Refugee Law and State Accountability for Violence Against Women: A Comparative Analysis of Legal Approaches to Recognizing Asylum Claims Based on Gender Persecution

This article examines the obstacles faced by women seeking asylum due to gender-based persecution. First, the author reviews the difficulties in framing gender-based persecution claims such that they fit into internationally recognized definitions and categories. The author argues that there is no reason why the use of the existing "membership in a particular social class category" cannot continue while efforts to achieve the recognition of a new category of "gender" also take place. Second, the author turns her attention to the implications of the fact that the developed refugee-receiving states themselves have not been completely effective in eliminating violence against women within their own borders. [Descriptors: Migration - Refugees and Immigration, International]