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Chapter 1

Origins and evolution of gender equality

and its links to human rights

GENDER EQUALITY
Gender equality is when people of all genders have equal rights, responsibilities and
opportunities. Everyone is affected by gender inequality - women, men, trans and gender
diverse people, children and families. It impacts people of all ages and backgrounds.We need
gender equality urgently. Gender equality prevents violence against women and girls. It’s
essential for economic prosperity. Societies that value women and men as equal are safer and
healthier. Gender equality is a human right. Everyone benefits from gender equality.
In a society, everyone has the right to lead his/her life accordingly without any
discrimination. When this state is achieved where all individuals are considered to be equal
irrespective of their caste, gender, colour, profession, and status, we call it equality. Equality
can also be defined as the situation where every individual has the same rights and equal
opportunity to grow and prosper.
Every individual of society dreams for equal rights and access to resources available
at their disposal, but there is a lot of discrimination. This discrimination can be due to cultural
differences, geographical differences, the colour of the individual, social status and even
gender. The most prevalent discrimination is gender inequality. It is not a localised issue and is
limited to only certain spheres of life but is prevalent across the globe. Even in progressive
societies and top organisations, we can see many examples of gender bias.
Gender equality can only be achieved when both male and female individuals are
treated similarly. But discrimination is a social menace that creates division. We stop being
together and stand together to tackle our problems. This social stigma has been creeping into
the underbelly of all of society for many centuries. This has also been witnessed in gender-
based cases. Gender inequality is the thing of the past as both men and women are creating
history in all segments together.
GENDER EQUALITY BUILDS A NATION
In this century, women and men enjoy the same privileges. The perception is changing
slowly but steadily. People are now becoming more aware of their rights and what they can do
in a free society. It has been found that when women and men hold the same position and
participate equally, society progresses exclusively and creates a landmark. When a community
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reaches gender equality, everyone enjoys the same privileges and gets similar scopes in
education, health, occupation, and political aspect. Even in the family, when both male and
female members are treated in the same way, it is the best place to grow, learn, and add great
value.
A nation needs to value every gender equally to progress at the right place. A society
attains better development in all aspects when both genders are entitled to similar
opportunities. Equal rights in decision making, health, politics, infrastructure, profession, etc
will surely advance our society to a new level. The social stigma of women staying inside the
house has changed. Nowadays, girls are equally competing with boys in school. They are also
creating landmark development in their respective profession. Women are now seeking
economic independence before they get married. It gives them the confidence to stand against
oppression and make better decisions for themselves.
The age-old social structure dictated that women need to stay inside the home taking
care of all when men go out to earn bread and butter. This has been practised for ages when
the world outside was not safe. Now that the time has changed and we have successfully made
our environment quite safer, women can step forward, get educated, pursue their passion,
bring economic balance in their families, and share the weight of a family with men. This, in a
cumulative way, will also make a country’s economy progress faster and better.
METHODS TO MEASURE GENDER EQUALITY
 Gender equality can be measured and a country’s growth can be traced by using
the following methods.
 Gender Development Index (GDI) is a gender-based calculation done similar to
the Human Development Index.
 Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is a detailed calculation method of the
percentage of female members in decision-making roles.
 Gender Equity Index (GEI) considers economic participation, education, and
empowerment.
 Global Gender Gap Index assesses the level of gender inequality present on the
basis of four criteria: economic participation and opportunity, educational
attainment, political empowerment, health and survival.
According to the Gender Gap Index (GGI), India ranks 140 among 156 participating
countries. This denotes that the performance of India has fallen from the previous years,
denoting negative growth in terms of closing the gender gap. In the current environment where
equality and equal opportunities are considered supreme, this makes India be at a significant
disadvantage.
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ROADBLOCKS TO GENDER EQUALITY

Pakistani society is still wrecked by such stigmas that dictate that women are meant to
manage the home and stay indoors. This is being done for ages, leading to neglect of women
in areas like education, health, wealth, and socio-economic fields.
In addition to that, the dowry system is further crippling society. This ill practice had
led to numerous female feticides. It has created a notion that girls are a burden on a family,
which is one of the primary reasons a girl child cannot continue her education. Even if they
excel in education and become independent, most of them are forced to quit their job as their
income is considered a backup source, which is not fair. New-age women are not only
independent, but they are confident too. The only thing they demand from society is support,
which we should provide them.
Along with dowry, there is one more burning issue that has a profound impact on
women's growth. It is prevalent in all kinds of society and is known as violence. Violence
against women is present in one or another form in public and private spaces. Sometimes,
violence is accompanied by other burning issues such as exploitation, harassment, and
trafficking, making the world unsafe for women. We must take steps to stop this and ensure a
safe and healthy place for women.
Poverty is also one of the major roadblocks towards gender equality. It has led to
other malpractices such as child marriage, sale of children, trafficking and child labour, to
name a few. Providing equal job opportunities and upliftment of people below the poverty line
can help bring some checks onto this.
INITIATIVE TOWARDS GENDER EQUALITY
Any kind of discrimination acts as a roadblock in any nation’s growth, and a nation
can only prosper when all its citizens have equal rights. Most of the developed countries has
comparatively less gender discrimination and provide equal opportunity to both genders. Even
the Pakistani government is taking multiple initiatives to cut down gender discrimination.
They have initiated a social campaign called “BetiBachao, BetiPadhao” to encourage
the education of girl children. Besides this, the government runs multiple other schemes, such
as the Women Helpline Scheme, National Mission for Empowerment of Women, etc., to
generate awareness among the people. Moreover, as responsible citizens, it is our
responsibility to spread knowledge on gender discrimination to create a beautiful world for
women.
To conclude, once all these menaces will be eradicated, every family will understand
the value of a woman and our country will achieve gender equality in a real sense. Women are
creating examples everywhere and we all should highlight them to change the scenario and
give them equal rights. In the end, the performance of India in the Olympics 2021 is the
current example where India has won seven medals. Out of those seven medals, six came in
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individual events and out of those six medals, female athletes won three. It shows that even
after facing such hardship, their performance is at par with male athletes. With so much
potential,
ential, it is only a matter of time when women will overtake men and have all their abilities
on display for the world to see!
IMPORTANCE OF GENDER EQUALITY
A nation can progress and attain higher development growth only when both men and
women are entitledd to equal opportunities. Women in the society are often cornered and are
refrained from getting equal rights as men to health, education, decision
decision-making
making and economic
independence in terms of wages.
The social structure that prevails since long in such a way that girls do not get equal
opportunities as men. Women generally are the caregivers in the family. Because of this,
women are mostly involved in household activities. There is lesser participation of women in
higher education, decision-making
making roles, and leadership roles. This gender disparity is a
hindrance in the growth rate of a country. When women participate in the workforce increases
the economic
mic growth rate of the country increases. Gender equality increases the overall
wellbeing of the nation along with economic prosperity.

HOW IS GENDER EQUALITY MEASURED?

 Gender equality is an important factor in determining a country’s overall growth.
There are several indexes to measure gender equality.
 Gender-Related
Related Development Index (GDI) – GDI is a gender centric measure of
Human Development Index. GDI co considers
nsiders parameters like life expectancy,
education, and incomes in assessing the gender equality of a country.
 Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) – This measure includes much detail
aspects like the proportion of seats than women candidates hold in national
parliament, percentage of women at economic decision
decision-making
making role, the income
share of female employees.
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 Gender Equity Index (GEI) – GEI ranks countries on three parameters of gender
inequality, those are education, economic participation, and empowerment.
However, GEI ignores the health parameter.
 Global Gender Gap Index – The World Economic Forum introduced the Global
Gender Gap Index in 2006. This index focuses more on identifying the level of
female disadvantage. The four important areas that the index considers are
economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political
empowerment, health, and survival rate.
GENDER INEQUALITY AFFECTS EVERYONE
Everyone is affected by gender inequality. Gender roles and stereotypes impact
Victorians throughout their lives.Gender inequality affects everyone, including men.
Stereotypes or ‘rules’ about how women and men, girls and boys should be begin in childhood
and follow us through to adulthood.Not everyone experiences inequality the same way. The
situation is worse, and often different, for people who face more than one type of
discrimination.This page lists some facts about gender inequality in Victoria and how it affects
children, young people, adults, and other groups in society.
CHILDREN
 Gender stereotypes affect children's sense of self from a young age.
 Boys receive 8 times more attention in the classroom than girls.
 Girls receive 11% less pocket money than boys.
 Children classify jobs and activities as specific to boys or girls.
YOUNG PEOPLE
 Gender stereotypes affect behaviour, study choices, ambitions and attitudes about
relationships.
 Girls are less likely to take part in organised sport.
 Girls are less likely to do advanced maths subjects in their final years of school.
 1 in 3 Australian women over 15 has experienced physical violence.
ADULTS
 Victorian women earn 87.6 cents to every dollar earned by men.
 Although more women than men complete tertiary education, their graduate
salaries are lower.
 1 in every 2 mothers experiences discrimination during pregnancy, on parental
leave or when returning to work.
 Victorian women do nearly twice as much unpaid work as men.
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OLDER PEOPLE
 Women retire with half the superannuation savings of men.
 This affects women's financial security, health and wellbeing.
 More older women are at risk of homelessness than men.
ABORIGINAL WOMEN
 Aboriginal women’s experience of gender inequality is made worse by the
impacts of colonisation and violent dispossession.
 They are 11 times more likely to die from family violence than other women.
CULTURALLY DIVERSE COMMUNITIES
 Women from culturally diverse communities experience racism and
discrimination on top of gender inequality.
 Migrant and refugee women are often in insecure, low-paid work or work they are
overqualified for.
 Women from non-English speaking backgrounds can face barriers to accessing
services and understanding their rights.
MEN
 Traditional stereotypes are difficult for many men to live up to. They feel pressure
to be a ‘real man’, to be physically and emotionally strong, and be the main
income earner.
 Many workplaces don’t offer men extended parental leave or flexible hours.
 Men are more likely to drink too much, take unhealthy risks and engage in
violence.
 They are less likely to seek professional help or talk about their problems with
friends or family.
 Men are more likely to commit suicide.
RURAL AND REGIONAL WOMEN
 Women living outside of metropolitan areas often do not have access to public
services.
 They are at greater risk of poor health outcomes and family violence.
TRANS AND GENDER DIVERSE PEOPLE
 Trans and gender diverse people may feel forced to hide their gender identity
when using services, at school or at work.
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 They are at greater risk of mental illness, verbal and physical abuse and social
exclusion.
WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES
 Women with disabilities are more likely to experience family violence and sexual
assault.
 They are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed.
 They are paid less than men with disabilities and women without disabilities.
THE BENEFITS OF GENDER EQUALITY
 Everyone benefits from gender equality.
 Gender equality helps prevent violence against women and girls and makes our
communities safer and healthier. It is a human right and it is good for the
economy.
GENDER EQUALITY PREVENTS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
 Gender inequality is a root cause of violence against women. The four main
drivers of violence against women are:
 condoning violence against women
 men’s control of decision-making and limits to women’s independence
 rigid gender roles and stereotypes
 male relationships that emphasize aggression and disrespect towards women
 The best way to prevent violence against women is to promote gender equality.
GENDER EQUALITY IS GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY
 Every day that we fail to deliver gender equality, we pay the price.
 Australia’s GDP would increase by 11% if the gender employment gap was
closed.
 The Australian economy would gain $8 billion if women transitioned from tertiary
education into the workforce at the same rate as men.
 Businesses with at least 30% women in leadership positions are 15% more
profitable.
 Family violence costs the Victorian economy more than $3.4 billion a year and
takes up 40% of police work.
 Women do most unpaid care work. This has major costs - the unpaid care
economy in Australia is nearly six times larger than the paid economy.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF GENDER EQUALITY

TALK TO WOMEN AND GIRLS
A fundamental reason we have not yet achieved gender equality in every realm is that
women and girls’ voices are too often excluded from global and national decision-making.
When programmes and policies are designed without women’s needs central to their
foundation, we’re setting ourselves up to fail. If grassroots women had been adequately
consulted in designing the MDGs, decision-makers would have been able to anticipate that
girls would still be held responsible for many home chores, caring for younger siblings and
fetching water, and have known that a major obstacle for girls’ education is that girls are at
risk of physical and sexual assaults when they have to walk long distances to school.
LET GIRLS USE MOBILE PHONES
The majority of girls in India don’t have access to using basic technology such as phones and
computers because of infrastructure related challenges and economic reasons. Increasingly we
see bans on girls using mobile phones. The dialogue on girls’ access to Stem [science,
technology, engineering and maths] education and women’s role in technology has not even
started to be acknowledged. Can girls and women access equal resources, opportunities and
rights without access to technology?
STOP CHILD MARRIAGE & SEXUAL HARASSMENT
In Bangladesh and elsewhere, child marriage is a major impediment to girls’
education. In Bangladesh more than 50% of girls are married before the age of 18, and about
30% of girls 15 to 19 already have one child. If we want girls to be able to complete education
we have to end child marriage. We also have to seriously address sexual harassment of girls.
Insecurity is one of the reasons parents give for marrying their daughters. It is also a major
barrier to girls’ full participation in education.
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MAKE EDUCATION GENDER SENSITIVE

There has been much progress in increasing access to education, but progress has been
slow in improving the gender sensitivity of the education system, including ensuring
textbooks promote positive stereotypes. This is critically important for girls to come out of
schools as citizens who can shape a more equal society. In some countries, there is a tendency
to assume that things are fine as long as there are equal number of girls in schools.
RAISE ASPIRATIONS OF GIRLS AND THEIR PARENTS
One of the key strategies must be to change how girls, families and society imagine
what girls can be and can do. We need to give girls images and role models that expand their
dreams. I was at an International Women’s Day event with Bangladesh Women in
Technology and they talked about needing to build girls’ and women’s confidence that they
could be engineers or entrepreneurs. We also need parents to see that there really are
opportunities for their daughters, that their only security is not just to be good wives and
mothers.
EMPOWER MOTHERS
In Afghanistan, there have been great moves to increase number of girls going
through formal education through providing schools for girls in every district. We have
learned that through empowering women on the community level you will also enhance girls
education. When mothers are educated and empowered to make choices in their lives, they
enable their daughters to go to school.
GIVE PROPER VALUE TO ‘WOMEN’S WORK’
The unpaid work women and girls do provide the foundation for the global economy.
This fact needs to be highlighted more in the media, with the private sector and in
communities. More research and data for messaging on this point could be useful in
promoting the key role and contributions women and girls make to the economy and the need
for proper recognition and compensation. We also need a concerted campaign for equal pay
for equal work worldwide.
GET WOMEN INTO POWER
A proven way to overcome many systemic barriers to a woman’s success has been
increased participation by women in local, regional and national legislation as empowered
change agents. In just 10 years, the number of women holding seats in houses of national
parliament in south Asia rose from 7% to 18%. But a global goal of equal representation is
still a long way off, with only one woman for every four men in parliamentary houses. A
woman’s voice and her ability to become a leader in her community is fundamental to
empowering women.
ENCOURAGE WOMEN INTO NON-TRADITIONAL VOCATIONS
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Supporting women in non-traditional jobs is crucial in not only making long-lasting

change in their lives but also help break social taboos. Brac is skilling women in professions
such as motorcycle fixing, driving, hospitality, mobile-phone fixing.
WORK TOGETHER
Alarmingly, gender gaps in sub-Saharan Africa have widened at higher levels of
schooling. This is a reverse of the global trend towards greater parity. Between 1999 and
2010, the ratio of girls in secondary school fell from 83 to 82 girls for every 100 boys at the
secondary level and from 67 to 63 girls for every 100 boys at the tertiary level. This is stalled
progress and a reversion to the deep gender equalities that characterized previous eras. To
address this gap, our efforts cannot be done in silos, but must involve the people (girls in this
case). Girls know best what their challenges are in education and it is imperative to involve
them in our discussions to address the gap.
STOP THE VIOLENCE
Gender inequality allows for violence against women to continue unabated. The UN
has found that globally, one in three women will experience violence in her lifetime, with
most violence against women perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner. The World
Health Organisation, London School of Health and Tropical Medicine, and the World Bank
Group have done a lot to consolidate and expand on what we know about the prevalence of
violence against women, and effective prevention and response strategies., but there is still a
lot we do not know.

BEWARE THE BACKLASH

One of the realities that we need to remember and address is that, when women
“trespass” in spaces that were previously completely male-dominated there is often a penalty.
In education and in the workplace that backlash often takes the form of sexual harassment,
humiliation, violence. Looking at a local level or specific situation we can see how that slows
the pace of women’s entry to that sector or opportunity.
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EVOLUTION OF GENDER EQUALITY

‘Gender equity’ and ‘gender equality’ are relatively recent terms; the concept is really
a 20th century, Western idea. Typically, today we focus on three major areas of concern
regarding gender equity: job opportunity and pay equity, equity in political impacts from
voting to office-holding, and equity in the autonomy of reproductive decisions. But in our
evolutionary and historical past, many more basic divisions of labour existed, and in many,
monetary ‘pay’ was not a known currency. Thus, important though these terms are today,
people in a fair proportion of the world’s known societies would have had, until very recently,
no clue of their meaning — and a few still would have no idea. Why? Our modern nation
states are truly novel environments in evolutionary terms, from developing nations to the most
developed. They are extremely large, with heterogeneous populations, have formal rules
where many traditional societies had, well, tradition; and men’s and women’s roles have, at
the least, considerable overlap today, in contrast to roles in traditional societies.
Here I examine gendered patterns, first in traditional pre-modern and historical
societies. There I look for patterns: are some divisions of labour (e.g. who hunts large animals)
underlain by ecological constraints? What patterns are driven by the differences in resource
payoffs for male versus female mammals? (For that, of course, is where we have our
beginnings.) What patterns are culturally determined — and are any of those driven by male-
female conflicts of interests? Then I ask: where do such issues stand today, in our
evolutionarily novel world? How does gender equity vary around the world? What are its
correlates?
EVOLVED SEX BIASES
Some biases in gendered behaviour are even older than ancient human societies. As
mammals, we begin with evolved sex biases. For example, most primates are polygynous,
whether they simply form consort pairs briefly and then separate, or live in single-male or
multi-male groups. Bound by providing milk as the offspring’s post-partum nutrition, females
tend to spend their time differently from males. In sum, males tend to spend mating effort,
while females spend offspring-specific parental effort such as nursing (review in Law 2000a).
As a result, in most nonhuman primates, the female and her offspring are the
ecological/economic unit; males and females do not spend a lot of time together. In some
species (e.g. baboons) a particular male may offer friendship and protection, usually to a
female with whom he has mated (e.g. Smuts 1985).
THE IMPORTANCE OF RESOURCES FOR THE TWO SEXES
In biological terms, getting and dispensing resources are the core issues of
reproduction. It takes resources to grow, to achieve whatever kind of success (status,
resources) that makes one a desirable mate, to have and rear offspring, and to provide for their
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future. The first two we call somatic and mating effort, and the last two are parental effort.
The conundrum is that what makes an individual successful in one endeavour makes that
individual less successful at the other activity. Seeking and finding mates, fighting, or
performing expensive displays to impress them: such activities are antithetical to getting food
safely and feeding and protecting an offspring.
This biological reality generates different returns-for-effort of mating and parental
activities (e.g. Low 2000a ). These different return curves mean that, under most conditions
and in most species, males and females will be most successful in reproductive terms by doing
different activities. In males, for example, striving for status (including fighting and things like
growing antlers) typically entails what economists call a ‘fixed cost’ — a large expenditure is
required even to begin competing for mates. Note, too, that this expenditure is not specific to
any particular offspring. In contrast, when a mother nurses her baby, that expenditure is
specific to this particular offspring, and must be spent all over again for another offspring.
The result is that men and women, like other male and female mammals, ceteris
paribus, will spend their time and energy differently. Thus, a division of labour between the
sexes or genders does not, in and of itself, suggest inequity. In traditional societies, a woman’s
value in the mate market is her reproductive value — the number of children she is
(statistically) likely to have in the rest of her life. A man’s value is his resource (or power)
value (Low 2000a).
Most traditional societies are, like most mammals, polygynous (Murdock 1957, 1967,
1981; Murdock and White 1969 ); men who can compete successfully are allowed more than
one wife at a time. Monogamy and polyandry (137/849 and 4/849 societies, respectively, in
Murdock’s Ethnographic Atlas , 1967) are so rare that statistical testing of hypotheses is often
impossible. Men do typically live with wives in most societies, although women may have
separate residences in some.
More important for the question of women’s access to resources and influence is the
fact that even socially monogamous groups typically are genetically polygynous (Reichard
and Boesch2003 ). This means that the payoff for controlling resources is higher for men than
for women; there are great implications for male behaviour in general, and especially for male
parental care. It is no surprise that inheritance in polygynous (and some socially socially
monogamous) societies is typically biased toward sons (Hartung1982 ), for sons can marry
more wives and have more grandchildren the wealthier they are, while daughters are limited
by the biological constraints of being female mammals.
This is one of many biases that only make sense once one understands the
evolutionary background. Another finding that should not surprise us when viewed through
an evolutionary lens is that for both men and women, one thing never changes: in all sorts of
societies, traditional and modern, based on all sorts of subsistence types, parents everywhere
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try to be sure their children get more than others (Borgerhoff Mulder et al. 2009; Shenk et al.
2009).
It is clear that in traditional societies, men’s and women’s activities and roles differ,
and that getting substantial amounts of resources affects men’s lineage success more, and
more directly, than it affects women’s lineage success. The result — and the reason the
concept of gender equity may never have arisen for women in a wide variety of traditional
societies — is that men generally act in the more ‘public’ sphere and compete for bonanza
resources, while women are more involved in the home-and-kin-group arena, and deal
primarily with resources related to children’s growth and health.
THE CORRELATES OF WOMEN’S POWER IN TRADITIONAL
SOCIETIES
What does influence women’s larger-scale power in traditional societies? Some early
ideas — more women’s ‘voice’ in small-scale societies (Leacock and Lee 1982 ) or in protein-
stressed societies (Divale and Harris 1976 ) — have not tested out. Whyte (1978, 1979)
suggested that there was no single measure of women’s power or voice, and his and following
studies reinforce this finding. There are ecological (subsistence type, predictability) and
cultural (contribution to subsistence, residence pattern) correlates of women’s abilities to
control and inherit various kinds of resources (Low 1989, 2007).
Most women today have free mate choice and are not bound by arranged marriages,
but from traditional societies through to at least the Middle Ages, arranged marriages were
common. Roughly three-quarters of the societies in the Ethnographic Atlas are bride price
societies (men literally buy their wives), and most of these are polygynous — which means
that getting many resources was really important for men. There is evidence that the kinds of
marriage preferred in a society are influenced by who controls what kind of resources.
Thus, in contrast to many modern societies, the older generation in most traditional
societies makes most of the decisions about the marriages of younger family members (and it
is mainly men, talking and thinking about resources and familial alliances). Further, in many
societies the preferred marriages are among first cousins, which can concentrate resources
within a lineage.
There are four kinds of first-cousin marriages, and their distribution among traditional
societies is related both to resource control and to potential inbreeding avoidance (review in
Flinn and Low 1986). ‘Cross-cousin’ marriages are MBD, mother’s brother’s daughter, and
FZD, father’s sister’s daughter. The two ‘parallel-cousin’ marriage types are FBD, father’s
brother’s daughter, and MZD, mother’s sister’s daughter. In the West today, we seldom
distinguish these niceties (and we tend to discourage first-cousin marriages), but in traditional
societies they had a great impact on resource access and control. In particular, FBD
strengthens reciprocity among male paternal kin; it is associated with patrilocal residence and
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strong male control of resources. MZD, because alliances among women are largely
ineffective in getting and holding large-scale resources, is virtually unknown.
What about women’s direct control of resources? Women’s ability to control the fruits
of men’s labour increases as women contribute to the subsistence base; women also have the
most control in matrilocal societies, intermediate control in bilocal and neolocal societies, and
the least resource control (not surprisingly) in patrilocal societies (Low 1990a ). Within
polygynous societies, independent of marital residence, the greater the degree of polygyny
(the more wives, on average), the lower is women’s ability to control fruits of labour or inherit
property (Low 1990a ). Nonetheless, women are not without allies in polygynous and
patrilocal societies (Yanca and Low 2004 ).
Women’s ability to inherit economically valuable property has numerous associations
(Low 1990a ). Polygynous societies, the most common arrangement, typically favour sons as
inheritors. Yet within polygynous societies, as the degree of polygyny increases, women’s
ability to control the fruits of men’s labour decrease and their ability to control the fruits of
their own labour increase — women can function as independent economic units, just as in
other primates. Not only resource control, but inheritance, is affected by marriage: the greater
the degree of polygyny, the less likely are women to be able to inherit property, for sons in
polygynous societies are better able than daughters to turn resources into grandchildren (Low
2000a, chapter 6). Women are most likely to inherit property in matrilocal societies (including
matrilocal polygynous groups), where they live among their own kin, and least likely to inherit
property in patrilocal societies, living among their husband’s kin.
Across cultures, the more women contribute to the subsistence base, the more control
they have over various resources. In Western society as well, there is evidence that an increase
in professional working women has resulted in greater economic independence for them. In
some agricultural societies (notably West African), women may hold their own land and
market their crops independently of their husbands. In societies based largely on irrigation
agriculture, pastoral activities, and horticulture, men tend to control more resources. As the
importance of hunting and fishing in subsistence grows, so does women’s ability to inherit;
this is true also for the intensity of agriculture (irrigation or non-irrigation). So there appear to
be some ecological correlates of resource control patterns.
WOMEN, WAR, AND POLITICS
Warfare in traditional societies was almost an entirely male endeavour. Note that war
is not sexspecific in some other primates. When two groups of vervet monkeys dispute
territorial boundaries, for example, males fight males and females fight females. But in
humans, as in many primates (e.g. chimpanzees), fighting is typically a male endeavour to get
mates (e.g. Manson and Wrangham1991 ). Inter-group conflict — warfare — is, in traditional
societies, largely about stealing women, or the resources (horses, cattle) used as bride price to
buy women (see review in Low 2000a , chapters 4, 5, and 13).
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Similarly, large-scale politics tended to be a male bastion, although in many societies

women have or had informal influence (above; also review in Low 2000a , chapter 12). The
reproductive benefits of high political office to men were usually direct (e.g. there might be
rules that a chief could have a certain number of wives, while other men could have only one).
So it is no surprise that in cross-cultural studies of political leadership, about 70 % of societies
have only male political leaders, and even when there are women political leaders, they are
never as numerous, and seldom coded as being as powerful as men (Whyte 1978, 1979).
In most traditional societies, women’s influence and striving for resources are focused
on household issues; women are less prominent in community or larger-scale affairs than men.
In only 10 of the 93 societies studied by Whyte were women able to hold formal leadership
positions; in one (the Cree) the influence was informal but the people considered it important
(Low 1992 ). In 35/93 societies women were able to participate openly, if informally, in
community decisions. Women could hold leadership positions within the kin group in a
number of societies; for example among the Ashanti and the Ibo in Africa, among the Truk in
the Pacific, the Haida in North America, and the Cubeo in South America, women are coded
as having greater influence than men in the kingroup. In another set of cultures, men and
women are coded as having equal kinship influence (review in Low 2000a , chapter 12). The
few societies in which women hold or held ‘large-scale’ political power show no pattern: they
are on several continents; some are settled, some migratory; some are patrilocal, some
matrilocal; some are highly polygynous; and some have subsistence bases that are not usually
associated with women’s control of resources (e.g. animal husbandry).
The strongest correlate of women’s engagement in large-scale politics is that of
descent rules. Whyte found that 9/93 societies have some reason to report women as holding
broad political power. Five of these nine are matrilineal or double descent. Why? These are
the conditions in which a woman’s power can be used to assist her son’s (though not her own)
reproductive success. Of the 18 matrilineal and double-descent societies in Whyte’s sample,
five have women political office holders (statistically, we would expect two); of the 56 other
descent systems such as patrilineal, four have women in political power.
ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOUR REGARDING SEX AND MARRIAGE
The arena in which men clearly have the ‘upper hand’ is that of sex and marriage. In
sexual matters, egalitarianism is rare among traditional societies. How individual women may
fare varies greatly (as it does among modern nation states), and women could have
considerable allies and influence even in some polygynous societies (e.g. Yanca and Low
2004 ).
Societal attitudes vary, for example, about sexual behaviour, and whether rules apply
equally to men and women. Today there is considerable concern over clitoridectomies in a
number of developing nations. These were, in many traditional societies, a coming-of-age
ritual — and in many societies, both sexes underwent sometimes-bloody rituals. Circumcision
16 | P a g e

for men was typical, and sub-incision (slitting open the underside of the penis) occurred in a
number of societies. Originally, both sexes were likely to undergo painful and dangerous
rituals. It would be interesting to know the extent of sex bias in current practices.
Braude and Greene ( 1976 ) found differences in attitudes in traditional societies that
mirror today’s, and which relate to the different costs to men versus women of unplanned
pregnancies. Men have frequent pre-marital sex in 64/107, or 59.8 % of societies in the
Standard Cross-Cultural Sample; women in 56/114 (49.1 % ). In 50/116 (43.1 % ) societies,
extramarital sex is allowed for the husband, but not the wife. In 26 more societies (22.4 % ),
extramarital sex is condemned for both sexes, but women are punished more severely (e.g.
Braude and Greene note: husband is scolded, but wife is divorced).
Rape is accepted, ignored, ridiculed, or given a token fine or punishment in 55 % of
societies for which there are codes; and rape is coded as common in 41.2 % of societies. The
obvious theoretical background for this bias is that of the huge difference in how important
paternal confidence is, as compared to maternal confidence: women know their own children
from birth, but a husband must fear wifely deception in terms of the investment ‘fathers’ make
in children. So men watch women; they confine and control women; they hire watchers; and
they punish any discovered female transgression (e.g. see Low 2000a ).
Thus, sexual equality in sexual matters is decidedly uncommon across traditional
societies. Men typically control women. To put it bluntly, women have reproductive value to
men, and men seek to control that value. Women are stolen, bought, and traded. In
evolutionary terms the array of male strategies, from high parental care to absence and abuse,
is related to the potentially high cost of paternal care and the uncertainty of paternity in any
particular case. Men use an array of strategies to ensure only they impregnate their wives; and
when they cannot do so (as in societies in which men are gone much of the time, or men and
women sleep apart), investment in a woman’s children comes from her brother(s), not her
husband.
HOW THE MODERN WORLD DIFFERS?

