Women's Rights are Human's Rights

This article was encouraging for me to read. As an international studies POE, I know that creating international law is difficult and often discouraging, and that it is very difficult to challenge the norms that guide a society. I am glad to see that women and women's groups have been making progress across the globe to end violence toward women and all people. They have been successful in challenging the structures that promote, or at least tolerate, such violence. It is also encouraging that governments are now held accountable for the actions of their citizens. This means that a country's government must invest in women's rights policies or face the disapproval of other countries and possible discipline on the international level. Battery, sexual abuse, and repression of women is often protected or ignored because of a claim that such things are kept "within the family." The fact that government's are now held responsible means that it is much harder to dismiss such violence as personal or private. It is no longer trivial.

The right to a life free of all forms of violence is a powerful and strong claim, one that needs to be made. Though such policies don't necessarily ensure that women will be safe from violence, they at least provide the legal framework to prosecute perpetrators of violent crimes against women and set an international standard against violence. The policies make it clear that the world at large is moving towards a more protective, supporting, and accepting atmosphere for all global citizens.