What is to be Done About Violence Against Women?: Gender, Violence, Cosmopolitanism and the Law

Abstract

The title of this paper is borrowed from a book written by Elizabeth Wilson and published in 1983. It is now almost 25 years since its publication and the purpose of this paper is to consider what has changed and what has remained the same in the intervening years with respect to responding to and dealing with violence against women. In examining the recourse to law as a strategy for responding to violence against women, the paper will consider not only the gains and losses that have been and are incurred by this strategy, but also the problems and possibilities that are inherent within it. In particular, it will consider the extent to which the shift towards cosmopolitan ideals, taking account of ‘the other’ anticipated in the recourse to law, can offer an appropriate answer to the question posed by Elizabeth Wilson's book all those years ago: what is to be done about violence against women?