Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T21:09:30.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How do international norms matter? The impact of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women in Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2018

Alessia Donà
Alessia Donà*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
*
* E-mail: Alessia.dona@unitn.it
Get access

Abstract

The role of the international norms in domestic politics is a central question in international relations. This article examines the major international treaty on the human rights of women, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and its impact on Italian politics, specifically on domestic legislation, case law and civil society activism, and institutional structure. The research contributes to the general debate on international norms diffusion and implementation, and identifies the factors which enable states to comply with these norms.

Keywords

Italyinternational institutionsUnited Nationsgendercivil society
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , July 2018 , pp. 221 - 241
Copyright
© Società Italiana di Scienza Politica 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharya, A. (2004), ‘How ideas spread: whose norms matter? Norm localization and institutional change in Asian regionalism’, International Organization 58(2): 239–275.Google Scholar
Andreatta, F. and Zambernardi, L. (2010), ‘No longer waiting for Godot? The teaching of IR in Italy’, Italian Political Science 5(4): 4–10.Google Scholar
Baldez, L. (2014), Defying Convention: U.S. Resistance to the UN Treaty on Women’s Rights, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Byrnes, A. (2013), ‘The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against women’, in A. Hellum and H.S. Aasenin (eds), Women’s Human Rights. CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 27–61.Google Scholar
Byrnes, A. and Freeman, M. (2012), ‘The impact of CEDAW convention: paths to equality’. Paper No. 7, Sidney: University of New South Wales, Faculty of Law Research Series.Google Scholar
Calloni, M. (2003), ‘From maternalism to mainstreaming: femocrats and the reframing of gender equality policy in Italy’, in U. Liebert (ed.), Gendering Europeanisation, Brussels: Peter Lang, pp. 117–184.Google Scholar
Cassese, A. (2006), Diritto internazionale (International Law Handbook) , Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Cofelice, A. (2017), ‘Italy and the universal periodic review of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Playing the two-level game’, Italian Political Science Review 47(2): 227–250.Google Scholar
Connors, J. (2012), ‘Optional protocol’, in M.A. Freeman, C. Chinkin and B. Rudolf (eds), The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: A Commentary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 607–679.Google Scholar
Cortell, A.P. and Davis, J.W. (2000), ‘Understanding the domestic impact of international norms: a research agenda’, International Studies Review 2(1): 67–87.Google Scholar
Degani, P. (2010a), ‘Condizione femminile e Nazioni Unite’. Recenti sviluppi della politica internazionale per i diritti umani delle donne, Padova: Cleup.Google Scholar
Degani, P. (2010b), ‘Public policies and human rights. The effects on the UN convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in Italy’, Pace diritti umani (Peace Human Rights) 1: 39–66.Google Scholar
Della Porta, D. (2003), ‘The women’s movement, the left, and the state: continuities and changes in the Italian case’, in L.A. Banaszak, K. Beckwith and D. Rucht (eds), Women’s Movements Facing the Reconfigured State, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 43–68.Google Scholar
Den Boer, A. (2008), ‘Evaluating CEDAW’s impact on women’s empowerment’. Paper presented at the ISA Annual Convention, March 26–29, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Dingwerth, K. and Pattberg, P. (2006), ‘Global governance as a perspective on world politics’, Global Governance 12(2): 185–203.Google Scholar
Dipartimento Pari Opportunità (DPO) (2001), ‘Iniziative sulle questioni internazionali’, Rapporto di fine legislatura, Italia, Roma.Google Scholar
Donà, A. (2007), ‘La partecipazione e la rappresentanza femminile nel sistema politico italiano’, in G. Fiume (ed.), Donne, Diritti e Democrazia, Roma: XL Edizioni, pp. 136–166.Google Scholar
Donà, A. (2008), ‘Italy and equality policy’, in S. Fabbrini and S. Piattoni (eds), Italy in the European Union: Redefining National Interest in a Compound Polity, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 107–129.Google Scholar
