Human Rights Continue to Generate

¶ … Human rights continue to generate tremendously important social issues on a global scale. In particular, gender-based inequality persists, especially in many third-world countries. Paternalistic social norms continue to result in many forms of social inequality for women in those societies: they are often dependent on their male family members and husbands; they suffer from discrimination in the workplace; and they are also subjected to various forms of exploitation and abuse, including physical and sexual abuse. In some third-world countries, women's rights have improved somewhat compared to previous periods but that is not true in other countries at all. Generally, Western and other first-world nations are powerless to improve the situation except through economic incentives. That is because national sovereignty prevents foreign nations from interfering in the domestic affairs of other nations. Human rights organizations have focused primarily on educational campaigns and on providing resources to help oppressed women improve their situations. The primary purpose of this research project is to help identify the most productive international channels and methods for providing meaningful relief for women suffering from gender inequality in their home countries.

Literature Review

The proposed literature review will consist primarily of Internet-based searches for international and local news reports on the issues relating to gender inequality and reviews of reports and literature published by international human rights organizations and government sources engaged in international relief efforts in the area of gender inequality.

Theory to be Tested

The theory to be tested is that efforts initiated by human rights organizations and foreign governments can help improve the lives of women in countries where they are still subjected to inequality. More specifically, the theory to be tested is that a review of current efforts in that regard will help determine the most useful and productive methods of rectifying gender inequality in third-world countries.

Research Design

The proposed research design will emphasize the review of existing relief organization efforts and those of foreign governments in relation to gender inequality issues in third-world countries. That review will be conducted in conjunction with an empirical review of human rights progress in those countries in the areas of gender inequality. The relative degree of identifiable improvement in gender inequality issues that correspond to existing relief efforts will enable the researcher to determine what approaches are most helpful for improving the lives of women suffering from gender inequality in their countries.