The Boundaries of Girls' Political Participation: A Critical Exploration of Girls' Experiences as Delegates to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

Abstract

This article examines the boundaries of girls' political participation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). It explores the structural and conceptual limits to girls' meaningful political participation, and brings critical attention to the problematic management of girls' political practices in formal ‘adult’ spaces. Based upon a series of qualitative interviews with 11 adolescent girl delegates attending the CSW in 2010, the study investigates how girls understand and challenge their political marginalization in order to actualize their participation rights. Using the tools of feminist standpoint theory, the author (re)imagines the forms and possibilities for girls' political participation by privileging their voices and experiences as current political actors.