Donà, A. (2011), ‘Using the EU to promote gender equality policy in a traditional context: reconciliation of work and family life in Italy’, in M. Forest and E. Lombardo (eds), The Europeanization of Gender Equality Policies: A Discursive- Sociological Approach, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 99–120.Google Scholar
Donà, A. (2015), ‘Will the year 2015 bring the return of electoral gender quotas? The history about how the lack of political will troubled the road to gender equality in Italy’. EUI Working Papers, LAW 2015/26, EUI Department of LAW, Florence. Retrieved 16 December 2017 from http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/35810 Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. (1986), ‘International human rights: a regime analysis’, International Organization 40(3): 599–642.Google Scholar
Engle, M.S. (2006), Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law into Local Justice, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Englehart, N.A. and Miller, M.K. (2014), ‘The CEDAW effect: International Law’s impact on women’s rights’, Journal of Human Rights 13(1): 22–47.Google Scholar
European Institute for Gender Equality (2015), ‘Gender Equality Index 2015 – measuring gender equality in the European Union 2005–2012: Report’. Retrieved 1 July 2017 from http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/gender-equality-index-2015-measuring-gender-equality-european-union-2005-2012-report Google Scholar
European Parliament (2014), ‘The policy on gender equality in Italy’. In-depth Analysis for the FEEM Committee, PE 493.052. Retrieved 16 December 2017 from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2014/493052/IPOL-FEMM_NT(2014)493052_EN.pdf Google Scholar
Fabbrini, S. and Piattoni, S. (eds) (2008), Italy in the European Union: Redefining National Interest in a Compound Polity, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Filippone-Thaulero, S. (2012), ‘L’impegno del Senato della Repubblica per i diritti umani: dal Comitato contro la pena di morte alla Commissione straordinaria’, Pace diritti umani (Peace Human Rights) 3: 21–46.Google Scholar
Franchino, F. and Radaelli, C.M. (eds) (2004), ‘Europeanisation and the Italian political system: politics and policy’, Journal of European Public Policy Special Issue 11 (6).Google Scholar
Fraser, A. (1995), ‘The convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (The Women’s Convention)’, in A. Winslow (ed.), Women, Politics, and the United Nations, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, pp. 77–94.Google Scholar
Freeman, M.A., Chinkin, C. and Rudolf, B. (eds) (2012), The UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. A Commentary, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goodhart, M. (ed.) (2016), Human Rights. Politics and Practice, 3rd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guadagnini, M. and Donà, A. (2007), ‘Women’s policy machinery in Italy between European pressures and domestic constraints’, in J. Outshoorn and J. Kantola (eds), Changing State Feminism, London: Palgrave, pp. 165–181.Google Scholar
Hafner-Burton, E.M. and Tsutsui, K. (2005), ‘Human rights in a globalizing world: the paradox of empty promises’, American Journal of Sociology 110(5): 1373–1411.Google Scholar
Hellum, A. and Aasen, H.S. (eds) (2013), Women’s Human Rights. CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hotmaat, R. (2013), ‘The CEDAW: holistic approach to women’s equality and freedom’, in A. Hellum and H.S. Aasen (eds), Women’s Human Rights. CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 95–123.Google Scholar
Isernia, P. and Longo, F. (2017), ‘The Italian foreign policy: challenges and continuities’, Italian Political Science Review 47(2): 107–124.Google Scholar
Kantola, J. (2010), Gender and the European Union, London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Kardam, N. (2004), ‘The emerging global gender equality regime from neoliberal and constructivist perspectives in international relations’, International Feminist Journal of Politics 6(1): 85–109.Google Scholar
Keck, M.E. and Sikkink, K. (1998), Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Keller, L.M. (2014), ‘The impact of state parties’ reservations to the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women’, Michigan State Law Review 309(2): 309–326.Google Scholar
