Three generations of human rights of women in the 20th century : an analysis of international legal documents

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the generations of human rights of women based on Vasak’s notion of three generations of human rights - in which the first generation rights refer political and civil rights; the second generation rights include economic, social and cultural rights while the third generation represents collective rights. To make a comparison between three generations of women’s human rights within the framework of 20th century international law, the thesis examines and analyzes plenty of international legal documents and reports of international conferences related with women’s rights throughout the century. This study emphasizes that when Vasak’s notion of three generations of human rights is applied to women’s rights in international legal documents of 20th century, the notion becomes more than a iv classification. Three generations of human rights of women reflects a real differentiation in terms of content, matter, priority, superiority and predominancy of the first generation to other two generations.