Book Review: Human Rights of Women. National and International Perspectives: Part C: Documentation
| Published date | 01 June 1996 |
| Date | 01 June 1996 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/092405199601400211 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Part C: Documentation
BOOK
REVIEWS
Rebecca E. Cook (ed.), Human Rights
of
Women.
National and International
Perspectives, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1994."
A plea for human rights
of
women often causes misunderstandings. Either it is assumed
that such a plea amounts to a plea for a new category
of
special women's human rights,
or the reaction is that human rights are universal.
For a long time, the assumption generally held was, that the notion
of
universality
of
human rights implied that all (neutrally formulated) human rights benefit women on the
same terms as men. Only recently this assumption has been called into question. Both in
legal theory and in international law documents the application of human rights from
women's perspectives has been challenged. In international law, human rights provisions
have been further elaborated to adapt and interpret them to the position
of
women. Similar
to the debate on cultural relativism a debate on gender-relativism
of
human rights has
developed. Women's human rights have entered the agenda
of
the UN World Conferences
on Human Rights, on Population and Development and,
of
course, the Fourth World
Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. An impressive amount
of
literature on
the subject is available. IMore than sufficient to finish with the stubborn misconception
that the idea of Women's Human Rights amounts to a plea for specific Human Rights for
Women, for example.
The book edited by Cook results from a Consultation Conference held in Canada in
1992, and contains a very broad collection
of
contributions, covering nearly all aspects of
the subject and combining both practical and theoretical approaches. The authors are all
known as experts in their specific field, which makes the book a real reference book for
those interested in international law and women's issues.
The volume is introduced by Rebecca Cook, giving a general picture
of
the subject,
amounting to a very concise 'state of the art' of both the legal framework and the
academic debate (Chapter 1, 'Women's International Human Rights Law: the Way
Forward'). Generally, the women and law-approach goes along two interrelated paths: the
study
of
women and law as a specific field
of
research and the incorporation and
integration
of
the women's perspective in the general study
of
law. This double strategy
can also be followed in the context of international human rights.
Law in general, so also international law, can be considered to be gendered:
corresponding in an invisible, self-evident way to a male 'way of life', thereby ignoring
women's reality. As Kathleen Mahoney puts it: 'Male-centered conceptualizations
of
rights
have tended to ignore or diminish women's experiences in the application and
interpretation
of
human rights in the courts and other decision-making bodies." The use
of the concept of gender in the field of international human rights law is important to
grasp the essence
of
nondiscrimination rights, which are more than a plea for sex-neutral
Professor dr. Jenny E. Goldschmidt. PresidentEqual Opportunities Commission of the Netherlands, Professor
in Women and Law, State University of Leyden.
See e.g. Rebecca Cook, 'Women's International Human Rights: A Bibliography', N.Y.U. Journal
of
International Law
and
Politics 24, 1992, p. 857.
See pp. 439·440.
Netherlands Quarterly
of
Human Rights, Vol.
1412,
229·239, 1996. 229
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