CCI214 | CEDAW in International Law

This course investigates key dimensions of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of  Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It hopes to equip students with some of the major  debates that have taken place on the various provisions of the CEDAW like a provision on  violence against women, the cultural issue of Reservations, the definition of discrimination  and the focus on traditional, customary attitudes in defining gender-based violence (GBV).  The CEDAW happens to be an undertheorized and underarticulated instrument of public  international law. The missing analytic of women has been the primary refrain through which  gender has intersected with international law. The CEDAW represents multiple dimensions of  this debate, and this course provides an overview of some of these dimensions. This course  requires basic knowledge of international law and is a standalone course.

The course will require students to come up with an original research paper of 5000 words on  a topic of their choosing. This topic has to be located within the domain of gender and  international law and have an explicit nexus to the CEDAW. For instance, since the CEDAW  is a peace time instrument, if a student chooses to write on warfare and gender then the link to  the CEDAW has to be lucid.

I have primarily approached the course with introducing students to the multifarious  dimensions of the analysis of the CEDAW that exists in the law. The priority is to focus on  CEDAW within international law. The course is intended to create an epistemology of the  CEDAW in the mind of the student. The main readings will be journal articles dealing with  some difficult questions of the CEDAW. Like stated above, these will include whether the  CEDAW is epiphenomenal, the questions of Reservations, the adoption of a special provision  on violence against women and the politics associated with it and the adoption of the Optional  Protocol. Some of the readings are contingent and meant to provoke discussion as the CEDAW  is in itself a contingent and evolving instrument.

The primary mode of instruction is through journal articles. Since the end of the class requires  production of an independent research paper, the class will gently introduce the student to  various high quality research papers written on the topic of the CEDAW. That way the student  will be acclimatized to the expected typical end of the term research paper.

The pedagogical method that will be followed is a combination of lectures and seminar style  discussion. Each class will have 15 minutes of lecture followed by a seminar style discussion. The readings are paced at three or four a session. The lecture will initially place the topic of  the class in the larger perspective of the CEDAW. Then the class will delve into the specific  detail of the reading. The students will be encouraged to make notes prior to class by speed  reading. This is purposeful reading for the class which comprises reading the crux of an article.  This will enable breakdown of the issues in class suitable for discussions and will also enable  ease of comprehension.