Women's Rights as Human Rights - Rules, Realities and the Role of Culture: A Formula for Reform

"Recognizing the second-class status of women in societies around the world and the dangers of the marginalization that results, this article, as the title suggests, reviews and analyzes the rules that exist and the realities that persist. It proposes reform in the context of cultural, religious and traditional norms and practices. Part II describes the general setting that provided the impetus for women around the world to unite and demand their rights as human beings. Part III reviews the international human rights construct to establish that, as a matter of paper rights, women are or should be protected under existing norms. Part IV reveals that the reality of the conditions and status of women worldwide is a far cry from the equality mandated by the rules. This section includes an assessment of some gender-specific practices, some of which are justified by culture, history and tradition, as well as a scrutiny of various substantive provisions of the body of human rights documents to show that women are, indeed, not equal in their enjoyment of, or protection by, established international norms. In Part V, this piece explores the role of culture in analyzing the nature and obligations of compliance with articulated human rights. Finally, Part VI designs a methodology that reconstructs the existing approach to rights to ensure, facilitate, and safeguard women's enjoyment of the full range of human rights."