CONVERGENCE OF GENDER ROLES

In the world of traditional societies, then, some clear divisions of labour made
ecological and social — perhaps even psychological — sense. Men tended to specialize as
resource-seekers. Women sought more modest resources (honey, plant foods), and prepared
and distributed food; all the while, they were raising children. Such divisions make ecological
sense. Despite Maxine Hong Kingston’s wonderful fable at the beginning of The Woman
Warrior , fighting large opponents while pregnant or nursing is ineffective, perhaps lethal, as
is hunting large game. Before modern medicine, if a woman died, her young children were
likely to die also. Thus, sexual divisions of labour like those above have arisen from ordinary
natural selection. In other areas, men clearly held the upper hand, and women were
subservient.
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All of these facts may seem a bit quaint to us today, because men’s and women’s
work converge; and because gender roles in modern life are evolutionarily novel, and far more
culturally than ecologically defined. This opens the door for expanding women’s roles, and
even for ideologically driven biases in treatment of men and women.
SMALLER FAMILIES FACILITATE CONVERGING GENDER ROLES
Modern conditions seem to be related to demographic transitions in Europe in the 19th
century and in much of the world today: in these trends family sizes fell (or are falling) from
two to ten to about two. Face it: a mother of ten children has little time, typically, to devote to
things like a wellpaying job. Smaller family sizes mean two things: first, the kind of
investment (face-time socialization, excellent schooling made possible by a good job) that is
most effective changes, and second, fewer children means a woman can devote more time to
garnering resources so that her children can afford the best of everything.
How did this start? Beginning in Europe in the 19th century, and continuing around
the world today (Borgerhoff Mulder 1998 ; Low 2000b ), life has become ever more
competitive, and other sorts of work have replaced hunting and gathering — work that
requires considerable training and practice, even new kinds of work for children that may be
specialized in ways the parents have not mastered — and work that may be equally well done
by a man or a woman. In many countries today, men’s value to women is no longer solely or
primarily resource value, and women’s value to men is no longer solely or primarily
reproductive value.
To raise a child to adulthood, to see them married and having their own children, has
come to require ever more monetary (as opposed to time) investment by parents (see review in
Low 2000a). Gender- or sex-specific behavioural investment (e.g. nursing versus hunting) is
not important, but resources are. The question becomes important: as children become
increasingly expensive, how many children can one afford to raise? So women might come to
have value as resource producers, not simply as reproductive devices.
However, the equalizing impact of demographic transitions on women’s roles was
slow in coming. Throughout much of the 19th century, even with the impacts of the
demographic transition, the wealthiest men in Europe married younger women and sired more
children than poorer men, and women did not hold large-scale resources. Even in socially
monogamous and explicitly egalitarian 19th-century Sweden, this was true: wealthy men
married younger women than did than poor men (and had roughly 1.5 more children). After
the death of a spouse, wealthy men remarried more frequently, and had more children, than
poor men (e.g. see Low 1990b, 1991; Low and Clarke 1991a,b, 1992). Women did not inherit
land.
HOW GENDER-EQUAL ARE MODERN NATIONS?
In the modern developed nations, making more expensive offspring means making
fewer offspring, unless one has ever more resources (like the wealthy men, above). As a result
of demographic changes, then, in many societies men’s and women’s values to each other
18 | P a g e

have shifted. When family sizes approximate replacement value (two children), women may
be valued more as resource-acquirers, and less as baby-makers. Fertility is late and low, but
per capita investment in each child is high. A man’s income may be less important today,
because it is not the sole income, than in earlier times. Men’s and women’s work converge. In
the modern world, ‘gender equity’ can have real meaning. Today, issues of gender equity may
involve complex assessments of occupation, political power, and many issues of control.
Of course, women do not experience the same conditions in all modern nations. To
explore the variety and covariates of gender equity/inequity in modern nation states can be
daunting: over and above biological reflections of how healthy a society is measures such as
wealth and wealth disparities (e.g. the Gini coefficient), cultural history and values, religion,
and the state and expense of health care, can all affect how different men’s and women’s lives
are: whether they hold the same jobs, receive the same pay, and more. Relevant modern data
exist at the national level for many countries; these will not capture within-country variance,
but can help us understand broad patterns.
GENDER EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Gender equality is at the very heart of human rights and United Nations values. A
fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter adopted by world leaders in 1945 is
"equal rights of men and women", and protecting and promoting women's human rights is the
responsibility of all States. The High Commissioner for Human Rights recently pledged to be
a Geneva Gender Champion, committing to advance gender equality in OHCHR and in
international fora.
Yet millions of women around the world continue to experience discrimination:
 Laws and policies prohibit women from equal access to land, property, and
housing
 Economic and social discrimination results in fewer and poorer life choices for
women, rendering them vulnerable to trafficking
 Gender-based violence affects at least 30% of women globally
 Women are denied their sexual and reproductive health rights
 Women human rights defenders are ostracized by their communities and seen as a
threat to religion, honour or culture
 Women’s crucial role in peace and security is often overlooked, as are the
particular risks they face in conflict situations
Moreover, some groups of women face compounded forms of discrimination - due to
factors such as their age, ethnicity, disability, or socio-economic status - in addition to gender
discrimination. Effectively ensuring women’s human rights requires, firstly, a comprehensive
understanding of the social structures and power relations that frame not only laws and politics
but also the economy, social dynamics and family and community life. Harmful gender
stereotypes must be dismantled, so that women are no longer viewed in the light of what
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women "should" do and are instead seen for who they are: unique individuals, with their own
needs and desires.

History of Women’s Human Right

From Education Point of view

"For many women and girls, the classroom is the first and perhaps the only setting in
which they perform as individuals rather than as members of a particular family. Only in the
classroom can they transcend their roles as wives, mothers and daughters and discover a new
sense of worth and identity. In this, the school serves women not only as a source of
knowledge about the world outside their immediate communities, but as a source of
knowledge about themselves as well".
Down the ages, the female half of the humanity has been treated little better than
herds. It has been subjected to various sorts of injustices, discrimination, exploitation and
brutalities; its emotions, aspirations and ambitions have been strangulated to give way to
patriarchal norms and male ego and whims; its talents and intellectual potentialities have been
crushed to give it but a timid, subjugated, submissive, in confident and dependent existence.
Colonial experiences of the Third World confirm to the thesis that the best way to
weaken and subjugate a community is to paralyze its intellectual potentials so that it may not
dream of any independent existence or question the legitimacy of the treatment meted out to it.
This is what has been done to women. But regrettably, in their case it has been done not by
any alien ruler but by their own counterparts and their own society.
It is an irony that mythologies around the world depict women as creator of
knowledge and alphabets and inventor of languages and literature.
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These scattered examples reveal that once women were at the center of the world of
learning. But subsequently as patriarchy took roots, they were denied right to education
condemning them to centuries of obscurantism. In Europe, their standing received a major
setback with the spreading influence of the Greek and Roman empires, when the women were
treated little better than the child-bearing slaves. Christianity did not help matters. Although
blessed with a soul equal to man's, women were regarded as temptress responsible for the
downfall of Adam. Witch-hunts prevailed and thousands of women were burnt at its stake in
England and Europe. In other parts of the world too, for one reason or the other, education
became a forbidden fruit for women. The advent of Renaissance in Europe saw a revival of
learning but women were advised to keep their knowledge a secret for fear lest they should be
considered unfeminine. Thus education came to be regarded a male prerogative.
The Industrial Revolution of Europe brought about significant changes in the status of
women. Rapidly prospering middle class began to put a premium on the idleness of women.
Apart from child-bearing and presiding over a well-run household, the bourgeoisewomen's
main function was to be an ornament to society. As sense of propriety and chastity were
supposed to be a woman's highest virtues, the aim of education as proclaimed Ruskin was
"Right living, right thinking and acquisition of good taste".
The period of colonial expansion in the nineteenth century saw many men emigrating
overseas. Scarcity of eligible young men made the fate of uri marriage able surplus women a
serious topic of discussion. Specialized education and training among girls became the
necessary means for earning a livelihood. Consequently, the number of girls colleges went up
significantly. Inspite of this, women were not admitted to the great English universities till
well into twentieth century. Famous women's colleges like Girton (1869) and Newnham
(1871) did not become part of Cambridge University till 1948. Matters were somewhat
different in USA where special women colleges opened as early as 1830s and many universi-
ties began admitting women on a co-educational basis. The situation is not any heartening
even as we stand on the threshold of the twenty-first century.
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Right to education is basic condition for the enjoyment of all other human rights by an
individual. Education develops critical faculty to endow a person to discover his/her location.
In this process, it has a unique actualization role. Since it ensures freedom from ignorance, it
enables one to fight out any encroachment or violation of one's right.
Especially, female education has a unique social significance. Traditionally a mother
is responsible for the upbringing of her children. She is most important agency of their
socialization. So when women remain uneducated not only their contribution to the society is
limited, but they become instruments of linking the chain of illiteracy, superstitions and evil
traditions to the next generation.
Realising the significance of the education and its direct correlation with the status of
a person in the society, it was recognised as the basic right of every human being in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The constitution of UNESCO also directs its efforts
to achieve "the ideal of equality of educational opportunity without regard to race, sex or any
distinction economic or social".
THE ANCIENT PAST: VEDIC PERIOD
The women of Vedic India were neither primitive nor ignorant. They were civilized
and cultured. It was often a pleasant duty of a father to instruct his daughter or to send her to
forest schools or Gurukulaswhere they studied with boys and were termed Brahmacharinis.
The Atharva Veda insists on a woman marrying only after concluding her education.
Apasthamba says: "The knowledge which women possess is the completion of all study".
Even Manu, who later deprived women of many rights said, "A woman destitute of the
knowledge of Vedas was falsehood itself". Women were at times referred to as Acharya or
Acharyani and Upadyaya and Upadyayani.
In Rig Veda and Upanishads, we read of women being-conceded the highest
intellectual honours. The hymns attributed to women are of three classes — hymns entirely
belonging to female Rishis, hymns partly chanted by them, and those that are believed to have
been sung by them but with no great certainty. In the first group can be included Vishvavara
and Apala. In the second group of earliest poetesses belong Lopamudra and Shashijasi. 20 In
the last group can be included Ghosha.
There are ample references of women possessing Vedic and general education in our
Epics. At the time when Rain went to bid adieu to his mother. Kaushalya before proceeding to
forest, he found her offering oblations reciting relevant Mantras. Tara, the wife of Bali has
been described as well-grounded in 'Mantras'. SimilarlyDraupadi, the central figure of
Mahabharat has been termed as Tandita' (scholar).
POST-VEDIC PERIOD 200 BC TO 7200 AD
Towards the end of Vedic period, female education received a great setback. Women
were eventually declared to be ineligible for the study of Vedas. Wife's participation in sac-
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rifices began, to deteriorate into a merely formal association with her husband. Sacrificial
duties which formerly none but the wife could perform began to be gradually transferred to
others. Not only the Upanayan ceremony for them was stopped, but the age of marriage for
girls was lowered to maximum nine which had great adverse effect on their education and
consequently on their status.
Though in the society as a whole, female education received great setback, yet even
during this period, it continued to receive attention with the rich, aristocratic and royal
families. According to Altekar, "Girls in these families were given a fairly good literary
education, though they were not allowed to study the Vedic literature. They could read and
understand Sanskrit and Prakrit words and even detect mistakes carelessly committed by their
male relations.
Achievements of lady scholars in cultured families were thus fairly high. Ordinary
families, however were not so well situated and it is therefore doubtful whether the average
woman was receiving any education after about or 7th century AD. Even during the Buddhist
period, the doors of education were closed for females of ordinary families.
MUSLIM PERIOD 7200 TO 1800 AD
During 1200 to 1800 AD (Muslim period), the percentage of literacy among women
went down very rapidly. Old, rich and cultured families were, as a rule, ruined by the political
revolution, and they were no longer in a position to make special arrangements for the
education of their girls. There were no schools for girls. During this period, daughters of
Rajput Chiefs and some Bengali Zamindars were able to read and write; some of them, if
unfortunately widowed, would devote themselves to learning and even become teachers. Jain
widows too were sometimes taught reading and writing by the monks with a view to enable
them to read their scriptures. These were, however, exceptional cases. Society as a whole had
become prejudiced against female education. It was believed that a girl taught to read and
write would become widow soon after her marriage. The decline in literacy after the 18th
century was so rapid that at the turn of the 19th century, hardly one woman in a hundred could
read.
However, the main purpose of women's education was not to make them more
efficient and active units in the process of socio-economic and political development but to
make them more capable of fulfilling their traditional roles in society as wives and mothers. In
other words, education for women was regarded as a means to improve their status within the
family, and not to equip them to play any role in the wider social context.
BRITISH PERIOD
During British period, the East India Company being busy with the work of expanding
and consolidating its domination in India upto the first half of the 19th century did not pay any
23 | P a g e

attention towards female education. It believed that any interference with the social matters of
the Indians would jeopardise its political progress.
But female education received a considerable impetus from the Renaissance which
permeated Indian life during the 19th century. One of the Champions of Indian Renaissance
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was strongly in favoar of female education. Besides, Keshava Chandra
Sen, Sasipada Banerjee, DwarkaiiathGanguli, Durgamohan Das, Anarid Mohan Bose,
PanditShivnathShastri worked with profound zeal for the growth of female.education in India.
The efforts of Arya Samaj under the enlightened guidance of SvvamiDayaiiaiidSaraswati
produced splendid results. It set up a number of women's educational institutions. However,
due to the earlier mentioned concerted efforts, female education got impetus. The percentage
of female literacy increased from 0.2 in 1881-82 to 6.0 in 1946-47.
POST-INDEPENDENCE PERIOD
In the post-Independence era, with the changing pattern of socio-economic and
political conditions of the country, women were given equal status and importance of their
education was realised. While Constitution of free India gave them equal right to education,
various official documents like draft of the First Five Year Plan (1951), Report of the
Secondary Education Commission (1953), Report of the Committee of Differentiation of
Curricula for Boys and Girls (1954) repeatedly stressed the need to promote female education.
Accordingly, a number of steps have been taken to promote female education by the
Union and State Governments such as setting up educational institutions, giving financial aid
to private ones, providing free education for girls, instituting a number of scholarships for
them, providing them free books, and free uniform and similar others.
After Independence, there has been de-elimination of educational facilities. Hence
female education at various levels has expended more rapidly. But it is still far from
satisfactory. A big gender gap is visible at all levels of education. While the percentage of
male literacy in 1991 was 64.20, it was only 39.19 in case of females.
Similarly, the dropout rate for girls is much higher than boys. In 1960s only 27 of 100
girls - compared to 39 of 100 boys, entering school reached 4th class. Table 6 shows that the
position is still far from satisfactory. Thus out of every 100 girls enrolled in class I, only 61
reach class IV, only 43 reach class IX and only 25 reach class XI. The number of male
students attending schools and colleges is much higher than that of girls. Table 7 presents the
distribution of students attending school or college by age and sex in the country.
Special in rural areas and among the weaker sections of society, the rate of female
illiteracy is alarmingly high. Besides, though in the field of liberal education the process of
growth is almost satisfactory, in the technical education it has yet to catch the spirit.
Besides, certain sociological factors have also contributed to it. In marriage market today,
there is demand for an educated bride. The reasons behind such demand are, first, increased
cost of living and bent towards ostentatious living especially in middle class families because
24 | P a g e

of which a working wife is preferred; second, an educated wife is looked upon as a status
symbol; third, parents belonging to middle class now want to educate their daughters to enable
them to stand on their own feet in case of need or any eventuality. Besides, if their daughter is
educated, it would help them to get a good match for her and hopefully at lesser dowry.
BARRIERS IN FEMALE EDUCATION
Barriers in female education range from attitudinal to social, economic and political.
Comparatively they are experienced more by the women belonging to rural and tribal areas,
backward communities and developing countries.
One of the primary reasons responsible for the gender gap in education is that girls are
brought up and educated only for 'traditional occupations'. Social customs often account for
the popular belief that girls do not need an education since they will marry and raise children
rather than work at a job outside the home where educational qualifications are required. It has
been rightly observed that "A girl has the additional disadvantage of being born into a world
that does not even expect her to succeed, a world that perhaps does not really want her to
succeed, a world that has been systematically schooling her for failure".
Domestic work is supposed to be the main work of the girls. As such, they have to
undertake heavy domestic work at a very early age. Girls and young women are expected to
manage both educational and domestic responsibilities often resulting in poor scholastic
performance and early dropout from the educational system.
Early marriage or betrothal as also the purdah system in some communities are other
great deterrents to girls education. Dowry and caste system also prevent parents of lower and
lower middle class to educate their daughters. They feel that if their daughter gets high
education, they would not be able to find suitable match for her in the affordable limits of
dowry in their community.
Women and girls belonging to lower economic groups cannot avail themselves of
educational facilities although they are more likely to need higher education in order to
supplement family income through paid employment. Direct costs of education deter families
from sending girls to school. So due to financial constraints, when a low income family has to
decide which child to educate — boy or girl, the choice invariably goes in favourof boy
because he is supposed to be the bread-earner for the family in future. Majority of the non-
enrolled children or school dropouts come from families which have very little income and
assets and low rank in the caste and occupational hierarchies. Parents in such families are
illiterate or semi-literate which again is a negative factor. According to a report titled 'Primary
Education in India' by Morten Lockheed (1997), in rural areas of India 60 percent girls of
Scheduled Castes and 75 percent girls of Scheduled Tribes fail to complete even their primary
education.
A very large number of women work as unskilled labour in agriculture, cottage
industries, factories, plantations and mines etc. Their lack of education and the consequent
25 | P a g e

inability to handle a skilled job become greatest constraints in getting employment. The
employers find it advantageous to employ women in a number of unskilled occupations
because they agree to work on lower wages than men. In such cases, there is no incentive for
education.
Rural societies, which heavily depend on women for their survival are especially
resistant to their education. Rural women tend to have more children, be poorer and in their
struggle to survive, have little or no time and energy to spare for adult literacy programmes.
Small and marginal farm families which depend on family labour deploy adult women
and female child members on work but send male children to school. However, work is not
the only constraint in female education. There are about 50 million non-working girls who do
not attend schools. These girls are expected to contribute, to work within and outside the
home.
In rural areas when a mother is engaged in earning livelihood, her daughter of school
going age stays at home to look after the young siblings. Even if she is enrolled in the school,
her attendance is poor resulting in poor performance at school, and failure in examinations.
Lack of academic progress is taken as her lack of interest in study which then becomes a cause
of her withdrawal from school. Teaching aids such as black-boards, globes and maps etc. are
either not available or they are not being used.
This state of affairs also exposes the slackness of administrative supervision and
control to ensure proper utilization of the allocated funds which are already far from satisfac-
tory, as also the lack of political will to set the things right. In such a condition, education
remains neglected, unable to attract the children and the greatest sufferers are the female
children for whom it becomes an additional factor to keep them away from school.
One of the major deterrent in female education at higher secondary and college level
is the concern for the sexual harassment and the control of sexuality of the young girls among
families. It makes them reluctant to allow the former to study further, as for it they will have
to join co-educational institutions.
Mostly the parents do not have sufficient means to afford the hostel education for their
daughters. Even if they have, they would not do so for two reasons — first, because of the
concern for their young daughter living in a distant town outside the family protection and
second, due to their preference to save the money for their daughter's marriage rather than to
spend it on her education.
Education in general and women's education in particular cannot be properly
understood in isolation from the social institutions and practices. If these institutions viz.
marriage, family, division of labour in the family and outlook of male towards educated
women are traditional, spread of modern methodical education is difficult. It refers to
contradiction between modernization and tradition.
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Political instability and uncertainty which is a frequent phenomenon in most of the

Third World adds to the crisis. Wastage of scarce funds on frequent elections while poses
financial handicap, struggle to retain power distracts the policy makers from concentrating on
developmental issues and ensuring proper control on policy enforcement agencies.
Even in industrialized developed countries, economic recession of '80s came as a
shock. University enrolments declined as fees skyrocketed and the availability of scholarship
declined drastically. For example, even in United States of America, the cost of university
education became prohibitively high for many middle class families.
Female education is always first to suffer from such setbacks, as it is never a priority
among families and local communities. If a family is to choose which child to continue its
education, preference is always for the male child.
Rapid population growth and shrinking education budgets in many developing
countries mean that there are not enough schools to accommodate the school age population
which expanded by a staggering 35 percent between 1970 and 1985. 41 Again, girls are first to
be excluded.
Inferior education lowers a girl's self-esteem, her employment opportunities and her
ability to take part in the world around her. Moreover, a girl's disadvantages are often passed
on to her children later in life. Numerous studies have revealed that illiterate mothers whose
lives are characterized by poverty and gender-based discrimination have daughters who are
likely to share a similar destiny."
EDUCATION AND RIGHTS
Equality of status is the precondition of the universality of rights. In its absence rights
become prerogatives of a few powerful and unscrupulous ones. Education elevates social and
economic status. In case of any injustice and discrimination, it enables the person to
recogniseand challenge it. We have earlier discussed in detail the discriminatory treatment
meted out to women globally. The social, political, economic, familial and even biological
wrongs done to them so far were accepted arid tolerated quietly by them not because they
were not gritty or defiant but because of being ignorant and uneducated, they were not able to
recognise them as wrongs at all.
Low social status of illiterate women makes them more vulnerable to all sorts of
discrimination and exploitation. It aggravates and prolongs their dependence and subordina-
tion by cutting them off from participation in change. As modernisation spreads, illiteracy
comes to be despised more than in the past, thus, eroding women's status and respect. A
woman can recognise her own worth, identify the need to be an individual in her own right
and assert herself in her own independent capacity only when she is educated.
Education brings women from mere reproductive to productive role enhancing their
economic as well as social status. As we have earlier discussed that it was the departure from
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the productive to the reproductive role which brought about deterioration in the status of
women in early times.

Moreover, an educated woman has both the choice arid the bargaining power in
getting a job arid salary. Also, higher the level of education attained by a woman, greater is
the possibility of her entering and remaining in employment till much later in life.
Creation of an egalitarian society needs strong political will and endeavors. By means
of coercive power, the state agencies can do away with the apartheid of gender and create
conditions conducive for women's development. But this is not possible unless women get
sufficient and effective representation in the decision-making bodies of the Government. It is
the education which enables them to enter in those bodies and increase their political efficacy.

Apart from this social significance of female education, it is of crucial importance for a
woman's individual well-being. Education decisively determines her overall health, control
over her fertility, family size and spacing and the education and health of her family. An
educated woman, especially one who is working has a greater say in the decision about
determining the size of her family than an uneducated one. This assumes great significance in
view of the fact that worldwide approximately 5,85,000 women die every year, over 1,600
every day from causes related to the pregnancy and child-birth. 99 percent of these maternal
deaths occur in developing countries which have very poor female literacy rate.
If a mother is uneducated, her poor health is likely to be passed on to the next
generation. A United Nations study of 115 countries found that a mother's literacy was more
closely co-related with life expectancy at birth than was any other factor; a mother's education
has a greater effect on lowering infant mortality and improving family health than does
father's education.50 Thus education ensures woman right to survive and health. Besides, there
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is a close interrelation between illiteracy and poverty; each reinforces the other. Together they
give birth to the worst exploitation of a female i.e. sexual exploitation or the flesh trade. In
India, it is the biggest industry with approximately 40,000 crore annual business.51 According
to a study on child prostitution in India by the Centre of Concern for Child Labour, of the
estimated 9 lakh prostitutes in the country, between 2,70,000 to 4,00,000 are children. The
number of children below 14 years in commercial prostitution is increasing at the rate of 8 to
10 percent per annum.
In short, education is the panacea which supplies women with the means to initiate a
process of social change. It provides the foundation on which the prospects of their civil,
political and economic rights are based. By making them economically independent, it dis-
courages their dependency that compounds their low status. By enabling the women to assert
themselves and liberating them from several coercive traditional restrictions, education
enables them to enjoy right to life and personal liberty, right against exploitation, freedom of
faith and religion, right to work and participate in public life.
ROAD TO THE DESTINATION
Women's education is not merely a means for their own empowerment, but also an
essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace. Investment in formal
and non-formal education and training for girls and women with its exceptionally high social
and economic return has proved to be one of the best means of achieving sustainable
development and economic growth that is both sustained and sustainable. However, due to the
reasons discussed earlier, there is inequitable and gender-biased distribution of the right to
education in practice. In the interest of not only of women, but also of the whole mankind, it is
essential to create an educational and social environment in which women and men, without
any discrimination may have full opportunity, access and encouragement for the complete
blooming of their intellectual potentials.
Illiteracy is transferred from generation to generation. Illiterate and ignorant parents,
unmindful of the importance of education do not take interest in the education of their
children. At the most, they take it as a means of earning livelihood and if they are engaged in
such jobs for which formal education is not necessary (in their opinion), they would not take
much interest in educating their children.
The vicious chain of illiteracy can be broken only with the help of greater general
literacy and awareness for which-both the Governments and non-Governmental organizations
must take concrete steps. It is imperative to bring educational institutions including vocational
educational institutions closer to the communities especially in rural and backward areas
where traditional attitudes are most destructive. Free education for all female students, liberal
stipends and scholarship and other incentives and interest free loans for the education of girls
are some of the measures which may increase the accessibility of girls to the education.
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Mere opening of schools and colleges is not enough. Modern methods of teaching
with the help of teaching aids, fear-free and encouraging learning environment necessitates
induction of trained teachers. Incentives to pupils like mid-day meal may retain the students in
the school.
In order to eliminate illiteracy from adult females, adult literacy and informal
education programmes must be undertaken and strengthened. Here again it is necessary to
introduce incentives to attract greater number of women to participate in them. All this means
greater allocation of funds. So the education must be among the first priority areas for invest-
ment by the Governments.
It is also essential to devise meaningful and gender-sensitive curricula. Sexist stereo-
types are pervasive in textbooks and curricula from school to university level. Science
curricula in particular are gender-biased. Science textbooks do not relate to women's and girls'
daily experience and fail to give recognition to women scientists. So the curricula must be
freed from sexist stereotypes and bias. Textbooks must include the contribution of women to
civilization.
In addressing unequal access to and inadequate educational opportunities
Governments and other actors should promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a
gender perspective into all policies and programmes, so that before decisions are taken, an
analysis is made of the effects on women and men respectively.
Governments and private sector are required to guarantee equal access to quality
education and training in all subjects and at all levels and provide preferential treatment or
financial subsidies in order to facilitate female ciccess to male dominated universities.
It is essential to induct more women teachers at least half of the total number at all
levels, particularly at secondary and university level and encourage them to act as role models
and mentors for female students.
Strict and effective ban on child marriage, not below the age of 18 years may also help
to keep girls in the schools. Certain laws such as compulsory registration of marriages with
proof of age of the bride, invalidity of marriage of an underage, provision of penalty for
parents for marrying underage children may be of great help for the purpose.
Political stability and a strong political will is of course a prime requirement. Besides,
peaceful international relations and check on arms race will make more resources and atten-
tion of the governments available for education-like development programmes.
In the end we can say that life has a lot to offer. What one needs is to be well-
equipped to give and take. Education is the condition which enables one to live a wholesome
life. The quality of life on earth would have been far better had women been given equal
opportunity for their intellectual advancement.
Education is today being recognized not only as the most important instrument for
personal and social development but also as one of the principal means to foster a deeper and
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more harmonious form of human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion,
ignorance, oppression and war. The day this challenge is met, heaven would pine for the earth.

