Susanne Zwingel

From intergovernmental negotiations to (sub)national change

Abstract In the last thirty years, a process of global norm creation in the field of gender equality has taken place. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women marks a milestone in this process: it emerged as the first legally binding international instrument for the protection of womens rights. The 180 states that have ratified the Convention have interpreted their treaty obligations in diverse ways, ranging from reluctance to active incorporation. Beyond its original mandate, CEDAW has increased attention on gender issues within the UN human rights framework. Further, it has motivated transnational NGO activism that uses the Convention to connect local understandings of womens rights with global standards to influence national policy developments. Taking these global, national and transnational dynamics together, the article argues that CEDAW has been transformed from a ‘classical’ intergovernmental regime to a transnational network enforcing womens rights. Based on these findings, a theoretical view on global norm creation and enforcement is developed that stresses the reciprocal interrelation between global, national and local spheres. Instead of assuming a ‘trickle-down’ dynamic as a consequence of global agreements, it is argued that the legitimacy and authority of global norms depends on their active interpretation and appropriation within national and local contexts all over the world.

Women’s rights norms as content-in-motion and incomplete practice

Abstract The article makes two claims regarding women’s rights and their domestic implementation: First, ongoing international debates have created both agreement and contestation regarding the meaning of women’s rights. Hence, the concept is ‘in motion’. Second, this has led to diverse forms of domestic engagement with this set of norms. These processes have two components, the first being the translation between situated meanings, the second the actual implementation of the concept, a dynamic that remains principally incomplete. To elucidate these claims, the article first presents translation dynamics in the work of the CEDAW Committee, and then traces translation efforts in Finland and Chile, two culturally distinct States parties to the Convention.

CEDAW as a “Living Document”: Over Thirty Years of Committee Work

This chapter traces the development of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee into an increasingly visible, legitimate and authoritative monitoring body for the Convention. It looks at two dimensions of this process: the Committee’s international support structures and interconnectedness within the United Nations (UN), and its working methods. It shows that the creation of a sound and well-resourced international monitoring mechanism for women’s rights—the core part of global discourse translation—has taken a long time and depended on the persistent “norm work” of Committee experts and advocates within and outside of the UN. While the process has been successful as a whole, the Committee has also faced a number of challenges, such as the need to balance strong women’s rights advocacy with inter-governmental recognition.

Some Patches in the Quilt: Cases of Impact Translation

This chapter presents the last dimension of the “stretched” transnational perspective developed in this book. It looks at concrete dynamics of impact translation. An overview of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) impact literature shows that while the Convention has been used often and in many different countries, such use is typically not systematic or continuing. The chapter then analyses impact translation processes in two States Parties: Chile and Finland. These two cases were selected because of their high connectivity with CEDAW and because their context differences help clarify how the Convention has been used under varying conditions. The analysis shows that domestic repercussions of the Convention in both States Parties have been significant, but it also confirms that impact translation usually remains unfinished business.

Theorizing Norm Translation: Women’s Rights as Transnational Practice

This chapter lays out the theoretical framework for the book’s leading question—that is, how far does the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) reach? It brings together two debates: international relations (IR) literature on the relevance and repercussions of international norms, in particular as they pertain to gender relations, and interdisciplinary literature on transnationalization processes with a focus on contextualized human and women’s rights activism. Together, these two strands of literature enable a “stretched” transnational view on the resonance of international norms. Two dynamics are particularly relevant for the empirical analysis of CEDAW: global discourse translation (the translation of norms into global discourses and instruments) and impact translation (different ways of dealing with international norms in domestic contexts). Both dynamics entail constant norm interpretation and are principally unfinished processes.

Creating “Thick Connections”: Translating Activism in the CEDAW Process

The state-centeredness of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) monitoring procedure has been complemented by the work of transnational norm translators. This activism is mostly undertaken by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) but also by United Nations (UN) agencies and the CEDAW experts themselves. In regard to global discourse translation, most of this work has aimed at deepening the understanding of women’s rights and making the CEDAW process more inclusive and responsive. However, there are also voices that question the legitimacy of the Convention and, in particular, the Committee’s interpretation of women’s rights. Activism that aims at impact translation has focused on CEDAW-related capacity building and creation of context-sensitive implementation projects. This multi-directional translation work has established a connection between the treaty and societies, not only governments.

The Creation of CEDAW within the Global Discourse on Gender Equality

The creation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is part of a broader global discourse on gender equality that can roughly be divided into three phases: from the founding of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 until 1975, women’s issues slowly became recognized as globally relevant; between 1975 and 1995, gender hierarchies were framed as a fundamental global problem by both transnational movements and international organizations, and some institution were created to confront this problem; finally, the period from 1995 to the present is shaped by persistent and new expressions of gender inequality and continuing struggles to overcome them. The CEDAW, created in the second phase, embodies a comprehensive understanding of discrimination against women and the idea of equality of outcome, yet its monitoring mechanism is state-oriented and designed cautiously.

A New Tool in the Toolbox: The Optional Protocol to the Convention

The Optional Protocol (OP) to the Convention adds two new dimensions to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee’s mandate of monitoring treaty implementation: an individual complaint mechanism and an inquiry procedure. This chapter first presents the scope of the OP as result of a swift but controversial drafting process. Secondly, it gives an overview of the Committee’s activities in regard to the OP since its entry into force in the year 2000. The Committee’s jurisdiction was first shaped by finding a legally accurate voice. Over time, it has developed a victim-oriented treaty interpretation in particular in the fields of violence against women and reproductive rights. This has added to CEDAW’s international visibility, and, in a limited number of cases, made States Parties take measures to correct women’s rights violations.

Conclusion: How Far Can CEDAW Reach? Lessons for a Better Understanding of Norm Translation

In this book, I have asked how far the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) can reach. The detailed answer to this question is exposed in the preceding eight chapters; in this final reflection, I want to bundle the most important findings and reflect on the contribution of my work to the broader debate on the power and influence of norms. Finally, I propose a few areas for further research.

Auditing the Contract Partners: States Parties’ Connectivity with CEDAW

Assuming that connectivity between states and the treaty is a prerequisite for impact translation, this chapter introduces the concepts of principled and substantive connectivity. The first is comprised of ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), reservations, and ratification of the Optional Protocol (OP). The second is comprised of States Parties’ reporting habits and dialogue frequency with the Committee. This chapter asks if levels of connectivity depend on any of the following characteristics: belonging to a certain world region, regime type, and level of domestic de facto gender equality. The chapter reveals that many more states have reached a high level of principled connectivity than meaningful substantive connectivity. This is mostly due to the sub-optimal reporting discipline of the majority of States Parties.