Universal Rights and Particularism : A Study in International Gender Equality Work from the Perspective of the United Nation’s CEDAW-convention

The aim for this thesis is to study the international gender equality work from a perspective of the concept of universalism and particularism, with the United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, and especially -“The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women”, in focus. The shadowreports of Namibia and Sweden are used as examples of how countries with different historical, political and social contexts are working with gender equality.A theroetical framework is constitued by theories as postmodernism, postcolonialism and feminism with basis from social constructionism. The thesis is methodological influenced by Critical Discourse Analysis. Notions from former studies were also used as tools in the analysis. Some of the main notions, which within the concept of universalism and particularism, appeared as difficulties in the implementing of the CEDAW, were religion, law, democracy and superior position for men towards women