Gender-Based Persecution and Political Asylum: the International Debate for Equality Begins

This article argues that the category of gender is an additional ground of persecution that needs to be recognized. Part I examines various types of persecution faced by women, namely: female circumcision, rape, morality codes, and physical violence. Part II examines the current status of asylum law with respect to gender-based persecution by looking at several prominent asylum cases in the United States, Canada, France, and Australia. Part III examines domestic asylum laws and statutes, considers various international human rights instruments and closely examines Canada's guidelines for granting asylum to claimants suffering gender-based persecution. Recommendations outlined in Part IV focus on how various national governments and the United Nations should proceed in the granting of political asylum to women who claim persecution based on gender. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, Violence Against Women, International]