Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

We've gathered together, in part at least, because we share a conviction that what laws say matters to women. Having this conviction certainly does not mean we have a simple faith in the notion of rights for women.' But we are likely to see benefits in particular laws for particular womenperhaps the ones who contacted us for help. And, we are also likely see an important role for the law in helping to organize women: The fight for legal rights plays a key role in achieving the changes in consciousness, and the changes in power distribution, that are so crucial to improving women's situation in all of our different countries.

We all know the law has limits, and understanding those limits helps us struggling with the law to achieve the changes we seek. Obviously, expressions of domestic violence and experiences encountered in trying to address it differ area by area. Times and places are clearly different. Yet, problems identified in this panel's presentation as well as in conversations throughout this conference concerning difficulties in designing or implementing legislation designed to meet the needs of battered women in the East are quite reminiscent of issues and frustrations encountered in similar efforts in the United States and Britain. This brief commentary relates four of the Western parallels regarding domestic violence in an effort to highlight the law's limitations more generally.

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