The Purpose of Module 4
The purpose of this module is to provide an
overview of the ESC rights of women.
The module
- summarizes the current ESC situation of
women internationally;
- discusses gender ideology and the impact
of a gender perspective on specific ESC rights;
- reviews the history of the struggle for
womens rights to be recognized as human
rights;
- explores some conceptual issues related
to womens rights;
- reviews international legal norms on womens
rights; and
- identifies challenges and opportunities
for integrating womens rights in ESC
activism.
Introduction
When men leave their villages for better-paid
jobs in cities or abroad, women get saddled
with the farm work as well as their domestic
chores. When bloated state enterprises rationalise
their workforces, women get laid off before
male heads of household. When
sweatshops seek underpaid casual labour, women
are the first to be recruited.
When newly rich men dabble in vice, village
girls get dragooned into prostitution and
middle-aged matrons wind up divorced. Yet
when fast-changing lifestyles provoke a traditionalist
backlash, patriarchy reasserts itself with
a vengeance. When inflation bids up dowries
and social pressures depress birth rates,
girl babies get aborted or murdered in their
cribs to make way for male heirs. When the
resulting skew in the sex ratio makes for
a shortage of marriageable women, a black
market arises for kidnapped brides. [1]
This excerpt from the magazine Far Eastern
Economic Review graphically captures the
multifaceted discrimination and exploitation
faced by women. Processes of political and
economic transformation that have changed the
face of the world over the past decades have
had a profound impact on the lives of women.
Many of these changes have been positive. Some,
however, have strengthened the bonds of subordination
and discrimination against women, restricting
them from enjoyment of their economic and social
rights. Internal conflicts and wars have led
to displacement and destruction of property
and livelihoods, which place women in an ever
more vulnerable position. Military conflict
also results in an increase in violence and
crime, and women and girls become particular
targets. Extremism and religious fundamentalism
deny womens autonomy and subject them
to the most cruel and inhuman of punishments
for transgression of norms laid
out by those in power within the hierarchies
that rule these movements.
The rapid globalization of the worlds
economies has brought in its wake not only structural
adjustment programs that weaken national economies
and nation-states, but also promotion of forms
of industrialization and agriculture that are
more exploitative of both human and natural
resources. Statistics show that the female
labor force is the most affected. In addition,
as the poor of the world become poorer, women
become the poorest of them all; the feminization
of poverty is a reality in the contemporary
world. A decrease in social spendingfor
example, on public health, education, transport,
food and fertilizer subsidieshas been
a critical part of the structural adjustment
programs imposed on many countries by
the international financial institutions. This
decrease has had a disastrous impact on the
quality of life of populations in general, and
on disadvantaged communities, such as women,
in particular. (See Module 26 for more on this
issue.)
The United Nations Development Programmes
Human Development Report 1993 highlighted
various areas in which women fare worse than
men in accessing as well as enjoying ESC entitlements:
LiteracyWomen are much less likely
than men to be literate. In South Asia, female
literacy rates are only around 50% those of
males . . . in Nepal 35% . . . Sudan 27%.
Women make up two-thirds of the worlds
illiterates.
Higher educationWomen in developing
countries lag far behind men. In Sub-Saharan
Africa, their enrolment rates for tertiary
education are only a third of those of men.
Even in industrial countries, women are very
poorly represented in scientific and technical
study . . .
EmploymentIn developing countries women
have many fewer job opportunities, the employment
participation rates of women are on average
only 50% those of men (in South Asia 29% and
in Arab States only 16%) . . . Wage discrimination
is also a feature of industrial countries:
in Japan, women receive only 51% of male wages.
Women who are not in paid employment are,
of course, far from idle. Indeed, they tend
to work much longer hours than men . .
.
HealthWomen tend on average to live
longer than men. But in some Asian and North
African countries, the discrimination against
womenthrough neglect of their health
or nutritionis such that they have a
shorter life expectancy . . .
National statisticsWomen are often
invisible in statistics. If womens
unpaid housework were counted as productive
output in national income accounts, global
output would increase by 20-30%.
[2]
Understanding Gender Ideology and Its Practice
The question of gender is normally ignored
in the development of policies or programs for
dealing with economic, social and cultural issues.
The 1995 UNDP Human Development Report
rightly stated, For too long it was assumed
that development was a process that lifts all
boats . . . that it was gender neutral in its
impact. Experience teaches otherwise.
[3] It is thus essential to understand
gender ideology and ensure that womens
perspective is not ignored or undermined by
activists working in the field of ESC rights.
Differentiation based on gender (male-female)
forms the core of gender ideology. Biological
differences are real (e.g., chromosomes, external
and internal genitalia, hormonal states and
secondary sex characteristics) and lead to the
determination of the male or female sex. Through
gender ideology, however, these differences
are extended to the social milieu and are taken
for granted in establishing social position
and hierarchy, providing access to resources
and participation in society, and creating stereotyped
roles for men and women. On the basis of sex
differences, a superordinate-subordinate hierarchy
is established, through which males have access
to land holdings, inheritance, skills, productive
employment and the associated high status.
Women, on the other hand, receive poor nutrition
and medical care, and inferior education; they
suffer violence and are even denied life (female
infanticide).
