Global patterns in the achievement of women's human rights to equality

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 19, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 813-835

  Poe, Steven C ^a,b   Wendel Blunt, Dierdre ^c   Ho, Karl ^a,d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS   (United States)

^b William Penn University   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF IOWA   (United States)

^d Univ of N Texas Computing Center   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GENDER ISSUES; GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE; HUMAN RIGHTS; WOMEN'S STATUS;

EID: 0031426495     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. For a selected bibliography that includes much of the recent literature, see REBECCA J. COOK & VALERIE L. OOSTERVELD, A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS: AN ELECTRONIC EDITION (1995) .
2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 10 Dec. 1948, G.A. Res. 217A (III), 3 U.N. GAOR (Resolutions, part 1) at 71, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948), reprinted in 43 AM. J. INT'L L. SUPP. 127 (1949) [hereinafter Universal Declaration].
3. See Neil J. Mitchell & James M. McCormick, Economic and Political Explanations of Human Rights Violations, 40 WORLD POL. 476 (1988); Conway W. Henderson, Conditions Affecting the Use of Political Repression, 35 J. CONFLICT RESOL. 120 (1991); Steven C. Poe & C. Neal Tate, Repression of Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis, 88 AM. POL. SCI. REV. 853 (1994).
4. See Neil J. Mitchell & James M. McCormick, Economic and Political Explanations of Human Rights Violations, 40 WORLD POL. 476 (1988); Conway W. Henderson, Conditions Affecting the Use of Political Repression, 35 J. CONFLICT RESOL. 120 (1991); Steven C. Poe & C. Neal Tate, Repression of Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis, 88 AM. POL. SCI. REV. 853 (1994).
5. See Neil J. Mitchell & James M. McCormick, Economic and Political Explanations of Human Rights Violations, 40 WORLD POL. 476 (1988); Conway W. Henderson, Conditions Affecting the Use of Political Repression, 35 J. CONFLICT RESOL. 120 (1991); Steven C. Poe & C. Neal Tate, Repression of Personal Integrity in the 1980s: A Global Analysis, 88 AM. POL. SCI. REV. 853 (1994).
6. See Bruce E. Moon & William J. Dixon, Basic Needs and Growth-Welfare Trade-offs, 36 INT'L STUD. Q. 191 (1992); BRUCE E. MOON, THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BASIC HUMAN NEEDS (1991).
7. See Bruce E. Moon & William J. Dixon, Basic Needs and Growth-Welfare Trade-offs, 36 INT'L STUD. Q. 191 (1992); BRUCE E. MOON, THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BASIC HUMAN NEEDS (1991).
8. For reviews of this literature, see Steven C. Poe, Human Rights and US Foreign Aid: A Review of Quantitative Studies and Suggestions for Future Research, 12 HUM. RTS. Q. 499 (1990); Steven C. Poe et al., Human Rights and US Foreign Aid Revisited: The Latin American Region, 16 HUM. RTS. Q. 539 (1994).
9. For reviews of this literature, see Steven C. Poe, Human Rights and US Foreign Aid: A Review of Quantitative Studies and Suggestions for Future Research, 12 HUM. RTS. Q. 499 (1990); Steven C. Poe et al., Human Rights and US Foreign Aid Revisited: The Latin American Region, 16 HUM. RTS. Q. 539 (1994).
10. For a discussion of human rights and their effect on US refugee policy, see Mark Gibney & Michael Stohl, Human Rights and U.S. Refugee Policy, in OPEN BORDERS? CLOSED SOCIETIES?: THE ETHICAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES 151 (Mark Gibney ed., 1988).
11. See Roger Clark, Contrasting Perspectives on Women's Access to Prestigious Occupations: A Cross-National Investigation, 72 Soc. Sci. Q. 20 (1991); Moshe Semyonov, The Social Context of Women's Labor Force Participation: A Comparative Analysis, 86 AM. J. Soc. 534 (1980); Moshe Semyonov & Yehouda Shenhav, Investment Dependence, Economic Development, and Female Employment Opportunities in Less Developed Countries, 69 Soc. Sci. Q. 961 (1988).