Better educated women tend to be more informed about nutrition and healthcare, have
fewer children, marry at a later age, and their children are usually healthier, should they
choose to become mothers. They are more likely to participate in the formal labor market and
earn higher incomes.
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Chapter 2

International normative and legal framework

for gender equality and human rights

INTERNATIONAL NORMATIVE FRAMEWORKS

International frameworks are important because they set out internationally agreed
norms and standards on violence against women (VAW) prevention and response. Periods of
struggle by women’s rights activists, organizations and movements has helped to raise public
awareness of (VAW)nationally and internationally, and to ensure that the international
community frames (VAW)as a human rights violation requiring government and public action.
This is important because it marks a significant shift in how (VAW) is perceived and treated,
not as a private issue but a public matter.
International human rights frameworks set out specific obligations on States to protect
their citizens and uphold their rights. When States become ‘parties’ to international
frameworks or ‘treaties’ (by signing on to them) they must refrain from interfering with the
exercise of the rights outlined in the treaties, take positive steps to protect them, and restore
them when they have been violated. States also have a duty to ensure that non-state actors do
not impede citizens in the realization of these rights. While States have the primary
responsibility to protect their citizens, the international community also has an obligation to
step in when States are unwilling or unable to meet their protective duties.
These frameworks matter because they hold States and the international community to
account for meeting their human rights obligations on violence against women (VAW). The
principle of due diligence means that States can be held to account for protecting and
preventing violence against women (VAW), supporting women survivors of violence through
high quality violence against women (VAW) services and access to justice, and punishing
perpetrators.
These frameworks are also the backbone for civil society organizations, including
women’s rights organizations and movements, who work tirelessly to hold States to account
for their national legal and policy response, ensuring laws and policies are in place and that
they are implemented consistency and effectively in line with their human rights obligations.
THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The international legal framework for protection is primarily composed of three
interrelated and mutually reinforcing bodies of treaty law: international human rights,
humanitarian and refugee law. Customary international law, which is derived from a
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consistent practice by States rather than a legal text, also contains a number of important rights
and, for instance, prohibits acts such as arbitrary detention, extra-judicial killings, slavery and
torture.
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND GENDER EQUALITY
What are human rights? “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights.” Human rights — such as the right to life — are inherent and inalienable in human
beings simply by the fact of their being human. Individuals and groups cannot voluntarily give
up their human rights, nor can others take them away.
Human rights enjoy legal protection through codification in seven core international
treaties. Some of the treaties are supplemented by optional protocols dealing with specific
issues. Many regional treaties also protect and promote human rights. Taken together, these
instruments and national law provide safeguards against actions and omissions that interfere
with human dignity, fundamental freedoms and entitlements.
States establish their consent to be legally bound by a treaty, and to implement its
provisions nationally, through the act of ratification or accession. For example, 156 States
have so far ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), thus,
undertaking to guarantee to all individuals within their territory and subject to their
jurisdiction (even if not situated within the territory of the State) the rights in the Covenant.
The ICCPR prohibits distinction on the basis of sex, and specifically commits States to
ensuring the equal right of women and men to the enjoyment of all rights enshrined in the
Covenant, including:
 the right to life;
 freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
 freedom from slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour;
 the right to liberty and security of person and freedom from arbitrary arrest or
detention;
 the right of detained individuals to be treated with humanity and dignity;
 equality before the law and equal protection of the law;
 the right to a fair trial; and
 freedom of religion, expression, assembly and association.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) protects
the following rights, which correspond to sectors of humanitarian assistance:
 the right to education;
 the right to an adequate standard of living, including food, clothing and
housing;
 the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; and
 the right to work and to favourable conditions of work.
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Under international human rights law, States have the obligation to respect, protect
and fulfil human rights. The obligation to respect requires that a State, principally, refrain
from interfering directly or indirectly with the enjoyment of the right; the obligation to protect
means preventing third parties from interfering with the enjoyment of the right; and fulfilling
human rights means taking steps to realize the right in question, progressively in the case of
economic, social and cultural rights. In order to meet these obligations, States should, inter
alia, put in place appropriate policies; review and ensure (by amending, enacting or repealing)
that national legislation is in conformity with international standards; ensure that an effective
institutional framework (e.g. police, judicial system, prisons, etc.) exists to protect and claim
rights, and offer possibilities for individuals and groups to seek remedy when their rights have
been violated; implement programmes to give effect to rights; and seek international
assistance and cooperation as needed.
A. THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
(a) THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS
1. Historically, international law was the law that regulated relations between
kings and sovereigns, and developed into the legal regime governing relations
between sovereign States that emerged from feudal kingdoms. States were the
actors in international law, and the treatment of the individual human person
was not part of this body of law. Exceptionally, international law addressed
the State's responsibility to alien (foreign) subjects of another State living
within its borders. In addition, several international treaties regulated the
treatment of victims of war, and sought to combat slavery.
2. Early major advances in the protection of the human rights are to be found in
the mandates and minorities protection treaties of the League of Nations and
the attempts to codify labour standards by the International Labour
Organization, established in 1919. However, the conceptualization and
development of human rights law originated in the middle of the twentieth
century with the foundation of the United Nations. The 1945 Charter of the
United Nations includes `promoting and encouraging respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms' as one of the four purposes of the Organization.
The Charter's provisions on human rights and international co-operation form
the basis of the view that membership in the United Nations carries with it a
Member State's responsibility to promote and protect the human rights of
individual human beings, and that national sovereignty cannot prevent
scrutiny of conduct within national boundaries that infringes human rights.
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3. The principle of equality forms the core of the human rights vision of the
Charter, which states that human rights and fundamental freedoms should be
available to all human beings `without discrimination on the basis of race,
sex, language or religion'. The principle of the equal rights of women and men
is thus one of the pillars upon which the United Nations was founded.
4. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948,
proclaims numerous rights to which people everywhere are entitled. A
"common standard of achievement for all peoples and of all nations", the
Declaration delineates civil and political rights such as the right to freedom
from torture, illegal arrest, free speech and freedom of conscience. It also
establishes "freedom from want" as an essential dimension of human rights
and dignity. Consequently, it encompasses economic, social and cultural
rights, including work-related rights, the right to social security, the right to
education, and the right to an adequate standard of living.
5. Although technically a non-binding instrument, several commentators argue
that the whole of the Declaration(1) has acquired the status of universally
recognized norms of customary international law that bind 0 Member States
of the United Nations. There is consensus that some of the human rights in the
UDHR, including the right to freedom from torture, slavery, and prohibition
of racial discrimination form part of customary international law and thus
bind all Member States.
6. The UDHR was followed by other instruments, including the Convention
against Genocide (1948) and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (1965). In 1966, two overarching human rights treaties - the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - were
adopted, which together with the UDHR form the International Bill of Human
Rights providing the source of the core standards of international human
rights law. The Covenants elaborate many of the rights in the UDHR, albeit
with greater detail, and also address the protection of particular categories of
people, including refugees and children. In contrast to the UDHR, however,
they are multilateral treaties which, upon ratification or accession, create
binding international legal obligations for the State concerned.
7. Since the adoption of the Covenants, the United Nations has continued to
elaborate international human rights standards. Other major treaties concern
non-discrimination on the basis of sex, freedom from torture, the rights of
children, and the rights of migrant workers and their families. The ILO has
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also continued its effort to define particular human rights standards relating to
the rights of workers. Important amongst these efforts have been the ILO
Conventions Concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers
for Work of Equal Value (100) (1951), on Discrimination in Respect of
Employment and Occupation (111) (1958), and on Equal Opportunities and
Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers: Workers with Family
Responsibilities (156) (1981). In addition, human rights standards concerning
education, including the 1960 Convention on Non-Discrimination in
Education, have been concluded under the auspices of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
8. Standards are also delineated in international humanitarian law - the body of
international law governing the conduct of armed conflict between sovereign
States, and internal conflicts within a State. The purpose of this branch of
international law is to protect individuals who are affected by such conflicts
and as such it is founded on core values familiar to international human rights
law. Norms governing armed conflict that were meant to foster humanism and
protect the rights of persons affected by such conflicts were developed in the
nineteenth century, and thus pre-dated human rights law. These standards
were codified in 1949 in the four Geneva Conventions, and developed further
in their Additional Protocols of 1977. Specific provisions on the treatment of
women are contained in the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of
civilian persons in time of war while all four Geneva Conventions contain a
`Common Article 3' concerning internal conflicts, which endorses some of the
core standards of international human rights law. It establishes, inter alia, the
right of non-combatants and civilians to be treated humanely, without
distinction on grounds of race, sex, religion or faith.
9. Relevant standards are also to be found in international refugee law, which
although predominantly concerned with protection, incorporate minimum
human rights principles for those meeting the definition of refugee in
international law. These principles are codified in the 1951 Convention
relating to the status of refugees, and its Protocol adopted in 1966.
(b) REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS
10. International human rights law has been reinforced by regional human rights
regimes in Europe, Latin America and Africa. While two separate instruments
covering civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights are
in place in Europe, both the American Convention on Human Rights (1969)
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and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (1981) include civil
and political rights, and social, economic and cultural rights. The Additional
Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1988) expands on the coverage of
these rights in the Convention. Several regional treaties also address particular
problems. Thus, regional treaties concerning torture exist in the European and
Inter-American human rights systems, while other regional Conventions may
seek to set standards which go beyond those in international human rights
instruments. Examples of these include, the Inter-American Convention on
the Eradication of Violence against Women (the Convention of Belem do
Para) and the proposed Convention of the South Asian regional body SAARC
on cross-border trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women and
children.
(c) DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS NORMS
11. By their very nature, international and regional human rights standards
require implementation at the national level. They require States parties to
take necessary measures of a legislative, administrative or policy nature, and
to provide appropriate remedies in case of violations, so as to ensure
enjoyment of the established rights and freedoms.
12. Many of the norms of the UDHR and of other instruments, especially civil
and political rights, are incorporated in national Constitutions, or in domestic
legislation. Constitutional jurisprudence is thus a vital source for clarifying
the scope of international human rights standards.
13. Social and economic rights are less commonly reflected in national
Constitutions, or recognized by Courts, as fundamental human rights. Social
and economic rights are often considered to be `basic needs' which a
Government is required to satisfy through appropriate socio-economic
policies. They are sometimes incorporated in separate chapters dealing with a
Constitution's `directive principles (guidelines) of State Policy. However,
several Constitutions including the new South African Constitution, those of
several East Asian countries, the Finnish Constitution of 1995 as well as the
draft Constitution of Sri Lanka influenced by South Africa, incorporate rights
in regard to access to basic education and health services as enforceable
fundamental rights.
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14. National courts may sometimes link the interpretation of civil and political
rights with directive principles of state policy. For example, the Supreme
Court of India has interpreted the fundamental right to life as linked to the
Directive Principles of State policy elaborated in the Pakistan Constitution
requiring the State to provide access to education and health.Consequently,
the Courts have developed concepts of legally enforceable fundamental rights
to education and health. The South African Supreme Court is also developing
a jurisprudence on socio-economic rights, and has interpreted the
Constitutional guarantee of the right to health to include a right of access to
health care services which will include reproductive health care. Access to
health care services is considered dependent on resources, but the right of
access to emergency treatment is unqualified
(d) GENDER-SPECIFIC NORMS AND STANDARDS
15. The principle of the equal rights of women and men is contained in the
Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and all subsequent major international human rights instruments. It is most
comprehensively elaborated in the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, which codifies women's rights to
non-discrimination on the basis of sex, and equality as self-standing norms in
international law. It also establishes that women and men are entitled, on a
basis of equality, to the enjoyment and exercise of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any
other field and thus moves beyond the two Covenants by incorporating both
families of rights in one instrument, establishing them as mutually
reinforcing.
16. Critical areas, such as political participation and access to equal opportunity
in public life, and in the professions are covered comprehensively in
CEDAW, as are standards on nationality. The Convention also addresses
women's equal right to education and training, health and employment. The
Convention underlines the equal responsibility of women and men in family
life and stresses the social services needed for combining family
responsibilities and participation in public life. The Convention calls for the
introduction of temporary special measures to redress inequalities between
women and men, and special attention is given to rural women and their equal
involvement in development processes. Importantly, the Convention obliges
States parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure that women do not
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experience discrimination in certain areas of private life. Thus States parties

are required to ensure that all contracts and other private instruments which
restrict the legal capacity of women "shall be deemed null and void", while
they are also obliged to take steps to eliminate discriminatory practices in the
family.
17. Certain areas are not addressed by the Convention. It does not include specific
provisions on the group right to self-determination, freedom of association or
information, and participation in trade unions nor does it contain standards
relating to refugee women or women in armed conflict. However, standards in
other instruments, including the Refugee Convention and its Protocol and the
Geneva Conventions and Protocols, are applicable in these contexts.
18. Except for article 6, which requires States parties to take all appropriate
measures to eliminate the exploitation of prostitution and trafficking in
women, the Convention does not address violence against women. General
recommendation 19 of 1992 of the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women indicated that the full implementation of the
Convention requires States parties to take positive measures to eliminate all
forms of violence against women. It also established the links between
violence against women and enjoyment of other rights protected by the
Convention, and put forward a series of specific steps States parties must
introduce in implementation of their treaty obligations. The provisions of
other conventions on the right to life, freedom from slavery, protection
against torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and illegal arrest are
particularly relevant for the human rights of women in custodial situations,
and protection against State violence including illegal detention .General
recommendation no. 19, and the UN Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence Against Women (1993), which provides a comprehensive definition
and set of measures for the prevention and eradication of violence against
women, are useful in closing the gap with regard to international standards on
violence.
19. In instances where the CEDAW Convention is less specific than other
instruments, or does not address certain rights explicitly, such gaps can be
filled by reference to the general non-discrimination clause of other
instruments, and/or their provisions of particular relevance to women, such as
articles 3 of the ICESCR and ICCPR. The general
recommendations/comments and concluding observations of human rights
treaty bodies considerably strengthen a comprehensive human rights
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framework. Efforts at ensuring that general human rights instruments and

mechanisms more fully integrate gender considerations are therefore essential
in achieving implementation of human rights standards and norms that is
sensitive to the needs and experiences of women.
20. ILO Conventions on the protection of women workers are also important for
realizing gender equality, non-discrimination and protection from gender
based exploitation, harassment and violence in the world of work. In addition
to creating legal obligations for States parties, they provide essential guidance
in programming for particular situations of working women.
21. As in the case of other international human rights instruments, courts in
several jurisdictions, including Tanzania, Australia, New Zealand, Botswana,
Nepal and India(14) have drawn on CEDAW to assist in the interpretation of
domestic legal provisions.
22. The consensus documents emanating from global United Nations
conferences, including the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of
the World Conference on Human Rights (1993) and the Beijing Platform for
Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995), are couched in
terms of the UDHR and other international human rights instruments. These
conference documents are directed to the realization of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, civil, cultural, economic, political and social,
including the right to development, for all. As they reflect present political,
economic and social realities, they can provide useful guidance in clarifying
the scope of international human rights standards, and related obligations of
Governments.
23. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action restated that women's
rights are an intrinsic dimension of human rights. It also identified gender-
based violence as a subject of international human rights law. The Beijing
Platform for Action builds on the Vienna results concerning the human rights
of women. Among the critical areas of concern covered in the Platform
are human rights of women , violence against women , and women and
armed conflict The full range of rights is addressed in other sections of the
document, in particular in areas such as women and the economy , women
and poverty , women and health , and the girl child . The International
Conference on Population and Development (1994, Cairo) and the World
Summit for Social Development (1995, Copenhagen) also integrate human
rights in general, and gender equality as a human right.
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B. SOME CRITICAL ISSUES RELATING TO THE SCOPE

AND APPLICATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
24. International human rights law has introduced a people centred dimension
to international law. Concerned with the relations between Governments and
their own subjects, it represents a body of rights and obligations, guaranteed
to those subjects. Guaranteed rights are reinforced by international
mechanisms of monitoring and supervision, including human rights treaty
bodies, which seek to ensure governmental accountability for implementation
at the national level.
25. Human rights are often described as non-communitarian and individualistic,
but the UDHR and the two Covenants place the rights of the individual within
the context of family and community, rather than as an entity that is isolated
or antagonistic to the community. The realization of human rights is
perceived as both an individual right, and a community interest and
commitment. The need to balance individual rights and the role of the State is
recognized, and none of these entities are considered to have an exclusive role
in realizing the human rights agenda. Indeed the concept of limitation and
derogation of rights to preserve public order or public
welfare introduces this communitarian dimension. However the balance
suggests that neither governmental power or communitarian interest can
justify the denial of the core importance of the dignity and rights of the
individual human being. The balance between conflicting interests of State
and community must be retained within the objective of realizing the core
rights recognized in international human rights law.
26. Human rights are frequently misconceived as constituting only civil and
political rights, with infringement of rights perceived as a matter of law and
adversarial legal procedures. Often, rights are associated with the notion of
negative action by State and protection . Human
rights and protection are distinguished from the social-welfare centred
delivery of services which seek to satisfy basic needs such as food, health
and education. Inevitably international development agencies have debated
whether to adopt a service delivery `welfare' approach, or a `human rights'
based approach which focuses on infringement of rights. Since they have
been traditionally working in the area of service delivery, they sometimes see
a shift to a human rights approach as ignoring basic needs and therefore
counterproductive. The development debate has often juxtaposed the `basic
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needs' or `basic rights' discourse, or the `humanitarian assistance' or `human

rights' approach in relation to work in conflict zones.
27. However, the notion of sustainable development does not polarize human
rights, basic needs, and humanitarian assistance. Eradication of illiteracy and
achievement of high standards of health, participation of women and their
empowerment so that they can fulfil their roles in the community,
environmental protection, and respect for human rights are all aspects of
sustainable development. While `human rights' are sometimes referred to,
mistakenly, as one dimension of sustainable development, respect for social
and economic rights, such as to education and health, as well as rights of
gender equality, non-discrimination and environmental protection are now
recognized as dimensions of human rights.
28. Nevertheless, critics of current developments in international law, and the
new holistic vision of human rights, continue to argue that economic
development requires the satisfaction of `needs' in an environment where
individual human rights must give way to community welfare. They argue
that an aggressive and adversarial agenda of individual claims and rights
undermines economic growth, destabilizes harmonious social relations and
the capacity of individuals to interact on the basis of their responsibilities and
duties in the community. `Rights-based societies' are sharply contrasted with
`duty-based societies.' Asian and African societies are then said to have their
own concept of human equality and fundamental duties which challenge the
basic assumptions that individuals have rights and claims on Governments
and the community. Human rights are criticized as Eurocentric Western
values, particularly because human rights are often associated exclusively
with civil and political rights.
29. These criticisms impact on approaches to gender equality. There is invariably
a consensus that women and men should be provided with equal life chances
through policy programmes that focus on poverty alleviation, equal access to
health and education, and opportunities for self-employment, access to credit
and economic empowerment. However, there is an unwillingness to adopt a
holistic approach to infringement of bodily security and gender based
discrimination in a society, or address complex problems in regard to gender
roles and relationships and their impact in imposing disadvantages upon
women because of their sex.
30. Bilateral and multilateral agencies working at the national level sometimes
find it difficult to integrate a rights-based approach into their work. There is
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sometimes a perception that the cause of human rights in general, and gender
equality in particular, can be advanced as well, or even better by a social
welfare-oriented `basic needs' approach that also impacts on the quality of life
of people in general, and women in particular. Programmes by a consortium
of international agencies may be developed to ensure that women receive
humanitarian assistance in conflict areas or obtain access to services. Such
programmes may hesitate to integrate aspects that are likely to be
controversial or perceived as `politically sensitive,' because they raise `human
rights' issues, such as discrimination or gender-based violence. For instance,
an agency may have a programme on providing girls and women access to
education, or adequate pre-natal and post-natal care, without addressing the
issues of forced and early marriage, gang rape by law enforcement authorities
or custodial violence.
31. However, the advantage of a human rights-based approach to development
and governance including the realisation of gender equality, is that it
encourages an inherently holistic vision of outcomes. It encourages people-
centred and sustainable development approaches to planning and decision
making, on the assumption that respect for individual human rights, dignity
and gender equality must be the foundation of any civil, political,
social and economic agenda. It thus provides a framework that encourages
programming which takes account of the dynamics of civil and political, and
socio-economic rights, and the need to find solutions that strike a balance so
as to achieve the overall objectives of realising human rights. A rights-based
approach adds a different dimension to service delivery for satisfaction of
basic needs and humanitarian assistance. Since achievement of gender
equality is a critical aspect of any human rights agenda, opportunities for
mutual reinforcement need to be clearly understood so that the two agendas
can be pursued in tandem.
(A) RIGHTS-HOLDERS AND DUTY-HOLDERS
32. Human rights create entitlements for rights-holders. Unlike other societal
aspirations or claims, human rights carry not only moral force, but also legal
validity. They create obligations for duty-holders to act to enable rights-
holders to exercise the rights to which they are entitled. They also require
duty-holders to ensure the fulfilment of these rights. Human rights obligations
require that actions - of a legislative, administrative, or policy/programme
nature - be assessed in light of the obligation to protect and promote human
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rights. Actions that fail to support the realization of human rights are not in
accordance with obligations resulting from a human rights perspective. While
the State has a margin of discretion in choosing types of actions and
measures, the implementation of obligations is not a matter of the good faith
of the State, but constitutes a legal obligation for which the State is
accountable to the international community.
33. The Charter places human rights within a system of international co-
operation. This implies that national borders put no limits to human rights but
that by their very nature, human rights represent transboundary values. It also
entails that human rights are a legitimate concern of the international
community, entitling it to raise such issues when human rights are in
jeopardy.
34. Treaties usually create monitoring Committees or treaty bodies, to which
States parties must regularly report on their progress in implementing their
treaty obligations. The growing participation of NGOs in these monitoring
processes is creating greater ownership of civil society in monitoring human
rights implementation.
C. THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY
35. The recognition of the status of civil society in monitoring the implementation
of human rights reinforces the understanding of individuals as rights-holders.
This includes their right to participate actively, freely and meaningfully in the
formulation of national human rights and development policies. The right to
participation takes on particular force for those who remain, or have
historically been marginalized. Indeed the general human rights norms
relating to freedom of association and freedom of speech are critical for the
women's human rights agenda so as to strengthen their ability to participate
freely and meaningfully in the decisions that affect their enjoyment of all their
human rights. Women's groups need to link with human rights groups in order
to bridge both the human rights and the development agenda. Such links have
intrinsic impact on the capacity of women's groups to engage in activism to
realize gender equality as a rights issue in development. The activism of
international NGOs networking with local NGOs has helped to promote
incorporation of international human rights norms into national law, policy
and into public debate.
D. CHALLENGES TO A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO GENDER EQUALITY
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36. Challenges to the rights-based approach are inherent in the structure of

international human rights law as it addresses mainly relations between the
individual and the State and its agents, rather than relations among
individuals. A second challenge lies in the fact that realization of various
equally valid rights inevitably creates situations of conflicts between them.
These two issues will be addressed in turn.
WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS
Despite the fact that international law guarantees women and men equal rights in the
enjoyment of all human rights, women and girls continue to face de jure (in law) and de facto
(in practice) inequalities in virtually all societies. In addition, armed conflict and natural
disasters often exacerbate discrimination and inequalities, further impeding progress towards
gender equality and the full enjoyment by women of their human rights. Humanitarian
assistance and protection during armed conflicts and natural disasters should contribute to
achieving equality and women’s human rights. The involvement of men and boys as partners
in empowering women and girls and achieving gender equality is also of crucial importance.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) was adopted in 1979 to reinforce the provisions of existing international
instruments aiming to eliminate discrimination against women and achieve gender equality.
To date, it has been ratified by 183 States. Despite being the subject of more reservations than
any other human rights treaty, the significant number of ratifications is expression that the
international community considers that discrimination against half the world’s population is
unacceptable and should be eliminated. UN and other actors should build on — and promote
— this international legal consensus in their work during conflicts and disasters.
CEDAW defines discrimination against women 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, civil or any other field.” It imposes obligations on States
to, inter alia, embody the principle of equality of women and men in their national
constitutions and legislation; adopt legislative and other measures prohibiting discrimination
against women; effectively protect women against any act of discrimination and provide
opportunities for recourse; take measures to modify social and cultural patterns that contribute
to discrimination against women; suppress prostitution and trafficking of women; and ensure
equality in political and public life, nationality laws, education, employment and labour rights,
access to health, finance and social security, legal and civil matters and family law. It permits
States to adopt temporary special measures to achieve equality.
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While CEDAW does not address the gender-based violence that is often widespread
in crisis situations, the Committee that monitors the Convention’s implementation has
addressed the issue in its General Recommendation No. 19 and jurisprudence, opining that
“the definition of discrimination includes gender-based violence, that is, 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. The International Criminal Tribunals for the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda have prosecuted crimes of sexual violence, thereby providing legal
precedents for protecting women and combating impunity for violations of their rights. The
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) explicitly recognizes that, under
specified circumstances, sexual violence constitutes an international crime.
In addition to the human rights treaties, several UN resolutions and world conferences
have sought to strengthen the protection and promotion of women’s human rights. These
include the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which affirmed the universality of
women’s rights as human rights, stressed the importance of eliminating violence against
women and especially recognized violence against women in armed conflict as a violation of
human rights and humanitarian law. The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women furthermore emphasized that violence against women and girls is not only a
grievous human rights abuse in itself, but also a serious impediment to the realization of many
other rights for women and girls. The 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women included
strategic objectives to address the impact of armed conflict on women.
Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) also reiterated that civilians, particularly
women and children, account for the vast majority of those negatively affected by conflict and
called for measures to ensure that women are more equally represented in all stages of peace
processes. It furthermore called on all parties to armed conflict to fully respect international
law applicable to the rights and protection of civilian women and girls, in particular the four
Geneva Conventions of 1949 and two Additional Protocols of 1977, the Refugee Convention
of 1951 and Protocol of 1967, the human rights instruments, including CEDAW and its
Optional Protocol of 1999, and the CRC and its two Optional Protocols of 2000. The Council
cautioned all parties to armed conflict to bear in mind the relevant provisions of the Rome
Statute. The crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes fall within the
jurisdiction of the ICC, which can hold individuals criminally responsible and punishable for
committing acts amounting to these crimes.
INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORKS ON VAW
There are a number of international frameworks which set out internationally agreed
norms and standards in relation to VAW, some of which are legally binding. Some of the most
prominent ones are set out in the table below; however other frameworks do exist that can be
used to protect women against VAW.
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Title Date Description/Significance

Convention on the Elimination 1979  International bill of rights for women
of All Forms of established
Discrimination against  VAW not explicitly mentioned, but
Women (CEDAW) General Recommendations 12 & 19
clarified that states should report on
VAW.
 Legally binding.
Vienna Declaration and 1993  Agreed at World Conference on
Platform for Action Human Rights
 Recognized elimination of VAW in
public and private life as a human
rights obligation
Declaration on the Elimination 1993  Recognised that VAW violates
of Violence Against Women women's rights and fundamental
freedoms
 Called on states and international
community to act to eradicate VAW.
Beijing Platform and 1995  4th UN World Conference listed
Declaration for Action VAW as a critical area of concern.
Agenda 2030 and Sustainable 2015  VAWG included in SDG5 on Gender
Development Goals (SDGs) Equality
 2 targets on ending violence &
harmful practice
CHILDREN’S HUMAN RIGHTS
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides a comprehensive
framework of children’s rights, as well as mechanisms of accountability. The Convention
recognizes children’s right to be free from abuse and neglect, sexual exploitation, trafficking,
abduction, torture, deprivation of liberty and other forms of maltreatment at all times, and
provides for special protections during times of conflict.
The Rome Statute of the ICC defines the “most serious crimes of international
concern” to come under the ICC and classifies rape and other forms of sexual violence,
recruitment or use of children under the age of 15 into armed groups and attacks against
schools as war crimes. In addition, the International Labour Organization’s Convention 182
declares child soldiering to be one of the worst forms of child labour and prohibits forced or
compulsory recruitment of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict. The Optional
Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict sets 18 as the age limit
for compulsory recruitment and participation in hostilities. The optional protocol also requires
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that States parties shall provide all appropriate assistance to children for their physical and
psychological recovery and their social reintegration.
These instruments, together with the relevant provisions of the Geneva Conventions,
the Genocide Convention, the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, the 1951 Refugee Convention, the1967
Protocol protecting refugee children and several Security Council Resolutions (1261, 1314,
1379, 1412, 1460, 1539, 1612), constitute a strong and comprehensive body of legal
instruments which provide standards on the protection of children affected by armed conflict
and emergencies. In addition, Security Council Resolution 1612 establishes a UN monitoring
mechanism on the use of child soldiers and other violations against children affected by armed
conflict.
Save the Children has identified seven critical types of protection that children require
in disaster areas and war zones:
 protection from physical harm;
 protection from exploitation and gender-based violence;
 protection from psycho-social distress;
 protection from recruitment into armed groups;
 protection from family separation;
 protection from abuses related to forced displacement;
 protection from denial of children’s access to quality education.
Protection needs and the methods to address them may be different for girls and boys. A
gender analysis is therefore critical to designing and implementing appropriate child
protection programmes.
For example, special measures for girls should be taken into account when developing
release and reintegration programmes for children formerly used or recruited by armed forces
or groups. In many conflicts, gender-based violence against women and girls is endemic. Girls
who have been recruited and used by armed forces and groups in many contexts are likely to
have been victims of such violence. Girls may be forced to provide sexual services, which is a
less common problem for boys. Girls may also take on other roles in armed forces or groups,
for example as fighters, cooks, porters or spies. The Cape Town Principles and Best Practices
on the Recruitment of Children into the Armed Forces include girls recruited for sexual
purposes and forced marriage in its definition of child soldiers, making the case that
demobilization and social reintegration efforts must include children who have been part of
the armed forces without carrying arms.
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Girls may also, as evidenced in Nepal, take on decisionmaking roles and leadership
positions that upon return to their communities are ignored or undervalued. Girls are also more
likely to be ignored or excluded from advocacy and other initiatives to secure children’s return
to civilian life. Proactive measures therefore are required to ensure the full involvement and
inclusion of girls in all aspects of prevention, release and reintegration; services provided must
respond to their specific needs for protection and assistance, including the needs of pregnant
girls, girl mothers and the needs of their children.
Addressing these and other child protection concerns, UNICEF uses the protective
environment as a conceptual framework for understanding protection and assisting in
programming. A protective environment is one where everyone — from children, families and
health workers to governments and the private sector — lives up to their responsibilities to
ensure that children are protected from abuse, violence and exploitation. It focuses on eight
key areas:
 attitudes, traditions, customs, behaviour and practices;
 governmental commitment to fulfilling protection rights;
 open discussion and engagement with child protection issues;
 protective legislation and enforcement;
 the capacity to protect among those around children;
 children’s life skills, knowledge and participation;
 monitoring and reporting of child protection issues; and
 services for recovery and reintegration.
Children are at the centre of the protective environment since they play both an active role
in their own protection and as advocates for the protection of others. The creation of a
protective environment that takes gender into account involves activities to prevent and/or
alleviate the immediate effects of abuse; to restore adequate living conditions; and to promote
the rights of children.

INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

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International humanitarian law (IHL) is the body of international law that protects
persons not or no longer taking part in hostilities, that is civilians, wounded, sick, shipwrecked
and captured combatants, and which regulates the means and methods of warfare. It is
applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts and is binding on States,
armed opposition groups and troops participating in multilateral peacekeeping and
peaceenforcement operations if they take part in the hostilities.
Today the principal instruments of IHL are the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and
their two Additional Protocols of 1977, as well as numerous conventions restricting or
prohibiting the use of specific weapons. IHL establishes mechanisms to ensure that the rules
are respected, provides for the individual criminal responsibility of persons for violations that
they commit or order to be committed, and requires States to prosecute persons suspected of
serious violations.IHL provides a two-tiered protection regime for women, namely, general
protection, which applies to women and men equally, be they combatants or civilians, and
specific additional protections that attempt to respond to the particular needs of women.
GENERAL PROTECTION
 Principle of non-discrimination: One of the basic tenets of IHL is that the
protection and guarantees it lays down must be granted to all without
discrimination.
 Principle of humane treatment: IHL requires belligerents to provide “humane
treatment” to civilians, captured combatants and other persons “hors de combat.”
These norms — similar to human rights provisions — lay down minimum
standards of treatment, conditions of deprivation of liberty and fundamental
guarantees that parties to a conflict must grant to everyone within their control.
 Principle of distinction and protection of the civilian population against the
effects of hostilities: IHL requires parties to an armed conflict to distinguish
between civilians and combatants at all times and to only direct attacks against
combatants and military objectives. In addition, IHL also prohibits indiscriminate
attacks that, although not targeting civilians, might strike military objectives and
civilians or civilian objects without distinction. A number of rules of IHL stem
from the general principle that civilians must be spared from the effects of
hostilities.
 Restrictions and prohibitions on the use of specific weapons: The principle of
distinction set out above prohibits parties to a conflict from employing weapons
incapable of distinguishing between combatants and civilians. The lasting effect of
weapons on civilians is also a consideration that may lead to the restriction or
prohibition of the use of certain weapons, such as antipersonnel mines. IHL also
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prohibits the use of weapons or methods of warfare of a nature to cause

superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.
SPECIFIC PROTECTION
The specific protection regime for women under IHL relates primarily to women’s
distinct health, hygiene and physiological needs and role as mothers. The aim of these specific
provisions is to provide additional protection for women in response to their particular medical
and physiological needs, and for considerations of privacy.
PROTECTION AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE
IHL expressly protects women against rape through Article 27(2) of the 4th Geneva
Convention, which reads: “Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their
honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault.”
Since the word honour did not reflect the full brutality of the act of sexual violence, which is
not merely an attack on a woman’s modesty or chastity, but on her physical and psychological
well-being, the Additional Protocols replaced it with the term “dignity.” In addition, it is well
established that sexual violence falls within the prohibitions of cruel treatment or torture in the
Geneva Conventions.
WOMEN DEPRIVED OF THEIR LIBERTY
IHL contains specific protections for women deprived of their liberty, requiring
separate quarters and sanitary conveniences for women (unless women and men are
accommodated together as members of the same family) and stipulating that women must be
held under the immediate supervision of female guards. Sex is also considered a relevant
consideration in the determination of disciplinary punishment and in the labour of prisoners of
war.
EXPECTANT MOTHERS AND MATERNITY CASES
A range of provisions deal with expectant mothers, maternity cases and mothers of
children under 7 years old. Interned expectant and nursing mothers are to be given additional
food in proportion to their physiological needs and interned maternity cases have a right to be
admitted to institutions where they can receive adequate medical treatment. In terms of
physical safety, parties to armed conflict are encouraged to adopt practices to ensure the
physical safety of pregnant women by establishing safety zones for pregnant women and
mothers of young children or by concluding agreements for the evacuation of maternity cases.
PRESERVATION OF FAMILY LINKS
Women are the main initiators of requests for news of family members, bearing the
emotional and economic burden of missing loved ones. Such women often lack a clear legal
status under national law — not being recognized by the law either as wives or widows — and
may have no right to access pensions or other entitlements. In an attempt, inter alia, to address
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such issues, IHL seeks to preserve and restore family unity by preventing the separation of
family members against their will, requiring the adoption of measures that facilitate family
reunification and laying down measures aimed at facilitating the reestablishment of family ties
through correspondence and transmission of information.
INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE LAW
International refugee law is the branch of law that deals with the rights and protection
of refugees. The main principles of refugee law are set out in the 1951 Convention relating to
the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, which sets out the general definition of a refugee
and guarantees refugees a number of rights specific to their status. Other important
instruments include regional refugee instruments, the Statute of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Conclusions of its Executive Committee (ExCom).
While gender is not specifically mentioned in refugee law it is widely accepted that
the refugee definition, when properly interpreted, covers gender-related claims. The 1951
Convention defines a refugee as someone who is outside his or her country of origin or
habitual residence and is unable or unwilling to return there owing to a wellfounded fear of
persecution on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social
group or political opinion. An expanded definition is used by UNHCR under its mandate and
in some regional treaties, including also persons who flee their country because their lives,
safety or freedom have been threatened by conflict, generalized violence or events seriously
disturbing public order. Gender can both influence and dictate the type of harm suffered.
While women, girls, boys and men will often suffer similar harm, women and girls are
often the main targets of violence and abuse because of their gender. For example, women and
girls are more likely to suffer rape and other forms of gender-related violence, such as dowry-
related violence, coerced family planning, female genital mutilation, family/domestic violence
and trafficking. Such acts, whether perpetrated by a State or non-State actor, can support a
claim to refugee status.
Asylum claims may also be based on discriminatory acts amounting to persecution,
persecution on account of one’s sexual orientation and trafficking for the purposes of forced
prostitution or sexual exploitation. In other cases, an individual refusing to adhere to socially
or culturally defined roles and mores may face persecution.
The 1951 Convention guarantees refugee women, girls, boys and men a range of
rights and freedoms and stipulates the treatment they are entitled to by the country of asylum.
These include:
 the right to seek asylum;
 the right not to be returned to a country where the refugee’s life or freedom would
be in danger (non-refoulement);
 the right to non-discrimination;
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 the right to documentation and to access work and education; and

 the right to freedom of movement, to access courts and practise one’s religion.
In addition, Conclusions adopted by UNHCR’s ExCom articulate a number of principles
to be followed and measures to be taken by ExCom Member States as well as UNHCR to
enhance the protection of displaced and returnee women and girls. Some of the
Conclusions focus specifically on the protection of women and girls, while others focus on
specific themes, such as preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence.

Humanitarian and human rights workers working with refugees and asylum-seekers
play an important role in identifying, preventing and responding to gender-related
protection risks. This may include: ensuring that asylum procedures are gender sensitive;
guaranteeing that those suffering violations have access to and/or are referred to the
proper authorities, whether national agencies, international organizations, such as
UNHCR, or non-governmental partners; assuring the provision of counselling and medical
care as the circumstances require; preserving evidence and the confidentiality of any
information; and ensuring proper follow-up of the case by the relevant authorities,
agencies, guardians and legal representatives. In particularly serious cases, women and
girls may need to be assisted in relocating within the country or resettling in a third
country in order to ensure their safety.
Chapter 3

Gender-based violence as a human rights issue

“Gender based violence and all forms of sexual harassment

and exploitation including those resulting from cultural
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prejudices, international trafficking are incompatible with the

dignity and worth of human person and must be eliminated.”
--- VienaDeclration
World Conference on Human Rights
June, 1993
Genderbased violence is a phenomenon deeply rooted in gender inequality, and
continues to be one of the most notable human rights violations within all societies. Gender-
based violence is violence directed against a person because of their gender. Both women and
men experience gender-based violence but the majority of victims are women and girls.
Gender-based violence and violence against women are terms that are often used
interchangeably as it has been widely acknowledged that most gender-based violence is
inflicted on women and girls, by men. However, using the ‘gender-based’ aspect is important
as it highlights the fact that many forms of violence against women are rooted in power
inequalities between women and men. The terms are used interchangeably throughout EIGE’s
work, reflecting the disproportionate number of these particular crimes against women.

FORMS OF VIOLENCE
Gender-based violence is enacted under many different manifestations, from its most
widespread form, intimate partner violence, to acts of violence carried out in online spaces.
These different forms are not mutually exclusive and multiple incidences of violence can be
happening at once and reinforcing each other. Inequalities experienced by a person related to
their race, (dis)ability, age, social class, religion, sexuality can also drive acts of violence. This
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means that while women face violence and discrimination based on gender, some women
experience multiple and interlocking forms of violence.
The Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe, Convention on preventing and
combating violence against women and domestic violence), defines violence against women
as falling under four key forms: physical, sexual, psychological and economic.
EIGE has produced and uses uniform definitions of these forms of violence, which
encourage comprehensive understanding of what falls under the scope of gender-based
violence. For current statistical data on these forms of gender-based violence please
check EIGE’s Gender-Statistics Database.
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE
Any act which causes physical harm as a result of unlawful physical force. Physical
violence can take the form of, among others, serious and minor assault, deprivation of
liberty and manslaughter.
SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Any sexual act performed on an individual without their consent. Sexual violence can
take the form of rape or sexual assault.
PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE
Any act which causes psychological harm to an individual. Psychological violence
can take the form of, for example, coercion, defamation, verbal insult or harassment.
ECONOMIC VIOLENCE
Any act or behaviour which causes economic harm to an individual. Economic
violence can take the form of, for example, property damage, restricting access to
financial resources, education or the labour market, or not complying with economic
responsibilities, such as alimony.
It is also important to recognize that gender-based violence may be normalized and
reproduced due to structural inequalities, such as societal norms, attitudes and stereotypes
around gender generally and violence against women specifically. Therefore, it is important to
acknowledge structural or institutional violence, which can be defined as the subordination of
women in economic, social and political life, when attempting to explain the prevalence of
violence against women within our societies.
IMPACT OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
When a woman has been subjected to gender-based violence, it has short and long-
term consequences for her physical, mental and sexual and reproductive health. Injuries,
unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and gynecological disorders, as well
as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and even self-harm are only some of the
impacts of violence that survivors may face. For example, survivors of intimate partner
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violence have a twofold increased risk of undergoing an induced abortion, and are 50 per cent
more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection or HIV.
Gender-based violence is not only a violation of individual women’s and girls’ rights.
The impunity enjoyed by perpetrators, and the fear generated by their actions, has an effect on
all women and girls. It also takes a toll on a global level, stunting the contributions women
and girls can make to international development, peace and progress.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND WOMEN: A NEW SET OF ISSUES
Human rights, defined here as a group of ethical principles having a legal dimension,
arise out of the need of each and every individual to enjoy the conditions essential for a decent
life. These rights have been structured through a long process of change over the last two
centuries. Although it is impossible to establish a linear historical sequence in the
identification of these rights, an analysis of the history of debates on the question in
international bodies shows that civil and political rights may be regarded as corresponding to
the "first generation" of human rights; social, economic and cultural rights to the "second
generation", and the right to peace, development and a healthy environment to the "third
generation", while the rights of peoples represent a "fourth generation".
In recent years, as part of this evolution, a concept of human rights has been
developing that calls into question the universal validity of androcentrism and of the model of
Western man. This has led to an awareness of the need to have regard for the specific
characteristics of individuals, whether in terms of gender, ethnic origin, age or any other trait.
The recognition of this heterogeneity does not lead to the fragmentation or atomization of the
human condition; on the contrary, it contributes to a true universalization of individuals and
human rights based on the principle of pluralism and respect for differences and diversity.
At this time, it is imperative to analyse the question of human rights and genderbased
violence against women from a perspective that offers the possibility of cultural change. To do
so, it must be borne in mind that this issue is directly related to the unequal distribution of
power in society and that radical changes are therefore needed in this area. The type of social
change which demands that women's rights be upheld should cast women —with all their
different ways of thinking, feeling and acting— as leading actors in this process of change.
Their historical and day-to-day experiences should be taken into account in this substantive
reformulation of human rights, since the definition and application of these rights must not be
separated from people's daily lives.
The democratization processes now under way in Latin America and the Caribbean,
after a period marked by numerous human rights violations, are shaping a broader social base
for greater awareness, repudiation and solidarity in relation to these events. The process of
democratizing gender relations is still in its early stages, however, although there is an
increasing recognition of the need to move beyond the patterns whereby women occupy
positions inferior or subordinate to men. The way aggression against women is conceptualized
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also has to be changed, and women's right to live without violence has to be recognized. In our
countries, this implies an acknowledgement of the following:
1) that respect for human rights is an indispensable requisite for the development
and full exercise of citizenship, and
2) that there are serious conflicts — conflicts that have to be resolved— between
individual and collective rights and between the principle of equality and the
right to be different.
Although human rights violations affect men as well as women, their impact and character
clearly change according to the sex of the victim. Moreover, most of the 8 violations of the
rights of women and the discrimination and abuse to which women are subjected are
specifically attributable to their sex. Despite the existence of such factors as ethnic origin,
social class, sexual preference, disabilities and political and religious affiliation which are
factors in the victimization of women, generally speaking, every act of aggression perpetrated
against a woman has some characteristic or other that identifies it as gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence is defined as violence that reflects the existing asymmetry in the
power relations between men and women and that perpetuates the subordination and
devaluation of the female as opposed to the male. This violence exists within the framework
of the patriarchy as a symbolic system that engenders an array of day-to-day practices which
deny women their rights and reproduce the existing imbalance and inequity between the sexes.
The difference between this kind of violence and other forms of aggression and coercion lies
in the fact that in this case the risk factor or source of vulnerability is the mere fact of being a
woman.
Throughout history, various forms of violence have manifested themselves in society
as a consequence of certain sectors' or groups' domination over others. In this context, gender-
based violence is a key social mechanism for perpetuating the subordination of women, since
male hegemony —power being considered the generic patrimony of men (Amorós, 1990)— is
based on social control over women. Therefore, violations of women's human rights are
directly or indirectly related to the gender system and to mainstream cultural values.
The violation of women's rights and gender-based violence are not new problems;
they arise out of attitudes which, until very recently, were socially acceptable and, since they
were generally limited to the sphere of private life, were little known. Nevertheless, it is clear
that the racial mix (mestizaje) of Latin America and the Caribbean is founded upon a
paradigm that has its roots in the rape of indigenous women. Historical studies in some
countries show that physical violence or brutality committed by men against their wives was
an accepted fact in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and that violence was accepted as a
"punitive correction" in cases where women did not comply with social mandates (Cavieres
and Salinas, 1991).
What is new is a concern for women who suffer physical, sexual or psychological
aggression in the family, at work or in educational institutions. The problem is perceived
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somewhat differently today, as society begins to question, at an essential level, the

consubstantiality between violence and gender relations, and as a negative attitude towards
violence, in any of its manifestations in social life, becomes increasingly widespread.
Forms of gender-based violence which, depending on the relational and power
structures in operation, regarded as criminal acts include rape, incest, sexual harassment in the
workplace and in educational institutions, sexual violence against detained or imprisoned
women, violence against displaced women and trafficking in women. However, in the region
these expressions of extreme violence have not been widely studied, and, for the most part,
little or no research is being done on these issues. The most widely recognized problem is
domestic gender-based violence. This study devotes special attention to this issue in view of
the important institutional initiatives undertaken in this area, the substantial changes that have
been introduced in the relevant legislation, and the collective actions that have been
coordinated by women to address the problem.
Only a small proportion of the acts of violence that affect the lives of women in our
countries is reported, but the studies that have been done indicate that such violence is
common. In the region, systematic research on domestic violence began in the second half of
the 1980s and has provided a good deal of information and analysis. This has provided some
idea of the magnitude of the problem and has made the issue an object of public and
governmental concern, although the degree of awareness differs from one social sector to
another. However, these studies usually suffer from certain limitations: generally speaking,
they reflect biased perspectives, most are descriptive or exploratory, and there is still a lack of
coordination and a failure to observe common methodological standards, which makes it
difficult to compare their findings or extrapolate from their results.
There have also been a great variety of actions to prevent violence and provide
attention and support to its victims, but such steps are usually taken without benefit of
coordination and with limited resources, and have differing basic orientations. Consensus
baseline analysis and methodological criteria are also lacking, so no comparable figures have
become available to serve as a basis for policy-making. Follow-up and assessments of the
projects undertaken, using accepted valid procedures, would provide more systematized and
conclusive data.
The complexity of the relationships between men and women and of their causes and
effects, the different forms of discrimination, the stereotypes that perpetuate them, and the
violation of women's human rights are not limited to the problem of violence. Nonetheless, the
various dimensions of social inequity cannot be analysed without considering this fact as a
dramatic expression of gender-based inequality and asymmetry.
EVOLUTION OF THE ISSUE OF "GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE"
Over the past few decades, gender-based violence has increasingly come to be
recognized as a serious problem at the international level, not only for women but also for the
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attainment of equality, development and peace (United Nations, 1986a). The issue has also
become a priority for women's organizations in the region and a subject for feminist thought
during the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace (1976-
1985), and in recent years Governments in the region have also begun to devote attention to
the issue.
Although in 1979 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,3 which incorporated women
into the sphere of human rights, that instrument did no more than to touch on the problem of
violence against women. One of its defects is precisely the lack of a clear definition of gender-
based violence. Specific concern for this problem began to manifest itself in 1980, when the
World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and
Peace, held in Copenhagen, adopted the resolution on "Battered women and violence in the
family". Likewise, paragraph 288 of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the
Advancement of Women (1985), issued by the Third World Conference, calls for specific
measures to deal with violence against women.
Since that time, the United Nations has organized meetings of groups of experts on
violence against women and has taken steps to bring the issue to the attention of the
Commission on the Status of Women, the Economic and Social Council, the Division for the
Advancement of Women, the United Nations Statistical Office and the Committee on Crime
Prevention and Control. In 1989, the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women recommended that member States report on violence against women and the measures
adopted at the governmental level to eradicate it.
At the Expert Group Meeting on Violence against Women held in 1991, it was
determined that the existing instruments did not give due consideration to gender-based
violence and that a specific definition of this crime was lacking. In the opinion of the group,
the absence of a clear definition hindered the effective application of international human
rights regulations aimed at solving this problem (United Nations, 1991a, b, and c).
Accordingly, the expert group produced a draft declaration on the elimination of violence
against women which was analysed in depth by the Commission on the Status of Women at its
thirty-sixth session with a view to its adoption by the General Assembly.
At the region level, pursuant to the resolution entitled "Women and violence" adopted
at the Fifth Regional Conference on the Integration of Women into the Economic and Social
Development of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, 1991b) and General Assembly
resolution 45/114 on domestic violence (United Nations, 1990), the documents and policy
recommendations issued by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC) have characterized the problem of gender-based violence as one of the obstacles
that must be overcome in order to improve the status of women in the countries of the region
and achieve development with social equity.
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Women's groups in the region have carried out a variety of activities to promote
respect for women's human rights. This process intensified during the preparations for the
United Nations World Conference on Human rights, held in Vienna in June 1993. At that
Conference, the women's movement proposed that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
include specific references to gender-based violence and that the Declaration be reformulated
from the gender perspective, which is not limited to the situation of women but rather
encompasses all of society.
For their part, in the San José Declaration on Human Rights, which was adopted at the
conclusion of the Regional Meeting for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World
Conference on Human Rights held in January 1993 in Costa Rica, the Governments of Latin
America and the Caribbean reiterated that the State should give priority to actions that
promote respect for women's rights, their participation in national life under equal conditions,
the eradication of all forms of hidden or open discrimination, and especially the elimination of
gender-based violence.
The resolutions adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights emphasize the
importance of ensuring that women are able to enjoy the highest possible level of physical and
mental health throughout their lives and, to that end, recognize their right to accessible and
adequate health care, a broad range of family planning services, equal access to all educational
levels on an equal footing, and to a life free of violence. One of the achievements made
possible by the proposals put forward by the women's movement of Latin America and the
Caribbean was the inclusion in the final declaration issued by the Conference of a
recommendation that a Special Rapporteur should be designated to report on the status of the
situation as regards violence against women in all the countries of the world. In November
1993, the forty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly established that post.
Recently, two new international instruments have been proposed which would
recognize that all forms of gender-based violence are human rights violations: declaration
48/104 of the United Nations General Assembly on the elimination of violence against
women4 and an inter-American convention on the prevention, punishment and eradication of
violence against women, which has been proposed by the Organization of American States
through its Inter-American Commission of Women (IACW).
The Declaration recognizes the urgent need to extend to women the rights and
principles concerning the equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of all human beings.
Article 1 defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in,
or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in
public or private life". Article 2 states that "violence against women shall be understood to
encompass, but not be limited to, the following: (a) Physical, sexual and psychological
violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the
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household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other
traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to
exploitation; (b) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general
community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in
educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution; (c)
Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it
occurs" (United Nations, 1994).
In summary, progress has been made mainly in two areas: dissemination of
information about violence against women and violations of their human rights, and the
consideration of their interests and demands in United Nations instruments for the protection
and promotion of human rights.
This growing international recognition of the problem is due to greater awareness at
the world level of the rights of women and to the work of such organizations as the Latin
American and Caribbean Network against Sexual and Domestic Violence,5 which have
repeatedly said that gender-based violence is a priority issue for women the world over.
Thanks to these efforts, the defenseless situation of victims is gradually changing and, today,
most of the countries of the region have laws that defend women and places where they can
seek shelter, support and assistance. Governments6 and nongovernmental organizations are
also organizing information and sensitization campaigns that help to make the problem known
and offer various informational and preventive measures.
The media, too, are more open to publishing articles denouncing gender-based
violence, editorials concerning the issue and the conclusions of studies on the subject. Gender-
based violence is no longer reserved for the news sections devoted to sensationalist police
reports. Other sections of newspapers carry women's viewpoints, although there is still no
critical reflection on the responsibility of the media as regards the reproduction and
perpetuation of violence against women and the dominant gender system.
Professionals and students of various specializations are also showing more interest in
the problem. The academic world has been slow to study the causes, consequences and
characteristics of gender-based violence, but the fact that it is now doing so is an important
advance. In 1989, the National University of Buenos Aires established a degree programme
focusing on family violence, and post-graduate courses on gender are given in universities in a
number of countries, including Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Venezuela.
Even though public debate and dialogue on the issue have become more widespread
and are delving more deeply into the problem, Governments still lack a defined policy for
combating and preventing gender-based violence in all its forms. Despite the limitations that
still exist, over the last decade there has clearly been an increasing awareness and social
consciousness about problems affecting women. This is reflected in the existence of a greater
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concern about gender-based violence, especially at the international level, and the activities
that have been carried out in the countries.
1. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AS A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
Women enjoy the same rights and freedoms as men, and autonomy, under the terms of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In addition to
respect for the rights enshrined in these instruments, voices have been raised in Latin America
and the Caribbean calling for the recognition of the specific contextualized rights of women.
For example, they demand the right to be agents and beneficiaries of development, in view of
the intensification of social inequality and the impact of the crisis, the social cost of structural
adjustment policies and the limitations of social policies in compensating for the effects of
economic changes. They also demand the right to participate socially and politically within the
framework of an equitable form of development that gives decision-making power to
everyone. Reproductive rights are also called for, with such rights being understood to include
a woman's right to receive suitable care during pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium, to have
access to duly controlled contraceptives, to decide when she wants to have children and how
many children to have, and especially to exercise control over her own body.
Although since the 1970s women have participated widely and visibly in the
movement to defend human rights, they have not always been able to place their genderrelated
demands at the centre of that struggle. It was not until the late 1980s that women became fully
aware of their status as persons having a legal identity and began to act accordingly,
questioning the essentialist view of social hierarchies and the "normality" of their
subordination. In this context, their demands for human rights are also a consequence of their
demands for new ways to exercise their citizenship and their desire to do so on an equal
footing in accordance with the principle that the most basic right is the "right to have rights"
(Lefort, 1987). Linking the issue of gender-based violence with human rights offers new
possibilities for analysis and for the struggle to end discrimination against women.
Still influential, however, is the fact that the human rights paradigm was structured on
the presupposition that public affairs form the context for individual civil and political rights,
which leaves out violations that occur within the household. Thus, crimes against women are
considered as such to the extent that they can be associated with situations addressed in legal
codes and treaties. For this reason, women began to fight for a redefinition and extension of
internationally recognized rights, so that gender relations might be considered as a context in
which inequality is manifested. They have also spoken of the need for a new interpretation of
public and private spheres and hence, of the sphere of human rights, since this dichotomy has
limited the citizenship of women.
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Gender-based violence in the household is a flagrant transgression of the principles

enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among others, violence against
women is a violation of the right to life, liberty and personal safety (article 3); of the right to
not be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (article
5); of the right to equality before the law and to equal protection under the law (article 7); of
the right to a fair trial (articles 8 and 10); of the right to freedom of movement (article 13), and
of the freedom of assembly and association (article 20).
It has also begun to be recognized that gender-based violence is a violation of the right
to identify, since it reinforces and reproduces the subordination of women to men, as well as
leading to a distortion of the human being; of the right to affection, since violence is the
antithesis of any expression of that sort; of the right to peace and enriching personal relations,
since it is a negative form of dispute settlement; of the right to protection, since it creates a
situation of defenselessness, not only vis-à-vis the husband and the family but also in terms of
the State, which denies protection to women, and society, which denies that the problem
exists; of the right to personal development, since its victims suffer a form of psychological
paralysis which prevents them from developing their creative potential; of the right to social
and political participation, because it inhibits activities outside the household (with the
exception of the bare minimum of activities related to traditional roles), such as participating
in organizations, groups or meetings; of the right to freedom of expression, and of the right to
an optimum state of physical and mental health.

