Women's Human Rights Resources Database

This database lists hundreds of resources -- articles, documents and links -- related to international women's rights law and Canadian women's rights law. Annotations describe the content of each resource. Users can search by keyword and author as well as browse by women's rights topic. Full-text documents or links to full-text documents are provided where available.
Search Results for content type Article categorized with Economic Globalization
Andrias, Kate , Gender, Work and the NAFTA Labour Side Agreement , 57 UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO LAW REVIEW, 521-562 (2002-2003)
This article assesses the North American Agreement on Labour Conditions (NAALC) in terms of its ability to address the equality and labour rights of working women in the member nations (Canada, the United States, and Mexico). Despite earlier optimism, the author notes a number of structural and substantive flaws that limit the potential of the NAALC to provide remedies to women workers. She discusses the ways in which the NAALC may nevertheless be used as a tool for women to publicize their working conditions and labour concerns, as well as a mechanism to develop transnational norms and cross-border solidarities.

 

Askola, Heli , Violence against Women, Trafficking, and Migration in the European Union , 13(2) EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, 204-217 (2007)
The author summarizes EU anti-trafficking policies between 1996 and 2006, particularly focusing on the Framework Decision on combating trafficking in human beings and the Directive on the short-term residence permit for victims of trafficking.  The Framework Decision only moderately harmonized anti-trafficking efforts, leaving member counties to independently decide on the priority of enforcement, and define specifics of sexual morality, permissible migration, labour standards, and prostitution policies. The author describes the Directive as viewing victims suspiciously and using victims simply as a source of information regarding other criminal activity. The Action Plan adopted in 2005 represents some steps forward by recognizing the need for a human rights perspective, addressing the gender-based causes of trafficking, and mentioning the prospect of reducing the demand for trafficking. 

 

Women's Work Exposed: New Trends and Their Implications , Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) , WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC CHANGE, No. 10 (August 2004), http://www.awid.org/content/download/48854/538235/file/women-work_en.pdf.
This piece discusses modern difficulties faced by women at work. Building upon the premise that women's labour, both paid and unpaid, is essential to economy and society, the report provides an outline of international phenomena impacting women's experience at work. The report then presents methods used to protect the rights of female workers. Growing numbers of women engage in paid work, but working conditions do not demonstrate gender equality. These conditions remain largely untouched in policy debates and considerations. AWID considers the issues faced by female workers within the context of women's rights.

 

Beck, Erin , Reconsidering Women’s Empowerment: the Contradictory Effects of Microfinance for Guatemalan Women , 52 STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 217-241 (2017)
This article critiques the metric of “empowerment” as a singular way to classify whether development projects for women have been successful. The article focuses on how microfinance has both empowered and disempowered Guatemalan women in relation to other members of their communities. It finds that microfinance can increase the agency of women in Guatemala as consumers, but can also subject women to economic power structures that are patriarchal, depending on how microfinance projects are deployed. The authors focused on Guatemala, but make reference to how their analysis reflects wider patterns in the Global South. The article’s research was conducted from 2007-2014, with 20 months of field research conducted between 2009-2010.

 

Beneria, Lourdes , Globalization, Women’s Work, and Care Needs: The Urgency of Reconciliation Policies , 88 NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW, 1502-26 (2010)
This article is international in scope, focusing on demographic trends in the Middle East, Asia and Europe. It examines the impact of increasing female participation in the workforce on childcare. It notes several contributing factors to this phenomenon, including a rising cost of living, rising rates of female education, and smaller family size. The article’s analysis section documents how this has created a “crisis of care” that has been filled by immigrant workers hired to do domestic work. This article discusses the detrimental effects of this emerging labour market on the families of the migrants themselves, and it recommends reconciliation policies and practices designed to make childcare more accessible for families. 

