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Feminist reconstructions of universalism and the discourse of humanrights

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Gender, Culture and Human Rights: Reclaiming Universalism By MullallySiobhan, Oxford: Hart PublishingLtd, 2006. 287 pp. ISBN1-841-13513-5/978-1-841-13513-7 £45.00

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 discourseof human rights, have fallen under critical review by feminist scholars. This ispart of a more general suspicion of a search for universalism and abstraction inlaw: feminist legal scholars have highlighted and critiqued the gendereddimension of such an approach.1 Particular concepts fundamental topolitical, legal and social theory such as justice,2equality,3 freedom4 and rights5 have been underthe spotlight to see if their structure leads to detrimental consequences forwomen. Criticisms of rights have taken a variety of forms with rights being seenas too individualistic, reinforcing existing power imbalances, failing toaccount for women’s experiences and focusing too much on the publicsphere.

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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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