The Contribution Of The United Nations To Enhancing The Status Of Women

This thesis analyzes how an international organization,specifically an international intergovernmental organizations,is able to diffuse their international norms into domestic practices within a state.It focuses on the international governmental organization as transmission belts,to promote expected behavior from its member states,the support they provide,such as technical and financial support,and their contributions.This work is based on previous works of scholars that use existing theoretical frameworks and conceptual approaches on norm diffusion through different mechanisms,such as coercion,knowledge sharing and socialization.It analyzes the process and takes into account the challenges norm diffusion described in the theory as well.For decades,international organizations have committed themselves to evolve principled ideas on women‘s rights into norms.It is suggested by scholars that principled ideas transform into a belief from right and wrong,to ultimately a collective expectation for proper behavior.These norms are often presented in a convention and promoted by the international organization to its member states.Once a member state accepts the convention,states commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to change in accordance with the convention.The United Nations,as the largest intergovernmental organization with global membership,promotes women‘s rights to its member states and assists its members with achieving the targets and goals to achieving specific goals.Their international norms for women‘s rights are illustrated in many declarations and conventions and are based on the basic principled belief in equality of rights for women and men.The Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations sets as one of the Organization’s central goals the reaffirmation of "faith in fundamental human rights,in the dignity and worth of the human person,in the equal rights of men and women".By the terms of the Charter,the first international instrument refers specifically to human rights and to the equal rights of men and women,all members of the United Nations are legally bound to strive towards the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.The status of human rights,including the goal of equality between women and men,is thereby elevated: a matter of ethics becomes a contractual obligation of all Governments and of the UN.Known as the bill of rights for women,the Convention on Elimination of All Forms Against Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW)was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles,it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.The case study for the research is the Republic of Suriname,where the contributions from United Nations subordinate agencies the United Nations,such as United Nations Development Programme(UNDP)and United Nations Populations Fund(UNFPA),are being analyzed for the purpose of answering the research question: ―To what extent have the United Nations‘ subordinate agencies been able to contribute to enhancing the status of women in the Republic of Suriname by transmitting international norms set by the UN system?‖.The thesis provided evidence of notable contributions made and identified domestic factors that limited the impact from findings and statements made by government officials as well as UN staff to support the hypothesis: ―The activities of UN subordinate agencies from 1999 onwards have notably contributed to enhancing the status of women in Suriname.However,the impact of these measures has been limited by domestic factors,specifically a failure to ascribe sufficiently high importance to issues of gender equality,as well as a lack of coordination between bureaucratic actors within the national authorities.‖ The key finding suggest that the UN subordinate agencies have in fact made contributions to the status of women by the diffusion of the international norms for women‘s rights within the state.The methodology for this research is ―process tracing‖.A number of available documents,interview transcripts,press releases,statements and other similar sources pertaining to this specific case were examined in order to determine whether a proposed theoretical hypothesis is evident in the sequence of a case following the criteria of analysis divided into(1)educational attainment,(2)health and survival,(3)economic participation and(4)political empowerment of women.These criteria are in line with the method of measuring the gender gap by the United Nations.This thesis provided evidence and was able to process the trace of the diffusion of the international norms by the United Nations into the domestic practices of the Republic of Suriname.The thesis first introduces the framework in which the research is done and specifies the limitations as well.It reviews the existing literature and introduces the theoretical framework for this thesis.The variables and criteria of analysis in regards of the research question are determined based on the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW)signed by the state in question in 1993.The following chapter elaborates on the theory of norm diffusion.It takes a deeper look into the perspectives and mechanisms of this theory and talks about challenges scholars previously identified for the process of norm diffusion.Furthermore,it explains one mechanism of norm diffusion,―socialization‖,in depth for the purpose of this thesis.The third chapter takes a look at the United Nations in the international system and how this institution and their effort in promoting and assisting in states are changing their behavior towards women‘s right and taking measures in battling discrimination against women.It explain some highlights of conventions and the connection to the CEDAW and briefly explains the history of what is referred to as the ―bill of rights for women‖,the CEDAW.It then closes with the link between the criteria of analysis to the articles in this convention by assessing the 30 articles in the convention and links them to the 4 criteria.The forth chapter introduces the state as the case study and gives a brief view of the state,its history and the demography.In the fifth chapter the findings are firstly presented how the United Nations and its recommendations resulted in structural changes domestically,followed by findings in accordance with the criteria of analysis.It gives a deeper insight to the slow process of the diffusion of international norms on women‘s rights by the contribution,financially as well as technically,by the United Nations subordinate agencies.Lastly,chapter 6 concludes with the thesis question represented and verification of the hypothesis.International organizations play an important role in the contemporary politics.States use this platform to seek support for principled ideas for proper behavior that become international norms.The United Nations uses all means to diffuse these international norms in the practices of states domestically.This research contributes to the literature of international organizations as transmission belts and norm diffusion with a case study not yet done in this area.