Social institutions such as the family, religious
groups or caste systems; political and legal
structures; economic and educational institutions;
and the mass mediaall are permeated with
norms and values that discriminate against women
and legitimize and institutionalize social placements
on the basis of gender.
Invisible Work
Tanning of animal hides is a major export
earning industry in the State of Tamil
Nadu, India. Tanning is listed as one
of the most hazardous industries in the
state's Factories Act; it is considered
seven times more hazardous than the next
industry on the list. Employment of children
and women in this industry is banned.
A study on the tanning industry in the
state found, however, that a large number
of women are employed in contravention
of the law. They are also involved in
the most hazardous stage of production.
Since their employment is illegal, it
is hidden. They are never recorded as
workers, so they have no rights or any
form of protection under the existing
industrial laws. 4
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Applying a gender perspective would change
the manner in which we articulate ESC rights.
The following are some examples:
1. Right to Work and Rights at Work
From a gender perspective, the meaning of work
would be changed to include unpaid work at home,
on the family farm, and elsewhere, work that
is currently not valued by society. A redefinition
of work would recognize womens productive
labor and enable women to profitably engage
in home-based work.
Women are currently relegated to low-paid and
low-skilled jobs; this needs to be rectified.
A fresh perspective would help ensure that
women have flexible working hours and that they
are reintegrated into the labor force after
time off for marriage and childbirth without
penalization for absence.
Rights at work would include protection from
sexual harassment in the work place, trade unions
and labor organizations. They would also include
provision of nursing breaks for breast-feeding
mothers, and establishment of crèches and day-care
centers; separate toilet facilities and free
access to them; provision of dayrooms for rest
and recognition of menstruation-related health
problems as the basis of rest breaks; and ensuring
participation of women in trade unions by holding
meetings at times that are convenient to women.
(See Module 10 for more on the right to work
and rights at work.)
2. Land Rights and Right to Property
Womens claims to land bring into question
their capacity to enjoy equal rights in every
spherecivil, political, economic, social
and cultural. Womens rights to equal
inheritance, to equal shares of matrimonial
property, to recognition as legitimate and legal
owners of land and property, who can buy, sell,
lease and raise loans on the basis of that property,
are denied all over the world, in a wide range
of cultures and communities. (See Module 18.)
Zimbabwe's Supreme
Court Rules against Women's Inheritance
In a case involving inheritance rights,
the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe issued a
landmark decision in April 1999, giving
precedence to customary law over the Constitution.
In this case, Venia Magaya, a 58-year-old
seamstress, sued her half brother for
ownership of her deceased father's land
after her brother evicted her from the
home. Under the Zimbabwean constitution,
Magaya had a right to the land. However,
the court ruled unanimously that women
should not be able to inherit land, "
because of the consideration in the African
society which, amongst other factors,
was to the effect that women were not
able to look after their original family
(of birth) because of their commitment
to the new family (through marriage)."
The court backed up its decision by referring
to Section 23 of the constitution of Zimbabwe.
This section recognizes exceptions to
the general rule against discrimination
when it involves adoption, marriage, divorce,
burial, devolution of property on death
or other matters of personal law and in
applying African customary law. Essentially,
by making this judgment, the Supreme Court
elevated customary law beyond constitutional
scrutiny. 5
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3. Right to Health
A gender perspective on health is not the
same as focusing on womens health or,
even more narrowly, on health conditions exclusively
experienced by women as a consequence of their
biology. The following passage provides a
useful summary of key issues:
A gendered perspective on health includes,
besides examining differences in health needs,
looking at differences between women and men
in risk factors and determinants, severity
and duration, differences in perceptions of
illness, in access to and utilization of health
services, and in health outcomes.
The heaviest burden of ill-health is borne
by those who are most deprived, not just economically,
but also in terms of capabilities, such as
literacy levels and access to information.
Substantial evidence exists to indicate that
in almost all societies, women and men have
differing roles and responsibilities within
the family and in society, different social
realities, and unequal access and control
over resources. It therefore follows that
gender is an important social determinant
of health. Gender differences are observed
in every stratum of society, and within every
social group, across different castes, races,
ethnic or religious groups.
Men and women perform different tasks and
occupy different social and often, different
physical spaces. The sexual division of labour
within the household, and labour market segregation
by sex into predominantly male and female
jobs, expose men and women to varying health
risks. For example, their responsibility
for cooking exposes poor women and girls to
smoke from cooking fuels. Studies show that
a pollutant released indoors is 1000 times
more likely to reach peoples lungs than
a pollutant released outdoors, since it is
released at close proximity. Thus, the division
of labour by sex, a social construct, makes
females more vulnerable to chronic respiratory
disorders including chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease, with fatal consequences. Men
would in turn be more exposed to risks related
to activities and tasks that are, by convention,
male, such as mining.
Differences in the way society values males
and females, and accepted norms of male and
female behaviour, influence the risk of developing
specific health problems as well as health
outcomes. Studies have indicated that son
preference and the under-valuation of daughters
skew the investment in feeding and in health
care made for boys and girls. This has potentially
serious negative health consequences for girls,
including avoidable mortality. On the other
hand, social expectations about male behaviour
may expose boys to a greater risk of accidents,
and to the adverse health consequences of
smoking and alcohol-use.
