Mechanisms for guaranteeing women's political rights from the perspective of international human rights instruments and treaties

Abstract

This Study examines the mechanisms that guarantee women’s political rights through the lens of international human rights instruments, emphasizing the shift from formal equality in texts to substantive equality in outcomes. It starts from the normative baseline set by Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, and then narrows the focus to the guarantees in Article 7 and Article 4 paragraph 1 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979. The study adopts a comparative analytical method that combines normative text analysis with interpretive documents and relevant decisions, and tests enforceability by tracing the roles of treaty bodies, individual communications procedures, standards for temporary special measures and electoral quotas, gender responsive electoral governance, monitoring of gender based political violence, and quantitative indicators of representation and participation. The main findings indicate that positive measures are internationally legitimate when constrained by proportionality and temporariness, and that practical impact arises when legal norms are coupled with operational enforcement and measurement systems, including sex disaggregated datasets and structural, process, and outcome indicators. The convergence of global standards with regional frameworks broadens access to rights and narrows the gap between law and practice. The article offers a policy matrix that links legal obligations with institutional and procedural requirements to enhance women’s effective and measurable participation in decision making.