The United Nations General Assembly, at its forty-seventh session, agreed that the
violation of the human rights of women was not limited to acts perpetrated or directly
condoned by Governments, but rather that Governments bore a social and political
responsibility for acts committed by third parties if they had not taken the necessary measures
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to prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence (United Nations, 1994). According to this
criterion, the State becomes a de facto accomplice if it does not offer women the necessary
protection from violations of their rights, or when it acts in discriminatory fashion by not
preventing or punishing acts of gender-based violence, thereby denying women equal
protection under the law. By the same token, the incapacity of the State to put an end to social,
economic and cultural conditions that expose women to gender-based violence means that it is
responsible for such violence, since it should actively contribute to eradicating injustices and
inequalities that manifest themselves in gender relations. Nevertheless, the obligation of the
State to protect the human rights of all citizens (women and men), under all circumstances,
does not eliminate the conflict between the possibility of an arbitrary form of State
intervention in people's private lives and the control of all that which prevents the
establishments of equitable family relations; both alternatives deserve to be carefully analysed
within the framework of personal freedoms.
Since human rights are indivisible, it is impossible to recognize or defend some of
those rights but not others. Women's rights should receive the same attention as the rest and
should be considered in conjunction with those regarded as being the most pressing or
important. An integrated approach to human rights is the only way to ensure respect 16 for
each and everyone of those rights and thus prevent them from being reduced to mere formal
categories lacking in substance.
2. LEGISLATION ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Gender-based violence is a universal problem, but in order to better understand the
patterns of violence and its causes and, hence, to eliminate them, the starting point should be a
knowledge of the particular historical and socio-cultural factors at work in each specific
context. Consequently, it is necessary to consider which civil rights and responsibilities
women are recognized as having in each society, as compared with those of men, and the
ways in which they relate to one another.
In keeping with their societies' mainstream values and with the Roman law and
Napoleonic code on which they are based, until very recently the laws of Latin America and
the Caribbean, upheld the notion of male ownership and male authority over women, who
were legally considered as "permanent minors or incapacitated persons", and even ratified
violence against them as a mechanism of punishment and control. In this sense, in fact,
married women received the least legal protection. Even though the Organization of American
States (OAS) had begun to take concrete measures against legally sanctioned gender-based
discrimination as far back as the 1920s,8 the commonplace nature of gender-based violence in
the home shows up the defects of the relevant legal systems which stem from their lack of
legal definitions of forms of behaviour that constitute criminal acts, along with their failure to
punish aggressors and protect victims. The lack of specific legislation may be seen not only as
a legal void but also as a form of complicity on the part of the legal system with a societal
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pattern of discrimination against women which has contributed to the invisibility of the
phenomenon.
Since 1977, the year in which the Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of
Women into Latin American Economic and social Development was adopted, the need has
been recognized to revise existing legislation and legal regulations related to sexual and
physical violence against women. This Plan also recommends the adoption of measures to
ensure that the investigations of such crimes will be confidential (ECLAC, 1977), and
determined efforts have been made in the countries of the region to promulgate specific laws
on the subject. In addition, the steps taken to reform the countries' penal and civil codes and
other laws of a more general nature have caused the problem to be seen as a political issue.
A number of legal proposals and bills of law have been presented to prevent and
penalize gender-based violence, and specifically gender-based violence in the home, based on
the conviction that one of the concrete problems that victims face is an inadequate legal
response. Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela and Uruguay are some of the countries which
have already launched reform processes.
The specific nature of gender-based violence in the home is such that other,
apparently less serious forms of behaviour may also be identified as acts of violence; these
types of conduct include verbal and emotional aggression, deprivation of liberty, coercion, the
infliction of physical injuries not severe enough to constitute serious bodily harm, and sexual
abuse that does not constitute rape or ravishment. In this regard, the United Nations group of
experts on violence against women has stated that the concept of "victimization" provides a
clearer picture of victims' real needs for protection and should be included in all legislation,
since the concept of violence traditionally refers to extreme cases (severe injury and femicide).
A comparative analysis of legal proposals in the region reveals similarities and differences
which are, for the most part, associated with two distinct models: 1) the consideration of
mistreatment as a symptom of conflict, and 2) the consideration of mistreatment as a crime;
the procedures proposed are based on one or the other of these two criteria (Chiarotti, 1993).
The obvious progress made in the region in extending women's formal rights has yet
to lead to a practical application of those rights on a day-to-day basis either within or outside
the sphere of the administration of justice. Therefore, even though legislative progress has
provided more coverage in a declaratory sense, women are still restricted in the exercise of
their rights due to ideological resistance that perpetuates past discrimination and thus hinders
the assertion of existing rights today
Despite the fact that procedural law should be a logical consequence of legal
mandates, in the countries that have already classified the crime, the existing penal statutes
appear to be ineffective because they are designed to resolve situations produced by acts
committed in public places and between persons not bound by affective ties or family
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relationships. It often happens that, even when women do bring charges, the ensuing legal
proceedings do not prosper. Some of the reasons for this are the following: the use of
arguments in defence of family stability by officials of the judicial system to persuade victims
to drop the charges; the lack of "conclusive evidence" to begin proceedings; the lack of
"objective" eye witnesses (children are not considered valid witnesses; moreover, it is unlikely
that they will testify against the father on whom they depend emotionally and economically
and from whom they fear reprisals); the slowness of the proceedings; the rigidity and
complexity of penal processes that discourage victims from continuing; and the fact that many
women do not want their husbands to be jailed but rather seek protection and support in order
to escape from the situation of violence in which they find themselves.
With respect to this last point, there have been cases in Chile and Argentina in which
judges have ordered aggressors to undergo psychological therapy, but these have been
personal initiatives rather than general policies of promoting rehabilitation and preventing
recurrence. However, the idea of remanding aggressors to individual therapy and ordering
them participate in self-help groups for vident men is becoming increasingly widespread. For
example, a group of professionals at the Agudo Avila psychiatric hospital, run by the
municipal health department of Rosario, Argentina, are getting aggressors involved in the
activities organized by the institution to assist women, based on the assumption that violent
conduct is learned from and reinforced by society and that the resocialization of the aggressor
is therefore vital in order to change his behavior.
Studies indicate that it is essential for society's response to the phenomenon of gender-
based violence to include the elimination of the institutional hurdles facing women which lead
to "secondary victimization" (Viano, 1987), since when women seek help they are treated with
hostility or in a negligent or discriminatory fashion by officials in charge of providing them
with support. The victims are often blamed, and their version of the facts is placed in doubt;
the severity of acts of aggression is often downplayed through associated with such factors as
drunkenness and adultery, and there is a great deal of resistance to recent legal changes. A
number of countries in the region have responded to the challenge of redefining the role that
public officials can play in controlling and preventing gender-based violence and have
launched programmes to train and raise the consciousness of personnel working in the justice
system.
Throughout the world it is recognized that the police force plays a fundamental role
with respect to violence within the family in terms of both prevention and assistance. It is
considered to be a key element in a country's social response to this problem, inasmuch as it is
the only institution that combines the coercive power of the State with accessibility, since in
most countries it is the only service available 24 hours a day that offers comprehensive
geographical coverage (Ahumada and Arancibia, 1993). The data that have been collected
confirm that, in general terms, the police response to the demands of victims of gender-based
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violence is unsatisfactory and exhibits a tendency towards secondary victimization. In

response, efforts have been mounted in the region to set up female police units and to provide
training and instruction to police officers of both sexes.
In 1985, the first all-women force (police officers, detectives and social workers)
opened its doors in São Paulo. In its first year in operation, the force responded to 200 calls,
and in 1988 a single unit received 7,000 calls (Statiom, 1989). Following this example, by
1992 state governments already had 240 such units in Brazil, and by 1993 Colombia had 70
family police units, which promote negotiations between those involved as a means of
overcoming violence within the family (ECLAC, 1993c). In Ecuador, on 9 March 1994 the
Ministry of Governance and Policy approved the establishment of female police forces in four
of the country's main cities (Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca and Portoviejo); since then, women's
organizations have been carrying out information and training activities in an effort to make
these police units into effective instruments for the defence of victims. The existence of these
institutions has also led to the provision of better care to victims, while the systematization of
the statistical data collected has made it possible to identify the groups of women that have
been the most severely affected and the different forms in which gender-based violence is
manifested in the countries of the region.
It is important to point out that prompt reporting and effective penal and legal
procedures play a significant role in putting a stop to aggression. A study undertaken by the
legal team of the Centre for the Treatment of Domestic Violence, of the Municipality of
Santiago, Chile, found that in 72.5% of the cases, aggressors who received a summons from
police or legal authorities, or who learned that they were being investigated, stopped
committing acts of violence as they became aware that they would no longer go unpunished,
whereas 5% became more violent. In 22.5% of the cases, the reaction of the aggressor could
not be ascertained because the women withdrew the charges or because the process had just
recently begun (Ulloa and Vargas, 1991).
It is agreed that in Latin America and the Caribbean the mere promulgation of laws is
insufficient; women first have to know what those laws are and what their rights are before
they can assert them or feel protected by a legal system that will punish crimes committed
against them and will not allow society to ignore them. This is the idea that 19 underlies the
work of most centres for battered women and of legal aid offices funded by non-governmental
organizations, such as the Centre for Legal Services to Women (CENSEL) of the Dominican
Republic, The Women's Legal Office of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and the Women's House of
Chimbote, Peru.
The Latin American Committee in Defence of Women's Rights (CLADEM), which
was founded in Lima in 1987 and now has affiliated offices in more than 10 countries of the
region, has made an important contribution to the legal analysis of violence. The Committee
has organized seminars and debates and published studies on family legislation, constitutional
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and labour laws and human rights, applying the gender perspective to an alternative
interpretation of law which takes into account the needs and interests of the women concerned.
The establishment, in most of the countries of the region, of government offices for
women affairs, under the authority of different ministries or secretariats has, despite
insufficient allocations of financial and human resources, done a great deal to advance
national or provincial-level activities and programmes to deal with gender-based violence,
especially within the home. Generally speaking, these institutions have played a key role in
drafting legislation, creating greater public awareness and raising the consciousness of
political figures and legislators. Given the multi-dimensional character of gender-based
violence, which calls for integrated responses and cross-sectoral government measures,
mechanisms to coordinate joint actions have been established, as in the case of the Inter-
Ministerial Commission for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, founded in Chile in May
1992.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
The main victims of domestic and family violence are normally children, the elderly
and women, but research shows that most victims are women; at the global level, at least one
out of every 10 women has been attacked by their spouse or partner (United Nations, 1986c).
International statistics indicate that 2% of the victims of acts of violence committed by a
spouse or partner are men; 75% are women, and 23% are cases of reciprocal violence (Corsi,
1990). These data point up a number of the phenomenon's peculiar characteristics and
underscore the vulnerability of all women, regardless of their age or socio-economic status.
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Societies exhibit forms of violence that affect the entire spectrum of human relations;
consequently, structural (social, political and economic) violence is also reflected in the family
and in the gender relations that are routinely established at work and school. Thus, violence
against women in the domestic sphere cannot be divorced from its social context, which
reinforces and perpetuates sexist concepts and a discriminatory social order based on the
historical production and reproduction of the gender system. This type of violence has many
causes, including the types of socio-cultural conditions that breed it. The gender-based
division of labour, on the one hand, and, on the other, the ideological and cultural attitudes
acquired through the differential socialization process and the dayto-day learning process by
which stereotyped roles and psychological traits are attributed to men and women and become
integrated into their self-identities create conditions that contribute to violence.10 Aggression
and mistreatment, then, are not isolated acts but instead form part of an interactive process
driven by values linked to relationships of domination and submission and to inequality
between the sexes.
Domestic violence calls into question the family as a social institution that provides
security, protection and affection, as well as the roles and functions traditionally assigned to
each of its members. It also reveals its paradoxical character. Even though, in our countries,
the existence of different family structures and forms of cohabitation is recognized (ECLAC,
1993b) and these structures are now being subjected to a critical analysis, families are, for the
most part, organized around the power of the male members at all hierarchical levels. It is
structured, therefore, on the basis of strong bonds of domination and notably unequal power
relations, all of which has an impact on women. The role assigned to women in conjugal life is
based on submission, dependence and the acceptance of the indisputable authority of the man
and of an array of norms and behaviour patterns that limit women's development. In this
context, men can punish women or control their forms of expression, mobility and sexuality.
Violence in the home is used as a functional instrument of power to reinforce male authority
and supremacy and to enforce women's fulfilment of the obligations that society imposes upon
them within the family.
Research findings indicate, in general, that gender-based violence in the home cannot
be attributed to individual pathologies or psychological problems, nor to factors derived from
the socio-economic structure or the external environment, since aggression and abuse occur in
all social strata. The only major differences observed between social strata have to do with the
prevalence of physical, psychological or sexual damage or injury. Alcoholism, unemployment,
overcrowding and other such problems are not considered to be direct causes of violence but
are instead thought to act as associated factors or trigger mechanisms.
Violence against women in the home has a number of particular characteristics that
differentiate it from other types of aggression and abuse; these include the space in which it
takes place, the actors involved, and the set of psychological factors that enter into play, all of
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which contribute to the complexity of the problem and may obscure its significance and
perception. Gender-based violence can be analysed in different ways in theoretical and
methodological terms. One such approach, from a descriptive viewpoint, refers to the "cycle
of violence", which begins with minor aggressions that then build up to a climax, and then
decrease. This is followed by a period of repentance on the part of the aggressor, after which
the cycle is repeated. This analysis does not explain the causes of violence nor the
mechanisms involved in its reproduction, and an overall perspective is therefore needed to
recognize the gender oppression reflected in such events. The classification of domestic
violence into physical, psychological, sexual and indirect violence12 is an important
contribution at the descriptive level, but raises problems from a conceptual viewpoint, since it
makes it difficult to handle empirical information on this basis and divides a phenomenon that
is unique and indivisible into artificial categories. The different kinds of gender-based
violence found in the home combine and intertwine with one another, its segmentation has
consequently had negative effects on the provision of assistance and on the design of
preventive policies and programmes.
MAIN CONSEQUENCES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Gender-based violence in the household, when understood as an act that denies a
woman the ability to exercise her rights, has social, economic and political implications for
society, since it reproduces and perpetuates a system of discrimination against and
subordination of more than half the population and constitutes a violation of human rights. It
also reflects the absence of a socio-political structure characterized by the type of greater
symmetry in social relations that would provide a substantive basis for the consolidation of
democracy and directly or indirectly impedes the harmonious development of nations (Rico,
1992).
Acts of aggression against women have many negative consequences. The World
Health Organization (WHO) considers gender-based violence to be a serious public health
problem, since the following effects have been identified:
PHYSICAL INJURIES
Fractures, burns, cuts, bruises, wounds, headaches, temporary or permanent disability,
sexual abuse, gynecological problems, unwanted pregnancies, premature births, miscarriages,
sexually transmitted diseases, transmission of the HIV virus, and the abusive consumption of
alcohol, drugs and tobacco.
PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE
Depression, anxiety, anguish, eating disorders, stress, phobias, obsessions, compulsive
behaviour, toxic substance, abuse, insomnia, hypersomnia, frigidity, low self-esteem, sexual
dysfunctions, emotional instability, decreased productivity and reduction of cognitive and
intellectual capacities. Two other phenomena which must be added to this list have fatal
consequences: suicide and homicide.13 In view of the psychological vulnerability of the
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victims —who normally react to the situation with guilt feelings, low self-esteem, shame and
fear— different State agencies and non-governmental organizations have set up "self-help
groups", whose basic purpose is for the participants to given one another mutual emotional
support so that they can escape from the silence and isolation in which they usually experience
such aggression. One of the first to carry out this kind of activity was the "Women's Place", an
organization headquartered in Buenos Aires that works with self-help groups comprised of
victims of abuse. These groups offer interested women a place where they can share their
experiences and learn to value themselves as persons while at the same time becoming more
sure of themselves so that they will be able to break the destructive circle of violence.
Gender-based violence has particularly serious repercussions for children who live in
households where it is habitual. Abused women say that their children become nervous,
irritable and fearful, do poorly in school, and are often physically abused by the father or by
the women themselves. Today, children who witness violence are also considered to be
"battered children", since they exhibit the same psychological symptoms as do those who are
the direct victims of abuse (Jaffe and others, 1986). Another factor that needs to be considered
is that children depend emotionally and affectively on their parents, and that they tend to
imitate the roles and behaviour they observe. Therefore, later on they may have problems
establishing affective relations different from those they experienced in their childhood. Thus,
children in such households tend to grow up to be violent men and battered women, and may
also have greater tolerance for social and political violence.
Some countries have established shelters where abused women can go, together with
their children, so that if they have no help from family members nor the economic means to
look for another place to live, they can leave the scene of aggression and be in a place where
they feel safe while they try to resolve the problem. An example of this is Refuge House, a
shelter for abused women and children in Quito, which was founded as a result of an
agreement between the Ministry of Social Welfare, represented by the National Women's
Department, and the Ecuadorian Centre for Women's Advancement and Action (CEPAM).
Over a 29-month period (1991-1993), this centre provided shelter to 245 women who had
been battered by their spouses and counseling to another 120 non-residents, for an average of
one case every 2.5 days (Vega and Gómez, 1993).
Gender-based violence is a cause of concern for a number of international
organizations, not only because of its individual physical and psychological consequences, but
also because it places greater demands on general health care and emergency services and has
a high economic cost for the countries where it occurs. The 1993 World Development Report
of the World Bank states that in market economies it is possible to determine the number of
years of life in good health lost by women during their reproductive years (15-44 years of age)
because of premature death or illness directly attributable to problems caused by domestic
violence or rape. Although these problems cannot be considered as illnesses in and of
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themselves, they are clearly important risk factors that increase the incidence of such
phenomena as injuries, depression, and femicide (World Bank, 1993).
Violence also inhibits women from playing a role in decision-making within the
household, at work and in the political, economic and social spheres, and therefore directly
influences their participation in public activities and, hence, the exercise of their citizenship.
The social costs of gender-based violence also include the inaction of society when it fails to
take measures to defend the human rights of women, since society is then ignoring events that
take place on a daily basis and is denying a public discussion of these crimes, their political
significance and societal means of redressing them.
REPORTING OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Ideological and cultural factors enter into play when women have to decide how they
are going to deal with the aggression and abuse they undergo. Gender-based violence in the
household is a behaviour pattern that has become assimilated as a type of marital relationship
and, because of the existing bias against intervening in the privacy of married and family life,
has been covered up by society and by the victims themselves. Women tolerate extremely
harmful relationships and many women cannot imagine another way of living together, due,
inter alia, to the following: a) they internalize social values that see female subordination as
"natural"; b) they accept cultural norms that regulate the life of a couple and the roles of
spouse and mother; c) they idealize the family and marriage; and d) they are under social
pressure to accept the dominant cultural mandates (Rico, 1992).
Only recently have women begun to report aggression and mistreatment inflicted upon
them in the home; this is partially due to the establishment of institutions where they can seek
police and legal help, and partially to women's greater awareness of their rights as persons and
citizens. Although the reporting of such acts is becoming increasingly common, it still is only
a pale reflection of the actual state of affairs. Victims generally do not seek legal recourse
because of such inhibiting factors as fear of being blamed for breaking up the family, fear of
reprisals from their spouse, shame about airing their personal affairs in public, and a belief that
police and legal agencies will not back the victims up and are ineffective. Another factor is the
paradox that women usually blame themselves for the violence, since cultural norms tell them
that they are responsible for maintaining the harmony of the family group and that they must
therefore make greater sacrifices, since any failure or transgression may be grounds for
punishment.
If the family and the couple are considered to be the only socially valid goals for
women, it is difficult for them to do anything but aspire to establish and preserve a household
of their own, even at the cost of their own integrity, since admitting failure in this sphere
would be tantamount to admitting failure in life as a whole. According to some studies, most
women who fail to report violence have small children, which indicates that this is one of the
main factors that leads women to refrain from breaking up their family, even at the costs of
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their own suffering. According to telephone records of calls from abused women in the city of
Buenos Aires, 73% of those who request help have been involved in situations of family
violence for more than 10 years, while in only 2.6% of the cases does the caller seek
intervention after the first episode (Argentina, Subsecretaría de la Mujer y Solidaridad Social,
1993).
Doctors in free emergency wards in Santiago, Chile, estimate that they treat only
around 20% of the cases of violence with physical injury; the rest of the victims stay in their
homes until the marks left by the aggression disappear. What is more, only 15% of the women
who are treated report the fact to the police (Guerra, 1991). There are also cases of women
who respond violently to aggression, which produces mutual violence. The murder of a man
by his legal or common-law wife is normally an extreme defensive response to constant
aggression.
Research projects in the region agree that many women put up with violence because
they are economically dependent on the aggressor. The lack of services, problems in finding a
well-paid job and socio-economic circumstances contribute to their indecision about reporting
acts of violence. This suggests that priority should be given to employment and training for
women in a wider variety of fields, since economic autonomy is thus one factor in providing
protection against abuse.
The training of group leaders to act as community agents to help prevent and curb
gender-based violence is based on a recognition of the need for the community itself to take
measures to tackle the problem, stimulate collective changes and make possible the
establishment of social assistance networks. Experience shows that the provision of support
and information by other women whose living situations are similar to those of the victims
helps to convince them to report the acts of aggression they undergo to the authorities and to
act with more assurance and assertiveness.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE
The equality of opportunities for men and women in the labour force is jeopardized by
the sexual harassment of women in the workplace, which is a violation of the right to equitable
and satisfactory working conditions, as well as the right to sexual freedom. Sexual harassment
in the workplace is understood to be any intentional sexual behaviour within the context of a
working relationship, which influences the possibility of employment, job stability,
performance or working conditions or atmosphere and which is distasteful or offensive to the
victim. It entails blackmail, threats or pressure, and is manifested either directly or indirectly
in acts that range from very subtle behaviour to open sexual aggression (Délano and Todaro,
1993). The exact extent of the problem is not known, owing to a lack of statistics (a problem
that affects all the countries of the region), social concealment, a dearth of laws on the subject,
and the guilt feelings and fear of the victims, but existing studies indicate that the practice is
widespread.
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Although sexual harassment is a highly complex problem that distorts interpersonal

relationships and is difficult to identify and delimit, it is generally agreed that the power
relation between those involved is unequal and abused. Since women generally occupy lower-
ranking positions in the employment structure, they are more vulnerable to this practice,
although cases where women harass men also occur. The elements that make sexual
harassment possible are the total concentration of power in the hands of a male boss on whom
a woman depends in order to obtain or keep her job and who determines her wages, job
performance evaluation, possibilities for promotion, training, and the kind and degree of
difficulty of the work she must do. There are also risk factors such as women's lower level of
job skills, the lack of social recognition of the tasks they perform, the more dependent nature
of their employment situation, and their lesser degree of autonomy and decision-making
power. Besides these elements, there are also women's socially conditioned lack of
assertiveness in resisting and reporting instances of intimidation and coercion and the
socialization that leads them to think that seduction, overt or otherwise, forms part of any
relationship with men.
Sexual harassment not only arises out of objective differences in the amount of power
held in the workplace but also out of the "cultural power" which men exercise over women, in
accordance with the predominant gender system which discriminates against women through
the control, disposition and use of their sexuality and bodies. There are also cases, therefore,
of sexual harassment among colleagues or on the part of lowerranking employees of women
managers. In these cases, harassment is a mechanism used to debase their role in the work
place, their professional capabilities and their leadership abilities and to draw attention to their
sexuality, while at the same time undermining the exercise of power of authority by women.

