This book looks at the centerpiece of the international womens rights discourse, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and asks to what extent it affects the lives of women worldwide. Rather than assuming a trickle-down effect, the author discusses specific methods which have made CEDAW resonate. These methods include attempts to influence the international level by clarifying the meaning of womens rights and strengthening the Conventions monitoring procedure, and building connections between international and domestic contexts that enable diverse actors to engage with CEDAW. This analysis shows that while the Convention has worldwide impact, this impact is fundamentally dependent on context-specific values and agency. Hence, rather than thinking of womens rights exclusively as normative content, Zwingel suggests to see them as in process. This book will especially appeal to students and scholars interested in transnational feminism and gender and global governance.
Acknowledgements.- List of tables, figures and boxes.- List of
Acronyms.- Introduction.-
1. Theorizing norm translation womens rights as
transnational practice.-
2. The creation of CEDAW within the global
discourse on gender equality.-
3. CEDAW as a living document 30+ years of
Committee work.-
4. A new tool in the toolbox: the Optional Protocol to the
Convention.-
5. Creating thick connections - translating activism in the
CEDAW process.-
6. Auditing the contract partners: States parties
connectivity with CEDAW.-
7. Some patches in the quilt cases of impact
translation.- Conclusion: How far can CEDAW reach? Lessons for a better
understanding of norm translation.- Notes.- Bibliography.- Appendices.- Index.
Susanne Zwingel is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, USA. Her research areas include womens human rights and their translation, global governance and gender, and feminist and post-colonial theories. She is co-editor of Feminist Strategies in International Governance (with E. Prügl and G. Caglar, 2013).
