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Project
When Corporations Disrespect Women's Human Rights: Access to Remediation (FWOTM986)
The 2011 United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and
Human Rights serve as the central reference point, across the entire
spectrum of rights that might be impacted by firms and remedies that
might be available at the corporate, industry and state levels.
Women, in particular, can benefit from remediation, as they are
affected disproportionally by corporate activities, for example, by the
feminisation of precarious labour and the reinforcement of
discrimination by gender neutral trade deals. The 2019 Gender
Guidance of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
(UN WGBHR) notes that remedies should be responsive to gender
issues in such a way that they ‘change patriarchal norms and
unequal power relations’. It remains unclear, however, what this
means. In this research, I aim to examine the indicators and overall
quality of gender-responsiveness in the remediation of ‘business and
human rights’ matters.
This goal will be pursued by combining two
methods: focus group interviews with gender experts to identify
important themes and a discursive content analysis of dispute
settlements by relevant mechanisms at the corporate, industry, state,
regional and international levels to identify best practices. The
research outcomes will allow for benchmarking genderresponsiveness and for identifying gender blindness and bias in
'business and human rights' remediation.
Human Rights serve as the central reference point, across the entire
spectrum of rights that might be impacted by firms and remedies that
might be available at the corporate, industry and state levels.
Women, in particular, can benefit from remediation, as they are
affected disproportionally by corporate activities, for example, by the
feminisation of precarious labour and the reinforcement of
discrimination by gender neutral trade deals. The 2019 Gender
Guidance of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
(UN WGBHR) notes that remedies should be responsive to gender
issues in such a way that they ‘change patriarchal norms and
unequal power relations’. It remains unclear, however, what this
means. In this research, I aim to examine the indicators and overall
quality of gender-responsiveness in the remediation of ‘business and
human rights’ matters.
This goal will be pursued by combining two
methods: focus group interviews with gender experts to identify
important themes and a discursive content analysis of dispute
settlements by relevant mechanisms at the corporate, industry, state,
regional and international levels to identify best practices. The
research outcomes will allow for benchmarking genderresponsiveness and for identifying gender blindness and bias in
'business and human rights' remediation.
Date:1 Oct 2020 → 30 Sep 2023
Keywords:business and human rights, access to remedies, gendered barriers
Disciplines:Sociology of law, Gender specific studies, Litigation, adjudication and dispute resolution, European law, Human rights law