women's rights human rights women's r i g h t s h u m a n r i g h t s i n t e r n a t i o n a l f e m i n i s t p e r s p e c t i v e s edited by julie peters and andrea wolper Published in 1995 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 © 1995 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group International Standard Book Number-10: 0-415-90995-3 (Softcover) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-90995-2 (Softcover) Library of Congress catalog number: 0-415-90995-3 No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Women’s rights, human rights : international feminist perspectives / edited by Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper. p. cm. ISBN 0-415-90994-5 (hb) ISBN 0-415-90995-3 (pb) 1. Women’s rights. 2. Human rights. 3. Women —Legal status, laws, etc. 4. Feminism. I. Peters, Julie. IT. Wolper, Andrea. K644.Z9W665 1994 323.3'4—dc21 94-15775 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the Routledge Web site at http://www.routledge-ny.com Contents Acknowledgments— ix IntroductionJulie Peters and Andrea Wolper 1 Backgrounds 1. Transforming Human Rights from a Feminist Perspective——Charlotte Bunch 11 2. Women’s Human Rights： The Emergence of a Movement—Elisabeth Friedman 18 3. Women’s Rights and the United Nations— Elissavet Stamatopoulou 36 Regional Reports 4. Violence Against Women： The Indian Perspective—Indira Jaising 51 5. Legacies of Invisibility: Past Silence, Present Violence Against Women in the Former YugoslaviaJasmina Kuzmanovic 57 6. The Medium Term Philippine Development Plan Toward the Year 2000: Filipino Women’s Issues and Perspectives一 Liza Largoza-Maza 62 7. Women in South Africa and the Constitution-Making Process—Brigitte Mabandla 67 8. After the Revolution: Violations of Women’s Human Rights in Iran一 Akram Mirhosseini 72 9. “Help Me Balance the Load”： Gender Discrimination in Kenya—Koki Muli 78 10. Women^ Human Rights in the United States： An Immigrant’s Perspective—Ilka Tanya Payan 82 11. Women in Israel: Fighting Tradition—Carmel Shalev 89 12. The Testimony of Women Writers: The Situation of Women in China Today—Zhu Hong 96 Gendered Law, “Public” and “Private” 13. Human Rights as Men，s Rights一 Hilary Charlesworth 103 14. Critiquing Gender-Neutral Treaty Language: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Againt Women—Natalie Hevener Kaufman and Stefanie A. Lindquist 114 15. The Public/Private Distinction in International Human Rights Law—Donna Sullivan 126 16. State Discriminatory Family Law and Customary Abuses~Julie Mertus 135 17. The Human Rights of Women in the Family: Issues and Recommendations for Implementation of the Women?s Convention—Marsha A. Freeman 149 Cultural Difference 18. The Politics of Gender and Culture in International Human Rights Discourse—Arati Rao 167 19. Cultural Particularism as a Bar to Women’s Rights: Reflections on the Middle Eastern Experience—Ann Elizabeth Mayer 176 20. Popularizing Women’s Human Rights at the Local Level: A Grassroots Methodology for Setting the International Agenda_ Maria Suarez Toro 189 Violence and Health 21. Gendered War Crimes： Reconceptualizing Rape in Time of War—Rhonda Copelon 197 22. AIDS and Gender Violence: the Enslavement of Burmese Women in the Thai Sex Industry—Hnin Hnin Pyne 215 23. Female Genital Mutilation—Nahid Toubia 224 24. Freedom Close to Home: The Impact of Violence Against Women on Reproductive Rights一 Lori L. Heise 238 25. International Human Rights and Women’s Reproductive Health—Rebecca ]• Cook 256 Development and the Socio-Economy 26. Women’s Access to Productive Resources: The Need for Legal Instruments to Protect Women’s Development Rights—Nadia H. Youssef 279 27. Contextualizing Gender and Labor： Class, Ethnicity, and Global Politics in the Yemeni Socio- Economy—Huda A. Seif 289 28. Women’s Rights and the Right to Development— Rhoda E. Howard 301 The Persecuted, The Voiceless 29. Women and the Word: The Silencing of the Feminine—Siobhan Dowd 317 30. Discrimination and the Tolerance of Difference: International Lesbian Human Rights~Julie Dorf and Gloria Careaga Pérez 324 31. Human Rights for Refugee and Displaced Women—Sima Wali 335 32. Where in the World is There Safety for Me?: Women Fleeing Gender-Based Persecution一 Pamela Goldberg 345 Conclusion---Dorothy Q. Thomas 356 Contributors— 360 Index— 367 Acknowledgements The editors wish to thank the women and men at universities and women’s and human rights organizations who offered suggestions and referrals, and whose interest and assistance helped make this book possible. We thank our editor at Routledge, Cecelia Cancellaro, for her insightful handling of the project. Most of all, we extend our gratitude to Tamara Pulsts, who (with the help of Amnesty International USA Group #11) organized the 1992 conference at Columbia University that was the seed for the collection and whose continuing support has been instrumental in its creation.