Women’s Rights Under Authoritarian Regimes: Afghanistan And Iran In International Law
- IJLLR Journal
- Mar 14
- 2 min read
Ksheiraj H., BBA LL.B. (Hons.), School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, India
ABSTRACT
This paper analyses the interplay between state sovereignty and the safeguarding of women's rights within the context of international law, utilizing Afghanistan and Iran as case studies. Both countries show how their own laws, politics, and cultural or religious rules can keep women from being involved in public life, even though there are international human rights standards. Afghanistan, especially when the Taliban were in charge, is one of the worst cases of institutionalized gender exclusion. Women have been systematically denied access to education, jobs, and the freedom to move around. Iran has a more complicated legal system. Women can go to school and work, but they still face structural barriers in family law, guardianship systems, and political eligibility. These cases show how there is a difference between what international law says about gender equality and how it is actually put into practice in the home country.
The paper also talks about how international laws that protect women's rights have changed since the UN Charter was created and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is the most recent example. While these tools are important steps forward in getting the world to recognize gender equality, they don't have very good ways to be enforced. International human rights treaties predominantly depend on state consent, reporting mechanisms, and diplomatic pressure, rather than direct coercive enforcement.
The paper also talks about feminist criticisms of international law, which say that the field's traditional focus on states and its separation of public and private spheres have historically pushed issues that affect women to the side. Gender discrimination happens in many ways in social institutions and legal systems at home, and international law has a hard time keeping track of them.
The paper concludes that while international law has profoundly influenced global expectations concerning gender equality, its efficacy is still hindered by inherent structural limitations within the international legal framework. To better protect women's rights around the world, we need to strengthen monitoring systems, give civil society actors a bigger role, and include gender perspectives in international governance.
Keywords: Women’s Rights; International Human Rights Law; Gender Discrimination; Afghanistan; Iran; CEDAW; Feminist Approaches to International Law; State Sovereignty; Gender Equality; Human Rights Enforcement