 

Cagatay, Nilufer, Elson, Diane , The Social Content of Macroeconomic Policies , 28(7) WORLD DEVELOPMENT, 1347-1364 (2000)
This article does not expressly discuss human rights or international law, but does provide suggestions on how to analyze both national and international economic policies from a gender perspective and why this is important. The authors argue for a transformatory approach to macroeconomic policy, which rethinks macroeconomics in order to incorporate gender-equitable social policy. The authors discuss three biases found in macroeconomic policies, evidenced through the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which reinforce the social and economic marginalization of women. In conclusion, the authors stress the importance of social relations in developing effective policies and argue for a more participatory approach to economic policy development. The Canadian Alternative Federal Budget is offered an example of such an approach.

 

Calder, Gillian , Recent Changes to the Maternity and Parental Leave Benefits Regime as a Case Study: The Impact of Globalization on the Delivery of Social Programs in Canada , 15 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF WOMEN AND THE LAW, 342-366 (2003)
In December 2000, the Canadian government amended the Employment Insurance Act to extend parental leave benefits to 35 weeks. Combined with the maternity leave provision of 15 weeks (which remained unchanged), this amendment allowed birth mothers to take up to 50 weeks combined leave. This article assesses the amendment within the context of globalization and neo-liberal policy reform that emphasize a reduction in state delivery of social programs. Despite the extended time period, the author argues that these changes are not equality enhancing because access to these benefits are beyond the reach of most women, particularly poor women and women of colour, and that the program reinforces the sexual division of labour. The author situates these amendments within the broader pattern of the effects of globalization on women, which include an increasing responsibility for the costs of social reproduction. [Descriptors: Economic Globalization, Canada]

 

Garcia, Helena Alviar , Searching for Women and Sustainable Development in Columbia: Restructuring the Limits , 23 FORDHAM ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW, 22-43 (2011)
This journal article analyses the role of women in sustainable economic development within the Columbian agricultural industry. The article is comprised of three parts.  Part I outlines the relationship between sustainable agricultural development and gender equality. Part II describes how the impact of the Columbian government’s progressive laws are limited by social and cultural gender dynamics. Part III presents the author’s recommendations. Specifically, it recommends the implementation of a Victims Law institutional framework designed to increase female land rights. 

 

Gottfried, Erika , Mercosur: A Tool to Further Women's Rights in the Member Nations , 25 FORDHAM URBAN LAW JOURNAL, 923-958 (1997-1998)
The author argues that Mercosur, a free trade agreement between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, can and should be used as a tool to enhance the status of women within the member nations by adopting structural changes that prioritize women's issues. The author provides an overview of women's social and economic position within each of these countries, of the present structure of the agreement, as well as the ways in which trade affects women in general. She counters the argument that trade agreements should not address social issues, and presents several arguments as to why women's issues in particular should be included. In conclusion, the author offers several recommendations on how to give women's issues greater priority.

 

Labadie-Jackson, Glenda , Reflection on Domestic Work and the Feminization of Migration , 31(1) CAMPBELL LAW REVIEW, 67-90 (2008)
This paper outlines why the market for migrant domestic workers exists and where legal protection of these workers is lacking. While women entered the workforce in greater numbers throughout the 1900s, the distribution of domestic tasks remains weighted toward women. Working women may delegate these domestic tasks to other women, hiring domestic workers to either replace or complement gender-based roles. Domestic work is identified as one of the major forces driving international female labour migration, offering wages higher than that available in the home country and not requiring high skills. The author identifies factors that prevent legal protection for domestic workers as being (1) perceptions about housework, (2) nature of the employer-employee relationship, and (3) existence of domestic work between the public and private spheres. The author calls on increased protection at the national level to support existing international law working against the marginalization and exploitation of migrant domestic workers. This process of protection should begin with combatting silence and conformity in the domestic work sector.

