LAW121 - Feminism and TWAIL

Human society can be divided into many groups based on various characteristics, a crucial one of which is gender. Historically, women have been excluded from tertiary institutions, professional positions, and government office. Now that women comprise over fifty percent of law school graduates and hold important positions in the profession and in society, can we proudly say that gender-based discrimination has been eradicated? Or are remnants of the preferential position men have held still present?

Another critical division in moderns society is geography. Reference is often made to a Third World. Immediately, images of starving children, unwashed and uncared for spring to mind. These images stand in stark contrast to those we hold of the First World, typified by wealth, luxury, and freedom. For its part, international law is not meant to distinguish between the Third and First wolds, between wealthy and poor nations, or between black and white. Does this mean that international law is universal and impartial in relation to sovereign states? TWAIL scholars point instead to a two-tiered system of 'international' law that legitimates and privileges the actions of First World nations whilst simultaneously criminalising those of their Third World counterparts.