Irrespective of how women were stereotypically perceived during the olden days, one cannot dissent from the fact that women and men today are (ideally) equals. Women all over the world have struggled and accomplished abundantly more than the previously set records. After the countless years of oppression, there was an imperative need to frame international instruments catering to recognition of women’s rights as ‘human rights’. This ever-increasing need for a certain set of codes led the United Nations to create the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and many more instruments that worked towards dealing with safeguarding rights of women and advocating gender equality. Conversely to this effort, women’s rights still remain subject to inclusion and effective implementation in many parts of the world. Even though the public outcry for enforcing the concept of gender equality has taken a global and all-encompassing embodiment, gender equality remains a mirage to many.  This is largely due to implementation problems such as the herculean cultural, social and economic gaps faced by the countries that have ratified these instruments. This article attempts to succinctly discuss the instruments arrayed for gender equality and women’s rights. Furthermore, it also delves into the models that are adopted transnationally to implement the instruments mentioned above and traverses the challenges that are presented in the course of implementation. Lastly, this article proffers suggestions that could be inculcated in the current implementation process to overcome the challenges faced.

Keywords: women, women’s rights, United Nations, instruments, international, implementation, challenges, solutions