 

Lisa R. Pruitt , Migration, Development, and the Promise of CEDAW for Rural Women , 30 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 707-761 (2009).
This article first outlines rural-to-urban migration in general, then the effect of migration on rural women specifically, and finally the effect of CEDAW's Article 14 on the rights of rural women. The author argues that migration has some positive effects on rural women and that CEDAW's Article 14 empowers rural women. The author documents these effects by looking at comparative case studies in China, India, Ghana and South Africa. In these case studies, the author looks at the successes achieved and limitations faced by these countries in realizing the mandates of CEDAW Article 14.

 

McGill, Eugenia , Poverty and Social Analysis of Trade Agreements: A More Coherent Approach , 27 BOSTON COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW REVIEW, 371-428 (2004)
The author argues for the importance of conducting comprehensive social and poverty assessments of trade policy, including consideration of social, economic and legal/regulatory factors. The author traces trends in international trade negotiations, including actions taken by developing countries to draw attention to the need for greater social and poverty analysis of trade agreements and development assistance. She offers criticisms of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund's approach to trade and reviews responses by the development community, including an overview of tools developed to conduct a poverty and social analysis of trade policies. As an example, the author provides a more in-depth overview of the Gender Assessment Project, commissioned by the Women's Edge Coalition to develop a framework for carrying out gender assessment of trade and investment agreements.

 

Meils, Hannah , A Lesson from NAFTA: Can the FTAA Function as a Tool for Improvement in the Lives of Working Women? , 78 INDIANA LAW JOURNAL, 877-897 (2003)
The author contends that the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) offers an opportunity to improve the working conditions of women in the member nations. The author provides several counter-arguments to the position that labour standards should not be included within trade agreements, and outlines labour issues of particular relevance to women. She then provides an overview of the structure and procedures of the North American Free Trade Agreement's (NAFTA) side-agreement on labour standards (which came into effect in 1994), concluding that it offers inadequate remedies and fails to include some of women's key labour concerns. Based on the criticisms of NAFTA, the author provides several recommendations to enhance women's working conditions and strengthen the protection of labour rights under the FTAA.

 

O'Konek, Tiana , Corporations and Human Rights Law: The Emerging Consensus and its Effects on Women's Employment Rights , 17(2) CARDOZO JOURNAL OF LAW AND GENDER, 461-496 (2011)
This paper analyzes the garment industry as illustrative of a governance gap that is created in today's globalized economy when corporations directly impact human dignity but states do not have the ability to extend their legislation to protect international human rights from corporate harm. The author argues that the relevant soft law instruments have largely overlooked women's employment experiences in the effort to fill this governance gap. However, there are axes of convergence between the soft law initiatives that are helpful in forecasting the evolution of a normative framework that would adequately protect women's rights. Two axes are addressed in detail in this article: the ILO core labour standards and a growing awareness of the need to draw upon the human rights paradigm in its entirety, rather than by reference to select groups of rights.

 

Orford, Anne , Contesting Globalization: A Feminist Perspective on the Future of Human Rights , 8 TRANSNATIONAL LAW & CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS, 171-198 (1998)
In this article, the author questions whether feminist concerns about globalization can be adequately addressed within a human rights framework. The author discusses how the programs and policies of the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) create conditions that undermine human rights and facilitate violations. She outlines several structural and theoretical impediments that limit the ability of human rights law to respond to these challenges, noting, in particular, limited recognition for the rights of women. The author concludes by discussing how feminist strategies for engaging globalization may prove useful to human rights lawyers in confronting the threats posed by global economic restructuring.

 

Pearson, Ruth , Feminist Responses to Economic Globalization: Some Examples of Past and Future Practice , 11 GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT, 25-34 (2003)
This article aims to make trade agreements more comprehensible to non-economists so that proposals for more gender equitable international trade can be better understood. The author provides a brief overview of the agreement on Trade Related International Property (TRIPS) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The author then discusses how trade and other economic policies are gendered, as well as how globalization has led to changes in the international organization of labour. Several feminist responses to globalization are presented with the intention of stimulating discussion on ways to mainstream gender issues into international trade.

