A Gender Analysis


Book Description




The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Its Optional Protocol


Book Description

The Convention was adopted by the UN's General Assembly in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. It amplifies some of the existing provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Its provisions include obligations for states to pursue policies for eliminating discrimination against women in the areas of government, nationality, access to education and employment opportunities, health care and equality before the law. As of December 2002, the Convention had 170 ratifications.







We, The People(s)


Book Description

The analyses in this book focus on the participation of the people within New Zealand’s system of government. The chapters provide a thorough examination of the government’s size, accessibility, structure, electoral system, and active committees in order to explain trends in the participation of sub-state actors, such as indigenous peoples and other minority groups.




Women and the U.S. Constitution


Book Description

Women and the U.S. Constitution is about much more than the nineteenth amendment. This provocative volume incorporates law, history, political theory, and philosophy to analyze the U.S. Constitution as a whole in relation to the rights and fate of women. Divided into three parts—History, Interpretation, and Practice—this book views the Constitution as a living document, struggling to free itself from the weight of a two-hundred-year-old past and capable of evolving to include women and their concerns. Feminism lacks both a constitutional theory as well as a clearly defined theory of political legitimacy within the framework of democracy. The scholars included here take significant and crucial steps toward these theories. In addition to constitutional issues such as federalism, gender discrimination, basic rights, privacy, and abortion, Women and the U.S. Constitution explores other issues of central concern to contemporary women—areas that, strictly speaking, are not yet considered a part of constitutional law. Women's traditional labor and its unique character, and women and the welfare state, are two examples of topics treated here from the perspective of their potentially transformative role in the future development of constitutional law.




Pay Equity, a New Approach to a Fundamental Right


Book Description

This is the report of a task force whose basic objective was to conduct a comprehensive review of the current equal pay provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act, section 11, as well as the Equal Wages Guidelines of 1986. Work of the task force included consultations, public hearings, roundtables, private meetings, research, and a symposium to provide information about the wide range of issues relevant to a review of pay equity legislation. The first four chapters review wage inequalities in Canada & within designated groups in the labour market, the Canadian legislative response to wage inequality, the current pay equity model and its limitations, and proactive models & legislation in the public sectors of various provinces. Chapter 5 outlines a model that the task force recommends to replace the current legislation. Subsequent chapters address issues which arise in connection with this proposed model, including the scope of application, the elements of a pay equity plan, employee participation, predominance of certain groups in job classes, evaluating gender-predominant job classes, estimating & correcting wage gaps, allowable exemptions, maintenance of pay equity, enforcement, timelines & transition to new legislation, pay equity and collective bargaining, and the role of oversight agencies. Recommendations made throughout the report are also listed at the end. Appendices include excerpts from relevant legislation.




International Human Rights


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to international human rights -- international human rights law, why international human rights have increasingly risen to world prominence, what is being done about violations of human rights, and what might be done to further promote the cause of international human rights so that everyone may one day have their rights respected regardless of who they are or where they live. It explains: how the concept of international human rights has developed over time the variety of types of human rights (civil-political rights, economic-social rights, as well as a delineation of war crimes) empirical findings from statistical research on human rights institutional efforts to promote human rights an extensive listing of international human rights agreements identification of recent prosecutions of war criminals in domestic and international tribunals ongoing efforts to promote human rights through international aid programs the newest dimensions in the field of human rights (gay rights, animal rights, environmental rights). Richly illustrated throughout with case studies, controversies, court cases, think points, historical examples, biographical statements, and suggestions for further reading, International Human Rights is the ideal introduction for all students of human rights. The book will also be useful for human rights activists to learn how and where to file human rights complaints in order to bring violators to justice. The new edition is fully updated and includes new material on: the Obama presidency the Arab Spring and its aftermath the workings of the International Criminal Court quantitative analyses of human rights war crimes.