Sources of Women’s Human Rights

The chapter sets out, critically and analytically, the primary sources of women’s human rights, international and domestic, in India. After tracing the emergence of the human rights framework, the chapter considers international sources of women’s human rights, including conventions (binding agreements between states) and declarations and charters (non-binding statements of intent and aspiration). It maps the process by which women’s human rights, as a gender-specific body of rights, were inserted into the human rights framework, particularly focussing on CEDAW and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.