'A Circus of Sound Shaped From Many Tongues'

This essay will examine some of the ways in which the principles of universality and anti-colonialism informed the drafting of the UN Charter and the UDHR. My examples are mainly from India and Pakistan, but it is clear that women from many countries - some of whom had won battles against colonial powers in earlier decades, particularly women from Latin America who formed a strong contingent – were deeply invested in making women’s rights an explicit part of the human rights system. Many of the Asian women active in this early phase were also concerned with ending racism and colonial rule and creating enforceable norms that would assist this process. There was no contradiction for them between challenging their own patriarchs and the patriarchal forces of empire.