“Gender violence” as a legal concept in Argentina: elements to promote interpretations in accordance with the international legal framework that protects woman´s human rights

Abstract

This article aims to shed light on the technical and legislative discussions of the concept of “gender violence”, a term incorporated in the Act 26791 in 2012, but which lacks an explicit definition. We review the national and international legal framework which protects the Human Rights of women in order to track the emergence of the term “gender violence” and the political and theoretical developments behind the term. This analysis aims to make the links between gender-based violence and discrimination explicit, as well as the role of gender stereotypes in the perpetuation of this violence and its ideological root. We conclude that, even though there is no closed and finished casuistry for gender violence, there are frameworks and reasonable margins within which the term can be applied to concrete cases, and there are elements to be considered in order to make an informed decision that is open to control and thus in agreement with the principle of criminal legality. Overall, labeling a certain fact as “gender violence” entails entering an open debate in the field of legal discourse due to the meaning of a term that is directly related to the type of society in which we wish to live.