Violence against Women: State Responsibilities in International Human Rights Law to Address Harmful ‘Masculinities’

Abstract

Increasingly, norms of masculinity are the focus of international development programmes aimed at eliminating violence against women, as it is recognised that harmful masculinities must be ‘de-mystified’, subjected to scrutiny and ultimately reconstructed in order for violence against women to be effectively eliminated. To what extent are these developments reflected in, and to what extent can they rely on, international human rights law as imposing an obligation on states to identify and address aspects of masculinities that cause and perpetuate violence against women? This article examines the positioning and construction of masculinities within the different understandings of violence against women in international human rights law.