Woolly, half baked and impractical? British Responses to the Commission on Status of Women and the Convention of the Political Rights of Women 1946-1967

Helen Laville

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    Abstract

    This article traces the relationship between women’s associations and the British
    government with regard to the United Nations Commission on the Status of
    Women (CSW), from its establishment in 1946 to British ratification of the
    Convention on the Political Rights of Women (CPRW) in 1967. Whilst international
    women’s associations were instrumental in articulating the legitimacy of
    women’s rights as an international concern in the inter-war period, and in
    securing the establishment of the CSW, appointment to the Commission was
    controlled, not by these organizations, but by national governments. Whilst many
    countries selected their delegates from women’s associations, the British
    government rejected this approach and instead selected their delegates on the
    basis of party political affiliation. These delegates were consequently less
    interested in the promotion of the international women’s rights agenda than in
    the protection of British interests and reputation. A lobbying campaign by British
    women’s associations worked to secure more expert British representation and to
    ensure that the British position was more sympathetic to the goals of the
    Commission. This lobbying was not limited to the question of representation, but
    included support for the work of the Commission: women’s associations and
    their allies in government urged the UK to ratify the CPRW. This article argues
    that successful ratification of the CPRW reflected both the persistence of the
    women involved and also the changing context of both British domestic and
    colonial rule and the British position on United Nations-sponsored human rights.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)473-495
    JournalTwentieth Century British History
    Volume23
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

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