Promoting Women’s Rights in Asia & Globally

Timothy A. Gelatt Dialogue on the Rule of Law in East Asia

The panels were recorded on October 21, 2022.

Furman Hall Lester Pollack Colloquium Room, NYU School of Law and via Zoom

The U.S.-Asia Law Institute holds the Gelatt Dialogue every year with a different theme but the same broad goal: to foster connection and improve understanding among the legal communities in Asia and the United States. Recent developments in the United States and Asia make this a good time to examine the state of women’s rights protection, with a particular focus on the interplay between domestic and international law and norms.

The dialogue is co-sponsored by the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network at NYU Law.

Agenda:

  • Opening Remarks - 9:00 AM - 9:10 AM US Eastern Time

  • Panel 1: Whither Reproductive Rights? - 9:10 AM - 10:50 AM US Eastern Time

  • Panel 2: The Role of International Law and Norms - 11:00 AM - 12:40 PM US Eastern Time

  • Lunch break - 12:40 PM - 1:50 PM US Eastern Time

  • Panel 3: Asian Feminism and The Transnational Women’s Movement - 1:50 PM - 3:30 PM US Eastern Time

  • Closing Remarks - 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM US Eastern Time - Rebecca Cook, professor emerita & co-director of International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program at University of Toronto Faculty of Law

Panel 1: Whither reproductive rights?

This event was recorded on October 21, 2022.

The rise of right-wing politics in the United States and demographic trends in Asia are causing rapid shifts in longstanding assumptions in many countries about access to contraceptives and abortion. In the United States, the impetus for change comes from a socially conservative Supreme Court and state governments that oppose abortions. In some Asian countries, concern about low fertility and aging societies is the trigger. Can reproductive rights and justice be advanced through population policies?

Speakers:

  • Keynote (and panelist): Chen Chao-ju, global professor of law at NYU School of Law; director of the Center for Human Rights and Jurisprudence at National Taiwan University College of Law; director of the Women’s and Gender Studies program at National Taiwan University. 15 min

  • Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at NYU and faculty director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network. 15 min

  • Feng Yuan (remote), visiting scholar, University of Hong Kong; co-founder of Equality (Beijing), an NGO; founding member of the Anti-Domestic Violence Network. 15 min

  • Benjamin Liebman, visiting professor of law at NYU School of Law, and Molly Bodurtha of Columbia Law School.  15 min

  • Moderator: Sylvia Law, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law, Medicine, and Psychiatry Emerita at NYU School of Law.

Panel 2: The Role of International Law and Norms

11:00 AM - 12:40 PM US Eastern Time

This panel will examine broadly the role that international hard law and soft norms have historically played in advancing women’s rights in Asia, with particular attention to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its Committee.  What is the future of UN forums providing a “second look” at national laws, judicial decisions, and practices at a time of considerable backlash against the entire UN human rights system?

Speakers:

  • Masako Mori (pre-recorded), special advisor to the Japanese prime minister for women’s empowerment, former minister of justice of Japan.  15 min 

  • Rangita de Silva de Alwis, member-elect to CEDAW Treaty Body Expert Committee; associate dean of International Affairs and academic director of the Global Institute for Human Rights at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  15 min

  • Carole Petersen, professor, University of Hawaii School of Law.   15 min   

  • Vasuki Nesiah, professor of human rights and international law, The Gallatin School, NYU 15 min 

  • Moderator: José E. Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law, NYU. 

Panel 3: Asian Feminism and the Transnational Women’s Movement

1:50 PM - 3:30 PM US Eastern Time

This panel will extend the discussion from Panel 2 to examine the interplay between the transnational women’s movement and domestic Asian women’s movements. Asian feminists have simultaneously been inspired and supported by the transnational movement, pushed back against “Western liberal feminists” to set their own goals, and contributed their own ideas about which rights should be prioritized. What is the main direction of influence now, and what new trends can we identify?

Speakers:

  • Kyungjin Oh, executive director of Korea Women’s Associations United (remote) 15 min

  • Kavita Ramdas, philanthropic advisor, former director of the Open Society Foundations’ Women's Rights Program, former president and CEO of the Global Women’s Fund    15 min

  • Cai Yiping, executive committee member of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).  15 min

  • Lopa Banerjee, director of the Civil Society Division at UN Women 15 min

  • Moderator: Katherine Wilhelm, executive director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute, adjunct faculty at NYU School of Law.