Abstract
“Women’s Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Re-Vision of Human Rights,” by Charlotte Bunch (published in Human Rights Quarterly in 1990), is considered a classic text in the field of women’s human rights. In it, Bunch set out her arguments about the importance of connecting women’s rights to human rights in theory and practice and what prevented recognition of women’s rights as human rights. This chapter revisits Bunch’s 1990 article to explore continuity and change in how gender and women’s human rights are viewed 25 years after the UN World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna 1993) declared that “the human rights of women … are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights’. The chapter is organized around the responses given by Bunch to a series of questions about the continued relevance of the ideas developed in ‘Women’s Rights as Human Rights” regarding, for example, the current status of human rights as a global ethical and political vision compared to 1990; the nature of the excuses given for inaction on the human rights of women, then and now; and the extent to which the international human rights community has fulfilled its promise in 1993 to prioritize the human rights of women, especially by addressing gender-based violence.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antrobus P (2004) The global women’s movement: origins, issues, strategies. Zed Books, London
AWID/WHRDIC (2017) Women human rights defenders confronting extractive industries: an overview of critical risks and human rights obligations. Association for Women’s Rights in Development and Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition. https://www.awid.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/whrds-confronting_extractive_industries_report-eng.pdf
Bakan A, Abu-Laban Y (2017) Intersectionality and the United Nations world conference against racism. Atlantis 38(1):220–235. http://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/issue/view/38.1%20%282018%29
Brah A, Phoenix A (2004) ‘Ain’t I a woman?’ Revisiting intersectionality. J Int Women’s Stud 5(3):75–86
Bunch C (1990) Women’s rights as human rights: toward a re-vision of human rights. Hum Rights Q 12:486–498
Bunch C, Carrillo R (2016) Women’s rights are human rights: a concept in the making. In: Chesler E, McGovern T (eds) Women and girls rising: progress and resistance around the world. Routledge, New York, pp 30–50
Bunch C, Reilly N (1994) Demanding accountability: the Vienna tribunal and global campaign for women’s human rights. UNDP/UNIFEM, New York
Coomaraswamy R (2002) Are women’s rights universal? Re-engaging the local. Meridians 3(1):1–18
Crenshaw K (1989) Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. Univ Chic Leg Forum 140:139–167
Crenshaw K (1991) Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Rev 43:1241–1299
El-Gousi H (2016) Women’s rights in authoritarian Egypt: negotiating between Islam and politics. I.B. Tauris, London
Ertürk Y (2016) Violence without borders: paradigm, policy and praxis concerning violence against women. Women’s Learning Partnership, Bethesda
Grewal I (1999) ‘Women’s rights as human rights’: feminist practices, global feminism and human rights regimes in transnationality. Citizenship Stud 3:337–354
Joachim JM (2007) Agenda setting, the UN, and NGOs: gender violence and reproductive rights. Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC
Kassem R (2013) Gendered erasure in the global ‘war on terror’: an unmasked interrogation. In: Satterthwaite ML, Huckerby JC (eds) Gender, national security, and counter-terrorism: human rights perspectives. Routledge, London, pp 15–35
Keck ME, Sikkink K (1998) Activists beyond borders: advocacy networks in international politics. Cornell University Press, Ithaca
Kinzelback K (2013) Resisting the power of human rights: the People’s Republic of China. In: Risse T, Ropp SC, Sikkink K (eds) The persistent power of human rights: from commitment to compliance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 164–181
Langford M, Rodríguez-Garavito C, Rossi J (eds) (2017) Social rights judgments and the politics of compliance: making it stick. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Mayer S, Ajanovic E, Sauer E (2014) Intersections and inconsistencies: framing gender in right-wing populist discourses in Austria. Nord J Fem Gend Res 22:250–266
Merry SE (2006) Human rights and gender violence: translating international law into local justice. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Risse T, Ropp SC, Sikkink K (eds) (2013) The persistent power of human rights: from commitment to compliance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Sikkink K (2017) Evidence for hope: Making human rights work in the 21st century. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Sunstein C (2018) Can it happen here? Authoritarianism in America. Dey Street Books, New York
Wilson S, Wiggins O (2013) Obama defends health-care law, calling health insurance ‘a right.’ Washington Post, 26 September
Women’s March Organizers/Condé Nast (2018) Together we rise: behind the scenes at the protest heard around the world. Dey Street Books, New York
Yuval-Davis N (2006) Intersectionality and feminist politics. Eur J Women’s Stud 13(3):193–209
Law and Cases
María Mamérita Mestanza Chávez v. Peru (2003) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Report No. 71/03[1], Petition 12.191 Friendly Settlement, October 22. http://cidh.org/annualrep/2003eng/Peru.12191.htm
UNGA (2015) General Assembly resolution on transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. UN Doc A/RES/70/1, United Nations General Assembly. http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E
WCHR (1993) Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action 1993. World Conference on Human Rights. UN Doc A/CONF.157/23. United Nations. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Vienna.aspx
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this entry
Cite this entry
Bunch, C., Reilly, N. (2019). Women’s Rights as Human Rights: 25 Years On. In: Reilly, N. (eds) International Human Rights of Women. International Human Rights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4550-9_2-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4550-9_2-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4550-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4550-9
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Law and CriminologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences