Translating International Women's Rights

The CEDAW Convention in Context

Susanne Zwingel

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780230290976
• eBook ISBN: 9781137315014
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Civil Rights in Law
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book looks at the centerpiece of the international women's rights discourse, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and asks to what extent it affects the lives of women worldwide. Rather than assuming a trickle-down effect, the author discusses specific methods which have made CEDAW resonate. These methods include attempts to influence the international level by clarifying the meaning of women's rights and strengthening the Convention's monitoring procedure, and building connections between international and domestic contexts that enable diverse actors to engage with CEDAW. This analysis shows that while the Convention has worldwide impact, this impact is fundamentally dependent on context-specific values and agency. Hence, rather than thinking of women's rights exclusively as normative content, Zwingel suggests to see them as in process. This book will especially appeal to students and scholars interested in transnational feminism and gender and global governance.

© The Author(s) 2016

Susanne ZwingelTranslating International Women's RightsGender and Politics10.1057/978-1-137-31501-4_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Susanne Zwingel¹

(1)

Politics and International Relations, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

End Abstract

The idea that women should have the same rights as men has long been internationally recognized, but does this recognition make a difference for the world’s women? In this book, I aim to answer this question by exploring how far the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the centerpiece of the international women’s rights discourse, can reach.

There is a significant tension in this question. Given the pertinent nature of discrimination against women globally, or in other words, given the magnitude of the problem, it seems that studying gender equality mechanisms created in the context of international governance is not the most relevant focus. As readers will learn throughout the chapters, CEDAW is an international human rights treaty that was created in intergovernmental gatherings, was first not taken all too seriously by the world’s states, but later rose to an adequate level of authority and visibility, mostly due to the work of its monitoring committee of experts and transnational women’s rights advocates. In itself, the Convention seems far removed from the everyday human rights violations many women experience. How could it make a difference?

The one thing that has stood out to me while studying CEDAW is the incredible effort activists have made to use the Convention and turn it into an instrument of social transformation. Their norm translation activism, as I call it, has connected previously separated contexts; it has made CEDAW relevant in global and many national and local discourses. I have come to believe that this connecting activism is foundational for a global justice project. In the following, I draw on Judith Butler’s and Gayatri Spivak’s work to explain why.

In their writings on human rights, both Butler (2004) and Spivak (2004) develop their views from the vantage point of traumatized and marginalized collectives, who arguably would benefit most from human rights but are not reached by them. Spivak’s thinking famously builds on the subaltern, on human beings who are cut off from social mobility by layers upon layers of historical and contemporary exclusions. On the other side is the “rightening subject,” one that she constructs as “fit enough to help.” In her view, there is a divide “between those who right wrongs and those who are wronged,” and it is not clear whether a connection can ever be established in a way that is empowering for the subaltern (Spivak 2004, p. 563). Butler also sees a divide; in a heteronormative social order, some fit the criteria of heterosexual normal-ness, and this “fitting in” qualifies and protects them as humans. All others do not belong. They are silenced, perceived as threats, and often denied their humanity.

Butler envisions the building of a truly inclusive human rights discourse as a chance to overcome such divisions of belonging and not belonging. She proposes to open our understanding of humanness as something that we do not fully know and can never be sure about; something that is not just us but also something besides ourselves. If we then engage in the project of “cultural translation,” in connecting to what we do not know, in allowing disorientation/insecurity rather than domination/autonomy, then we can pursue a normative project that includes and goes beyond our own truths and convictions. Spivak is more pessimistic in regard to the reach of the human rights discourse, but she sees education as a possibility to connect what seems too far apart to be connected. The subaltern need education that works against the many layers of exclusion in which they find themselves (the education they typically have access to rather reinforces such exclusion). It needs to be attentive to the potential of children and allow them to develop critical thinking. At the other end of the spectrum, those living in privilege need to learn how to establish relationships based on equality rather than a position of domination.

I take it from both Butler’s and Spivak’s thoughts that creating “inclusive humanity” is a difficult, never-ending endeavor that builds meaningful connections between all humans. Applied to this book, this perspective means to investigate the potential of the CEDAW Convention to create such connections. I will argue throughout the book that CEDAW indeed “stitches together” the idea of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women with the world’s grown norms and traditions, some of them enhancing and some undermining that idea, and that in doing so, it fulfills a crucial function in the translation and realization of gender equality norms.

