SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES

‘She, of Course, Holds No Political Opinions’ : Gendered Political Opinion Ground in Women’s Forced Marriage Asylum Claims

This article comments on the continued struggle that women face when pursuing asylum claims under the Refugee Convention. It criticizes how the Convention has been applied using the ground of “political opinion” in circumstances of gender based persecution, particularly claims of forced marriage in Britain and the United Kingdom.

Knowing Women: Translating Patriarchy in International Criminal Law

This article examines the prevalence of patriarchal values in issues that pertain to women. This involves transitional justice institutions (such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) constantly conflating 'victim' with 'woman', as well as associating women with 'sexual violence'. The author then focuses particularly on the challenges that the male-centric nature of society and these patriarchal institutions' administration of justice have posed for the survival and recuperation of these women. She concludes with the notion that patriarchy is the

Stages of Development: Marriage of Girls and Teens as an International Human Rights Issue

In order to develop relevant and culturally appropriate international strategies for child marriage, the author argues that diverse socio-economic conditions and the cultural specificity of childhood and adolescence need to be examined. The author discusses the problem of uniformly conceptualizing all persons under age 18 as "children", as constructions of childhood vary across cultures. She examines how banning child marriage could exacerbate the underlying socio-economic problems that lead to child marriage in the first place.

Recovering Women: Intimate Images and Legal Strategy

This article addresses the divergence between the lack of abortion legislation in Canada and women's own experiences obtaining abortions in Canada. The author addresses a mismatch between the public perception and the private experience and she connects women's experience with legal narratives as well as legal theory. The author asserts that ideological notions surrounding abortion can be reshaped by allowing women's experiences to inform the discourse of feminist strategy, partly through empowering women psychologically. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Abortion, Canada]