constructivist International Relations (IR) scholars have produced substantial knowledge on the diffusion and adoption of global norms, emphasising the role of Western norm entrepreneurs in constructing and promoting new norms to passive, generally non-Western, norm takers. An emergent literature on norm dynamics unsettles this narrative of linear progress, highlighting the agency of diverse actors, including the agency of non-Western norm entrepreneurs, in normative change. This article contributes to this recent norm research by exploring the normative agency of local actors in the Turkish context, who have actively engaged in normative contestation over the meaning of gender equality. More specifically, the article reveals the crucial role of a pro-government, conservative women's organisation in subverting global gender equality norms and in promoting a local norm of ‘gender justice’ as an alternative. The article furthers research on norm contesta...