Strengthening connections that promote gender equality is a multi-layered endeavor. I would like to situate this book in that endeavor and stress two meaningful connections to which it contributes. The first is the connection between academics and practitioners, more precisely, between feminist scholars such as myself and women’s rights activists. Much of the content of this book is a product of this connection. I have learned a lot from the activists I got to know and interviewed. Their views on global patriarchal and other exploitative structures as they manifest themselves in real life contexts has influenced my thinking and writing profoundly. I trust that my work with its focus on analysis rather than action also bears some benefits for them as practitioners, for example, by enhancing processes of reflection and evaluation.

The second connection I aim to make with this book is one between young, comparatively privileged people—such as my students—and ideas of global justice. I have taught students in rural New York and urban Florida. Geopolitically, this is a hegemonic context, and having access to college education provides meaningful opportunities. Nonetheless, many of the students I have worked with have lived lives shaped by deprivation and discrimination, be it in terms of class, race, gender, social status, nationality, or other dimensions. They clearly have something to say in the grand conversation on global justice, but our contemporary hyper-consumerist and militarized Western culture does not give them good tools for critical thinking and seeing injustices, neither the ones they are exposed to nor the ones they partake in producing. Sometimes, for example, when their only idea of connection to “others” is that they “need our help,” they seem to lack the kind of education that Spivak envisions for the privileged—they cannot shed that implicit assumption of superiority and see commonalities.

In particular in regard to gender equality, many people in Western countries assume that we are “ahead of the rest.” However, there is a lot of ignorance about and tacit acceptance of gender hierarchies. I regularly teach feminist theory to undergraduate students of political science and international relations. The general gist in discussions on feminism, in particular in classes where little time is dedicated to reflecting on gender relations, is that present-day relations between men and women are not problematic anymore. As a consequence, analyses that detect sexism and misogyny are seen as outdated by a majority of students. In one particularly memorable class discussion, a male student said, in passing, “well, we all know a girl that has been beaten up by her boyfriend.” This was a purely descriptive statement, uttered in the context of arguing that oppression of women is a thing of the past.

What does this statement mean for the state of gender equality around the world? It indicates that young people in the USA, a country that has made significant strides in confronting sexism, are used to men perpetrating violence against women, in particular against women they love. It proves that gender hierarchies are deeply engrained and hard to unlearn, because their expressions seem so normal. Sexism consists of many layers, the less spectacular of which—like “only” beating up a girlfriend—provide the enabling environment for those that the general public identifies as problems, such as brutal rapes, ‘honor killings’, sex trafficking, and the like. While the force of sexism varies cross-culturally and to the degree that it is reinforced by other discriminatory structures, it is true that women’s work is undervalued everywhere in the world, both in terms of pay and recognition; their reproductive and care work is constructed as a natural instinct and taken for granted; oftentimes, access to their bodies is taken for granted; it seems normal that women are taken less seriously than men; and so forth. Of course, women are not homogeneously discriminated against, and some can build their lives on race or class privileges. What is important is to understand how different layers of discrimination hang together.

This book investigates the contribution CEDAW can make to challenge the multiple forms of marginalization women around the world experience. I have chosen to do this by offering a thorough analysis of the Convention. Since I am interested in the in-depth study of one particular mechanism and the unfolding of its relevance over time, this book follows an interpretive research methodology. I focus on the analysis of concrete connections of and dynamics between contextualized actors as well as their assessments of the processes at hand. I mostly rely on document analysis and expert interviews, the latter conducted between 2000 and 2013 (see appendix 1). Chapter 7 on patterns of States Parties’ behavior is the only one that takes a slightly different lens; it presents quantitative—countable—information and offers an interpretation of it.

This book is organized into nine chapters. The first (Chapter 2) lays out the concept of norm translation as framework for the empirical analysis. Norm translation assumes two major “movements” of international norms: one toward international institutions and discourses (global discourse translation); and one away from them, toward domestic contexts where diverse actors engage with these norms by approving, transforming or rejecting ways (impact translation). The concept is an attempt to take the multi-directionality of norm creation and repercussions seriously; it wants to overcome the global-centrism of some of the norm diffusion literature through a de-centering perspective, and it emphasizes the labor-intensity and long duration of normative social change. There is nothing automatic in this process, as images such as “norm cascading” or “boomeranging” suggest. Because norm translation pays close attention to concrete agency aiming at long-term changes, I prefer the image of “stitching together” different pieces (read: discourses and contexts), reminiscent of the intricate and time-consuming work of quilt-making.

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 focus on the process of global discourse translation. Chapter 3 starts with a context description of the broader global discourse on gender equality in which CEDAW was created, identifying three phases of global awareness raising (1945–1975), confrontation of gender hierarchies through intergovernmental institution building and transnational movements (1975–1995), and consolidation of gender equality policies paralleled by persistent and new expressions of gender inequality (1995 to the present). It then presents the drafting dynamics around the Convention as well as its major features, most importantly, a comprehensive understanding of discrimination against women and the notion of substantive equality between men and women.

