Gendered Violence: A Human Rights Agenda for Criminology

Despite extensive research that documents the physical, economic, and social costs associated with gendered violence and the development of human rights initiatives that call upon states to address gendered violence, gender-based harm continues to be a pervasive and profound justice challenge around the world. This chapter highlights human rights initiatives related to gendered violence, as well as the criminological research on gendered violence as a human rights issue. We call for a future criminological research agenda that targets the dynamics that are producing and exacerbating gendered violence and vulnerability, including: the role of nation-states in producing the ‘slow violence’ associated with gender inequalities; the gendered impacts of conflicts and climate change, and gendered barriers to mobility; the rise of nationalist and right-wing politics that promote gender-based hierarchies and oppose international institutions; and challenges related to representation and power from above and below. A human rights-centered criminology requires that gendered violence be viewed as a reflection of structured social inequalities that are produced by people—and that can be changed by people—if we are to ensure human rights for all.