Gender and Human Rights

Abstract

Chapter 12 addresses international human rights provisions in relation to gender. It critically assesses some of the major debates about rights for women in a culturally diverse world, such as universality versus cultural relativism, how gender has been approached within different international human rights mechanisms, such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and how this has influenced the development of social policy and rights for women. It challenges the notion that gender rights should be limited to a two-sex dichotomy arguing that gender diversity as reflected in LGBT populations should be reflected in human rights provisions by the development of inclusive sexual and gender identity (SOGI) rights approaches to human rights and an engagement with the needs and entitlements of sexual and gender minorities.