Professor Alison Brysk - Women's Rights as Human Rights

Alison Brysk is the Mellichamp Professor of Global Governance in the Global Studies Program at UCSB and also an affiliate of the Political Science Department. Her research and expertise covers many topics within the realm of human rights, especially human rights movements, information politics, and expanding rights to empower new populations. In the ten books she has authored or edited, she takes an optimistic approach, looking for success stories and lessons that can be applied to other scenarios and geographic regions. While serving as a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C. during the 2013-2014 academic year, Professor Brysk began a new research project. This project focuses on women’s rights as human rights and the global response to violence against women. It is estimated that one out of every three women world-wide suffers from some form of violence, which makes Professor Brysk’s research extremely relevant. One puzzle that inspired this research is the contradiction of persisting violence against women in the middle-income emerging economies, such as the 5 BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). These types of countries, which host two-thirds of the world’s population, have rapidly developing economies and are becoming increasingly modernized, yet still have widespread violence against women (despite women having more access to education and political participation in those countries). For example, it is estimated that 15,000 women in Brazil are killed each year even though Brazil’s president is a woman.

Professor Brysk’s research goes beyond simply observing the phenomenon and looks for solutions and success stories. In this project, she will examine how four pathways to rights--law, public policy, social mobilization, and norm change--can work together to affect change. She turns to examples in India (where she served as a Fulbright Scholar in 2011) to illustrate successes and failures. In looking at the epidemic of rape in India, changes in law inspired by social protest are necessary but not sufficient. Additionally, attitudes and norms need to change, as well as infrastructure—such as reducing physical vulnerability by creating better urban housing, transportation, and lighting. Education programs for girls can fail because girls are not safe at school. She also notes some success stories of empowerment and social mobilization from India. Her first example is the Gulabi Gang of women in rural India who wear pink saris and work for justice and violence prevention at the village level. Globally, Oxfam and the World Bank have had success with educational programs that work to change norms and attitudes of men towards women. They work with modernized men who are open to change to help transform their views of women. The attitude transformation has led men to realize that there are many benefits to having empowered women in their lives, including having healthier families and realizing that there is increased protection for their sisters and daughters. They also benefit from having wives who can safely earn an income outside of the home.