International Women's Rights Law and Gender Equality: Making the Law Work for Women is a bold and diverse collection that seeks to promote gender-responsive legislation. After providing an overview of the ‘state of play’ on women's rights globally (Jeni Klugman, Part I), the collection turns to a series of case studies on domestic law and international instruments (Parts II and III). The comments on each case study provides a platform to develop themes and to draw out practical implications. Part IV then investigates accountability mechanisms on the domestic and international level. The collection is helpfully bookended with chapters by Ramona Vijeyarasa that draw out key themes and conclusions.

As Vijeyarasa notes, the “cornerstone” of the collection is that “gender equality laws are not enough” and that “[g]ender-responsive legislation across all fields of the law is pivotal to delivering gender-equal outcomes” (p. 8). It aims to highlight “the concrete areas of law that fail women” and to offer “good practice examples of domestic laws that advance women's rights” (p. 4). Accordingly, the case studies in Parts II and III are not limited to laws that are generally recognised as specifically relevant to women, such as laws on abortion (Payal K. Shah and Onyema Afulukwe) or intimate partner violence (Heather Nancarrow). They also challenge the very notion of seemingly neutral issues: critical analyses of tax law (Kathleen A. Lahey), environmental law (Rowena Maguire), and anti-corruption treaties (José-Miguel Bello y Villarino) demonstrate the ways in which purportedly neutral laws may adversely affect women, or particular groups of women. The case studies cover a broad range of jurisdictions, although Australian law is a major focus (see e.g. the chapters by Heather Nancarrow, Rowena Maguire, and Anna Chapman, respectively, and the comment by Miranda Stewart). Finally, in Part IV, the collection examines tools to ensure that laws are gender-responsive, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW”) and its Committee (Anne Hellum) and parliamentary gender audits (Jacqueline Mowbray). The breadth of the collection is undoubtedly ambitious, but the granular focus of most individual contributions ensures that analysis remains precise and grounded. Authors are drawn from both academia and practice.

The collection is enlivened by the idea that legislative reform is, as Klugman puts it, “an important strategic lever for change” (p. 22). But legislation is not analysed in a vacuum, and authors are keenly aware of the importance of implementation in realising the potential of, or undercutting, laws on the books. Nancarrow's analysis of Australia's laws on intimate partner violence and Shah and Afulukwe's study of abortion laws in Kenya, Rwanda, Nepal, and India each demonstrate the challenges involved in operationalising the law, particularly for the most marginalised. For Shah and Afulukwe, these challenges support their ultimate conclusion that only full decriminalisation can ensure “meaningful access to abortion” (p. 55).

This thought-provoking collection provides both a snapshot of global progress on achieving women's rights, and a roadmap for further progress through its case studies of laws and accountability mechanisms. It will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, law-makers, and citizens who are interested in the law's potential to advance (or hinder) progress towards gender equality.