Patriarchal norms which deny women the right
to make decisions regarding their sexuality
and reproduction expose them to avoidable
risks of morbidity and mortality, be it through
a sexually transmitted infection resulting
from coercive sex, or death from septic abortion
because access to safe abortion has been denied
by state legislation. The practice of unsafe
sex by large sections of men who are well
aware of the health risks cannot be explained
except in terms of gender norms of acceptable
and/or desirable male sexual behaviour.
Because of the socialisation of men and women
to adhere to prevailing gender norms, womens
and mens perceptions and definitions
of health and ill-health are likely to vary,
as is their health-seeking behaviour. Women
may not recognise the symptoms of a health
problem, not treat them as serious or warranting
medical help, and more commonly, not perceive
themselves as entitled to invest in their
wellbeing.
Finally, because women and men do not have
equal access to and control over resources
such as money, transport and time, and because
their decision-making power within the family
is unequal, with men enjoying privileges that
women are denied, womens access to health
services is restricted.
There are other factors which compound womens
vulnerability because of the way society expects
women and men to behave. For the majority
of women, high risk activity can simply mean
being married. Social norms which accept
extra-marital and pre-marital sexual relationships
in men as normal; and womens
inability to negotiate safe sex practices
with their partners are factors that make
it difficult for women to protect themselves
from sexually transmitted infections.
To summarise, both sex and gender
differences between women and men, and the
many ways in which the two are intertwined,
contribute to differences in health risks,
health seeking behaviour, access to and utilisation
of health services, and health outcomes between
the two groups. Research, policy and services
aiming to improve the health status of a population
will have to examine, understand and address
these differences.
A number of tools have been developed for
monitoring how engendered a health programme
is. Some of the major questions to be asked
include
- does the programme address gender differentials
in health risks, health information and
access to health services?
- does the programme load all responsibilities
for improved health on women rather than
also involving men? does the programme
add to womens work load?
- does the programme perpetuate gender biases?
- will the programme contribute to redressing
inequities in health by gender across various
sections of the population?
- does the programme address and help narrow
gender gaps in terms of distribution of
responsibilities and power among health
personnel ? 6
See Module 14 for
more on the right to health.
Womens Rights as Human Rights
Some history
Women have struggled in every historical epoch
and in every part of the world for equal treatment.
In the early part of this century, the right
of women to receive an education, to obtain
paid employment, to enter professions, to vote
and to stand for elections were all highly contested
issues. However, by the end of the century
these rights, which could be described as a
part of the liberal democratic political
agenda, have been both recognized and established
through law and customary practice in most societies.
However, women in many parts of the world still
face multiple obstacles in enjoying these rights.
Womens ability to enjoy civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights is interlinked
with the issue of discrimination. Discrimination
based on gender ideology and patriarchy was
not initially considered as part of the human
rights agenda. Excluding sex discrimination
and violence against women from the human rights
agenda also results from a failure to see the
oppression of women as political. Female subordination
runs so deep that it is still viewed as inevitable
or natural rather than as a politically constructed
reality maintained by patriarchal interests,
ideology, and institutions.7
For many years the womens movement has
organized women at local, national, regional
and international levels. In recent decades,
however, the movement has sought to use the
human rights framework to mainstream womens
issues, rather than have the movement remain
on the sidelines, benefiting from special programs,
or continuing as a movement separate and apart
from the rest of the human rights movement.
The Unfinished History
The history of women's rights can in
a brutal simplification be described as
circular. A very early period of sex equality
seems to have been followed by a long
period of retrogression, then by efforts
to regain some of the lost equality .
. .
Descriptions of a general downward trend
in societal recognition of women's equality
hide their efforts to challenge inequality
. . . Women martyrs are rarely known,
but in every society, in every generation,
there were women who led the way. For
example, Fatimih Umm Salamih lived in
Persia in the nineteenth century. She
was born in 1817 and became known as Tahirih
(The Pure One). She challenged the rules
of the time, which relegated women to
inferiority, and championed equality between
men and women. She was murdered in 1852
and her body was thrown into a well which
was then filled with stones. She was killed
but not silenced; her last words were
recorded: "You can kill me as soon
as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation
of women."
In the modern period, women have been
active in the labour movement.
The 1918 Rice Riots in Japan were triggered
off when women port workers refused to
load rice and were joined by other workers;
this led to a long struggle and a political
crisis. In China in 1922 many thousands
of workers in 70 Shanghai silk factories
went on strike, calling for increased
wages and a ten hour working day; this
was the first important strike by Chinese
women workers. In India and Sri Lanka,
in the years after World War I, women
workers were active participants in militant
industrial agitation and strikes. To give
only one example from the region, the
most militant activists of the Ceylon
Labour Union, which led strikes in Sri
Lanka in the 1920s, were women factory
workers in Colombo; they used to dress
in red, were the most vociferous of the
strikers and picketers, and formed a bodyguard
for male trade union leaders during demonstrations.
In Iran, Egypt and Turkey women were to
join with men in the formation of left-wing
political groups and trade unions, in
spite of repression and adverse conditions
for mobilizing the people.8
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The womens movement has used the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women as an effective tool for bringing
womens issues into the rights arena.
Another major strategy has been to use the opportunities
presented by international meetings and UN conferences.
The unprecedented mobilization of women at the
Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1991
led to the inclusion of womens human rights
within the Vienna Declaration. The groups and
networks that became active during that process
continued on to target other UN conferencesthe
1994 International Conference on Population
and Development, the 1995 World Summit on Social
Development and the 1995 Fourth World Conference
on Women.
Womens human rights activism has focused
on expanding existing definitions of rights
to include more gender-specific sensitivity
to abuse as well as to provide gender-sensitive
solutions and redress. In addition, it has
focused on the inter-sectionality of rights,
seeking to correlate the principles enunciated
in separate conventions and covenants with each
other. This has most successfully been done
with the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (hereafter
referred to as the Womens Convention).
As a part of this exercise, violence against
women has been framed as a violation of the
right to life; the right not to be subjected
to torture or to other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment; the right to equal
protection under the law; the right to liberty
and security of person; and the right to the
highest standard of physical and mental health.
Freedom of expression and association have been
additional critical areas under which diverse
issues, ranging from the denial of access to
information regarding contraceptives to the
forced veiling of women, have been considered.
The mainstreaming of womens rights issues
within the human rights movement and agenda
has involved both conceptual and programmatic
challenges:
Womens rightspublic and private
sphere divide
Because women are defined in most human rights
instruments in terms of their child-bearing
and familial responsibilities, and because the
family, which is a site of violence and oppression
for many women, continues to be described as
the primary unit of society, there are severe
limitations on the possibility of according
equal treatment to women within the existing
human rights regime.
The division between the public
and private spheres constitutes
the foundation for all forms of discrimination
against women. In the so-called private arena,
the equal treatment of women remains extremely
controversial. The primacy of womans
biological and reproductive roles in defining
her identity and her role in society is reinforced
by social and cultural norms the world over.
Critical areas of human life such as marriage,
divorce, maintenance, custody of children and
inheritance continue to be determined according
to religious, traditional and customary practices
in many countries. Domestic violence, incest
and marital rape are perceived as private
matters and therefore outside the
purview of the law. These attitudes are also
articulated through many, varied legal systems
and frameworks. Given this context, womens
capacity to enjoy economic and social rights
is often constrained by economic dependence
and social attitudes that affirm her secondary
and subordinate status in society.
The right to be treated on an equal basis with
men when it comes to domestic and family matters
is essential for womens economic and social
freedom. The Womens Convention remains
the instrument with the largest number of reservations
by governments ratifying international human
rights conventions. The fact that almost all
of the reservations focus on the spirit of the
Convention, which calls for changing unequal
power relations between men and women in the
private sphere, speaks to the resistance to
this area of womens rights.
Since civil and political rights have dominated
human rights concerns over the last five decades,
the focus has been on the negative obligation
of the state to refrain from action as opposed
to its positive obligation to intervene. This,
in turn, has strengthened the private/public
dichotomy; the state was expected to refrain
from interfering in the private sphere. The
emphasis on constraints of state power has
meant that gender inequality has been seen as
falling under development policy rather than
as part of the states affirmative human
rights obligations.
Understanding of the responsibility of nonstate
actors has, however, been evolving in recent
years, and this has and will have a bearing
on this private/public sphere debate. (See
Module 9 for further discussion on this point.)
Womens rights and universality
The principle of universalitythat human
rights belong to all human beings on an equal
basis (see Module 2)is an extremely critical,
and sometimes hotly contested, concept within
the struggle for womens human rights.
Many customary practices, traditions and religious
beliefs relegate women to a secondary status
and sometimes even deny adult women their legal
majority. Most women define themselves, both
as individuals and as members of communities,
in terms of cultural factors that are inextricably
linked to the social and economic aspects of
their lives. In a world where conflicts based
on differences and identities are rampant, the
issue of cultural rights remains one of the
most controversial and divisive. This makes
the consideration of cultural rights from a
womens rights perspective very problematic.
The Womens Convention reflects a clear
awareness of this dilemma; in article 5(a) it
calls on states parties to the Convention
to modify the social and cultural patterns
of conduct of men and women, with a view to
achieving the elimination of prejudices and
customary and all other practices which are
based on the idea of the inferiority or the
superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped
roles for men and women.
While respect for diversity and for diverse
forms of social and cultural expression and
identity must guide adherence to human rights
principles, women's rights activists argue
for transformation of these practices and beliefs
on the basis of recognition of the dignity
and worth of women as full human beings. Womens
human rights groups, while organizing cross-culturally,
remain sensitive to the needs and desires of
every region of the world. This sensitivity
is a challenge for human rights activists in
general and those involved in ESC rights activism
in particular. Articulating and advocating
for ESC rights requires a process that respects
diversity as well as consensus. (See Module
17 for a more in-depth discussion of cultural
rights.)
"Tradition" and Women's
Rights
The extreme extent to which culture and
tradition can be used by those supporting
patriarchical interests came to light
in the State of Uttar Pradesh in India.
