Does the UDHR Matter for Women's Equality?

The history of legal efforts to secure women’s equality rarely mention the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). There is an obvious explanation for this silence. The UDHR has been eclipsed by the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other regional treaties. This article asks, does the UDHR matter for women’s equal human rights? A simple "no" would be an inaccurate and misleading answer. This article argues UDHR does matter and there are valuable lessons to be learned from the drafting process and the text. While the text of the UDHR is outdated, the larger context of drafting the UDHR reveals radical cracks. Notwithstanding the textual limitations, the article argues that the UDHR should command respect, humility and inspiration. Grappling with the obscurity of the UDHR in relation to women’s equal human rights provides glimmers of hope for the future.