Feminism and Human Rights: The Inclusive Approach to Interpreting International Human Rights Law

Ivana Radovic argues that women's rights have been marginalized in international human rights law as these laws are largely based upon harms committed in the public sphere by state actors upon genderless abstract rights bearers. She analyzes how international law's focus on "first-generation" rights works to exclude many harms experienced by women. She contends that first-, second-, and third- generation rights do not adequately respond to women's experiences, which largely relate to private and collective harms. For this reason, the requirement for states to be accountable in maintaining these rights domestically is ineffective as it ignores many instances of discrimination experienced by women. Radovic further argues that while CEDAW and other human rights treaties have made positive efforts to ensure women's rights, they ultimately fail. The author outlines an inclusive approach based upon different feminist theories in order to create a new, effective framework of human rights law.