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Feminist reconstructions of universalism and the discourse of human rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2009

Jill Marshall
Jill Marshall*
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Law, Queen Mary, University of London
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Abstract

In recent years, universal principles and, in turn, the universalistic discourse of human rights, have fallen under critical review by feminist scholars. This is part of a more general suspicion of a search for universalism and abstraction in law: feminist legal scholars have highlighted and critiqued the gendered dimension of such an approach.1 Particular concepts fundamental to political, legal and social theory such as justice,2 equality,3 freedom4 and rights5 have been under the spotlight to see if their structure leads to detrimental consequences for women. Criticisms of rights have taken a variety of forms with rights being seen as too individualistic, reinforcing existing power imbalances, failing to account for women’s experiences and focusing too much on the public sphere.

Type
Review essay
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 87 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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