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In fact, The Universalist (or Universalist/Western) strategy for creating human rights protections focuses on creating new international laws to give women a voice in society''s institutions. This strategy fails for two reasons.
First, international laws are often plagued with ambiguity, creating ample opportunity for differing interpretations and manipulation of those laws. The Universalist approach encourages individual states to adopt international human rights laws as models for domestic legislation. Deeper investigation, however, reveals that many states ratify this legislation for political reasons, intending to interpret the legislation in ways much different than was originally intended. Consequently, the absence of a strong international enforcement mechanism to regulate state implementation invites corruption and non-adherence.
Secondly, the Universalist strategy fails by not working to understand the cultural practices and norms that discriminate against women. For example, culture often takes precedence over international law when those sworn to enforce these international human rights laws are unable to overcome their allegiances to ancient traditions and customs. Under these circumstances, where both local and international enforcement mechanisms functionally cease to exist, the impact of international human rights laws on women''s lives is diminished, if not totally extinguished. By not appreciating the enormous impact of cultural traditions, Universalists/Westerners cannot combat the evils that are committed against women every day.
In practice, although the Convention and ICCPR are enforceable against the member states; they do not create rights for the female citizens of the member states. In any case where a violation of the Convention or ICCPR is asserted, that violation must have been committed by a U.N. member state if the party making the assertion is to be remedied. Since culturally based human rights violations often occur in the home by private individuals, this legal limitation serves to dull the impact of these treaties and resolutions. . Instead, the international community has relied upon state governments to create and enforce applicable legislation against such private individuals. Due to the private nature of the violations, however, reliance on local enforcement presents problems, especially since policemen and low level government officials themselves have not escaped the impact of cultural biases. Consequently, attempts at legal redress have not been successful in assisting women. Some other method must be formulated to encourage the true absorption of international human rights laws into domestic legal agendas.
Further, some women play the role of "keeper" of these traditions which perpetuate their inferior social status. Elderly females in the various communities insist on the continuance of their practices as a way to maintain ethnic identity. Since many of the nations in which the operations are performed were once colonies of European nations, the desire to maintain cultural identity is very deep-rooted. Thus, submission to these practices is viewed as necessary for the attainment of cultural identity and an assured sense of belonging.
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