Linking local and global feminist advocacy: Framing women's rights as human rights in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

Synopsis This article argues that global-level feminist advocacy in the 1990s has had a significant impact within feminist advocacy in the Republic of Ireland. An important manifestation of this is the growing engagement of groups in Ireland with women's human rights discourses in framing feminist claims in the domestic arena and the emergence of related transnational solidarity links. This article identifies six approaches to women's human rights advocacy in Ireland: human rights facilitating collective action, local–global solidarity and transformation; human rights as modes of (quasi) legal accountability; human rights as a framework for social, economic and gender justice; women's political participation as a human rights issue; human rights as a challenge to gendered racism; and women's bodily integrity as a human rights issue. The author argues that these developments reflect a new, outwardly oriented departure within the Irish women's movement. In addition to interviews with advocates and assessments of related activities, the article is informed by the author's involvement in women's human rights projects in Ireland and internationally.