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.