Women's Rights are Human Rights Redux: Ain't I a Human?
Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 753-787, 2012
36 Pages Posted: 24 May 2013 Last revised: 16 Feb 2015
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
Like many other Americans, women continue to struggle for meaningful economic and social equality even though the U.S. is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This international human rights instrument guarantees equality, yet equality remains elusive in the U.S. Most lawyers look to litigation to enforce rights, but in the context of equality, litigation alone does not achieve the level of social change that can eliminate the distances between the haves and the have-nots. This article proposes that the U.S. should adopt the model of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions to begin the conversations that must take place before this country can begin to recover from its discriminatory past. The law alone is not enough. Meaningful change will only happen when our culture refuses to accept discrimination in any form. To reach that goal, feminist legal scholars and all human rights advocates must move beyond the identity politics that characterize the status quo. Truth and Reconciliation Commissions offer the platform from which we might begin to internalize the notion that women’s rights are, indeed, human rights.
Keywords: Women's Rights, Human Rights, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Feminism
JEL Classification: J71, J78, K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation