Although a myriad of international legal instruments exist for the protection of women, their rights remain in dire strait globally. While some of the international human rights instruments are of general application as they offer human rights protection for all, others are more specific, focusing solely on women’s rights. The paper adopts the non-doctrinal approach in selecting and examining international human rights instruments and other documents that cuts across diverse disciplines, particularly those that directly and indirectly highlight the state of women’s rights globally. In analysing the instruments and other documents, a content analysis strategy is engaged in examining specific rights of women that are mostly endangered within the framework of the various instruments highlighted in the paper. For example, while the women’s rights specific instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and its Optional Protocol as well as the Maputo Protocol contain extensive provisions for the protection of women, women’s right to property, sexual and reproductive health, among others continue to be violated. Accordingly, the paper emphasise the need for states to fulfil their obligations under international human rights law by adopting and implementing measures that effectively protect women.