A women's group, Vanangana, rescued an
11-year old girl who was being abused
by her father. The organization helped
the child and her mother seek protection
and also took legal action against the
father. The accused and his supporters
in turn filed several false charges against,
and published pamphlets attacking, the
members of the women's organization. They
charged that the organization was destroying
the institution of the family and attacking
Indian culture.9
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Womens rights and the indivisibility
of human rights
The experiences of women all over the world
point to the impossibility of their enjoying
their ESC rights as a result of situations where
their freedom and autonomy are constrained.
For example, the capacity of a woman worker
to enjoy to the full her freedom to work, to
receive equal pay, to organize or to be an active
member in a workers organization is restricted
by the prescription of a clearly defined role
for her within the family and the community.
Social expectations that she fulfill her role
as wife, housewife and mother combine with cultural
sanctions that impose restrictions on her mobility
and on her ability to interact on equal terms
with male colleagues in public spaces. Together
these create a situation in which a woman workers
capacity to become a leader in the workers
movement is severely hampered. Thus, a focus
on the indivisibility of human rights is a critical
part of womens activism.
Empowering Women
The Handpump Mechanics of Banda
The handpump mechanics project in Banda
in the State of Uttar Pradesh in India
is an example of empowering women through
ensuring access to ESC entitlements. It
is one of the most backward districts
in the State, known for its high degree
of violence, including violence against
women. The project was responding to the
problem of water scarcity in the region.
It began with teaching non-literate rural
women to learn the skills of repairing
handpumps. Acquiring a technical skill
in a traditionally male domain was both
a psychological and social breakthrough.
In becoming handpump mechanics, they
had built confidence in their ability
to learn, broken stereotypes, and entered
into a spiral of learning. Of the 45 women
mechanics, Sumitra (35) and Chamela (36)
were probably the most technically competent.
The derisive laughter, scepticism and
even hostility they had first encountered
from the community as they performed their
new role, had grudgingly turned into respect.
They had gradually become trainers as
well. Travelling to different parts of
the country as trainers had given them
a wider exposure than most women in their
villages. These experiences were testimonies
of changes in their lives. Change for
them was not just a distant possibility,
but a concrete reality.
The women mechanics' engagement with
the issue of water necessitated a move
from literacy towards education. They
had many questions for which they wanted
answers. For instance, while dealing with
acute water shortage in summer, they wanted
to understand why the depth of underground
water varies in different areas or during
different seasons in the year. Also, they
became increasingly aware of quality of
drinking water and health. They wanted
more information on these inter-linkages.10
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Violence against women as a human rights
violation
The phenomenon of violence against women cannot
be ignored if human rights are to be examined
from a gender perspective. The following is
a summary from the Preliminary Report by
the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women,
which provides a useful perspective on the subject.
Violence against women, in particular, has
inhibited women as a group from enjoying the
full benefits of human rights. Women have
been vulnerable to acts of violence in the
family, in the community and by States . .
.
Women are vulnerable to violence because
of their female sexuality (resulting in, inter
alia, rape and female genital mutilation);
because they are related to a man (domestic
violence, dowry deaths, sati) or because they
belong to a social group, where violence against
women becomes a means of humiliation directed
at the group (rape in times of armed conflict
or ethnic strife). Women are subject to violence
in the family (battering, sexual abuse of
female children, dowry related violence, incest,
deprivation of food, marital rape, female
genital mutilation), to violence in the community
(rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, trafficking
in women, forced prostitution) and violence
by the State (women in detention and rape
during times of armed conflict).
Among the historical power relations responsible
for violence against women are the economic
and social forces which exploit female labour
and the female body. Economically disadvantaged
women are more vulnerable to sexual harassment,
trafficking and sexual slavery. They are
also employed as bonded labour and low-paid
labour in many economic enterprises throughout
the world. As migrant workers, they often
face innumerable hardships in foreign countries.
Economic exploitation is an important aspect
of modern female labour. In addition, a study
of 90 societies in relation to wife beating
found that economic equality was a key factor
which prevented violence against women.
Denying women economic power and economic
independence is a major cause of violence
against women because it prolongs their vulnerability
and dependence. Unless economic relations
in a society are more equitable towards women,
the problem of violence against women will
continue.
In the context of the historical power relations
between men and women, women must also confront
the problem that men control the knowledge
systems of the world. Whether it be in the
field of science, culture, religion or language,
men control the accompanying discourse.
Women have been excluded from the enterprise
of creating symbolic systems or interpreting
historical experience. It is this lack of
control over knowledge systems which allows
them not only to be victims of violence, but
to be part of a discourse which often legitimizes
or trivializes violence against women. The
ability to minimize womens experience
of violence ensures that no remedial action
is taken by either States or individuals.
Part of the campaign to eliminate violence
against women must be to challenge the systems
of knowledge and the discourse of individuals
which trivialize womens experience of
violence. Women are also denied access to
knowledge because they are refused education
in many parts of the world. The right to
female education must therefore be the first
step towards articulating a more sensitive
history of violence against women.
In addition to historical power relations,
the causes of violence against women are also
closely linked to the question of female sexuality.
Violence is often used as an instrument to
control female sexual behaviour. It is for
this reason that violence against women often
finds sexual expression. Rape, sexual harassment,
trafficking, female genital mutilation, all
involve forms of violence which are an assault
on female sexuality.