Research in Santiago, Chile, based on interviews with 1,200 female workers in

different branches of activity and of varying ranks, skills, incomes, schooling and occupations,
found that 84.3% of the women thought that sexual harassment in the workplace was a fact;
20% reported having been harassed themselves, 78.4% said that sexual harassment should not
be regarded simply as a personal problem, and 88.3% stated that it was clearly different from
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seduction or attraction. The study points out that it is possible to distinguish between more
direct forms of sexual harassment, which affect women in a situation of subordination to the
hierarchical power of men, and the type of sexual harassment that consists of attempts to
discredit women who occupy posts not traditionally held by women or other sorts of high-
level positions, which takes the form of "putting the women in their place" (Délano and
Todaro, 1993). In both cases, harassment performs the function of "disciplining" women in the
working world.
Despite its negative character, many women put up with sexual harassment and suffer
it in silence, with feelings of shame, confusion, anguish, fear of ruining their reputation or of
reprisals, and with guilt feelings in a social environment that normally places the blame on
them, based on the stereotype and myth of the "temptress". Research in Chile shows that most
women do not dare to talk about it, and also that 15% of the victims of sexual harassment
think that the situation will resolve itself, 6.3% say that will not ask for help because they are
embarrassed, and 32% do not know where or to whom to turn for help (Délano and Todaro,
1993). It is difficult for victims to prove that they have been harassed, which heightens the
negative consequences, not only for their mental health, but also in the workplace, since
harassment affects female workers' efficiency and productivity, their attitude towards work,
their professional development, and the overall atmosphere of the workplace.
Although sexual harassment takes place in all branches of work, it is much more
likely to occur when women work without permanent employment contracts and in places
where trade union activity is restricted. According to records of the number of complaints
filed, sexual harassment is common, for example, in maquila industries in Honduras, El
Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. In Nicaragua, the first major strike in that
sector was organized by more than 850 female workers who accused their supervisors of
sexual harassment, physical mistreatment and constant surveillance (Bank and Criquillion,
1993).
All the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have signed the three
conventions on equality drafted by the International Labour Organization (ILO): Convention
100 on Equal Pay; Convention 111 on Discrimination in Respect of Employment and
Occupation, and Convention 156 on Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and
Women: Workers with Family Responsibilities.15 However, thus far most of the labour codes
and labour laws of the countries of the region have no specific provisions on sexual
harassment, although in recent years some of them have incorporated regulations or legal
clauses designed to prevent or sanction this manifestation of gender-based violence. It is
important to mention that in all the countries these laws make reference to the possibility that
in the case of sexual harassment the victims and aggressors can be either men or women.
In 1991, Mexico made sexual harassment an offense under title XV of its penal code,
punishable by up to 40 days in prison. In Peru, the Job Stability Act (No. 24514) classifies
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sexual harassment as a serious violation on the part of employers or their representatives, but
there is no provision in Peruvian law that clearly specifies how sexual harassment is to be
defined, nor are there any preventive mechanisms. Late in 1993, Argentina issued a decree to
protect persons against sexual harassment in the nation's civil service. The legal definition of
such conduct was set forth as "repeated acts of a sexual nature which are unwelcome to the
person towards whom they are directed, are not reciprocated and affect the stability of
employment or likelihood of promotion". Female public employees can therefore report any
kind of sexual harassment to the human resources department of the relevant body; their
complaints will be kept confidential and will be followed up by an investigation. The
established sanctions, which vary according to the seriousness of the circumstances, include
warning, suspension, and dismissal. However, since the problem of sexual harassment is
normally related to the position women occupy in the hierarchical structure, policies and laws
intended to prevent and penalize such conduct can be more effective if they form part of a
broader strategy to promote equal opportunities in the workplace and to improve the status of
women in general.
Sexual harassment is not limited to the workplace. This form of abuse of authority and
blackmail is also found in educational institutions, where it consists of imposing undesired
sexual activity on female students as a requirement for passing a course. There is a
tremendous lack of statistical information on this form of harassment in the region, due to the
absence of studies on the causes, forms and consequences of sexual harassment of female
students. Furthermore, when incidents of this nature do become known, they are usually
extreme cases of rape or abuse of minors.
OTHER FORMS OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Sexual freedom must be considered as a legal right requiring two different types of
protection: positive protection of the right to exercise one's sexuality freely, and negative
protection of every person's right to be free of any imposed form of sexual contact.
Rape is the most extreme form of sexual violence and is based essentially on the use
of physical force and terror. It inflicts severe physical and emotional injuries on its victims.
Some of its worst consequences, because they are irreversible, are the transmission of the HIV
virus and unwanted pregnancy, since even in cases of rape, abortion is a punishable offence in
most countries of the region.
The erroneous public perception of the phenomenon of sexual violence is a subject
that merits discussion. There is a general perception that rapists are unknown to their victims,
that they exhibit psychopathological and antisocial personality traits and that rape occurs in
places and at times considered to be dangerous; in actual fact, studies reveal that a woman is
more likely to be raped by a relative or an acquaintance than by a stranger. For example, study
carried out by the documentation and Information Centre on Social Movements of Ecuador
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found that, in 83% of the rape cases reported to the authorities, the rapist is a family member
or an acquaintance of the victim (León, 1992).
Rape victims face not only the social stigmatization which lays the blame for the rape
on them, but also a secondary, institutional form of victimization, should they report the rape
or commence legal proceedings. A study conducted in Chile at the request of the National
Women's Service (SERNAM) found that 75% to 80% of all cases of sexual abuse or violence
go unreported and that of those cases which are reported to the appropriate authorities, 89% do
not result in the conviction of the rapist (Avendaño and Vergara, 1992). Results of a survey of
Mexican judiciary officials show that 64.28% of those polled tend to disbelieve reports of rape
made by young women, whom they accuse of trying to hide a pregnancy resulting from a
voluntary relationship; 47.61% consider it necessary to ask questions concerning the intimate
sexual life of the victim; and 85.38% require that a medical examination be conducted (an
unconstitutional measure) before they will process the charges (González, 1993).
Non-governmental organizations in a number of countries have set up shelters and
information centres for rape victims. In 1983, a group of women concerned by the growing
frequency of sexual abuse in Trinidad and Tobago set up a committee for rape victims, which
in 1984 began to offer a telephone helpline and by 1986 had developed into a centre that offers
these women assistance. The centre has also participated in the public debate on laws related
to gender-based violence, and has proposed the inclusion of measures on marital rape in the
Sexual Offences Act.
In the legal sphere reforms are urgently required in penal codes which employ
discriminatory expressions such as "maidens" or "women of good or ill repute" and which
provide penalties that vary depending on the characteristics of the victim and her sexual
history; such penal codes are based on subjective criteria and are an affront to all the
principles of equality before the law. In a similar fashion, a symbolic form of violence is to be
observed in the judicial language which describes rape in the public sphere, as a crime against
"decency", "honour", "modesty" or "respectability" when in actual fact it constitutes a crime
against sexual freedom and the integrity of the individual. Several countries, such as Mexico,
have now incorporated these concepts into the law, however. Nonetheless, in some countries
the law still exonerates any man who marries the girl or woman he has raped, on the grounds
that the marriage restores the "honour" of the woman and her family.
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In this context, the sexual abuse and rape of children and adolescents (granddaughters,
daughters, stepdaughters and sisters of the rapist) in their own homes demand special
attention; all the more so if it is borne in mind that these crimes, which are classified as incest,
have yet to be thoroughly analysed by government authorities. According to information
provided by a public maternity hospital in Lima, 90% of mothers aged between 12 and 16 had
become pregnant as the result of a rape perpetrated, in most cases, by a member of their
immediate family (Rosas, 1992). Information provided by a non-governmental organization in
Costa Rica painted a similar picture when it revealed that 95% of pregnant women under 15
years of age who received attention were the victims of incest (Treguear and Caro, 1991).
The sexual abuse and rape of women are also frequently used as a form of political
reprisal, as has been documented in the case of dictatorships in the Southern Cone countries
and armed conflicts in Central America and Peru. Sexual violence against female political
prisoners is one form of torture used during punishment sessions or interrogations and is
designed to denigrate the prisoner both sexually and physically. Women who are jailed or
arrested for other than political reasons also often fall victim to sexual violence and, ironically,
are in many cases assaulted by the very men who are responsible for their safety. One member
of the Ecumenical Commission on Human Rights in Ecuador has stated that "the methods of
investigation directed at women seek to assault their sexuality, so that rape, the threat of rape
and sexual humiliation form the foundation of these investigations" (Vega and Gómez, 1993,
p. 20). The Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Latin American
Economic and Social Development (1977) calls for the adoption of measures designed to
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ensure respect for human rights as well as the physical integrity of women deprived of their
freedom for whatever reason (ECLAC, 1977). Similarly, the Naiarobi Strategies propose the
adoption of initiatives designed to protect women from the physical violence and the sexual
and moral harassment they face when jailed or arrested (United Nations, 1986a).
Displaced and refugee women, who find themselves obliged to leave their place of
origin and move to other locations, whether in the same country or elsewhere, deserve special
attention, in view of the specific forms of violence they suffer. Although political and military
violence obliges men and women alike to leave their places of residence, and affects them in a
similar way because they are both victims of the same kind of aggression, the experiences of
men and women, and the meaning and connotations attached to these experiences, cannot be
seen as independent from a gender-based analysis, especially considering the issue of rape and
the mistreatment and assaults women suffer at the hands of the men who form part of those
same displaced population groups. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) has urged that measures should be adopted to protect women against
violence in shelters and is promoting the establishment of oversight committees in refugee
camps to which rape victims can turn for help. In a similar vein, the UNHCR recommends that
Governments accept refugees and, in cases where internal displacements have occurred, it
recommends that Governments carry out investigations, to determine the extent of gender-
based violence suffered by displaced women in all its various forms (Executive Committee of
the High Commissioner's Programme, 1991 and FOREFEM, 1992).
Sex tourism, illegal trafficking in women and their exploitation through prostitution
are other forms of gender-based violence which merit special attention, especially in the light
of the increase of poverty and unemployment in the region, both of which are aggravating
factors. The need to adopt legislative and other types of measures to combat these practices,
particularly those which affect children and young women, is recognized both in the
Declaration of Mexico on the Equality of Women and their Contribution to Development and
Peace (1975) and in the Regional Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Latin
American Economic and Social Development (1977) (ECLAC, 1993). The Nairobi Strategies
draw attention to the need to monitor the application of the Convention for the Suppression of
the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. In view of the fact
that these are considered a violation of the human rights of women, it was decided at a
meeting which took place in March 1994 in Caracas to establish the Latin American and
Caribbean Network Against the Exploitation of Women and Children in Trafficking and
Prostitution.
PROPOSALS
It is vital that specific measures be taken to uphold the human rights of women and to
address the gender-based violence to which they are subjected. One starting point in this
regard is the need to reaffirm the irrefutable and enduring nature of the rights of women,
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together with the obligation to protect and guarantee these rights under all circumstances and
to guard against any effort to subordinate them or annex them to a larger agenda which would
undermine their substantive validity.
The seriousness of the different forms of gender-based violence, given the magnitude
of this violence and its consequences for individuals and society, makes it imperative that
urgent initiatives be taken to support and protect victims, and to ensure that women are able to
assert and exercise their rights as human beings and that society has instruments at its disposal
to punish aggressors. It is equally vital that preventive strategies be designed and implemented
at the political, legislative, legal and educational levels; the positive effects of such strategies
will become evident over the medium and long term.
Effective measures to deal with this problem cannot be adopted without taking into
account the dominant cultural model and the processes of symbolic reproduction that confer
legitimacy on gender-based violence. Because the roots of the problem are structural, it is
essential to implement public policies which will modify the mechanisms that lead to the
perpetuation and propagation of gender-based violence and will engender an environment that
is conducive to equality between men and women and respect for the dignity of human beings.
In view of the differing forms which gender-based violence assumes and its
multidimensional nature, a need exists for specific analyses and investigations and for
different strategies that take into consideration the types of relationships in which women's
rights are violated and the institutions and sectors involved in preventing and dealing with
such violations. For example, sexual harassment in the workplace calls for action on the part
of management and trade unions, whereas sexual harassment in educational establishments
calls for an active response by the authorities, students and parents and teachers associations.
Given the complexity of the phenomenon of genderbased violence, responses to the problem
must necessarily be based on an integrated approach; furthermore, the effectiveness of
measures and initiatives will depend on the degree of coherence and coordination associated
with their design and implementation. Considered on the basis of these premises, the issue is
one that affects a variety of social actors, who can join in the effort to eliminate gender-based
violence. However, in the proposals which are outlined below, we shall concentrate on
government action at all levels.
The origins of gender-based violence can be traced to a variety of socio-cultural
factors, namely: hierarchial relationship between women and men; the differentiated
socialization of boys and girls; the political, economic and legal discrimination faced by
women; the use of violent means to resolve interpersonal conflicts; and unequal 40
symbolizations and valuations of women's and men's bodies and sexuality. As a consequence,
it is vital to promote women's access to decision-making processes and to the exercise of
power in its different dimensions, since strengthening their participation in these processes
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will surely contribute to the elimination of the violence women face and to an egalitarian
distribution of the rights and responsibilities of all citizens, whether male or female.
By the same token, it is necessary that we seek to redefine the meaning and content of
gender relations. The State should foster a national and regional discussion on the effects of
discrimination against women, the violation of their rights as human beings and, in particular,
the consequences for society of gender-based violence. Sensitization to this issue and the
creation of a greater awareness of it should be accompanied by the establishment of
institutional mechanisms which provide for participation in the discussion, along with the
governmental sector, of representatives of civil society and organizations that have developed
agendas for action and have delved into the issue, as well as the entire spectrum of women's
groups and sectors, whose participation should be channelled through the organizations they
have formed. This discussion should encompass an analysis of the ideological and cultural
aspects which result in continued violation of human rights, so as to contribute to a collective
recognition of the unacceptability of violence, within both the family and the wider
community, and to the creation of a social climate which rejects acts of violence.
Since formal education plays a vital role in handing down values and attitudes, a
major effort should be made to ensure that boys and girls undergo the same type of
socialization in order to put an end to the perpetuation of violence from one generation to the
next. The educational system should modify textbooks which foster rigid social and sexual
roles and contribute to the existence of asymmetrical and hierarchial relationships within the
family and society. School curricula should include topics related to human rights and, in the
context of education for peace, students should be exposed to alternative methods of resolving
personal and group conflicts which are based on negotiation and mediation instead of
aggression and violence. In addition, teachers need to be trained so that they are able to detect
incidents and situations of gender-based violence in the families of their students.
In technical institutes and universities, efforts should be made to incorporate the issue
of gender-based violence and human rights into academic programmes for the professions
whose future practitioners will probably come into contact with the victims of abuse and
violence. The training of specialized personnel is vital if the programmes that are implemented
are to be successful and if secondary institutional victimization is to be eliminated.
Governments must provide support to academic institutions in the form of
scholarships and grants so that studies can be conducted on the incidence and prevalence of
gender-based violence and research can be done on the ideological and cultural aspects which
give rise to and perpetuate the phenomenon. In a similar vein, the execution and the impact of
programmes must be assessed in order to provide the necessary background information for
policy-making and planning. New methods for preventing gender-based violence must be
explored and teams of researchers must be organized who are equipped to apply an integrated
and multidisciplinary approach to the study of the different forms of violence. Such research
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should be conducted from a theoretical perspective that interprets the problem in the light of
gender analysis and as a form of the violation of human rights. National health, demographic,
population and household surveys should include questions that enable researchers to
determine and quantify the prevalence of gender violence and thus gain greater insight into the
problem. In addition, Governments should incorporate data that are disaggregated by sex and
should include a differential gender analysis in all reports they present on the human rights
situation in their countries.
In view of the important role played by the media in the perpetuation of prevailing
standards and values and the contribution they could make to raising the public's awareness
and promoting changes in human relationships, the media should address the phenomenon of
gender-based violence with the aim of acting as mechanisms of identification and education,
by informing people about the magnitude of the problem, the forms it can take and the rights
protecting women. In order for the media to play a positive role in preventing and eliminating
gender-based violence, Governments must promote communications policies which make it
possible to denounce acts of discrimination against the female population and to coordinate
public awareness campaigns that portray any act of aggression against women or violation of
human rights as unacceptable and as a crime.
With regard to laws and regulations, it is essential to eliminate all forms of
discrimination enshrined in different countries' civil, criminal and labour laws, as well as those
manifested in legal practices and procedures. Furthermore, the crimes associated with gender-
based violence must be defined as such in the laws of each country and commensurate
penalties established so as to put an end to the impunity enjoyed by aggressors and guarantee
the judicial protection of their victims. In order for the law to play an effective role in
defending the rights of women and curbing violence, it is imperative that mechanisms be
established to monitor the enforcement of the relevant legislation and create awareness of
gender issues in public institutions. To this end, judges, lawyers, police officers and public-
sector officials in general should, irrespective of their sex, be trained to recognize sexism and
discrimination as part of the performance of their duties, to facilitate the reporting of crimes
and to provide protection and assistance to victims.
As a complement to the foregoing, women must be made aware of their rights and
must assert them; this requires the publication and dissemination of information concerning
the civil liberties and rights they enjoy under the terms of international conventions and
national laws. Governments should, either through their own mechanisms or by supporting the
efforts of non-governmental organizations, expand the network of legal aid offices to which
the female segment of the population can turn for information and assistance. It is also
necessary to support and promote educational initiatives, both in the formal and informal
spheres, which will strengthen women's selfesteem, leadership skills and economic
independence.
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The healthcare system offers particularly appropriate tools for determining the extent
and the prevalence of gender-based violence; consequently, in addition to training health-
sector workers to detect, handle and refer cases of violence properly, steps should be taken to
ensure that all women, whether living in urban or rural areas, have access to suitable services
and care. It is also recommended that self-help groups for battered women be set up in health
clinics and public hospitals. In the interests of attending to victims promptly, links between the
health sector and the institutions responsible for forensic medicine need to be established since
it is obvious that, for example, training and sensitizing forensic specialists plays an important
role in facilitating the reporting of violent acts by female victims.
Government bodies responsible for improving the status of women must work
together and coordinate their activities with other institutions, including ministries, local
governments and non-governmental organizations; they should also contribute to the 42
creation of social support networks for the victims of gender-based violence, since the whole
of society is responsible for eliminating such violence, and community participation is vital if
the impunity of aggressors is to end. In addition, links need to be established to promote
coordination and cooperation between the organizations which monitor the observance of
human rights and the organizations which work for women's advancement; this step will
require greater openness in terms of theory, practice and policy stances on the part of both
sectors.
There is a strong connection between gender-based violence against women and a
lack of equity in the economic, socio-cultural and political spheres; as a consequence,
initiatives in this field must be of an integrated nature, should include complementary income-
generation, housing and vocational training programmes for women, and should be
accompanied by the adoption of policy measures concerning health, recreation and social and
political participation.
As is to be expected, the recommendations presented in this document are not
exhaustive. This is, above all, because achieving the goals of preventing the violation of
women's human rights and eliminating gender-based violence in the countries of the region
will require, at all levels and in all spheres where the problem is manifested, the political will
of Governments and a commitment on the part of the entire population; these are essential if
we are to create a more just and equitable society and achieve true development within a
framework of peace.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS & OTHER AREAS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
In addition to the protection offered by international and regional human rights
conventions, specialized treaties from other areas of international law also address gender
discrimination and women’s rights.
INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
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The Geneva Conventions provide special protections for women who are civilians and
members of the armed forces, and generally obligate States to treat such women “without any
adverse distinction founded on sex…” See, e.g., Geneva Convention (I) for the Amelioration
of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (adopted 12 August
1949, entered into force 21 October 1950), 75 UNTS 31, arts. 3, 12. Other provisions require
that women prisoners of war be given separate accommodations and conveniences.
The fourth Geneva Convention also requires the protection of women from “rape,
enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault”. Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the
Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (adopted 12 August 1949, entered into force 21
August 1950), 75 UNTS 973, art. 27. Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions re-
iterates this protection in Article 76, which places particular importance on the treatment of
pregnant women and mothers of dependent infants. Protocol Additional to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949 and relating to the Protection of Victims of International
Armed Conflict (adopted 8 June 1977, entered into force 7 December 1978), 1125 UNTS
17512 (Protocol 1) art. 76.
Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions also prohibits “outrages upon
personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution
and any form of indecent assault.” Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949 and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed
Conflicts (Protocol II) (adopted 8 June 1977, entered into force 12 July 1978), 1125 UNTS
17513, art. 4.
In a similar vein, in 1974 the UN General Assembly adopted a declaration calling on
all States to fulfill their obligations under the Geneva Conventions and to take appropriate
measures to protect women and children during times of conflict.
Finally, the CEDAW Committee identified States parties’ obligations to address
gender discrimination that arises in conflict situations, and recognized that women’s rights are
protected by both international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW

Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization

and other forms of sexual violence qualify as crimes against humanity under Article 7
of Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and as war crimes under Article 8 of the
Rome Statute. As a result, individuals who commit these offenses as part of a widespread or
large-scale practice may be investigated and prosecuted by the International Criminal
Court subject to its jurisdictional limits.
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The international criminal tribunals established for the prosecution of crimes

committed during the crises in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia have each adjudicated a
number of cases involving the special vulnerability of women during armed conflict. The
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) held that sexual violence is not limited to
physical invasion and defined rape as “a physical invasion of a sexual nature, committed on a
person under circumstances which are coercive.” The ICTR emphasized that coercive
circumstances need not be evidenced by a show of physical force, and that “threats,
intimidation, extortion and other forms of duress” may constitute coercion. Id. Rape and
sexual violence can also constitute genocide if committed with the specific intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a particular group.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) recognized
that rape and sexual violence can be elements of a widespread and systematic campaign of
terror against a civilian population, even if rape itself was not widespread or systematic but
was one of many types of crimes committed on a widespread or systematic basis.

INTERNATIONAL LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW

Various International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions recognize the right of

working women to equal treatment. Elimination of gender discrimination is specifically
addressed in the areas of remuneration (ILO Convention No. 100), employment and
occupation (ILO Convention No. 111), workers with families (ILO Convention No. 156), and
standards of social security (ILO Convention No. 102). Additionally, the ILO has elaborated
standards to help ensure that women receive adequate maternity leave with financial benefits
and medical care.

MONITORING & ENFORCEMENT

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW

Committee”), the treaty body that monitors compliance with CEDAW, reviews States parties’
reports on their implementation of the convention’s provisions and identifies areas for
improvement. The CEDAW Committee also publishes “General Recommendations”
interpreting the convention’s protections.
For States that have elected to become party to the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee may receive
individual complaints, or “communications,” alleging violations of CEDAW by States parties.
As of May 2014, there are 104 States parties to the Optional Protocol.
Additionally, the Committee may initiate inquiries when it receives reliable
information concerning serious, grave or systematic violations of CEDAW by a State party
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that has accepted the inquiry procedure provided for in articles 8 and 9 of the Optional
Protocol. The inquiry procedure is confidential and the Committee seeks the cooperation of
the State at all stages. States parties to the Optional Protocol may opt out of the inquiry
procedure at the time of signature or accession.
Two United Nations Human Rights Council’s “special procedures” specifically
monitor women’s human rights worldwide. In 1994, the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights (predecessor to the UN Human Rights Council) established a Special
Rapporteur on Violence against Women to report on the causes and consequences of
violence against women. In 2010, the UN Human Rights Council established an
expert Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in
practice, which is charged with studying and promoting dialogue and policy reform to
eliminate laws that discriminate against women. Other UN human rights treaty bodies and
special procedures may also monitor States’ progress in respecting and guaranteeing women’s
rights to the extent that such issues fall within their mandates.
Furthermore, the courts and commissions of the regional human rights systems are
each empowered to monitor conditions in Member States and to decide complaints concerning
alleged violations of women’s human rights within the framework of the treaties each body
interprets. These bodies include the African Commission and Court of Human and Peoples’
Rights, Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, European Court of Human
Rights, and European Committee of Social Rights. In addition, dedicated experts within the
African and Inter-American human rights systems specifically monitor women’s human
rights. The Inter-American Commission created a Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women in
1994 and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights created a Special
Rapporteurship on Rights of Women in Africa in 1999.
Several intergovernmental bodies work with national governments and civil society to
implement policies and practices that protect and advance women’s rights. The UN Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the Commission on the Status of Women, a
policymaking body composed of forty-five UN Member States. Each year, the Commission
produces agreed conclusions on priority themes, which include concrete recommendations to
be implemented by governments, intergovernmental bodies and all other relevant
stakeholders. The Commission, through its Communication Procedure, also accepts
complaints concerning alleged human rights violations, which it considers and uses to help
“identify emerging trends and patterns of injustice.”
Two other UN bodies also work toward the achievement of gender equality: UN
Women and the United Nations Population Fund. UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender
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Equality and the Empowerment of Women, was established in 2010 by the UN General
Assembly to consolidate and strengthen the efforts of various UN agencies working to support
inter-governmental bodies and UN Member States in creating and implementing policies to
advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. The United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA) works to promote women’s rights and equality through its partnerships with
governments, other agencies, and civil society. The UNFPA’s diverse efforts include support
of national legislation, aid for victims of domestic abuse, and the protection of women’s rights
during conflict.
At the regional level, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) serves as an
intergovernmental forum for States to discuss policies related to women’s rights and gender
equality in the Americas. Similarly, the Council of Europe established a Gender Equality
Commission, which helps ensure inclusion of gender equality into Council of Europe policies,
provides technical assistance to States, and engages in other promotion and coordinating
functions.
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Chapter 4

Gender and identity, Sexual Orientation

&Human Rights

GENDER
Gender is much bigger and more complicated than assigned sex. Gender
includes gender roles, which are expectations society and people have about behaviors,
thoughts, and characteristics that go along with a person’s assigned sex.For example, ideas
about how men and women are expected to behave, dress, and communicate all contribute to
gender. Gender is also a social and legal status as girls and boys, men, and women.
It is easy to confuse sex and gender. Just remember that biological or assigned sex is
about biology, anatomy, and chromosomes. Gender is society’s set of expectations, standards,
and characteristics about how men and women are supposed to act.
GENDER IDENTITY
Your gender identity is how you feel inside and how you express those feelings.
Clothing, appearance, and behaviors can all be ways to express your gender identity.
Most people feel that they’re either male or female. Some people feel like a
masculine female, or a feminine male. Some people feel neither male nor female. These
people may choose labels such as “genderqueer,” “gender variant,” or “gender fluid.” Your
feelings about your gender identity begin as early as age 2 or 3.
Some people’s assigned sex and gender identity are pretty much the same, or in line
with each other. These people are called cisgender. Other people feel that their assigned sex is
of the other gender from their gender identity (i.e., assigned sex is female, but gender identity
is male). These people are called transgender or trans. Not all transgender people share the
same exact identity.
 Transgender means your gender identity doesn’t match up with the sex you were
assigned at birth.
 A gender means you don’t identify with any gender.
 Gender non-conforming, non-binary, and gender fluid means you don’t identify fully
as a man or a boy (male, masculine) or a woman or a girl (female, feminine).
 Gender queer means you identify or express yourself beyond what is often linked to
the sex and gender you were assigned at birth. People who are gender queer also may
or may not identify as transgender.
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HISTORY OF GENDER IDENTITY

The concepts and terms that refer to gender identity continually change, as our
perceptions evolve.The term “gender identity” first appeared in the 1960s. It referred to a
person’s inner sense of belonging to the category of male or female. In time, the term came to
include people who identify in other ways. It refers to a person’s own sense of their gender,
regardless of the sex a doctor assigned to them at birth.
Some terms, such as “transsexual,” have also changed meaning over time. In the past, this
term referred only to people who had undergone certain medical procedures, such as a
mastectomy or phalloplasty. The meaning of this term has since broadened to include people
moving toward or having a gender identity that is different from the one assigned to them at
birth.
Other language has changed in terms of acceptability. The term “queer,” for example,
was historically used as a slur against people who did not conform to expectations about
gender expression or identity. Now, some people have reclaimed it. It can be acceptable in
some circumstances but offensive if people use it inappropriately.
It is also important to note that gender identify may not fit into a category. Labels may
help a person understand them identify, but gender identities are not always classifiable in
these ways. As people come to perceive their gender identity in new ways, they may find that
no single term defines it. Or, they may identify in several ways.
GENDER IDENTITY AND THE SPECTRUM
A person’s gender identity is not restricted to being either a man or a woman. Some
people do not identify with any gender, while others identify with multiple genders.According
to The Trevor Project, a person’s gender can consist of the following.
GENDER IDENTITY
This term refers to the personal sense of an individual’s own gender.Some people
identify as a man, while others identify as a woman. Others may identify as neither, both, or
somewhere in-between.
GENDER EXPRESSION & PRESENTATION
This refers to how a person expresses themselves to others and how they want the
world to see them.A person may present themselves as wholly masculine or wholly feminine.
Or, a person may present themselves as androgynous or nonbinary.Gender expression and
presentation involve aspects such as mannerisms, clothing styles, names, and pronoun choices,
to name a few.
DIFFERENT GENDER IDENTITIES
The following are some gender identities and their definitions.
AGENDER
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A person who is agender does not identify with any particular gender, or they may
have no gender at all.Other terms for this may include:
 neutral gender
 null-gender
 genderless
 neutrois
ANDROGYNE
A person who identifies as androgyne has a gender that is either both masculine and
feminine or between masculine and feminine.
BIGENDER
A person who identifies as bigender has two genders.People who are bigender often
display cultural masculine and feminine roles.
BUTCH
Women, especially lesbians, tend to use this term to describe the way they express
masculinity, or what society defines as masculinity.However, the LGBTQIA Resource
Center state that “butch” can also be a gender identity in itself.
CISGENDER
A cisgender person identifies with the sex that they were assigned at birth.For
example, a cisgender woman is someone who still identifies with the sex — female, in
this case — a doctor assigned them at birth.
GENDER EXPANSIVE
The LGBTQIA Resource Center define gender expansive as an “umbrella term used
for individuals who broaden their own culture’s commonly held definitions of gender,
including expectations for its expression, identities, roles, and/or other perceived
gender norms.”Those who are gender expansive include people who are transgender
and people whose gender broadens the surrounding society’s notion of what gender is.
GENDERFLUID
A person who identifies as gender fluid has a gender identity and presentation that
shifts between, or shifts outside of, society’s expectations of gender.
GENDER OUTLAW
A person who identifies as a gender outlaw refuses to allow society’s definition of
“male” or “female” to define them.
GENDERQUEER
A person who identifies as genderqueer has a gender identity or expression that is not
the same as society’s expectations for their assigned sex or assumed gender.
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Genderqueer can also refer to a person who identifies outside of how society defines
gender or someone who identifies with a combination of genders.

MASCULINE OF CENTER
A person who uses this term is usually a lesbian or a trans person who leans more
toward masculine performances and experiences of gender.
NONBINARY
A person who identifies as no binary does not experience gender within the gender
binary. People who are no binary may also experience overlap with different gender
expressions, such as being gender non-conforming.
OMNIGENDER
A person who identifies as omnigender experiences and possesses all genders.
POLYGENDER AND PANGENDER
People who identify as poly-gender or pangender experience and display parts of
multiple genders.
TRANSGENDER
This is an umbrella term that encompasses all people who experience and identify
with a different gender than that which their assigned sex at birth would suggest.
Although most people think of trans men and trans women when hearing the
word transgender, this term also encompasses people who identify as a gender other
than man or woman, including nonbinary and genderfluid.
TRANS
Trans is a more inclusive term that covers those who identify as nonbinary and those
who are genderless, according to the LGBTQIA Resource Center.
TWO SPIRIT
Two Spirit is an umbrella term that encompasses different sexualities and genders in
Indigenous Native American communities. There are many different definitions of
Two Spirit, and Indigenous Native American people may or may not use this term to
describe their experiences and feelings of masculinity and femininity.
WHERE CAN A PERSON FIND SUPPORT?
Not everyone is accepting of people with diverse gender identities, which can have a
negative impact on a person’s mental health.
However, there are multiple websites and online communities that people can turn to
for support. These include:
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 The Trevor Project, which is an LGBT organization that provides education and
support
 the National Center for Transgender Equality, which is an organization that provides
education and support for transgender people
 PFLAG, which is an organization that provides support, education, and advocacy
all over the United States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico
 Trans Youth Family Allies, which is a website that provides resources and
education to family members, friends, and allies of transgender people
 TransLatina Coalition, which is an advocacy group for transgender Latin American
people and communities
 Gender Spectrum, which is a resource and education site
 World Professional Association for Transgender Health , which is a website that
provides a directory of healthcare providers and scholarship opportunities for
transgender people
To conclude, a person’s gender identity is not always the same as their biological sex, nor
their assumed gender based on their assigned sex. It depends on how they identify as a person,
and this can change over time.People can identify as more masculine, more feminine, a
combination of both, or neither. How a person expresses or describes their gender is personal
to them.
WHAT DOES SEXUAL ORIENTATION MEAN?
“Sexual orientation” is a personal characteristic that forms part of who you are. It
covers the range of human sexuality from lesbian and gay, to bisexual and heterosexual.
WHAT PROTECTION DOES THE ONTARIO HUMAN RIGHTS CODE OFFER?
The Ontario Human Rights Code (the Code) is a law that provides for equal rights and
opportunities and recognizes the dignity and worth of every person in Ontario.
The Code makes it against the law to discriminate against someone or to harass them because
of their sexual orientation or their marital status. This includes same-sex relationships.
This right to be free from discrimination and harassment applies to employment,
services and facilities, accommodation and housing, contracts and membership in unions,
trade or professional associations.
A person cannot be treated unequally or harassed in these areas because he or she is
gay, lesbian, heterosexual or bisexual. It is also illegal to discriminate because someone is in a
same-sex relationship.
Homophobic conduct and comment are prohibited as part of the Code’s protection
against discrimination based on sexual orientation, no matter what the target’s sexual
orientation is, or is perceived to be.
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WHEN IS IT HARASSMENT?
Harassment is making demeaning or hurtful comments or actions that are known or
should be known to be unwelcome. Some examples are:
 A landlord tells a lesbian tenant to “go live with people like yourself because you
do not belong here.”
 Homophobic jokes or hints being made about a person's sexual orientation or
same-sex relationship.
 Displaying disrespectful signs, caricatures, cartoons or graffiti.
Harassment can happen even if the comments or actions are not specifically about sexual
orientation.
Example: In a workplace that has a history of homophobic attitudes, the only two “out”
gay workers are targeted repeatedly for ridicule and practical jokes. In the past, other gay
workers have quit due to similar treatment. Based on the circumstances, the remaining “out”
workers could argue that they are being harassed based on their sexual orientation, even
though no one has directly referred to the fact they are gay.
Inappropriate behaviour does not always have to happen repeatedly to be against the
law. A single incident might be serious enough.
In some environments, homophobic comments may be common, and people assume
that everyone there is heterosexual. But this is often not the case, and comments like “that’s so
gay” can cause hurt and stress to people who have not disclosed that they have a different
sexual orientation.
Employers, housing providers, service providers and others must make sure that their
environments and services are free from discrimination and harassment. They must take action
if they know or should have known about harassing behaviour based on sexual orientation or a
same-sex relationship. This action includes not allowing the use of homophobic language,
even if nobody complains about it.
WHEN IS IT DISCRIMINATION?
Discrimination happens when a person is treated unequally or differently because of
sexual orientation or a same-sex relationship, and it results in a disadvantage to that person. It
is also against the law to tell others to discriminate because of sexual orientation.
Discrimination can result from a person’s actions or from an organization’s rules and policies.
Example: An employee is denied promotions, training or is fired because of her sexual
orientation or same-sex relationship.
Example: A company’s health insurance plan covers the needs of an opposite-sex partner but
not a same-sex partner.
People cannot be denied services because of their sexual orientation, despite how the
service provider or other customers might feel.
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Example: A restaurant will not serve a same-sex couple, because the manager thinks its other
customers will not want them there.

