Women's rights and corporate social responsibility: a case of gender-based violence

Abstract

The present study aims at explaining how economic globalization and human rights interact, which represents a fundamental basis in order to deeply analyse the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in relation to multinational corporations and its main implications with regard to women’s rights. The interest in the concept of corporate social responsibility arises from the major role multinational corporations started to play on an international scale as consequence of economic globalization which allowed these new business entities to gain greater economic, political influence and power but also triggered new concerns with regard to the increased scope for human rights violations within their transnational operations. Therefore, the main purpose of the study is to investigate whether existing international human rights mechanisms and corporate social responsibility standards, including both intergovernmental and corporate codes of conduct, adequately ensure the protection, the respect and the promotion of women’s rights on the part of multinational corporations. Within this framework, the effectiveness of judicial mechanisms is crucial in order to ensure legal accountability of multinational corporations in case of alleged women’s rights abuses, as it is explained in the analysis of a case of gender-based violence, namely Caal v. Hudbay Minerals Inc.