Besides history and sexuality, the prevalence
of ideologies which justify the subordinate
position of women is another cause of violence
directed against women. In many ideologies
a traditional legitimacy is given to using
violence against women in certain instances.
In both the developed and the developing world,
there have been cultural sanctions in the
past for husbands chastising or beating their
wives in certain circumstances. These sanctions
have been included in law codes in different
cultural heritages . . .
The consequences of violence directed against
women are difficult to ascertain because
the crimes are often invisible and there is
very little data on the subject. However,
it is very clear that fear is perhaps the
greatest consequence. Fear of violence prevents
many women from living independent lives.
Fear curtails their movements, so that women
in many parts of the world do not venture
out alone. Fear requires that they dress
in a manner that is unprovocative
so that no one can say that they asked
for it if they are violently assaulted.
Fear of violence requires that they seek out
male protection to prevent violence being
directed at them. This protection can result
in a situation of vulnerability and dependence
which is not conducive to womens empowerment.
Womens potential remains unrealized
and energies which could be directed towards
the amelioration of society are often stifled.
In certain cultural contexts, especially
those in which female genital mutilation is
practised, a woman is denied her existence
as a sexual being with needs and expectations.
This denial of female sexuality through the
mutilation of the body has to be seen as a
violation of a fundamental human right.
Women who are at the receiving end of violence
have serious health problems. In recent
times, studies have been conducted on the
harmful physical and emotional impact of
violence against women, such as on the harmful
effects of female genital mutilation on the
health of women. Other forms of abuse also
result in physical injury to the body of the
victim. In addition there are psychological
effects. Abused women are subjected to depression
and personality disorders. They manifest
high levels of anxiety and somatic disorders.
These psychological effects have a negative
effect on the women as they paralyse them
and inhibit their self-determination.
Violence in the family, in particular, has
serious consequences for both women and children.
Children often show signs of post-trauma stress
and have behavioural and emotional disorders
. . .
In terms of development, violence prevents
women from participating fully in the life
of the family and the community and in society.
Energies which might be directed towards social
good and development are curtailed. Womens
potential and their contribution towards development
and growth is an important aspect of the development
process. Violence against women prevents
women as well as society from realizing their
full potential.
The cost to society in terms of violence
against women is phenomenal. Much of the
cost is hidden since statistics on this issue
are rare. The material cost of the consequences
of violence is superseded by the more intangible
costs relating to the quality of life, the
suppression of human rights and the denial
of womens potential to participate
fully in their society.11
Womens RightsNorms and Standards
The principle of nondiscrimination is a cornerstone
of human rights principles. Discrimination
based on sex is among the forms of discrimination
prohibited. This prohibition is enshrined
in the Universal of Declaration of Human Rights.
The commitment to nondiscrimination was clearly
reiterated by the international community in
common article 2 of the two International Covenantson
Civil and Political Rights and on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights.
The United Nations declared 1975 the International
Year of the Woman, with the first World Conference
on Women being held in Mexico. The year was
extended to a decade, with conferences in Copenhagen
(1980) and in Nairobi (1985). The Fourth World
Conference on Women was held in China in 1995.
The NGO Forum for the Beijing conference was
attended by tens of thousands of women from
all over the world. The Platform for Action
of the Beijing conference identified the human
rights of women as a critical area of concern.
Most of the other areas have a direct bearing
on economic and social rightspoverty,
education and training, health, the economy,
power and decision-making, the media and the
environment.
Womens concerns were also centrally
featured at the World Conference on Environment
(Rio de Janeiro, 1992), on Human Rights (Vienna,
1993), on Population and Development (Cairo,
1994) and at the World Summit on Social Development
(Copenhagen, 1995).
There are at present two UN conventions that
are women-specific: the Convention on the Political
Rights of Women (1954)12 and the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(1979) (the Womens Convention).13 In November 1999, the UN General Assembly
adopted an Optional Protocol to the Womens
Convention, which will enable individual women
to bring their complaints about noncompliance
with the Convention to the attention of the
Conventions monitoring committee, the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW). The Optional Protocol
will come into force when it is ratified by
ten countries.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women
The UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women is best
described as an international bill of rights
for women as it sets out in detail both what
is to be regarded as discrimination against
women and the measures that have to be taken
in order to eliminate this discrimination.
Womens rights are conceptualized as human
rights and a nondiscrimination model
is adopted, so that womens rights are
considered violated if women are denied the
same rights as men.
The Womens Convention defines discrimination
as: any distinction, exclusion or restriction
made on the basis of sex which has the effect
or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition,
enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective
of their marital status, on a basis of equality
of men and women, of human rights and fundamental
freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural or any other field.
Thus, the Womens Convention defines discrimination
against women broadly. The elements of the
definition are:
- Any distinction, exclusion or restriction
made on the basis of sex is discrimination.
- The Convention covers both the effect and
the purpose of such distinction, exclusion
or restriction based on sex that hampers the
enjoyment by women of their human rights.
- It covers discrimination in political,
economic, social, cultural, civil or any other
field.
- It covers discrimination in public and
private (or any other) actions.
