Simone Cusack

Unethical Female Stereotyping in Reproductive Health

Stereotypes are generalized preconceptions defining individuals by group categories into which they are placed. Women have become stereotyped as homemakers and mothers, with the negative effect of precluding them from other roles and functions. Legislation and judicial constructions show a history, and often a continuing practice, of confining women to these stereotypical functions. In access to reproductive and sexual health care, for instance, womens requests have been professionally subject to approval of their husbands, fathers or comparable males. Choice of abortion is particularly significant, because it embeds moral values. Womens capacity to act as responsible moral agents is denied by stereotypical attitudes shown by legislators, judges, heads of religious denominations, and healthcare providers who consider women incapable of exercising responsible moral choice. These attitudes violate ethical requirements of treating patients with respect and equal justice. They can also result in violations of human rights laws that prohibit discrimination against women.

Women's Human Rights and Culture: From Deadlock to Dialogue (review)

absolutes” that the authors identify as characteristic of the international human rights regime? This omission is perhaps understandable, given the United States context in which the work has emerged (and the lesser role played by proportionality within that constitutional paradigm). Given the international law focus of much of the analysis, however, it is to be hoped that this omission might be addressed by the authors in subsequent editions. Putting that quibble aside, however, Human Rights and Intellectual Property is a significant scholarly and pedagogical contribution—not only to the specific interface that it addresses but to the broader project of charting the role of human rights discourse in responding to the challenges posed by globalization. Ultimately, the authors’ irrepressible energy and optimism is contagious and one finishes the book with a sense of renewed hope, in particular, about the ability of the international human rights system to act as a moderating force in the expansion of international economic regulation.

Honour: Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence against Women (review)

to join in the practical work of building a culture of economic rights. It offers a vast amount of material, nuanced and comprehensive, pragmatic and useful. Neither the text, nor any course based on any of its constituent parts, will be easy. Rather, it is difficult, demanding, complicated, and often frustrating work—like the struggle for economic rights itself. Like that struggle, however, it is absolutely necessary for anyone seeking to further human rights.