25 Years of Female Empowerment

Abstract

In celebration of the 25-year anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the book The Circle of Empowerment analyses the results of the work of this treaty institution. The volume, edited by Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling, German member in the CEDAW-commission since 1989, and Cees Flinterman, Dutch member since 2003, contains essays and personal reflections from former and current members of the CEDAW-commission and UN staff. The book is an appropriate introduction into and overview of the convention on women’s rights for activists, scholars, and students because it sketches a differentiated image of the convention, its mechanisms, and problems of implementation. At the same time, the book illuminates the background issues of the treaty institution’s actual work, something that normally remains secret.