Spring 2021 Course Schedule

Gender, Cultural Differences, Human Rights (LAW-725B-001)
Ingrid Nifosi-Sutton

Meets: 04:30 PM - 05:50 PM ( T, TH)

Enrolled: 17 / Limit: 22

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Notices

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Description

Welcome!! This course exposes you to the intricate protection of women’s rights at the UN and regional levels as well as its achievements and gaps. We will begin with an analysis of key concepts that underpin the international legal protection of women’s rights: gender, gender/sex-based discrimination, culture and human rights. Second, we will carry out a detailed analysis of the normative contents of the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (UNCEDAW). We will highlight the Convention’s significance under international law and at the domestic level and discuss whether there are aspects relating to the realization of the principle of gender equality in the enjoyment of women’s rights that the Convention overlooks. Subsequently, we will focus on the body that monitors State parties’ compliance with the UNCEDAW, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). To this aim, we will appraise the import of recommendations the Committee has issued following examination of State reports on the adoption of measures giving effect to the UNCEDAW domestically. Also, we will critically look at CEDAW’s approach to the consideration of communications alleging violations of the UNCEDAW in the workplace, in the field of reproductive rights, and against asylum seeker women persecuted on account on their sexual orientation. We will consider whether CEDAW is an effective international remedy that women who have experienced unequal access to rights can use to seek justice and put an end to sex/gender-based discrimination affecting their rights. Furthermore, we will canvass General Recommendations in which CEDAW sheds light on fundamental aspects of the domestic implementation of the Women Convention. General Recommendations that will come under examination include: General Recommendation No. 37 on the gender-related dimension of disaster risk reduction and climate change; General Recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women; and the very recent Draft Recommendation on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration. We will pay special attention to CEDAW’s Guidance Note on COVID-19 to appraise whether CEDAW is addressing the gender impact of the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. Importantly, we will emphasize how cultural and religious relativism can curtail the realization of women’s rights as set out in the UNCEDAW, result in especially serious violations of the Convention and undermine the Convention’s effectiveness and raison d'être. Our analysis of the interplay between culture and women’s rights will also underscore the importance of realizing women’s cultural rights and their centrality to women’s empowerment. Next, we will familiarize with the relevant practice of other UN human rights monitoring bodies and regional human rights bodies. We will examine these bodies’ contributions to the eradication of pervasive forms of sex/gender-based discrimination hampering the enjoyment of the human rights of girls and women, women and girls with disabilities, transgender women, adulterous women in Iran, indigenous women in the Americas, and women and girls in member States of the ASEAN. We will also see how some of these bodies have interpreted and applied regional human rights Conventions to decide cases involving egregious violence against women and girls; violations of fundamental civil and political rights of women activists; violations of the rights to privacy and family life of lesbian women; and violations of marriage rights of women and girls. We will discuss A. P., Garçon and Nicot v. France, a recent case involving three transgender women and in which the European Court of Human Rights appears to recognize the right to choose one’s sex. Finally, we will assess the notion of women’s vulnerability under human rights law and conclude with a critical appraisal of the effectiveness of the international legal protection available to women. The course will be on zoom and largely synchronous. Further information on the course requirements, contents, schedule and assignments is available on the course web page on MyWCL.

Textbooks and Other Materials

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First Class Readings

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Syllabus

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