 

Quintero-Ramírez, Cirila , The North American Free Trade Agreement and Women: The Canadian and Mexican Experiences , 4 INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST JOURNAL OF POLITICS, 240-259 (2002)
This article assesses the impact of NAFTA on women workers, focusing on the garment industry in Ontario, Canada, and the maquiladoras industry in Mexico. The author traces the restructuring of the textile and manufacturing industry in Canada as a result of NAFTA and discusses how this has led to job reductions, depressed wages and working conditions for women. She then reviews policies adopted by the Mexican government aimed at inserting Mexico into the global economy and the resulting shifts in labour patterns within the maquiladoras in terms of both work structure and gender composition. The author argues that the growth of the industrial sector does not necessarily lead to improved wages and working conditions, particularly for women, and outlines issues that remain inadequately addressed such as childcare, collective bargaining rights, and an adequate wage.

 

Sadasivam, Bharati , The Impact of Structural Adjustment on Women: A Governance and Human Rights Agenda , 19 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY, 630-665 (1997)
The author argues that Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) violate women's right to development and are unsustainable in the long term. The author presents feminist critiques of SAPs to illustrate their disproportionate impact on women and considers responses to these criticisms by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The author discusses the add-on approach of the World Bank, which appends social programs to existing economic policies. She argues instead that social concerns should be considered throughout policy development and challenges the Bank's hands-off attitude towards human rights. The author concludes with recommendations on how to make the World Bank, the IMF and governments more gender-aware, stressing that women must transform both the state and the market to be responsive to their needs.

 

Sampson, Fiona , Globalization and the Inequality of Women with Disabilities , 2 JOURNAL OF LAW AND EQUALITY, 16-32 (2003)
This article considers the effects of globalization on women with disabilities in Canada. Because of the social and economic discrimination faced by women with disabilities, the author argues that they are particularly vulnerable to the effects of globalization. The author considers cuts to social spending, the increase of non-standard forms of employment, the rise of consumerism and the emphasis on individual responsibility as trends that reinforce the marginalization of women with disabilities. She urges anti-globalization activists to incorporate the voices and concerns of women with disabilities into their movement and argues that legal and political advocacy on behalf of women with disabilities should focus on strategies to attain economic redistribution. [Descriptors: Economic Globalization, Canada]

 

Sassen, Saskia , Toward a Feminist Analytics of the Global Economy , 4 INDIANA JOURNAL OF GLOBAL LEGAL STUDIES, 7-41 (1996-1997)
This article examines some of the central dynamics of globalization from a gender perspective. The author stresses the importance of identifying strategic sites in which to study globalization and focuses her analysis in this article on global cities and international law. With respect to global cities, the author discusses the valorization of certain work cultures over others, noting the devalorization of those types of employment in which women tend to predominate. In her discussion on international law, she emphasizes the transformation of state sovereignty and the growing presence of non-state actors as subjects in international law. The author examines the repercussions of these trends for women and stresses the importance of developing a feminist critique that can facilitate greater participation and recognition of women within international law.

 

Sassen, Saskia , Women's Burden: Counter-Geographies of Globalization and the Feminization of Survival , 71 NORDIC JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 255-274 (2002)
This article explores the systemic links between cross-border profit-making circuits, such as sex trafficking and labour migration, and the economic conditions in developing countries resulting from globalization. Women make up a majority of these circuits as households have become increasingly dependent on women for their survival. The author characterizes these circuits as examples of counter-geographies of globalization. This term is used to refer to trends that are not often included within discussions of globalization despite being directly or indirectly linked to its associated effects. She concludes by emphasizing that an examination of these counter-geographies can expose the ways in which women and gender roles are deeply implicated in sustaining global economic restructuring.