- It prohibits intentional or unintentional
discrimination.
- The rights enshrined in the Womens
Convention apply to all women irrespective
of their marital status.
The Womens Convention is the UN treaty
that most clearly brings together civil and
political rights with ESC rights. In addition,
since its inception, the committee (CEDAW) established
under the Convention has issued a number of
General Recommendations (GR) that elaborate
on the articles of the Convention. Among the
most critical have been: GR 12 and 19 on violence
(1989 and 1992); GR 13 on equal remuneration
for work of equal value (1989); GR 14 on female
circumcision (1990); GR 15 on unpaid women workers
in rural and urban family enterprises (1991);
GR 21 on equality in marriage and family relations
(1994); and a new GR on health (1999). (See
the pages that follow this module for excerpts
of certain GRs).
Substantive equality
The Convention promotes a model of substantive
equality. The concept of equality has traditionally
been problematic, because the term equality
for women is conventionally understood
to mean the right to be equal to men.
The fact is that women face gross inequalities
in relation to employment opportunities, wages,
access to and enjoyment of health, rights
within the family, citizenship, etc. Remedying
these inequalities has been interpreted to
mean that women should have the same rights
as men. Problems arise, however, if women
must be treated exactly like men if they are
to gain equality with men. The right
to be equal to men obscures the fact
that women are different from men.
The substantive model of equality that the
Convention promotes adopts a corrective approach,
one which recognizes difference. In particular,
the Convention recognizes that the function
of child bearing is one exclusive to women
and argues that that function cannot be used
as a basis for discrimination against women.
The Convention presumes that women are in
an unequal position because they face current
discrimination or bear the effects of past
discrimination, and that the environment
in the family and in the public sphere is
hostile to womens autonomy. This approach
assesses specific provisions or rules to determine
whether the latter contribute to womens
subordination in the short or long term, whether
they build on existing subordination (thereby
reinforcing it) or help to overcome it.
Furthermore, the corrective approach requires
that socially constructed differences, such
as the traditional roles ascribed to women
and men, as well as cultural practices that
see women as inferior, must be changed.
The substantive model of equality is concerned
with equal opportunity, but even more so,
with equality of results. It stresses equal
treatment as well as equal access and equal
benefits. It recognizes that women and men
may have to be treated differently in order
for them to benefit equally. This may take
the form of providing enabling conditions
and/or affirmative action. 14
Standards on the Elimination of All Forms
of Violence against Women
The CEDAWs General Recommendation 19
deals entirely with the question of violence
against women. The committee stated that gender-based
violence is a form of discrimination that seriously
inhibits womens ability to enjoy rights
and freedoms on a basis of equality with men,
and concluded that the definition of discrimination
against women in article 1 of the Womens
Convention includes gender-based violence.
Such violence may violate specific provisions
of the Convention regardless of whether violence
is mentioned in those specific provisions.
The committee defined gender-based violence
as violence that is directed against a
woman because she is a woman or that affects
women disproportionately. It includes acts
that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm
or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion
and other deprivations of liberty.
A Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms
of Violence against Women was adopted in 1994
by the UN General Assembly. Based on the Declaration,
the UN Commission on Human Rights appointed
a Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women,
Its Causes and Consequences. The Rapporteur
submits annual reports to the Commission. The
economic, social and cultural causes of womens
vulnerability to violence as well as the economic
and social consequences of women being exposed
to violence within the family, the community
and in public life form key components of the
Rapporteurs investigations.
Culture and Women's
Rights
Female Genital Mutilation
Most communities have their own rituals,
which are practiced to respond to or achieve
certain social needs and goals, such as
protection or purification. Some of these
rituals and rites are linked to specific
age phases. Female genital mutilation
is a widespread ritual, which is also
known as a "rite of passage."
It is usually practiced when young girls
are entering womanhood. It is a way of
restructuring women's bodies, as a symbol,
to adapt to the prevailing social norms,
values and traditions with regard to women's
sexuality.
Such rituals usually interact with other
elements of the specific culture, such
as religion, which confers sanctity and
sacredness on the ritual, so that, in
the long term, the boundary between what
is religious and what is ritual becomes
vague. The ritual becomes transformed
into an essential component of the cultural
identity of the communities practicing
it.
Female circumcision/genital mutilation
is not mentioned in the holy books of
the Bible or the Qur'an, and yet it is
practiced among some of the followers
of these books as if it were ordained
by them. For example, some religious leaders
in Egypt support FC/FGM as condoned by
Islamic teachings, although the overwhelming
majority of both Arab and Moslem countries
do not practice FC/FGM, and many Moslem
scholars in Egypt condemn the practice
as against Islamic teachings. Studies
in Egypt have highlighted the fact that
FC/FGM is practiced by Moslems and Christians
alike. The primary reason given for the
practice is: "It is our tradition."
Struggles to stop the practice have gone
on through the past few decades, for the
most part with no tangible success. However,
in the 1990s efforts have made increasing
inroads in many countries. One main change
in the campaigns against FC/FGM was the
shift in advocacy from a health framework
to a human rights framework, thanks to
the involvement of feminist and human
rights activists. The health framework
emphasized the hazardous health effects
of FC/FGM, which channeled most efforts
into improving the practice to decrease
pain, bleeding and infection. Thus health
workers were increasingly doing the cutting
in private and public health facilities
using sterile instruments and anesthetics;
these changes in many cases entrenched
the practice and led to its medicalization.