12. See Roger Clark, Contrasting Perspectives on Women's Access to Prestigious Occupations: A Cross-National Investigation, 72 Soc. Sci. Q. 20 (1991); Moshe Semyonov, The Social Context of Women's Labor Force Participation: A Comparative Analysis, 86 AM. J. Soc. 534 (1980); Moshe Semyonov & Yehouda Shenhav, Investment Dependence, Economic Development, and Female Employment Opportunities in Less Developed Countries, 69 Soc. Sci. Q. 961 (1988).
13. See Roger Clark, Contrasting Perspectives on Women's Access to Prestigious Occupations: A Cross-National Investigation, 72 Soc. Sci. Q. 20 (1991); Moshe Semyonov, The Social Context of Women's Labor Force Participation: A Comparative Analysis, 86 AM. J. Soc. 534 (1980); Moshe Semyonov & Yehouda Shenhav, Investment Dependence, Economic Development, and Female Employment Opportunities in Less Developed Countries, 69 Soc. Sci. Q. 961 (1988).
14. See UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS, WOMEN IN POLITICS AND DECISION-MAKING IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY (1992).
15. See Amartya Kumar Sen, Gender and Cooperative Conflicts, World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (Helsinki, Finland: 1987); Alaka Malwade Basu, The Status of Women and the Quality of Life Among the Poor, 16 CAMBRIDGE J. ECON. 249 (1992); Laura Nader, The Subordination of Women in Comparative Perspective, 15 URB. ANTHROPOLOGY 377 (1986).
16. See Amartya Kumar Sen, Gender and Cooperative Conflicts, World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (Helsinki, Finland: 1987); Alaka Malwade Basu, The Status of Women and the Quality of Life Among the Poor, 16 CAMBRIDGE J. ECON. 249 (1992); Laura Nader, The Subordination of Women in Comparative Perspective, 15 URB. ANTHROPOLOGY 377 (1986).
17. See Amartya Kumar Sen, Gender and Cooperative Conflicts, World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (Helsinki, Finland: 1987); Alaka Malwade Basu, The Status of Women and the Quality of Life Among the Poor, 16 CAMBRIDGE J. ECON. 249 (1992); Laura Nader, The Subordination of Women in Comparative Perspective, 15 URB. ANTHROPOLOGY 377 (1986).
18. Clair Apodaca, The Realization of Economic and Social Rights for Women, Paper presented at the Human Rights Mini Conference, Purdue University (19-20 Feb. 1995). In this ambitious study Ms. Apodaca presents a wide variety of measures related to the achievement of economic and social rights by women, and then combines them into a single index to generate a measure of the realization of these rights for four separate years during the 1975-1990 period. Ms. Apodaca's approach differs from the one used in this study in that she relied on cross-national aggregate data whereas this study utilizes a standards-based approach. An advantage of Ms. Apodaca's approach is that it allows her to cover more time points. The trade-off is that she is not able to be nearly as comprehensive in her coverage of the world's countries, which is obviously a disadvantage if one is attempting to describe global patterns (as is the case here).
19. See Nehad Salem, Women's Rights in the Arab Nation, 9 J. ARAB AFF. 36 (1990); John Bendix, Women's Suffrage and Political Culture: A Modern Swiss Case, 12 WOMEN & POL. 27 (1992); Mary Ann Tetreault, Civil Society in Kuwait: Protected Spaces and Women's Rights, 47 MIDDLE EJ. 275 (1993); Virginia Vargas, The Feminist Movement in Latin America: Between Hope and Disenchantment, 23 DEV. & CHANCE 195 (1992).