 

Scully, Katherine , Blocking Exit, Stopping Voice: How Exclusion From Labor Law Protection Puts Domestic Workers at Risk in Saudi Arabia and Around the World , 41(3) COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW, 825-881 (2010).
Globally, fifty percent of migrants are female. Migrant domestic workers are usually female and migrate on short-term contracts. This article focuses on the intersection of international human rights law and migrant domestic workers. It uses Saudi Arabia as a case study to illustrate the issues. Using Albert O. Hirschman's exit, voice, the article argues that the exclusion of migrant domestic workers from labour laws violates international human rights law. Finally, the author offers suggestions to provide migrant domestic workers with legal protection. Katherine Scully, Blocking Exit, Stopping Voice: How Exclusion From Labor Law Protection Puts Domestic Workers at Risk in Saudi Arabia and Around the World (2010) 41:3 Colum HRL Rev 825.

 

Stark, Barbara , Women and Globalization: the Failure and Postmodern Possibilities of International Law , 33 VANDERBILT JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 503-571 (2000)
This article considers the potential for international human rights law to address threats to women's human rights within the context of globalization. The author argues that from a classic perspective, international human rights law can provide only a very limited response to globalization due to both structural and philosophical weaknesses. Instead, the author discusses how a postmodern approach to international human rights law can facilitate new strategies for protecting economic rights. In particular, the author emphasizes the importance of linking strategies with specific women and their experiences, as well as questioning over-arching categories of identity.

 

Stark, Barbara , Women, Globalization, and Law: A Change of World , 16 Pace International Law Review, 333-363 (2004).
The author of this article argues that globalization is driving a gendered "change of world", resulting in complex and ambiguous consequences for women. She discusses how globalization affects women in four major ways: (1) it propels women into the public sphere; (2) it weakens the distinction between the public and private spheres; (3) it increases women's visibility; and (4) it engenders the feminist consciousness. According to the author, the impact is diverse. She describes how globalization has enabled some women to join the formal workforce and enjoy greater access to education. For others, globalization has allowed greater penetration of the informal market, which provides a form of economic power, but lacks security. The author points out that a final group faces a violent backlash against women's growing visibility and female assertions of basic human rights.

 

Taykhman, Nicole , Defying Silence: Immigrant Women Workers, Wage Theft, and Anti-Retaliation Policy in the State , 32 COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF GENDER AND LAW, 96-144 (2016)
This journal article analyses the systemic wage theft experienced by undocumented women workers in the US, and questions how state governments should respond to it. The article focuses on the nail salon industry as a locus for these practices. Part I of the article introduces the problems commonly faced by immigrant women workers, including widespread minimum wage violations and workplace harassment. Part II discusses the benefits and limitations of the legal regimes currently available to these undocumented female workers. These include government enforcement, criminal prosecution and private enforcement. Finally, Part III recommends the implementation of anti-retaliation policies so that undocumented workers don’t have their immigration status threatened when coming forward. 

 

Wright, Shelley , Women and the Global Economic Order: A Feminist Perspective , 10(2) AMERICAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND POLICY, 861-87 (1995).
Highlighting the prevalence of gender bias and discrimination in international economic structures, this article reviews the nature of women's work, the characterization of economic rights, and the way in which countries formulate and implement global economic policies. The discussion touches on the "feminization of poverty", the right to an adequate standard of living, the Bretton Woods system, and 'Women in Development' discourse. The analysis concludes with the suggestion that a flexible and inclusive feminist analysis might help redefine what economic power is and how it should be exercised.

 

Young, Donna , Working Across Borders: Global Economic Restructuring and Women's Work , 2001 UTAH LAW REVIEW, 1-74 (2001)
This article links changes in the global economy to shifts in the performance of domestic labour that have reinforced the subordination of immigrant women and women of colour. The author provides an overview of economic shifts that have led to changes in female employment within the United States and have stimulated female migration from developing countries. She offers a critique of government reluctance to regulate domestic labour and discusses the ways in which immigration policies reinforce sex-role stereotypes. The author calls on feminist theory to attend to the problems posed by paid household labour and by the involvement of certain groups of women in the subordination of others. In light of global economic restructuring, the author argues that this requires an analysis highlighting the international dynamics that have come to shape relationships between women.