Sex, Culture, and Rights: A Re/conceptualization of Violence for the Twenty First Century

The author calls for a new definition of what constitutes violence against women so that gender equality can become a reality in both the domestic and international spheres. She notes that the reservations taken to the Women's Convention is an illustration of how legislating 'equality' fails to eradicate the systemic inequality that plagues women in all aspects of their lives. The author challenges the global community to expand the definition of women-centric violence beyond the traditional paradigm of physical abuse to include all practices harmful to women, including economic violence, for it is only with this expansion from physically intrusive to truly abusive can 1 gender equality be achieved. [Descriptors: Violence Against Women, International]