Research Team: Helen Laville , Lynne Brydon , Heather Widdows , Gargi Bhattacharyya
The project is based on the premise that rights can be neither given nor defined without reference to context. We work on the principle that rights - their articulation, diffusion and adaptation - are a product of historical processes. The project builds on a model of contemporary global history developed by a number of historians associated with 'new global history' that treats the post-45 period as a distinct stage when values, norms and principles have been determined globally through different institutional contexts. This project is split into 4 particular areas:
- The international (the creation of norms in the official arena): This section examines the conventions and protocols on women's rights which have been articulated, codified and promoted in this arena since 1945. It will trace the international institutionalisation of rights through various intergovernmental organisations.
- The local (women's rights on the ground): This section will examine the role played by women's organisations from the global South in challenging the agenda of global women's rights. It will explore the relevance of international agreements to women's groups operating in political contexts not shaped by the histories of western liberalism: i.e. Malaysia and Ghana.
- The global (debates within global civil society): This section explores the response of international NGOs to the normative standards on women's rights. It will examine the re-articulation of women's rights that emerges as part of a critique of international institutions and 'globalisation from above'.
- The theoretical (rethinking women's rights today): This will consider whether women's rights are the most appropriate vehicle for attaining the goals of activists and policy makers. These theoretical discussions will provide common themes and points of connection between the academic and policy goals of the project and draw the work of the other three sections successfully together.
The project is conceived as a contribution to contemporary historical debates about globalisation and women's rights. However, it is both multi/ inter-disciplinary in design and multi-focussed in its objectives. Its theoretical objectives have obvious relevance for academics from a wide range of disciplines across the social sciences and humanities, but our findings will be of immediate relevance and use to practitioners and policy makers both in the powerhouses of major international organisations and at local levels (e.g., the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, the Department for International Development (DFID), various NGOs) as well as academic and policy networks that the applicants have already participated in (e.g. Network of European Women's Rights)