The human rights framework, on the other
hand, presented the practice as a violation
of many of women's human rights, regardless
of who does it, where it is practiced,
and whether or not complications arise
from it.
In prior decades many UN bodies refrained
from open condemnation of the practice,
because of the "cultural specificity"
argument, focusing on the health consequences
of the practice. However, following the
Vienna Conference on Human Rights in 1993
and the international declaration on violence
against women, UN bodies such as WHO and
UNICEF came out with a firm position against
FC/FGM as a violation of women's rights.
15
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In 1995, a new, regional convention entitled
the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention,
Punishment and Eradication of Violence against
Women came into force. The Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights may investigate cases brought
under the Convention. A new Womens Commission
is authorized to receive complaints and resolve
them in cooperation with the Inter-American
Commission. Any person or group of people or
NGOs from a state party to the Convention may
petition the Inter-American Commission. Persons
belonging to countries that have not ratified
the Convention may approach the Womens
Commission for relief.
ILO Conventions and Other Standards
In addition, the International Labour Organization
has adopted a series of conventions regarding
womens employment; subjects include maternity
benefits, equal pay and equal treatment. The
World Health Organization, the UN Fund for Population
Activities and UN/AIDS have over the years developed
a series of policy guidelines regarding womens
health that increasingly focus on issues of
reproductive and sexual rights. UNESCO has
several documents that focus on womens
rights to education and training.
ConclusionChallenges and Opportunities
Promoting and protecting the ESC rights of
women provides a unique opportunity to link
with strategies for defense of civil and political
rights. It also challenges many existing assumptions
regarding womens role in society and can
lead to substantive changes in the unequal
power relations between men and women.
One strategic area of work for the promotion
of womens economic and social rights is
that of building alliances between womens
rights groups and human rights groups. In addition,
it is important to support linkages between
womens groups and other social movements
that work in the area of economic and social
justice. Trade unions, farmers organizations,
groups working for media and cultural freedom,
environmental rights groups, groups working
for the rights of minority and indigenous communities
should become natural allies in this work.
Bringing a gender-sensitive approach to the
work of these various groups, however, remains
a major challenge.
Developing conceptual bridges between forms
of gender-based discrimination and other forms
of discrimination based on differences such
as race, ethnicity, language, religion, age
and sexual preference would also be of strategic
importance for linking not only our understanding
of the issues but also our activism across sectors
and across national and regional borders.
Author: This module is based on a paper
prepared by Sunila Abeyesekera following the
Phi Phi Island workshop, which was modified
to incorporate comments made by the participants
at the Yogyakarta workshop.
USING
MODULE 4 IN A TRAINING PROGRAM
NOTES
1.
Lincoln Kaye, To Bear any Burden: Asias
Women Pay a Disproportionately High Price
for the Regions Economic Boom.
Far Eastern Economic Review 158 (1997):
42-3.
2.
UNDP Human Development Report 1993,
25, quoted in International Human Rights
in Context: Law, Politics and Morals by
Henry J. Steiner and Philip Alston, (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1996), 894.
3.
United Nations Development Programme, Human
Development Report 1995 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1995), 1.
4. Taken from
Report of a Workshop on Integrating Womens
Rights in Human Rights Activism (Bangkok:
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development,
1998), 8.
5. Taken from
Zimbabwe: Urgent Action Alert, from Sisterhood
Is Global website: www.sigi.org/Alert/zimb0699.htm
6.
Taken from T.K. Sundari Ravindran, Engendering
Health, seminar (New Delhi, 2000) (forthcoming).
7.
Charlotte Bunch, Transforming Human
Rights from a Feminist Perspective,
in Womens Rights, Human Rights: International
Feminist Perspectives, eds. J.S. Peters
and Andrea Wolper (New York: Routledge, 1995),
11-17.
8. Katarina
Tomasevski, Women and Human Rights
(London: Zed Books, 1993), 1-4.
9. Narrated
by Huma Khan, member of Vanangana, February
2000.
10. Windows
to the World: Developing a Curriculum for
Rural Women (New Delhi: NIRANTAR, 1997),
3-6.
11.
Commission on Human Rights, Preliminary
Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence
against Women, Ms. Radika Coomaraswamy,
UN Doc. E/CN.4/1995/42 (1995), 20-21.
12.
Convention on the Political Rights of Women,
opened for signature 31 Mar. 1953,
entered into force 7 July 1954, 193
UNTS 135.
13.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, adopted
18 Dec. 1979, GA Res. 34/180, 34 UN GAOR Supp.
(No. 46), UN Doc. A/34/46 (1980), 1249 UNTS
13, entered into force 3 Sept. 1981,
reprinted in 19 ILM 33 (1980).
14.
This section on substantive equality is taken
from IWRAW Asia Pacific draft training material,
1997.
15. Adapted
by Amal Abd El Hadi from No Retreat:
The Experience of an Egyptian Village
(Cairo: Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies,
1998).
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