20. See Nehad Salem, Women's Rights in the Arab Nation, 9 J. ARAB AFF. 36 (1990); John Bendix, Women's Suffrage and Political Culture: A Modern Swiss Case, 12 WOMEN & POL. 27 (1992); Mary Ann Tetreault, Civil Society in Kuwait: Protected Spaces and Women's Rights, 47 MIDDLE EJ. 275 (1993); Virginia Vargas, The Feminist Movement in Latin America: Between Hope and Disenchantment, 23 DEV. & CHANCE 195 (1992).
21. See Nehad Salem, Women's Rights in the Arab Nation, 9 J. ARAB AFF. 36 (1990); John Bendix, Women's Suffrage and Political Culture: A Modern Swiss Case, 12 WOMEN & POL. 27 (1992); Mary Ann Tetreault, Civil Society in Kuwait: Protected Spaces and Women's Rights, 47 MIDDLE EJ. 275 (1993); Virginia Vargas, The Feminist Movement in Latin America: Between Hope and Disenchantment, 23 DEV. & CHANCE 195 (1992).
22. See Nehad Salem, Women's Rights in the Arab Nation, 9 J. ARAB AFF. 36 (1990); John Bendix, Women's Suffrage and Political Culture: A Modern Swiss Case, 12 WOMEN & POL. 27 (1992); Mary Ann Tetreault, Civil Society in Kuwait: Protected Spaces and Women's Rights, 47 MIDDLE EJ. 275 (1993); Virginia Vargas, The Feminist Movement in Latin America: Between Hope and Disenchantment, 23 DEV. & CHANCE 195 (1992).
23. See Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, State Responsibility Under International Human Rights Law to Change Religious and Customary Laws, in HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 167 (Rebecca J. Cook ed., 1994).
24. See JACK DONNELLY, UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (1989); RHODA E. HOWARD, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE SEARCH FOR COMMUNITY (1995).
25. See JACK DONNELLY, UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (1989); RHODA E. HOWARD, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE SEARCH FOR COMMUNITY (1995).
26. U.N. CHARTER, signed 26 June 1945, 59 Stat. 1031, T.S. 993 (entered into force 24 Oct. 1945).
27. Id. art. 55.
28. Universal Declaration, supra note 2.
29. Id. art. 2.
30. Id. art. 23, § 1.
31. Id. art. 23, § 2.
32. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976), G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966).
33. Id. art. 25.
34. When discussing human rights for the purposes of this paper economic rights mean only those rights that guarantee economic opportunity equal to that of men. A broader definition of the term economic human rights that some would adopt, which would assume that men and women are entitled to a certain standard of living, is not addressed. This is not meant to argue that such rights do not exist, only that the authors choose not to address them here. In future research the authors may address other dimensions, such as a broader range of economic and social rights, or the freedom of women from political violence.
35. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976), G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966).
36. Id. art. 7.
37. Convention on the Political Rights of Women, opened for signature 31 Mar. 1953, 27 U.S.T. 1909, 193 U.N.T.S. 135 (entered into force 7 July 1954) (entered into force for U.S. 7July 1976).
38. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted 18 Dec. 1979, G.A. Res. 34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/ 36 (1980), reprinted in 19 I.L.M. 33 (1980) (entered into force 3 Sept. 1981).
39. For potential measures of such economic and social rights, see UNITED NATIONS, THE WORLD'S WOMEN, 1970-1990: TRENDS AND STATISTICS (1991).
40. U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES FOR 1994 (1994).
41. See Mark Gibney & Matthew Dalton, The Political Terror Scale, in HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (David L. Cingranelli ed., 1996); Steven C. Poe & Rangsima Sirirangsi, Human Rights and U.S. Economic Aid During the Reagan Years, 75 Soc. Sci. Q. 494 (1994).
42. See Mark Gibney & Matthew Dalton, The Political Terror Scale, in HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (David L. Cingranelli ed., 1996); Steven C. Poe & Rangsima Sirirangsi, Human Rights and U.S. Economic Aid During the Reagan Years, 75 Soc. Sci. Q. 494 (1994).
43. Pearson's correlations measure the strength of relationship between two items, with a correlation of 1.0 representing a perfect positive correlation and one of 0 representing the lack of any correlation whatsoever. So although these correlations are quite strong, they are still far from perfect.
