Fall/Winter Timetable

JPJ2049H1F L0101

Undergraduate Course Code: LAW301H1F L0101

Women's Rights in International Law

Themes

This course addresses the challenges of achieving the international legal protection of the human rights of women. It
reviews how international and regional human rights conventions have been applied to prevent, punish and remedy the violations
of women's rights in international, regional and domestic forums. It examines how the norm of the prohibition of all forms of
discrimination against women has been applied, and how it might be more effectively applied, particularly to subgroups of
women such as those marginalized by race and ethnicity. It explores how feminist theories, empirical data and narratives might
be used to expose women's experiences of injustice, including discriminatory stereotyping. The course aims to go beyond a
formalistic understanding of international legal obligations in order to examine different approaches to fostering compliance with
the human rights of women in different cultures and religious traditions.

Format and Requirements

All students must complete four short assignments (3 pages) related to the readings (15%).
The balance of the evaluation (85%) will be based on: (a) a research paper or legal memorandum (approximately 20 pages), or
(b) a 48 hour take-home examination (100%) to be signed out from and returned to the Records Office. The examination may be
taken during any 48 hour period between the first day of the examination period and due no later than the set deadline for written
work in the applicable term (see Take-home Policy in Syllabus for details). Students may fulfil both the Supervised Upper
Research Paper and Perspective requirements in this course. A limited number of students may fulfill the SUYRP requirement in
this course.