Krook, M.L. and True, J. (2012), ‘Rethinking the life cycles of international norms: the United Nations and the global promotion of gender equality’, European Journal of International Relations 18(1): 103–127.Google Scholar
Marchetti, R. (2016), ‘Advocacy strategies for human rights: the campaign for the moratorium on death penalty’, Italian Political Science Review 46(3): 355–378.Google Scholar
McBride, D.E. and Mazur, A.G. (2006), ‘Measuring feminist globalization: cross-national convergences and transnational networks in western Europe’, in M.M. Ferree and A.M. Tripp (eds), Global Feminism, Transnational Women’s Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights, New York: New York University Press, pp. 219–246.Google Scholar
McPhedran, M., Bazilli, S., Erickson, M. and Byrnes, A. (eds) (2000), ‘The First CEDAW Impact Study: Final Report’. Centre for Feminist Research, York University, Toronto, ON.Google Scholar
McQuigg, R.J.A. (2007), ‘The responses of states to the comments of the CEDAW committe on domestic violence’, The International Journal of Human Rights 11(4): 461–479.Google Scholar
Mello, B. and Strausz, M. (2011), ‘International norms and women’s rights in Turkey and Japan’, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 32(4): 333–362.Google Scholar
Montoya, C. (2012), From Global to Grassroots. The European Union, Transnational Advocacy and Combating Violence Against Women, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Möschel, M. (2015), ‘La tutela giuridica contro gli stereotipi di genere’, Rivista critica del diritto privato 33(3): 443–466.Google Scholar
Naldini, M. (2003), The Family in the Mediterranean Welfare States, London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Padovani, C. and Vingelli, G. (2016), ‘Introduction. Special issue on gender and politics: research, practice and education. Moving beyond the obvious’, Italian Political Science 11(2). Retrieved 16 December 2017 from https://italianpoliticalscience.com/volume-11-issue-2-december-2016/ Google Scholar
Papisca, A. (2007), ‘Infrastruttura nazionale per i diritti umani: l’Italia è in ritardo’, Pace diritti umani (Peace Human Rights) 2: 7–18.Google Scholar
Pollicino, O. (2015), ‘The European Court of Human Rights and the Italian Constitutional Court: No “Groovy Kind of Love” in K. Siegler, E. Wicks and L. Hodson (eds), The UK and European Human Rights – A Strained Relationship? Oxford: Hart Publishing, pp. 362--378.Google Scholar
Prantl, J. and Nakano, R. (2011), ‘Global norm diffusion in East Asia: how China and Japan implement the responsibility to protect’, International Relations 25(2): 204–223.Google Scholar
Risse, T., Roppe, S.C. and Sikkink, K. (eds) (1999), The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Risse, T., Roppe, S.C. and Sikkink, K. (eds) (2013), The Persistent Power of Human Rights, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rubio-Marin, R. (2017), ‘Women’s political citizenship in new European Constitutionalism: between constitutional amendment and progressive interpretation’, in H. Irving (ed.), Constitutions and Gender, Cheltenham: Elgar, pp. 323–356.Google Scholar
Saraceno, C. (2003), Mutamenti della famiglia e politiche sociali in Italia, Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Savery, L. (2007), Engendering the State: The International Diffusion of Women’s Human Rights, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Simmons, B.A. (2009), Mobilizing for Human Rights, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, R.K.M. (2016), International Human Rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Van den Brink, M. (2013), ‘The CEDAW after all these years’, in A. Hellum and H.S. Aasen (eds), Women’s Human Rights. CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 482–510.Google Scholar
Weiss, A.M. (2003), ‘Interpreting Islam and women’s rights: implementing CEDAW in Pakistan’, International Sociology 18(3): 581–601.Google Scholar
World Economic Forum (2016), ‘The Global Gender Gap Report 2016’. Retrieved 18 July 2017 from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR16/WEF_Global_Gender_Gap_Report_2016.pdfGoogle Scholar
Zwingel, S. (2005), ‘From intergovernmental negotiations to (sub)national change’, International Feminist Journal of Politics 7(3): 400–424.Google Scholar
Zwingel, S. (2012), ‘How do norms travel? Theorizing international women’s rights in transnational perspective’, International Studies Quarterly 56(1): 115–129.Google Scholar
Zwingel, S. (2016), Translating International Women’s Rights. The CEDAW Convention in Context, London: Palgrave.Google Scholar