44. See WILLIAM L. HAYS, STATISTICS 605 (1981).
45. With regard to the economic rights scale, it was found that the original coders tended to disagree on some cases where women's economic rights were apparently guaranteed by the constitutions, but statutes (e.g., inheritance laws, laws requiring husbands' permission to go into business, or to sign contracts) were in place. In most cases the resolution coder determined that these countries fit best into the "1" category, because such laws meant that in practice the economic equality of women was limited, and that the more abstract statements of support for equal rights in constitutions were effectively negated. _ However, in two cases, where women were forbidden from working nights or in dangerous occupations, but other economic rights were realized, the countries were classified in the "2" category. With regard to political equality rights, nearly half of the disagreements involved a systematic disagreement whereby one coder was apt to give the score of "4," while the other assigned a "3." Some discussion led us to the conclusion that the difficulty was that in many cases it was not particularly clear whether women were obtaining positions in the executive branch with regularity because the reports were vague, or because they only reported current numbers. Here the resolution coder carefully read each case and judged it on its merits. More often than not the resolution coder determined that the original coder who had assigned the ″4″ value had probably been too generous in giving countries the benefit of the doubt.
46. See STEVEN C. POE ET AL., MEASURING REALIZATION OF WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS TO EQUALITY ON A GLOBAL CROSS-NATIONAL BASIS (1996) (on file with authors).
47. See CHARLES HUMANA, WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS GUIDE (3d ed. 1992).
48. First, if all seven measures were to be used in a multiple indicator measurement model, missing data on the five other measures would decrease the number of countries analyzed to seventy-four, as opposed to the 174 and 173 countries covered by the State Department Economic and Political Rights scales, respectively. The use of multiple indicator models would also substantially increase the complexity of the analysis (and in all probability, as a result, decrease our readership). Finally, where it was possible to conduct similar analyses with more sophisticated techniques, the results were very similar to those presented here. The relationship between economic development and women's human rights was examined by using seven indicators to indicate a women's human rights factor. A structural model that included economic development was built, and tested using LISREL. The results led to the same conclusions as the much simpler bivariate analyses that will be presented herein.
49. Asma Mohamed Abdel Halim, Challenges to Women's International Human Rights in the Sudan, in HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES, supra note 12, at 405-06.
50. This means that such a relationship would occur by chance less than one time out of every 10,000.
51. Indeed, the importance of communications media to the spread of women's rights is recognized in the Draft Platform for Action from the Beijing Conference. See "The Document," pt. II, ch. 4, Strategic Objective J, from the Fourth World Conference on Women: Draft Platform for Action (12 Sept. 1996)
52. For the primary source of these data see WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1993 (1993); see also RUTH LEGER SIVARD, WORLD MILITARY AND SOCIAL EXPENDITURES 1993 (1993) (providing some additional data to make the coverage of this variable as complete as possible). These data were generally from 1991. See id. at 58.
53. For the primary source of these data see WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1993 (1993); see also RUTH LEGER SIVARD, WORLD MILITARY AND SOCIAL EXPENDITURES 1993 (1993) (providing some additional data to make the coverage of this variable as complete as possible). These data were generally from 1991. See id. at 58.
54. For the primary source of these data see WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1993 (1993); see also RUTH LEGER SIVARD, WORLD MILITARY AND SOCIAL EXPENDITURES 1993 (1993) (providing some additional data to make the coverage of this variable as complete as possible). These data were generally from 1991. See id. at 58.
55. Apodaca, supra note 10.
56. See ESTER BOSERUP, WOMAN'S ROLE IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (1970); Ann Whitehead & Helen Bloom, Agriculture, in GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (Lise Ostergaard ed., 1992).
57. See ESTER BOSERUP, WOMAN'S ROLE IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (1970); Ann Whitehead & Helen Bloom, Agriculture, in GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (Lise Ostergaard ed., 1992).