(1550.pdf) ONE CANNOT OWN WHAT DOES NOT BELONG TO HER

摘要

The United States projects itself as a leader in human rights. If this is the case, why has the state notratified the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), whichis otherwise known as the International Bill of Rights for Women? The country is one of six memberstates to the United Nations that have not ratified the treaty, and CEDAW is the only treaty thatcomprehensively addresses women's specific needs for rights in the private and public spheres. Thereis extensive academic and political work dedicated to analyzing why the US is not a member to thetreaty, and the most common approach politicians and scholars take to analyze non-ratification isthrough the lens of the country's constitution. However, in my paper I redirect readers attention to howUS cultural stereotypes of the heterosexual nuclear family structure is a barrier to our ratification. I donot write this paper to oppose the structure; I write it to make visible, deconstruct, and criticize how thestructure is framed through expectations of the division of labor between sexes. Whether parents ornot, females and males are socialized from birth to value these roles and to aspire to embody themand the division of labor they entail. This gendered division of labor in parenthood, and in the privateand public spheres, prevents women from accessing much needed rights. I interrogate the value ofwomen's labor both economically and socially, and I question when and where women have controlover their bodies and identities.