Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2014
The recognition of individual identity as multilayered and circumstance based leads to a shift from a theory of general rights to a theory of specific rights connected to structural social change. General rights, such as the right to health and the right to work, must be interpreted according to the circumstance of differently situated women, so that rights are specific enough to ensure that they are actually enforced for different groups, including groups that, due to discrimination, are made invisible to the law. In this sense, the different circumstances that help develop the identity of women, Black women or poor Black women in Brazil will be studied to give specific content to general rights recognised by Brazilian law and by International human rights law.