Chapter 4 traces the development of CEDAW from a treaty that governments have symbolically agreed to into an authoritative international monitoring mechanism for women’s rights. The analysis of the Committee’s support structures, its international interconnectedness, and its working methods over time reveal a trend of increasing visibility and legitimacy. It also shows that the strengthening of CEDAW on the international level has taken a long time and has been contingent on the persistent “norm work” of Committee experts and advocates within and outside the UN (Chap. 6 reinforces this finding). This process, while successful as a whole, has also been riddled with challenges. The most pertinent among them is that the Committee has to strike a careful balance between creating robust interpretations of women’s rights and presenting itself as an authoritative body that is being taken seriously by states.

Chapter 5 is dedicated to the Optional Protocol (OP) to the Convention, which provides for an individual complaint mechanism and an inquiry procedure in cases of women’s rights violations. The OP has further contributed to the Committee’s work on setting international standards, in particular in the areas of violence against women, gender stereotyping, and reproductive health and rights. Thus, it constitutes a reinforcement of global discourse translation in regard to women’s rights. As the Committee’s views have, in some cases, helped States Parties correct direct and systemic violations of rights set forth in the Convention, the OP has also become an interesting mechanism of impact translation.

The following three Chapters unpack different dimensions of impact translation, starting with the translation work of non-governmental actors (6), followed by patterns of states’ behavior toward the Convention (7) and compliance work within domestic contexts (8). Chapter 6 presents the many ways in which transnational norm translators have added clout to the state-centered character of the CEDAW monitoring procedure. This activism, mostly undertaken by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) but also by UN agencies and the CEDAW experts themselves, has added a new dimension in that it established ties between CEDAW and societies rather than states. “Norm translation work” is directed both toward global discourse translation and impact translation, and while most of this work aims at strengthening and supporting the CEDAW framework, some activists also challenge the Convention.

Chapter 7 describes patterns of connectivity between states and the Convention. It departs from the assumption that without significant connectivity, norm translation cannot take place, yet that connectivity is still only a prerequisite for and not equivalent to impact translation. States are first categorized according to their principled affinity to the Convention, represented by commitment to the treaty and its OP expressed in ratification and absence, presence, or withdrawal of reservations. Secondly, States Parties’ level of substantive connectivity is described in two related dimensions, namely reporting discipline and dialogue frequency with the CEDAW Committee. In order to provide a kind of “global landscape” of connectivity with CEDAW, the chapter asks if levels of connectivity are influenced by any of the following three characteristics of states: belonging to a certain world region, democratic or non-democratic regime, and level of domestic de facto gender equality. Further, the chapter explores if and how principled and substantive connectivity to CEDAW hang together.

Chapter 8 starts with an overview of CEDAW implementation literature. On the one hand, this literature shows many concrete instances where norm translation based on CEDAW has taken place. One the other hand, it also finds lack of systematic implementation, including promising processes that fizzle out and absence of implementation activities altogether. The second part of the chapter looks into two domestic contexts, Chile and Finland, to trace concrete processes of impact translation. They were selected because of their meaningful substantive connectivity to the treaty and the existence of governmental and non-governmental norm translators. Also, they represent different political, social and cultural contexts and thus allow insights into processes of impact translation under varying conditions.

The concluding chapter returns to the initial question of the reach of CEDAW. It discusses two dimensions of this reach. One is the question of sufficient and adequate coverage of the Convention’s provisions to work for gender equality. This normative framework is in constant motion—it has been expanded, and it is being contested. The second dimension deals with the transnational connections established—that is, the “stitching together” of the Convention with real-life contexts. Through the empirical chapters, we have seen that CEDAW is created within a broader, in itself evolving, global discourse on gender equality and that a variety of women’s rights proponents have used it to influence ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Frontmatter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Theorizing Norm Translation: Women’s Rights as Transnational Practice
• 3. The Creation of CEDAW within the Global Discourse on Gender Equality
• 4. CEDAW as a “Living Document”: Over Thirty Years of Committee Work
• 5. A New Tool in the Toolbox: The Optional Protocol to the Convention
• 6. Creating “Thick Connections”: Translating Activism in the CEDAW Process
• 7. Auditing the Contract Partners: States Parties’ Connectivity with CEDAW
• 8. Some Patches in the Quilt: Cases of Impact Translation
• 9. Conclusion: How Far Can CEDAW Reach? Lessons for a Better Understanding of Norm Translation
• Backmatter