The UN, as a prime global norm entrepreneur, has launched countless efforts to spread its norm on women’s political participation globally. Whether this norm is accepted and implemented on the...Show moreThe UN, as a prime global norm entrepreneur, has launched countless efforts to spread its norm on women’s political participation globally. Whether this norm is accepted and implemented on the ground, depends on local contexts. Using Acharya’s (2004) framework of norm localization, it becomes clear that the prevailing traditional and patriarchal norms prevent the substantive participation of women in politics in both India and Indonesia. In India, instances of norm localization have taken place due to the potential for framing, grafting and reconstruction of traditional family norms. The norm of women’s political participation has been reconstructed to fit into the pre-existing familial structures. In Indonesia, no such localization has taken place. Strong religious and cultural norms, and the absence of frameworks for reconstruction, prevent norm localization. Instead, evidence points towards norm resistance. Even though instances of norm localization have taken place only in India, this has not led to a substantial change in the level of norm implementation between the countries. In both India and Indonesia, the norm is accepted on paper, but in reality, the traditional social norms prevent the full and equal participation of women in the political realm.Show less
Child marriage is connected to several socio-economical and sociocultural factors. Many people make the misunderstanding to link the practice to religion or a specific country/area or claim that ...Show moreChild marriage is connected to several socio-economical and sociocultural factors. Many people make the misunderstanding to link the practice to religion or a specific country/area or claim that "only poor people marry their daughters off at an early age". To what extent are girls protected by their countries laws, and are the underlying causes the same in the three countries or are there significant differences?Show less
This thesis puts in dialogue two texts – Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) – comparing them through the analytical...Show moreThis thesis puts in dialogue two texts – Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) – comparing them through the analytical perspective of dystopian literature. The thesis demonstrates that dystopian fiction extrapolates from history to build nightmarish societies, but also that certain historical experiences can be revitalized and actualized through a dystopian conceptualization. In fact, Atwood’s dystopian novel can be used as a “dystopian lens” to understand Jacobs’s testimony of women’s lives under chattel slavery as a “concrete dystopia”, that is a historical experience characterized by dystopian features. In order to do so, Atwood’s text is at first situated within existing scholarship and theory on dystopian literature and thoroughly analysed by highlighting how the text encourages reflection on women’s sexual and reproductive exploitation. Successively, I shift the focus to the context of American chattel slavery by reading Jacobs’s Incidents as dystopian in terms of setting and narrative devices and trajectories. By doing so, Jacobs’s testimony is liberated from its historical contingency and can be actualized. Atwood’s dystopian novel as analytical lens illuminates the ways in which coercive power, psycho-physical alienation, body commodification and systemic destruction of identity characterise women’s experience of slavery in Incidents. Moreover, it invites us to reflect on the ways sexual violence and appropriation of motherhood shape the slave woman’s construction of the subject as site of production and reproduction of oppression. However, the analytical comparison of the two texts sheds also light on the ways hope is performed by the narrative’s protagonists through storytelling. After being addressed by their testimonies, we, the witnessing readers, should be able to recognize the dystopian and utopian potential in our own reality as regards women’s sexual and reproductive self-determination and freedom, which seem to be continuously under threat.Show less
Women’s rights have been a concern for women worldwide for a long time. Activism and international politics in the 1960s and 1970s led to the establishment of the United Nations Decade for Women,...Show moreWomen’s rights have been a concern for women worldwide for a long time. Activism and international politics in the 1960s and 1970s led to the establishment of the United Nations Decade for Women, which took place from 1975 to 1985. The Decade brought together different perspectives on women’s rights. Western women, women from the socialist bloc and women from developing countries all had different hopes and aspirations for the three conferences that were held. This thesis analyses the interaction between the three different groups and reflects on the contributions the Decade made to women’s rights movements and to the United Nations. Although north-south and east-west divisions were clearly present, the conference delegations managed to bridge some differences and integrate their views on women’s rights and influence the UN.Show less
This research analyzes the combat against the issue of violence against women in Chile. On the one hand it examines to what extent Michelle Bachelet has been able to play an active role in...Show moreThis research analyzes the combat against the issue of violence against women in Chile. On the one hand it examines to what extent Michelle Bachelet has been able to play an active role in combating gender violence during her two presidencies. On the other hand the success of the mobilized civil society will be examined to evaluate its influential role. Finally, throughout the essay there is a special focus on the relation between the civil society and the state, and if they have been able to cooperate and advance the combat against gender violence in Chile.Show less
This thesis examines the case of the Islamist party the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which has significantly resurged in the aftermath of the...Show moreThis thesis examines the case of the Islamist party the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which has significantly resurged in the aftermath of the January 25 Revolution, and their efforts in the process of addressing the human rights conditions in Egypt. Eventually, the aim of this research is to assess whether the resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the form of a political party, the FJP, democratically elected by the majority of the Egyptian people, after the 25 January Revolution has resulted in adequate changes to one of the main objectives of the Arab Spring, and ultimately, of the Revolution. The following research question has thus been formulated: To which extent has the Muslim Brotherhood addressed the human rights conditions in Egypt in the aftermath of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution? The human rights that this thesis wil specifically regard in this context are the right to freedom of thought, consciousness, and religion and women’s rights.Show less
On 26 September 26 2013, Japanese prime-minister Shinzo Abe vowed in front of the General Assembly of the United Nations to 'create a society in which women shine'. In this paper, I will discuss...Show moreOn 26 September 26 2013, Japanese prime-minister Shinzo Abe vowed in front of the General Assembly of the United Nations to 'create a society in which women shine'. In this paper, I will discuss the structural impediments to Abe’s work- and family balance plans to increase women’s participation in the Japanese labour force, and how the Japanese government can overcome them. The analysis of past policies does not only suggest that Abe’s womenomics plans are not particularly innovative, but also indicates Abe’s ‘work- and family balance’ plans are subject to social stigmas, reinforced not only by Japanese company employment practices, but also by the government itself. Additionally, suitable policy recommendations are provided.Show less
