Linköping University | Department of Management and Engineering Master’s thesis, 30 credits | Master of Science in International and European Relations Spring 2020 | ISRN-number: LIU-IEI-FIL-A--20/03492--SE “Equality, Development and Peace for All Women Everywhere”? – An Analysis of Sexual Violence Against Women and Concurring International Conventions Concerned with Protecting the Rights of Women by Annika Sophie Müller Supervisor: Charlotte Fridolfsson Examiner: Khalid Khayati Linköping University SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden +46 013 28 10 00, www.liu.se Copyright The publishers will keep this document online on the Internet – or its possible replacement – for a period of 25 years starting from the date of publication barring exceptional circumstances. The online availability of the document implies permanent permission for anyone to read, to download, or to print out single copies for his/hers own use and to use it unchanged for non- commercial research and educational purpose. Subsequent transfers of copyright cannot revoke this permission. All other uses of the document are conditional upon the consent of the copyright owner. The publisher has taken technical and administrative measures to assure authenticity, security and accessibility. According to intellectual property law the author has the right to be mentioned when his/her work is accessed as described above and to be protected against infringement. For additional information about the Linköping University Electronic Press and its procedures for publication and for assurance of document integrity, please refer to its www home page: https://ep.liu.se/. [II] I. Abstract Violence against women continues to be an issue that severely impacts women worldwide. Since the global spread of the #MeToo movement in 2017, debates regarding this issue significantly increased. Yet the precise ways in which women are impacted by violence, heavily influenced by their unique and diverse aspects of identity, are often disregarded. By focusing on two of these aspects of identity, namely gender and nationality, and comparing the circumstances of sexual violence against women in Germany, Nigeria, and South Korea, this thesis aims to showcase the diverse experiences of ‘being a woman’ and what this implies regarding the issue of sexual violence against women. With an additional analysis of four important international conventions aimed at ameliorating women’s lives (UDHR, CEDAW, DEVAW, and BPfA) regarding their acknowledgement of this diversity and guided by three theories, namely Multi-Ethnic Feminism, Feminist Postcolonialism, and Intersectionality, this thesis highlights the necessity of including everyone and their unique experiences with all kinds of discrimination to adequately tackle an issue such as sexual violence against women. Keywords: Feminist Theory, Multi-Ethnic Feminist Theory, Postcolonial Theory, Feminist Postcolonial Theory, Intersectionality, Violence Against Women, Sexual Violence, CEDAW, UDHR, DEVAW, BPfA, Germany, South Korea, Nigeria, International Conventions, Women’s Rights, Thematic Analysis, Problem-Solution Discourse, ‘What is the Problem Represented to Be’ Approach, WPR Approach, ‘Motifs, Issues, Representations, and Implications’ Approach, MIRI Approach Word Count: 24,990 [III] II. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my family for their unwavering support over the last few years, be that by comforting me with encouraging words or by backing my decision to study-abroad. Another thanks goes to my friends, those who have known me for a long time, but also those who I have met along the way. Meeting each and everyone of you has helped me grow as a person and for that, I will forever be thankful. I am also grateful to my supervisor Charlotte Fridolfsson, who has been there for me through every step of the way of this thesis. She always made me feel like I could come to her with any questions I had, and her feedback truly helped to make this thesis into what it is today. I would also like to express my gratitude towards both Linköping University as well as my exchange university in Guelph, which have allowed me to pursue my interests. Especially the University of Guelph and the courses I took there have shaped this thesis in undeniable ways. Finally, I want to thank those who came before me. Those individuals who made it possible for me to exercise my right to vote. Those activists that fought for my right to education and without whom this thesis would have never existed in the first place. Those fighters that have paved the way for me and so many others to be able to be our true selves. Without your herculean work and your unbending will to fight for more equality, I would not have the same possibilities to live my life as I do now. In the same vain, I want to thank those that will come after me, that will speak up against the continuing inequalities of the world and that will not remain silent in the face of injustice. “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde [IV] III. Abbreviations and Glossary BPfA Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action BJ-G Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and Adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995): Report of the Federal Republic of Germany BJ-N National Beijing +25 Review (Nigeria) BJ-SK National Review on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000) (South Korea) CEDAW Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Committee Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination COR-G Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention: Seventh and eighth periodic reports of States parties due in 2014 (Germany) COR-N Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention: Seventh and eighth periodic reports of States parties due in 2014 (Nigeria) COR-SK Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention: Eighth periodic report of States parties due in 2015 (Republic of Korea) CO-G Concluding observations on the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Germany CO-N Concluding observations on the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Nigeria CO-SK Concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of the Republic of Korea DEVAW Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women EU European Union FGM Female genital mutilation GBV Gender-based violence IR International Relations MIRI ‘Motifs, Issues, Representations, and Implications’ approach PSD Problem-Solution Discourse UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN United Nations VAW Violence against women WHO World Health Organization WPR ‘What is the Problem Represented to Be’ approach [V] Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 7 1.1. Thesis Aim and Research Questions ........................................................................... 8 1.2. Previous Research........................................................................................................ 9 1.3. Thesis’ Structure ........................................................................................................ 10 1.4. Limitations ................................................................................................................. 11 2. Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 14 2.1. Data and Data Collection ........................................................................................... 14 2.1.1. Nature of the Employed Data ............................................................................. 14 2.1.2. Sampling Method ............................................................................................... 14 2.2. Research Design: Comparative Case Study .............................................................. 15 2.3. Qualitative Data Analysis .......................................................................................... 17 2.3.1. Thematic Analysis .............................................................................................. 17 2.3.2. Problem-Solution Discourse .............................................................................. 18 2.3.3. ‘What is the Problem Represented to Be’ Approach ......................................... 18 2.4. MIRI Approach.......................................................................................................... 20 3. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................... 23 3.1. Multi-Ethnic Feminist Theory ................................................................................... 23 3.2. Feminist Postcolonial Theory .................................................................................... 29 3.3. Intersectionality ......................................................................................................... 36 4. Sexual Violence Against Women Under Investigation .................................................... 40 5. Examining the Concurring International Conventions ....................................................