Critical review essay: Feminist Approaches to International Law Charlesworth, H. and Chinkin, C. (1991)

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July 26th

New York

Lara Malvesí

lm2511

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Summer Intensive Global Affairs

NYU

Critical review essay: Feminist Approaches to International Law

Charlesworth, H. and Chinkin, C. (1991)

In the article, the authors present their work as controvert. They prevent the reader from the first page that the feminist approach into international law is not always good received by some of the academics of this discipline. Furthermore, they are aware of the idealism that can be inferred. Nevertheless, the authors follow they instincts and are loyal to the goal of the research: feminism theory meeting international law.

The articles goes through western world history from 1991 and until 9/11 to show how women have been in the shadow in the international politics arena. The authors proof this argument by pointing out the few women that occupy judicial positions in international courts and tribunals.

This reality hasn't care about, among other treaties and protocols regarding gender discrimination, the sign in 1993 of the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, a text where is affirmed that the "human rights of women and of the girl-child are inalienable, integral and indivisible part of human rights". Liberal western democracies have emphasize human rights as a one of their main pillars. An achievement that was embrace with triumphalism but that has been not that easy to implement with women's right, for instance and for the sake of this critical essay.

The truth is, as the authors themselves state, human rights need more than a bill to be a reality. And also more than an ad hoc international tribunal that provides special monitoring of justice towards war crimes committed against women as, for instance, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in The Hague. "But practical application still often rests the willingness and committment of individuals to give it effect. In reality, gender mainstreaming has a tendency to become an additional task bestowed upon an already overburdened person (frequently a woman) who 'shows interest in gender". The authors made a intelligent though about the existence of this special tools for the protection of women and state that usually woman are presented in international law as "victims" instead of like "transformative agents". This last role will be proof to be possible and powerful later in the text.  The example makes it possible to the authors to proof the point they wanted to make and brings reliability to their theory.

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Why women are presented like victims and not taking into account in the creation of international law? The authors point out the secondary role that women have in either war, politics and job market. Women have, in the contrary, a leading role when it has to do with poverty. The article talks about the "feminization of poverty", not only in the so called third world but also among the migrant women.

This secondary role reserved to women have provoked many unfortunate consequences that could have been prevented if feminism theory was a reality in international law.

One example has ...

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