Defying Convention

Lisa Baldez is Associate Professor of Government and Chair of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. She holds a BA from Princeton University and a PhD from the University of California, San Diego. She is the author of Why Women Protest: Women's Movements in Chile (Cambridge, 2002) and the co-editor of Political Women and American Democracy (Cambridge, 2008). Her articles have appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Latin American Politics and Society, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and the Journal of Legal Studies. She and Karen Beckwith co-founded the journal Politics and Gender.

'Breaking with the conventions in political science that create stark distinctions between the study of domestic politics within nation-states and the study of international relations, Lisa Baldez takes a novel approach to the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Steeped in the literatures on international organizations, international law, US politics, and women and politics, Baldez demonstrates how the use of gender as an analytical category complicates what is thought to be known about the creation and ratification of international conventions, the status of women in the world over the past half century, and the central cleavages in national politics in both the United States and Chile. This book is thoroughly researched and clearly written, and it covers ground that has not been addressed previously. Baldez's approach is both thought-provoking and provocative.' Mary Hawkesworth, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

• 1. Introduction; 2. A scaffolding for women's rights, 1945–70; 3. Geopolitics and the drafting of CEDAW; 4. An evolving global norm of women's rights; 5. CEDAW impact: process, not policy; 6. Why the United States has not ratified CEDAW; 7. CEDAW and domestic violence law in the United States?; 8. Conclusions.