Contested Practices, Human Rights, and Colonial Bodies in Pain: The UN's Gender Politics in Africa, 1940s–1960s.

This article illustrates the collaborative work of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and the Trusteeship Council to define the role of women and gender in the transitional moment from colonialism to self-rule in Africa (1948–65). In this historical context, women became a contentious symbol of national unity, as both anti-colonial activists and UN delegates saw them as the ‘guardians of tradition’. Within this framework, the female body became the locus of contested politics involving myriad historical actors from local rulers to religious NGOs. I argue that UN actors claimed to advance women’s rights, while simultaneously undermining them through an approach that went from outrage to acceptance. UN representatives were not always in agreement; they assumed different positions regarding the practice of polygamy and female circumcision. This article draws on original UN sources and contributes to ongoing debates within histories of gender, colonialism and diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]