Global Human Rights Hub Guest Speaker: Malliga Och
Macro-Structures and Local Human Rights Diffusion: A Case Study of the Cities for CEDAW Campaign
Abstract:
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted in 1979 and is the most comprehensive and widely adopted women’s rights treaty. One notable exception is the United States where CEDAW has failed to achieve Senate ratification since 1981. As a response, the Cities for CEDAW campaign encourages U.S. municipalities to adopt the CEDAW framework to address remaining gender-based discrimination in their communities. As of now, there are eleven CEDAW cities/counties in the United States which have adopted CEDAW ordinances. Research on the rise of human rights cities more generally and Cities for CEDAW specifically typically focus on the grassroots dimension of local norm translation rather than asking what role structural, demographic, and political features play in prompting cities to adopt an international women’s rights treaty to guide its local governance structure and policies. In this paper, we will address whether CEDAW cities share certain characteristics.
About the speaker:
Malliga Och is associate professor of Global Studies at Idaho State University. She publishes widely on women and politics in Europe, the United States, and the globe with a special focus on women in conservative parties. Her human rights research focuses on the localization of women’s human rights in the US context. Her research has appeared in varied outlets including Politics & Gender, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, The Journal of Human Rights Practice, and Politics. Her commentary and analysis have appeared in the Conversation, UN Women Working Papers, Gender & Development, USA Today, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, among others. Malliga received her Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Denver in 2016.
This event is co-sponsored by:
Global Human Rights Hub; Social Justice and Human Rights program; School of Social and Behavioral Sciences; School of Politics and Global Studies