TYPES OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION

There are four main types of sexual orientation discrimination.
DIRECT DISCRIMINATION
This happens when someone treats you worse than another person in a similar situation
because of your sexual orientation. For example:
 at a job interview, a woman makes a reference to her girlfriend. The employer
decides not to offer her the job, even though she is the best candidate they have
interviewed
 a hotel owner refuses to provide a double bedroom to two men
INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION
Indirect discrimination happens when an organisation has a particular policy or way of
working that applies to everyone but which puts people of your sexual orientation at a
disadvantage.
Indirect discrimination can be permitted if the organisation or employer is able to
show that there is a good reason for the policy. This is known as objective justification.
HARASSMENT
Harassment in the workplace occurs when someone makes you feel humiliated, offended
or degraded. For example:
 colleagues keep greeting a male worker by the feminine version of his name
although he has asked them to use his proper name. The colleagues say this is just
banter but the worker is upset and offended by it
Harassment can never be justified. However, if an organisation or employer can show it
did everything it could to prevent people who work for it from behaving like that, you will not
be able to make a claim for harassment against it, although you could make a claim against the
harasser. Outside the workplace, if you are harassed or receive offensive treatment because of
your sexual orientation, this may be direct discrimination.
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HARASSMENT CAN LEAD TO VIOLENCE

Silence or doing nothing will not usually make the harassment go away, and
sometimes such behaviour can lead to violence. If you feel uncomfortable or threatened, speak
to a person in authority about it (a supervisor, the owner of the store, etc.).
You can contact the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to file a complaint, now called
an application. If harassing behaviour makes you feel like you’re in danger or leads to
violence, call the police.
VICTIMISATION
This is when you are treated badly because you have made a complaint of sexual
orientation related discrimination under the Equality Act. It can also occur if you are
supporting someone who has made a complaint of sexual orientation related discrimination
under the Equality Act. For example:
 a gay worker complains that he has been 'outed' by his manager against his wishes
and his employer sacks him
Circumstances when being treated differently due to sexual orientation is lawful
A difference in treatment may be lawful if:
 belonging to a particular sexual orientation is essential for a job. This is called
an occupational requirement. For example, an employer wants to recruit an advice
worker who has experience of coming out for a young person's LGBT helpline.
The employer can specify that applicants must be lesbian or gay
 an organisation is taking positive action to encourage or develop gay, lesbian or
bisexual people to participate in a role or activity
 the treatment by an employer or organisation falls within one of the exceptions
that permits people to be treated differently based on their sexual orientation. For
example, a charity can provide a benefit only to lesbians and gay men in certain
circumstances
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 a religious or belief organisation is excluding persons of a particular sexual

orientation from its membership or participation in its activities, or its provision of
goods, facilities and services. This only applies to organisations whose purpose is
to practice, promote or teach a religion or belief, whose sole or main purpose is
not commercial. The restrictions they impose must be necessary either to comply
with the doctrine of the organisation, or to avoid conflict with the ‘strongly held
religious convictions’ of the religion’s followers.

Chapter 5

Critiques of the “gender and human rights”

agenda, cultural relativism; the example of
reproductive rights

CRITIQUE OF GENDER AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights are women’s rights are LGBTIQ rights are disabled rights are black
rights (People of Colour) are rights of other groups
In the 1990s the phrase „Human rights are women’s rights “became the war cry for
women’s movements on both a national and international level. The saying picked up the
feminist critique that Olympe de Gouge had already hurled at the declaration of human and
civil rights shortly after the French Revolution: men’s rights, nothing but men’s rights.
Women remain excluded due to their gender. The central theme of the first women’s
movement in the West at the beginning of the 20th century was the exclusion of women from
the right to vote. In 1945, when the UN Charter of Human Rights was being formulated, two
Latin American feminists in particular, Minerva Bernardino from the Dominican Republic and
the Brazilian Bertha Lutz, fought for linguistic inclusion, namely for the word ‘women’ to be
included in the preamble. In all these struggles against often fierce opposition, it was first and
foremost – as Hannah Arendt says – about the right to have rights.
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Women chant and hold signs during a rally and march on aA Day Without Women,
part of International Womens Strike NYC, a coalition of dozens of grassroots groups and labor
organizations, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, at Washington Square Park in New York. Photo:
AP Photo/Kathy Willens/Keystone
In the second half of the 20th century, legal activists based their feminist critique of
law on the contradiction between the legal norm of equality widespread in constitutions and
political programmes and the legal reality of inequality. The double structure “Human rights
are women’s rights” and “Women’s rights are human rights,” means that justice cannot be
achieved through equality alone, but that special rights for women are necessary. The
1979anti-discrimination convention (CEDAW), the only binding document on gender equality
under international law, contains a prohibition of discrimination and a requirement of equal
treatment to oblige states to perform a threefold task: to respect, protect and to actively honour
women’s rights as human rights. CEDAW contributed decisively to the internationalisation of
the statement that women can claim universal human rights and gender specific women’s
rights for themselves.
The references to the human rights paradigm became a major success in the 1990s. On
the one hand, it made women’s policy connectable to UN policy, and on the other hand, it
provided common normative reference points for very different women’s movements from the
various continents and cultures. The women’s/human rights concept is based on the
indivisibility, interdependence and equal value of three generations of human rights: civil-
political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, and the collective rights to peace,
sustainability, a healthy environment, etc. have been considered as “key areas of power” in the
context of a women’s empowerment strategy (David Held). They represent a set of
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instruments with the help of which women can negotiate their relationship to the state on the
one hand, but also to their culture and traditional legal and value systems on the other.
This led to a new self-perception: women now appeared as autonomous legal subjects,
no longer primarily as petitioners and needy citizens as had been the case in the development
discourse since the 1970s.In this way, it became possible to make injustice to women and as
such power relations visible, but at the same time to overcome the victim role. The paradigm
shift from a basic needs to a basic rights approach led to a shift in emphasis in the concepts of
political action: now demands for political fulfilment of legal rights and for participation in
shaping politics and democracy, economics, development and peace were paramount.
The substantial new element in the feminist redefinition of human rights was that the
private is political, in essence an extension of the human rights concept from the public into
the private sphere. This legal understanding allowed them to break up the male-patriarchal
sovereignty of discourse and appropriated the power of interpretation and definition in society.
This has been concretised since the UN Human Rights Conference in Vienna in 1993: since
then, violence against women has been named as a human rights violation and rape in war as a
war crime. The formulation of sexual and reproductive rights opened up the possibility of a
new chapter of self-determination over the body, sexuality and reproduction.
All this came along at the UN level with the claim of universality and implied a
common gender identity for all women that makes worldwide women’s solidarity possible.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND ANTI-FEMINIST CRITIQUE
Whenever women’s rights were negotiated in the United Nations, conservative forces
from different regions, religions and cultures articulated opposition to the concept of gender
equality. Led by the Vatican, an “unholy” alliance formed between reactionary forces in
Christianity and Islam. They assigned absolute priority to the family, heterosexual marriage
and the role of mother over the self-determination of women and LGBTIQ persons, to the
biological difference of the two sexes over social construction. These conservative currents
reject sexual and reproductive rights, from children’s rights to sexual education to free
decision on sexual orientation to the right to abortion. Religious norms thus became superior
to general human rights.
Fundamentalist religious forces from different world regions have mobilised social
movements to a massive backlash against emancipatory accomplishments by women and
LGBTIQ persons in the past two decades. The World Congress on Families played a leading
role in the process, driving traditional gender-role feminism and reactionary Christian groups
against right-wing populist civil society forces and right-wing political parties.
Arguments against women’s individual freedom and equality rights were not only
justified with religion, but often with the “own“ culture and with ”authentic“ own values and
morals: as such women with short skirts do not allegedly belong in the “African” culture, and
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face covering using a hijab allegedly does not belong to the Swiss culture. The construction of
a sovereign own culture is positioned as the highest standard and relativises human rights.
Culture relativistic and religiously motivated ways of thinking also play their part in
right-wing populistic, authoritarian and nationalist ways of thinking and in current anti-
feminism. The conflicts have escalated to a cultural struggle about the definition sovereignty
over gender, family and social order. The central reproach directed at feminist and queer
claims for sexual and reproductive rights and individual freedom of choice is that it would
undermine the “natural” or even God-ordained order of bisexuality, patriarchy and
heterosexual marriage. The underlying normative conception of humans is that of the white
male citizen. This based on the assumption of “natural” human inequalities, which legitimizes
the social hierarchies along gender, ethnicised and racialised categories. Therefore, egalitarian
and inclusion policies towards those defined as “different” are questioned and it is claimed
that women’s rights and equality are already sufficiently implemented. These different
tendencies lead to a rollback against gender rights and target the exclusion of others,
specifically of migrants or ethnic minorities from human rights based on a simplified contrast
of “we” and the “others”, of West and East, of North and South. This is supposed to silence
the rights claims of the others.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND POST-COLONIAL CRITIQUE OF POWER
As Olympe de Gouge argues in 1791 that the human and civil declaration was written
from a privileged male position of power, post-colonial critics now argue that the human
rights were written from a position of power and privilege power from Western Enlightenment
and its white male philosophers. In this respect the paradigm always represents the superiority
of Western rationalisation and modernity in reference to individual freedom and equality.
Values and knowledge from the Enlightenment and bourgeois liberal democracy in this
context become technologies of domination over the Global South, the “others”. This also
legitimises colonialism and (neo)-colonial development, which was always the business model
of the West, as a civilising mission.
The well-known post-colonial theorist GayatriSpivak therefore also announced her
alliance with women from the North at the UN conferences of the 1990s: “I am not a sister”.
The “hegemonic” feminists became agents of an “imperial project” that silenced the voices of
the subalterns because it always believed it represented others.
The reproach from the post-colonial critics targets the idea that Western feminists
selectively construct “other”, non-Western women as passive victims of poverty, violence,
patriarchy, war, (natural) disasters and “underdevelopment”. Through cultural or racialised
attribution, power asymmetries and relations of domination are thus cemented and
characteristics are generalised and naturalised as the essence, the essential of human beings.
This facilitates the establishment of social inequalities using social identity categories on a
global scale. In such unequal relations – according to the argument from a post-colonial
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perspective – solidarity at eye level is not possible. It again confirms the superiority of the
allegedly more emancipated white middle-class feminists and sets their privileged position as
a standard. Just as feminists have responded with identity politics to the exclusion of human
rights and discrimination based on gender identity, women from the Global South, LGBTIQ,
female migrants, Dalit, indigenous, black and disabled people are responding with a variety of
identity politics to identity-based discrediting and strategies to liberate and rescue the poor
backward and battered women from their patriarchies.
Feminist forces in the West misuse the defence of women’s rights for geopolitical,
foreign policy and security purposes, as the “war on terror” in Afghanistan paradigmatically
showed. At that time, the US military intervention was justified with the protection of
women’s rights as a humanitarian and moral intervention, as a “just” war, so to speak, to
protect Afghan women from Taliban violence. At the same time, the USA has to this day not
ratified the Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights Conventions because it considers its
national legislation as sufficient or better suited to defend and implement women’s and
children’s rights. In relation to the “others”, implemented in their own country are turned in a
femo- or homonationalist way by once again using their own progressiveness with a neo-
colonial moral gesture against “backward” positions in other cultures.
Another appropriation of human/women’s rights takes place in the markets: gender
equality means “smart” economics according to the World Bank. For decades, the World Bank
has been ensuring that the „underused“ female human capital on the neo-liberal markets
should have more equal rights and chances to promote growth and productivity.
Discrimination and exclusion pose an obstacle to growth. This market logic was assumed by
business feminists in their demand to see women in the top business jobs and in management
positions. In turn, Nancy Fraser criticised this as an unfortunate combination of neo-liberalism
and feminism. In this context, market rights with the label of equality appear as new human
rights, e.g. a human right to microcredit.
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UNITED NATIONS, March 10, 2020 (Xinhua) — Photo taken on March 9, 2020
shows the opening meeting of the 64th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the UN
headquarters in New York. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday was
encouraged by what he saw as movement-building in gender equality, and asked for more
efforts to further carry forward the cause. This year, the world marks the 25th anniversary of
the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action, which together define the most
comprehensive and transformative global agenda for gender equality and women’s
empowerment, he told the opening meeting of the 64th CSW.
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE (ALSO) THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS
Human rights are not static, but have overcame the binary gender concept and
identitarian women’s politics a long time ago. The concept has experienced different dynamics
of opening and closing. Does the paradigm of human rights have to change if it is to be just in
different contexts? How can it be universal and yet do justice to diverse differences and
identities? It is still true that when unequal get equal rights, opportunities and treatment,
inequalities increase. For every generalisation and conveyance it must always be taken into
account that a Eurocentric, gendered and racialised conception of humanity is deeply inscribed
in human rights.
The further development of the concept on global social rights meets with the
capabilities approach by Martha Nussbaum, which does not decisively come from a certain
conception of humanity, but from anthropological commonalities. It aims at the creation of
agency and conditions to achieve a good life and an empowerment of women and other
marginalised groups, those discriminated against and those excluded as autonomous legal
entities. GayatriSpivak, who critically confronts human rights as Eurocentric and imperialistic
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constructions, argues that Western Enlightening legal thinking, which is based on rationality
and contract, should be complemented by thinking on justice that is based on the
responsibility for the others, the subalterns and for their agency. The central theme is that with
the help of the human rights paradigm, victim status can be overcome, intersectional injustice
can be politicised and inequalities and power asymmetries can be overcome.
It is exactly this field of action where the struggles for human rights, global social
rights and identity-based rights are interwoven and inseparable in many places.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
On a global level, relative to men, women’s lives are more centered in the home, a
fact which is immediately related to observed gender biases. In less developed nations, this
domestic specialization effectively excludes women and girls from society at large. The
exclusion can be externally-imposed, as in some developing or Arabic countries, or internally
by the women’s own choices. Societal norms and rules may exclude women from particular
types of paid employment or leadership positions. On the other hand men may be excluded
from child care and the home sphere, which is considered the woman’s territory. This
traditional division of labor within the household makes some of the stylized facts that follow
understandable.
SON PREFERENCE
The lesser valuation of females can be observed at birth, manifested in the prevalence
of son preference. It appears strikingly in the statistics of newborns in China, India and South
Korea. In these countries, for every 100 girls born at least 9 are “missing” – never born or
somehow disposed of shortly after birth. Part of this is due to modern technology that allows
prenatal sex determination and consequent abortion of a fetus of the unwanted sex, an option
apparently used with frequency in India and China. In modeling son preference and marriage
patterns Edlund (1999) simply assumes that the parents’ utility from a male child is higher
than from a girl child. Dahl and Moretti (2004) report surprisingly strong evidence for gender
bias even in the US census data, although this bias has decreased over time. They find that
couples with girl children divorce more often than couples with boys. These studies measure
son preference by observing the prevalence of couples having another child based on the sex
of the couples’ existing children. Preference for sons or daughters is measured by looking at
the incidence of couples choosing to have another child when they already have two or three
children of one sex: Son preference is indicated when a couple is more likely to have another
child when they already have two or three daughters instead of the same number of sons. They
also find that women who have ultrasound examinations and discover that they are carrying a
girl are 0.37 percentage points less likely to be married at the time of the delivery than are
women who learned they are carrying a boy.
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Andersson et al. (2004) report gender biases even in Nordic countries, which are
considered to be among the most gender equal in the world. They find the regular son
preference in Finland, while other Nordic countries have reported a daughter preference since
mid 1980s. This suggests that son preference may turn into daughter preference as societal
gender systems change.
EDUCATION
Over the past four decades there have been large and successful efforts to extend
primary education to all children, including girls. In the developing countries as a whole, the
average school years for girls (boys) has increased from 1.4 (2.6) years in 1960 to 4.3 (5.9)
years in 2000 (Barro and Lee, 2001). In the countries that the United Nation Development
Program classifies as having low human development, female literacy rate ranges between 10-
85% with a typical gender gap (the difference between the percentage of literate men and the
percentage of literate women) of around 20. The higher the national income and development
the smaller the gender gap (see figure 2). Between 1970 and 1998, this gap has been reduced
by more than five percent, with the greatest reduction occurring in low-income countries.
Universities in all countries excluded women nearly until the turn of the twentieth
century. The first female student was admitted into the University of Helsinki in 1870, after
receiving a special exception of gender. A year later the Massachusetts Institute for
Technology admitted its first female student “as an experiment” (source: Univ. of Helsinki
and the MIT web pages). The success of this experiment can be seen in current university
enrollment figures both in Finland, most other EU countries and the United States. Institutions
of higher education in these countries enroll more female than male students (See Eurostat,
2001 and US Census). However, gender equity in higher education is far less common in
developing countries (Barro and Lee, 2001).
EMPLOYMENT AND TOTAL WORK
Women have become an increasing part of the labor force over the past 30 years (see
Figure 3). According to the World Bank statistics women’s labor force participation as a ratio
of men’s has increased from about 50 percent to about 80 percent in the high-income
countries. In the low-income countries this ratio has also increased, from 60 to 70 percent,
while remaining stable at about 60 percent in middle-income countries. Women’s pay relative
to men’s in full time employment is reported in Figure 4 for some European countries. This
ratio varies between 70 and 90 percent with a general increase from 1995 to 1997 in all the
reported countries (France, Denmark, UK, Finland and Germany).
Women comprise about 80% of the total employment in the service sector but less
than 20% of the industrial sectors in all of these countries. When women do work for pay, they
earn about 80% of the pay that men receive when working full time. These data will be
discussed in more detail later. Additionally, women work part time more frequently than do
men, which also shows in their earnings. It is difficult to get comparable data for developing
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countries, but there is no doubt that women’s earning status relative to men’s is even lower
there.
In terms of total working hours, including both the market and the household work,
there is a widespread belief that women work more than men in the most developed countries.
Burda, Hamermesh and Weil (2007) however show this belief to be untrue. They use detailed
time use data in richer, middle income, Southern European and some African countries
respectively. Total working time of men and women is found to be on average almost identical
in the richer countries. There is large variation across cultures, subgroups, or overtime, but it is
not based on gender. However, women do work more than men in Africa and in the Southern
European countries. Economic development seems to be associated with more equal sharing
of working time, even if the earnings gap has not equalized even in the richer countries.
DECISION MAKING POWER
Until relatively recently, women have been afforded less decision making power and
fewer legal rights than men in all social arenas. In developing countries laws of inheritance
and ownership generally disfavor women more than in developed countries, which may be a
significant factor affecting the financial resources women have at their disposal. At the
political level women also have less voice. A hundred years ago, women were without the
right to vote anywhere in the world. In the US, the struggle for women’s suffrage started in the
mid 1800’s by Susan B. Anthony and several other women1 who joined forces with black men
– the latter gaining the right to vote before the white women, who achieved their goal only in
1920. One of the first countries in the world to introduce universal suffrage was Finland in the
1906 Parliament Act (Source: www.eduskunta.fi). Figures 6 and 7 portray the percentage of
women in ministerial and sub-ministerial positions in some developed countries and some
developing countries respectively in 1996. In most developed countries women hold 5-15 %
of the higher positions. Finland and Sweden are exceptions, with about third of the ministerial
positions held by women. In developing countries women frequently hold less than five
percent of the higher ranking positions in the society. Most recent data on women’s share in
parliaments (lower or single House) reveals a steady increase in women’s share globally. In
the past 10 years, the number of countries in which women’s share is more than 20 percent has
increased from 20 to 50. Another important area of decision making with economic
implications concerns a woman’s control over her own sexuality and the number of children
she bears. In developing countries in particular, customs and norms tend to restrict the choices
women are able to make in this respect. High fertility is associated with less education for
women, less frequent labor market participation outside the home and fewer economic
opportunities.
In 1980, the total fertility rate (births per woman) was twice as high globally as in the
high-income countries. There has been considerable convergence in fertility between the rich
and the poor over the past 20 years, however. By 1998 the number of children per woman in
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low income countries had fallen from about six to just above four (excluding China and India).
Including China and India, which account for 40% of the world’s population, the average
number of children per woman in low-income countries was three, while the figure for
highincome countries was less than two (see figure 8). Poor and agriculturally-based countries
continue to have high birthrates, although rates have fallen there as well. In Uganda, for
example, the average woman bears seven children today, the same as 40 years ago (World
Bank, 2004).
STATUS OF MEN
Jacobsen (2002) focuses on the men’s issues in development and reports detailed
country data on areas where men are disadvantaged relative to women. Addressing these
issues would work towards gender equality by raising the status of men and through them
women as well.
LIFE EXPECTANCY
Men’s disadvantage relative to women shows most strikingly in their lower life
expectancy. With few exceptions men’s life expectancy is shorter than women’s by several
years. There is variation across countries but only in a few poor countries do men have equal
or longer life expectancy than women. In the majority of the countries the average man’s life
span is shorter than the average woman’s by two to seven years. The extreme case is Russia,
where men’s expected life span is 12.4 years shorter than women’s. An explanation for
differences of such magnitude appears to lie in men’s greater susceptibility in many categories
of human capital destruction - suicide, war and violence, occupational injury, substance abuse
and diseases of various kinds.
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Chapter 6

Advancing gender equality

key tools and approaches

ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY TOOLS

The WHO Regional Office for Europe promotes and supports the implementation of
the European strategy for child and adolescent health and development, which the European
Member States adopted at the 55th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in
September 2005. The strategy gives policy-makers a concrete means of addressing health
issues to improve the health of children and adolescents.
This tool was developed to accompany the existing assessment, information and
action tools intended to provide support to Member States in building and developing their
own policies and programmes within the framework of the strategy. It can also be used as a
stand-alone document that allows policy-makers and programme staff to assess how gender
sensitive their current child and adolescent health programmes and policies are.
The gender tool is based on the evidence that shows how gender differences and
inequality influence various aspects of illness and health among girls and boys. Have proven
effective in protecting the health of children and adolescents and promoting their
development.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the gender tool are:
 to assist countries, institutions and policy-makers in the process of incorporating
gender analysis into their child and adolescent health programmes and policies;
and
 to enable countries, institutions and policy-makers to identify interventions with a
gender perspective that have proven effective in protecting the health of children
and adolescents and promoting their development.
Followings are the main tools for the development of gender equality:
GENDER ANALYSIS
Gender analysis provides the necessary data and information to integrate a gender
perspective into policies, programmes and projects. As a starting point for gender
mainstreaming, gender analysis identifies the differences between and among women and men
in terms of their relative position in society and the distribution of resources, opportunities,
constraints and power in a given context. In this way, conducting a gender analysis allows for
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the development of interventions that address gender inequalities and meet the different needs
of women and men.
GENDER AUDIT
A gender audit is a tool to assess and check the institutionalization of gender equality
into organisations, including in their policies, programmes, projects and/or provision of
services, structures, proceedings and budgets. Gender audits allow organisations ‘to set their
own houses in order, and change aspects of the organisational culture which discriminate
against women staff and women “beneficiaries”.
As a method for gender mainstreaming, gender audits help organisations identify and
understand gender patterns within their composition, structures, processes, organisational
culture and management of human resources, and in the design and delivery of policies and
services. They also help assess the impact of organisational performance and its management
on gender equality within the organisation. Gender audits establish a baseline against which
progress can be measured over time, identifying critical gender gaps and challenges, and
making recommendations of how they can be addressed through improvements and
innovations.
GENDER AWARENESS-RAISING
Gender awareness raising aims at increasing general sensitivity, understanding and
knowledge about gender (in)equality. Awareness raising is a process which helps to facilitate
the exchange of ideas, improve mutual understanding and develop competencies and skills
necessary for societal change. Gender awareness raising means providing reliable and
accessible information to build a better understanding of gender equality as a core value of
democratic societies. As a gender-mainstreaming method, gender awareness raising is crucial
for integrating a gender perspective into policies, programmes, projects and services that
respond to the different needs of women and men.
GENDER BUDGETING
Gender budgeting is a strategy to achieve equality between women and men by
focusing on how public resources are collected and spent. ‘Gender budgeting is an
approach to budgeting that can improve it, when fiscal policies and administrative
procedures are structured to address gender inequality … When properly done, one can say
that gender budgeting is good budgeting’. (Stotsky, 2016)
GENDER EQUALITY TRAINING
Gender equality training is not a goal in itself, or a single tool to implement gender
mainstreaming. It is part of a wider set of tools, instruments and strategies. Gender equality
training should be incorporated into a continuous and long-term process.
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As defined by UN Women, gender equality training is a ‘tool, strategy, and means to

effect individual and collective transformation towards gender equality through consciousness
raising, empowering learning, knowledge building, and skill development'. It is an important
component of the gender-mainstreaming strategy, and is recognised as such by several
international and European normative instruments on gender equality.
Gender equality training (GET) provides participant(s) with the relevant knowledge,
skills and values that allow them to contribute to the effective implementation of the gender-
mainstreaming strategy in their field, organisation, institution or country.
GENDER EVALUATION
A gender-sensitive evaluation is a systematic and objective assessment of the design
and planning (objectives, results pursued, activities planned), the implementation and results
of an ongoing or completed activity, project, programme or policy from a gender perspective.
It can take place either upon completion of the project, when focus is placed on gender
impacts and the contribution of the programme to promoting gender equality, or throughout
project implementation, with the aim of seeking to have a process of continuous improvement.
It can also take place ex ante in order to evaluate how a policy can affect gender equality in a
specific field. An evaluation exercise must take into account the indicators delineated in the
planning phase and the information and data collected in the course of the policy or
programme, as well as other knowledge and sources.
Evaluators should have gender expertise and the evaluation criteria, questions,
methods and reports should integrate gender equality considerations. The evaluation report
should be based on qualitative and quantitative data, disaggregated by sex, to measure results
and long-term outcomes for both women and men. Ideally gender equality issues should be
mainstreamed in all sections of the evaluation report, rather than mentioned only in a separate
section on gender. Make your evaluation reports publicly available: this will build confidence
between your institution and the target group(s) of your policy or programme.
GENDER IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Gender Impact Assessment is an ex-ante evaluation, analysis or assessment of a law,
policy or programme that makes it possible to estimate in a preventative way the likelihood of
a given decision to have positive, negative or neutral consequences for the state of equality
between women and men. The central question of the GIA is: Does a law, policy or
programme reduce, maintain or increase the gender inequalities between women and
men? The European Commission defines gender impact assessment as follows:
“Gender impact assessment is the process of comparing and assessing, according to
gender relevant criteria, the current situation and trend with the expected development
resulting from the introduction of the proposed policy.”
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“Gender impact assessment is the estimation of the different effects (positive,

negative or neutral) of any policy or activity implemented to specific items in terms of
gender equality.”
GENDER STATISTICS AND INDICATORS
This briefing introduces gender statistics and indicators and explains why they are
important tools to promote gender equality and implement a gender mainstreaming approach.
Put simply, gender statistics and indicators integrate a gender perspective in the collection,
analysis and presentation of statistical data. Gender statistics play a key role in measuring
gender gaps on the basis of agreed indicators that are relevant to the lives of women and men.
In the EU, for example, they are used to identify gender gaps in education, the labour market,
earnings and health, amongst other areas.
Gender statistics and indicators are an integral part of gender mainstreaming
throughout the entire policy cycle. Firstly, they inform the policymaking process and ensure
that interventions respond to the different needs and priorities of women and men. Secondly,
they measure changes in the relations between women and men over time in a particular
policy area, a specific programme or activity, or changes in the status or situation of women
and men. Thirdly,They are an essential part of the monitoring and evaluation of the
implementation and outcomes of policies, programmes and projects.
GENDER MONITORING
A gender-sensitive monitoring is a systematic and objective assessment of the design
and planning (objectives, results pursued, activities planned), the implementation and results
of an ongoing activity, project, programme or policy from a gender perspective. It takes into
account the information and data collected and collated in the course of different planning and
implementation phases of the policy or programme, as well as other knowledge and sources.
Persons responsible for monitoring should have gender expertise and the criteria for
monitoring, methods and reports should integrate gender equality considerations.
Monitoring exercises occur periodically and are aimed at following up the
implementation of a policy or a programme. This includes data collection and information
based on the defined gender equality objectives and indicators, in order to verify whether the
plan is being followed and whether the objectives are being achieved. Importantly, it allows to
immediately address identified problems and to introduce changes in order to accomplish what
has been established.
GENDER PLANNING
Mainstreaming a gender perspective into policies, programmes and projects requires
that both women’s and men’s needs are taken into consideration at all stages of the policy
cycle. Gender planning refers to the process of planning and designing the implementation
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phase of policies, programmes, or projects from a gender perspective, and it takes place in the
second stage of the policy cycle.
The European Commission defines gender planning as ‘an active approach to
planning which takes gender as a key variable or criterion and which seeks to incorporate an
explicit gender dimension into policy or action’.
Integrating a gender perspective into the planning and design of policies, programmes
and projects requires, firstly, the recognition of gender gaps and structural gender inequalities
that need to be tackled in a given context and, secondly, the definition of gender-policy
objectives and the formulation of appropriate approaches and interventions to achieve them.
Gender planning stems from the recognition that different groups of women and men have
different needs, different levels of access and control over resources, and different
opportunities and constraints. Gender planning pays particular attention to unequal gender
relations and structural inequalities. It aims to transform unequal gender relations in
different policy areas by responding to the needs of women and men and through a more even
distribution of resources, actions, responsibilities and power.
GENDER-RESPONSIVE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
GRPP is procurement that promotes gender equality through the goods, services or
works being purchased. This means that buyers and suppliers examine the impact of all
contracted activities on women’s and men’s needs, interests and concerns, and design and
deliver contracts in a way that reduces inequalities. It does not necessarily entail higher costs,
but does require knowledge and capacity.
Gender equality is a fundamental value of the European Union (EU). Promoting
gender equality in all its activities is one of the EU’s tasks, required by the treaties. The EU’s
gender equality policy objectives are wide-ranging, and include fostering equal economic
independence for women and men, closing the gender pay gap, advancing the gender balance
in decision-making, ending gender-based violence and promoting gender equality beyond the
EU.
GRPP is procurement that promotes gender equality through the goods, services or
works being purchased. This means that buyers and suppliers examine the impact of all
contracted activities on women’s and men’s needs, interests and concerns, and design and
deliver contracts in a way that reduces inequalities. It does not necessarily entail higher costs,
but does require knowledge and capacity.
Gender equality is a fundamental value of the European Union (EU). Promoting
gender equality in all its activities is one of the EU’s tasks, required by the treaties. The EU’s
gender equality policy objectives are wide-ranging, and include fostering equal economic
independence for women and men, closing the gender pay gap, advancing the gender balance
in decision-making, ending gender-based violence and promoting gender equality beyond the
EU.
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GENDER STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION

Gender stakeholder consultation promotes the participation of women and men in the
policymaking process to ensure that their voices are heard and their priorities are reflected in
policies, programmes and projects.
Gender stakeholder consultation is the process of engaging and ensuring the
meaningful participation of women and men, including civil society organisations and gender
experts, in the policymaking process. Gender stakeholder consultation promotes evidence-
based and participatory decision making, which takes into consideration the different priorities
and needs of women and men, including the most marginalised groups and those that are
traditionally excluded from decision-making processes.
INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION
Institutional transformation means a profound change within an institution which, as a
consequence, also affects the outside environment. It encompasses changes in the basic values
and beliefs that are dominant in a certain institution, as well as changes in the rules and
regulations that lead to certain working results. Processes of change within institutions occur
continuously due to their changing environment, thus creating new demands or incentives for
change. This change happens either unintentionally (thereby risking inefficiency), or in a
planned and coordinated way, with executives acting as managers and coordinators. Today
change management has become a professional field for internal actors, consultants and
academics.
SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA
Any data on individuals broken down by sex. Gender statistics rely on these sex-
disaggregated data and reflect the realities of the lives of women and men and policy issues
relating to gender.
Data collected and tabulated separately for women and men. They allow for the
measurement of differences between women and men on various social and economic
dimensions and are one of the requirements in obtaining gender statistics. However, gender
statistics are more than data disaggregated by sex. Having data by sex does not guarantee, for
example, that concepts, definitions and methods used in data production are conceived to
reflect gender roles, relations and inequalities in society.
ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY APPROACHES
The question has been asked whether the issue of women’s development is an issue
separate from that of broader development. Research and practical experience has, in general,
taught us the following:
 Women have not benefited from development processes, programmes and
projects to the same extent as men
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 Women are very often not included in the planning or implementation of

development
 Development can undermine the role, status and position of women in society
 Development affects women and men differently, often with a negative impact
on women
The debates about women and to what extent they benefit or do not benefit from
development have led to the emergence of three distinctive models. These models seek to
explain how development affects women and why women and men are affected by
development differently. These models are discussed in some detail below.
WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT (WID)
By the 1970s it had become very clear that women were being left out of
development. They were not benefiting significantly from it and in some instances their
existing status and position in society was actually being made worse by development.
The WID approach saw the problem as the exclusion of women from development
programmes and approaches. As a result, the solution was seen as integrating women into
such programmes. WID saw women as a group being treated as lacking opportunity to
participate in development. The main task, therefore, was to improve women’s access to
resources and their participation in development.
The WID approach argued for the integration of women into development
programmes and planning. This, it was argued, was the best way to improve women’s position
in society. There was, for instance, a major emphasis on income-generating projects for
women as a means of integration. Welfare oriented projects dealing with small income-
generating projects and activities mostly aimed at women’s reproductive role, where nutrition
education and family planning were a main feature.
The WID approach, although it had limitations, increased the visibility of women in
development issues. WID was successful in helping secure a prominent place for women’s
issues at the United Nations (UN) and other international development agencies. The UN
declared 1975 to 1985 the Decade for Women. One of the major achievements of the decade
was the establishment of women in development structures or machineries. In Zambia, for
instance, it was during this time that the Women’s League of the then ruling political party
United National Independence Party (UNIP) was formed as the national machinery to address
women’s development issues. The Women’s League developed a programme of action and a
campaign to promote the integration of women in the development process at every level.
Over time, it was felt women’s integration into development was not taking place due
to the lack of an established structure within government to plan, coordinate and monitor the
implementation of policy to integrate women. A WID Unit was established in 1986 at the
National Commission for Development Planning, the central planning and coordinating body
of government. The WID unit was later elevated to a full department. Its focus was the
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integration of women in development and to ensure that ministries and other implementing
bodies worked towards the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of women as the
way to ensure their total integration in development.
Although the WID approach made demands for women’s inclusion in development, it
did not call for changes in the overall social structure or economic system in which women
were to be included. As such, WID concentrated narrowly on the inequalities between men
and women and ignored the social, cultural, legal and economic factors that give rise to those
inequalities in society. WID tended to focus on women almost exclusively and assumed that
women were outside the mainstream of development.
WOMEN AND DEVELOPMENT (WAD)
As a result of criticisms of the WID approach, the Women and Development (WAD)
approach arose in the latter part of the 1970s. Adopting a Marxist feminist approach, the main
argument of WAD was that women had always been part of the development processes. WAD
asserts that women have always been important economic actors. The work they do both
inside and outside the household is critical to the maintenance of society. However, this
integration has only served to sustain global inequalities. Therefore, the WID approach that
placed emphasis on integrating women into development was not correct.
The main focus of WAD is on the interaction between women and development
processes rather than purely on strategies to integrate women into development.
WAD saw both women and men as not benefiting from the global economic structures
because of disadvantages due to class and the way wealth is distributed. WAD therefore
argued that the integration of women into development was to their disadvantage and only
made their inequality worse. WAD saw global inequalities as the main problem facing poor
countries and, therefore, the citizens of those countries.
WAD was very persuasive in raising the debate that women have a role not only in
reproduction but in production as well. For development to be meaningful for women both
these roles have to be acknowledged.
WAD has been criticised for assuming that the position of women will improve if and
when international structures become more equitable. In so doing, it sees women’s positions
as primarily within the structure of international and class inequalities. It therefore underplays
the role of patriarchy in undermining women’s development and does not adequately address
the question of social relations between men and women and their impact on development.
It has been argued that, although at a theoretical level WAD recognises and focuses
strongly on class, in practical project design and implementation, it tends like WID to group
women together irrespective of other considerations such as class divisions.
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD)
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In the 1980s further reflections on the development experiences of women gave rise to
Gender and Development (GAD). GAD represented a coming together of many feminist
ideas. It sought to bring together both the lessons learned from, and the limitations of, the
WID and WAD approaches.
GAD looks at the impact of development on both women and men. It seeks to ensure
that both women and men participate in and benefit equally from development and so
emphasises equality of benefit and control. It recognises that women may be involved in
development, but not necessarily benefit from it. GAD is not concerned with women
exclusively, but with the way in which gender relations allot specific roles, responsibilities and
expectations between men and women, often to the detriment of women.
Development, therefore, is about deep and important changes to relations dealing with
gender inequality within society. This approach also pays particular attention to the oppression
of women in the family or the ‘private sphere’ of women’s lives. As a result, we have seen
projects develop addressing issues such as violence against women.
GAD focuses on the social or gender relations (i.e. the division of labour) between
men and women in society and seeks to address issues of access and control over resources
and power. The GAD approach has also helped us understand that the gender division of
labour gives “triple roles” to women in society. The gender division of labour operates
differently from one society and culture to another and it is also dynamic. The way these roles
are analysed and valued affects the way development projects will make certain things a
priority or not. Provision for child-care for instance is not likely to be a priority among men
planning for development but it is a crucial factor in ensuring women may take advantage of
development opportunities for their benefit.
GAD goes further than the other approaches in emphasising both the reproductive and
productive role of women and argues that it is the state’s responsibility to support the social
reproduction role mostly played by women of caring and nurturing of children. As such, it
treats development as a complex process that is influenced by political, social and economic
factors rather than as a state or stage of development. It therefore goes beyond seeing
development as mainly economic well-being but also that the social and mental wellbeing of a
person is important. Arising from the GAD analysis is the need for women to organise
themselves into a more effective political voice in order to strengthen their legal rights and
increase the number of women in decision-making.
In Zambia, the response of government in 1996 to these changes in approach was to
elevate the WID department to the Gender in Development Division (GIDD) at Cabinet
Office, under the Office of the President. These changes put GIDD in a stronger position as it
was given its own vote in the national budget and a better position from which to influence
policy.
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Development theory has also changed from a focus on needs to support for rights.
Basic rights are those rights which flow from people’s basic needs such as water, food and
housing. This is in recognition of the fact that WID interventions which focused on meeting
the practical needs of women have not been successful. This is because they did not challenge
fundamentally the structures that come in the way of women’s participation in society on an
equal basis with men.
PRACTICAL APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN
The debate on women and men has not just been about the theories on the role of
women but also on the practical approaches adopted to secure women’s development. In
general, women’s needs have been divided into two categories: practical and strategic needs.
As the term suggests, practical needs are those dealing with matters of a practical nature such
as health, water and education. Strategic needs, on the other hand, are those that deal with
changing the status of women and include policy and legal measures to deal with issues such
as the gender division of labour, domestic violence, and increased women’s participation in
decision-making.
Over the years, the practical approaches to the developmental challenges relating to
women have developed and changed in response to criticisms and the growth of better
understanding of the dynamics relating to women’s development. These approaches are
briefly discussed below:
THE WELFARE APPROACH
Until the early 1970s, development programmes addressed the needs of women
almost entirely within the context of their reproductive roles. The focus was on mother and
child health, child-care and nutrition. Population control - or family planning as it later came
to be known - was a major focus as well due to the link made between population growth and
poverty. The focus was clearly on meeting practical needs. It was also assumed that broad
economic strategies oriented towards modernisation and growth would trickle down to the
poor and that poor women would benefit as the general economic situation improved.
But the assumptions that women’s position would improve together with general
improvements in the economy, or with the economic positions of their husbands, began to be
challenged as it became clear that women were in fact losing out. Women, as a result, were
being increasingly associated with backwardness and the traditional while men were
increasingly identified with the modern and progressive. Men were assisted in this with
economic development projects, such as the introduction of cash crops, and new agricultural
technologies that excluded women.
THE EQUITY APPROACH
Feminist calls for gender equality were important in bringing about this approach, the
main aim of which was to eliminate discrimination. It emphasised the revaluing of women’s
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contribution and share of benefits from development. The equity approach also dealt with both
the productive and reproductive roles as a responsibility of government. The emphasis on
revaluing women’s contribution and share of benefits meant that the approach dealt with
issues of policy and legal measures as a means of bringing about equity. The equity approach,
in contrast to the welfare approach, saw women as active participants organising to bring
about necessary changes.

THE ANTI-POVERTY APPROACH

This approach focuses on both the productive and reproductive role of women with an
emphasis on satisfaction of basic needs and the productivity of women. A key operational
strategy required access to income generation and waged employment. The tendency with this
approach was to reinforce the basic needs and ignore the strategic needs of women.
THE EFFICIENCY APPROACH
The efficiency approach targets women as workers and is a product of the 1980s’
economic reforms known as the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the International
Monetary fund and the World Bank. Its aim has been increased production and economic
growth with an emphasis on full use of human resources. Education and training are therefore
key strategies. Advocates of this approach argue that gender analysis makes good economic
sense. This is because understanding men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities as part of
the planning of development activities helps improve effectiveness and ensures that women, as
well as men, can play their part in national development.
The efficiency approach succeeded in bringing the concerns about women and gender
into the mainstream of development. However, this was done with a focus on what women
could do for development, rather than on what development could do for women.
But the economic reforms in effect undervalue paid work as they seek to restrict trade
union activity and freeze wages of workers. They also burden women due to restrictions on
social spending in areas such as health and education. Women are therefore spending much
more time in caring for the ill. In so burdening women the reforms hinder progress towards
meeting women’s strategic needs.
THE EMPOWERMENT APPROACH
This is an approach closely associated with third world feminist and grassroots
organisations. The aim of the empowerment approach is to increase the self-reliance of
women and to influence change at the policy, legislative, societal, economic and other levels
to their advantage. Its main point of reference is the “triple roles” of women and it emphasises
women’s access to decision-making. Its main strategy is awareness-raising and situates
women firmly as active participants in ensuring change takes place. Building organizational
skills and self-esteem is an important aspect of the empowerment approach.
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The empowerment approach has been instrumental in ensuring that opportunities are
opened for women to determine their own needs. However, empowerment has often been
misunderstood to be an end rather than a means. This has resulted in poor women becoming
very knowledgeable about issues while realising little change to their material situation, which
is often dire.

MEASURING HOW WOMEN FARE

Until the 1990’s the measurements used to assess progress in a country were largely
the Gross National Product (GNP), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita income.
The GDP and GNP measurements reflected the performance of the economy, while per capita
income looked at income distribution within economies.
There was a realisation that these measurements did not go far enough in showing the
well-being of the people living in these economies, as a high GDP or GNP does not
necessarily mean adequate health, education or clean water for the people. On the other hand,
an economically poorer country might provide reasonably for its people in terms of human
development. New measures have been developed to look at progress in terms of human
development. These are mainly the Human Development Index (HDI), Gender-related Human
Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM).
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) constructed the HDI. HDI
focuses on three key indicators:
 Health – In this measurement, life expectancy is valued.
 Knowledge – Literacy is measured.
 Wealth – The Index looks primarily at GDP, adjusts and relates to the purchasing
power in a country
The combination of these three indicators to form the HDI is a useful step towards
comparing poverty, deprivation and development in different parts of the world. In the
countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the country which ranks
highest in terms of HDI is the Seychelles and it is the only country in the high human
development category: the Seychelles is followed by Mauritius while South Africa, the
country with the largest economy, comes in third. The bottom three countries are Angola,
Malawi and Mozambique in that order.
GENDER-RELATED DEVELOPMENT INDEX
The differences between women and men in relation to the different dimensions of
human poverty are measured through the use of a gender-related development index (GDI)
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and gender empowerment measure (GEM). In using these measures the UNDP attempts to
adjust the human development index for gender inequality.
GENDER EMPOWERMENT MEASURE
The GEM measures gender inequality in the key areas of economic and political
participation and decision–making. It therefore differs from the GDI, which serves as an
indicator of gender inequality in the basic indicators. It is interesting to note that although
Mozambique is at the bottom of the HDI when it comes to the gender measurements,
(particularly to GDI), it is among the high performers in the region. This is due to the policies
it has adopted that favour women, in particular its electoral system that ensures a high number
of women are represented in parliament and other organs of government.
WHERE WOMEN ARE AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING
Present estimates are that women made up 51% of Africa’s total population of 861
people in mid 2003. Women are found in all areas of human activity in Africa. However, the
distribution of political and decision-making power between men and women is heavily in
favour of men. Women have virtually no formal power in state structures since too few
women are located in the political arena and top-level public administration. But some
commitments have been made. For instance, the SADC (1997) Heads of State Declaration on
Gender and Development commits SADC countries to:
“Ensuring the equal representation of women and men in the decision-making
of member states and SADC structures at all levels, and the achievement of at
least 30% of women in political and decision–making structures by the year
2005.”
Although individual countries like Mozambique and South Africa are doing well in
terms of women’s representation in parliament, the SADC regional average is 17%. South
Africa, Mozambique and Seychelles are among the top ten countries in the world in terms of
representation of women in parliament. In comparison with the rest of the world, Southern
Africa is not doing too badly. The average for sub-Saharan Africa is 9%, for the entire African
continent it is 11%, for the Americas and Europe 15%, and the global average is 13.4 %.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATION OF WOMEN
Women and men are affected differently by the political, economic, social,
constitutional, legal and technological situations in different parts of the world. Women are
more often negatively affected than men. However, a number of common themes and trends
can be seen across Africa.
Women almost always face worse constraints and more difficult choices in the use of
their time than men. This difference is made worse by the harsh and changing economic
climate. Throughout the continent, with a few exceptions, the economic recession has reduced
employment opportunities for both women and men. But women are further disadvantaged as
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gender relations, family demands and power relations within the family negatively affect their
access to the job market.
Access to resources, such as land, credit and other productive resources by women is
characterised by lack of rights and control such as lack of security of land. Most people in
Africa live in communal or tribal lands as peasants or smallholder farmers. Customary law
governs this land. The practice in customary law is for traditional authorities to give rights of
use of land to adult males. Women’s rights to land are therefore often indirect i.e. through
their male relatives. They obtain their land rights through their roles as daughters, sisters or
wives. This does not give as much control over land as is given to men, which works to the
advantage of men and disadvantage of women.
Credit or loan giving institutions tend to be male oriented and to discriminate against
women. Historically women have been constrained in their ability to function as entrepreneurs
and members of the workforce because the colonial authorities relegated them to the role of
housewives.
Credit or loan giving institutions tend to be male oriented and to discriminate against
women. Historically women have been constrained in their ability to function as entrepreneurs
and members of the workforce because the colonial authorities relegated them to the role of
housewives. Legal discrimination also limits women’s access, control and use of productive
resources. This includes marriage systems in countries such as Botswana, Swaziland and
Lesotho that deprive wives of their right to enter into contract in their own names. In other
countries inheritance laws and practices dispossess widows of their marital property.
Customary laws and practices ensure that women’s position remain subordinate. This
is made worse by the existence of dual legal systems, both customary and statutory, that exist
in most countries. Customary law for the most part favours men. It often applies to matters
like marriage, divorce, inheritance and property ownership. On the whole, laws are very
biased against women, reinforcing practices that continue to discriminate against them.
Statutory law remains mostly biased against women as old laws inherited from colonial times
remain on the statute books of most countries.
The gender nature of the HIV/AIDS pandemic has become clearer as the incidence
and prevalence is higher among women than men. According to UNAIDS, in sub-Saharan
Africa 58% of infected adults aged between 15-49 are women and the highest number of new
cases are among girls aged between 15-19. In Southern Africa, the figures are even worse. At
the SADC level at end 1999, it was estimated that a total of 11,950,000 adults and children
were infected and of that number 11,430,000 were adults. The biological and physiological
factors that increase the rate of infection for women are even more critical for young women.
But socio-economic factors also play their part. For instance, the myth that male sex with a
virgin cures AIDS plays an important role in the sexual abuse of girl children. Poverty too
plays its Women Gender Dev 09/02/2004 3:39 PM Page 15 part as more and more young
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women resort to seeking economic relief through giving sexual favours to older men. Yet
current responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic have not begun to address the gender nature of
HIV/AIDS in a meaningful way.
In education, girls’ progression rate is worse than boys because of high drop out rates
due to pregnancies, lack of school fees, and familyrelated crises. The customary practices
often determine that when family resources are limited and choices have to be made between
sending girls or boys to school, the choice will often be in favour of boys. As the HIV/AIDS
pandemic deepens, girls are being called upon to provide care to ill parents and their young,
and subsequently orphaned, brothers and sisters.
Most countries with a few exceptions have ratified the Convention for the Elimination
of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). However, measures have not been
put in place to ensure that CEDAW and other international conventions are domesticated and
harmonised with national laws.
Women do not enjoy security and safety in either the public or private sphere.
Violence against women continues to increase. Studies show rising incidents of rape, assault
and killings of women. Child abuse too is on the increase, thus reflecting the depth of the
problem at both the family and community level.
As in other fields of human development, women are marginalised and disadvantaged
with respect not only to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) but other
technologies as well. The level of general awareness about ICTs is still low and most countries
lack the infrastructure to engage with the Information Society. This leads to what is now
known as the digital divide among countries. The position of women in the digital divide is
even more disadvantaged. Women face cultural, economic and social challenges that limit
their access to, use of, and benefits from ICTs. Women’s lower levels of literacy and
education when compared to men means that women represent the majority of the poor and
illiterate. The high cost of ICT training further aggravates the problem as few women can
afford training in the new technologies. This contributes a lot to their being disadvantaged.
Negative attitudes towards girls’ achievement in science and mathematics contribute to the
gender dimension of the digital divide.
Despite efforts to review ICT international regulations, African women’s perspectives
have not always been taken into consideration. The few complete ICT and
telecommunications policies in the region are not genderresponsive. African women continue
to be seen as passive receivers of information rather than actors able to contribute to decision
and policymaking.
The use of the Internet to perpetuate violence against women is a concern. The role of
the Internet in the proliferation of pornography is a case in point.
WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT – WHAT THE WORLD HAS PROMISED
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The United Nations International Women’s Year Conference held in Mexico City in
July 1975 recommended that a decade for women be established with the themes of equality,
development and peace. Later in 1975, the UN General Assembly established the UN Decade
for Women from 1976 to 1985. This action firmly put women’s issues on the international
agenda.
During the decade, three world women’s conferences were held. Each of these
conferences adopted plans of action in which the world made certain promises to women.
The Mexico City International Women’s Year Conference in 1975 adopted the World
Plan of Action. The mid-decade conference in Copenhagen in 1980 adopted the Programme of
Action and CEDAW was signed at Copenhagen. The Forward Looking Strategies to the Year
2000 were adopted at Nairobi at the end of the decade conference in 1985.
THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCES ON WOMEN
This was held in Mexico City in 1975. It was the largest meeting ever to deal with the
problems and concerns of women. One hundred and twenty five of the 133 UN member
nations sent delegates to the conference and about 70% of the delegates were women. It was
the first time that more women than men were delegates to a world conference. The
conference was approved by the UN General Assembly at its meeting in 1972. But it had its
opponents. There were those, like Saudi Arabia, who argued that the conference was
unnecessary. They argued that women already had more equality than men as they were
supported by men and when men died their wives inherited.
The Conference finally took place and adopted the World Plan of Action for the
Implementation of the Objectives of the International Women’s Year that came to be 6.1. The
United Nations Conferences on Women 6. WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT – WHAT THE
WORLD HAS PROMISED Women Gender Dev 09/02/2004 3:39 PM Page 20 popularly
known as the World Plan of Action.
Ambitious, two-fold objectives were set out: “to define a society in which women
participate in a real and full sense in economic, social and political life and to devise strategies
whereby such societies could develop”. These objectives acknowledged that, for women’s
development to take place, attitudes needed to change and that the reassessment of women’s
and men’s role in the family was required.
The methods and strategies for achieving this were outlined and included: legal rights,
free primary education and access to general education, the right to family planning
information and services, child-care and other social services, reducing women’s work-load,
providing access to employment opportunities and training for employment. It was recognised
that the integration of women in development processes embraces all aspects of life and
requires that women are active as decisionmakers and recognised as contributors as well as
beneficiaries of development.
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The methods and strategies for achieving this were outlined and included: legal rights,
free primary education and access to general education, the right to family planning
information and services, child-care and other social services, reducing women’s work-load,
providing access to employment opportunities and training for employment. It was recognised
that the integration of women in development processes embraces all aspects of life and
requires that women are active as decisionmakers and recognised as contributors as well as
beneficiaries of development.
The World Plan of Action provided for a national action section giving governments,
and virtually all sectors of society, a set of guidelines. The national action plans must list five-
year minimum goals. These goals include equal access to education, increased political rights
and employment opportunities, and recognition of the economic value of the work
traditionally carried out by women. One of the strong recommendations was for the setting up
of national government “machineries” i.e. women’s bureaus, commissions or committees with
adequate staff and budget. Although there is heavy emphasis on what governments should do,
there is also recognition that governments alone cannot bring about equality between men and
women. Women’s groups are expected and encouraged to supplement government efforts.
Other major recommendations are:
 The need for constitutional and legal changes to ensure equality and remove
discrimination.
 For women’s full and equal participation in policy and decision-making and in
public life generally.
Education is recognised as a most important goal. In the list of minimum goals, the
first three deal with education, while of the fourteen goals education is mentioned in six.
The shortage of data and information on women led to the inclusion of a strong
section on research and data collection. In addition to recognising the need for adequate data
as essential to policy formulation, the problem of attitude is also recognised. Accurate data
cannot be collected without attitudinal change. This is because of the tendency to
automatically classify women as housewives and the fact that house-work and childcare are
not valued or included in economic statistics.
The problem of attitudes regarding women and their role was raised again with
reference to media and mass communications. Media was recognised as important both in
terms of effecting social change but also in maintaining the status quo. The media was
therefore called upon to project a more dynamic image of women. The World Plan of Action
also called for a Decade for Women and Development and challenged the UN system to do
more for and about women. A call was made for increasing the number of women in decision-
making positions and eliminating discriminatory employment practices within the UN and
other international organisations.
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The final section of the plan is devoted to regular monitoring and evaluation at
national, regional and international levels to ensure that the World Plan of Action is
implemented. This was a signal that a decade-long plan had been made with a view to hold
further conferences that would review and assess progress.
THE MID-DECADE CONFERENCE
This conference took place in Copenhagen in 1980. A Programme of Action was
adopted which built on the earlier World Plan of Action by moving from identifying the
problems and setting goals to being much more specific. The Programmerecognised that
progress in the previous five years had not been enough and, therefore, more needed to be
done.
Forty–eight resolutions were adopted by the Copenhagen Conference. Seven priority
areas requiring special attention were identified: food, rural women, childcare, migrant
women, unemployed women, female-headed households and young women. It acknowledged
that integration of women into development processes and the concept of equality had been
accepted as general principles but much more still needed to be done. This is because women
were largely still thought of as dependents of men and programmes for them had tended to be
welfare-oriented.
The idea of defining development only in terms of economic growth was rejected.
Development was interpreted to mean political, social, cultural as well as economic
development. It was agreed that the worsening economic situation in most countries needed
special attention. It was noted that modernisation or development had in fact made poor
women even poorer. A strong emphasis was on the inclusion of data on women.
It was also agreed in Copenhagen that the recommendations of the World Conference
on Agrarian Reform and Rural development had shown that the needs of rural women,
employment, health and education are the crucial issues and should be given the highest
priority. Another subject that was given increased attention is the effect of technology on
women including the effects of the movement of multinational companies in search of cheap
labour and the need for appropriate technological transfer. Appropriate technological transfer
could reduce the heavy work-load of women and increase their productivity.
Achievement of lasting peace and stability was recognised as a prerequisite for
sustainable development and the elimination of inequalities and discrimination. It called for
the elimination of colonialism, Zionism, racism, apartheid, hegemonism and foreign
occupation. Respect for the dignity of peoples and their right to selfdetermination and
independence were called for.
For the first time, domestic and sexual violence were explicitly mentioned. Previously
the subject was considered to be too sensitive. In the national section, the general strategies
and objectives were stated first followed by explicit recommendations. This was an attempt at
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ensuring that the diverse contexts between and within countries was taken into consideration.
The guidelines for national strategies included:
 That governments in their national development plans and policies should
establish clear qualitative and quantitative targets for the second half of the
decade, make clear projections for a 10 year planning cycle and conduct
reviews in 1985 and 1990. These would seek to remove the gaps between men
and women, between rural and urban women and between all women in
employment, health and education.
 The national machinery should be understood as not only the establishment of
central, highlevelbureaux and commissions but as a resource to upgrade
women’s capacity and role in national development. Such machineries should
develop policies and mechanisms for affirmative action and develop
institutional linkages with national planning units and with women’s
organisations.
 All remaining discriminatory laws should be examined with a view to repealing
laws that discriminate in terms of nationality, inheritance, custody of children,
ownership and control of property.
 In addition, governments should develop programmes to inform women of their
legal rights, and establish commissions to assess women’s legal status, carry
out investigations into the extent of protection, oppression and discrimination
experienced by women under customary law. Governments are also required to
ratify or accede to and implement the provisions of CEDAW and other
instruments of the UN. Laws to prevent domestic and sexual violence have to
be enacted and enforced.
 Every effort should be made to enact laws guaranteeing women the right to
vote, to qualify for election or appointment as public officials. Goals,
timeframes and special efforts must be made to increase the number of women
in public office.
CEDAW was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979 and signing up to it began
in Copenhagen. This is the most concise and useful document adopted during the decade.
Unlike other documents adopted during and after the decade, CEDAW remains the document
most referred to in terms of women’s development issues. CEDAW, also referred to as the
International Bill of Rights for Women, sets out internationally accepted principles and the
measures needed to achieve equality between women and men.
The first sixteen articles of the convention deal with the issues, ranging from a
definition of discrimination to the need to end discrimination against women in the field of
education. The last fourteen articles deal with structural issues, such as the setting up of the
committee on the elimination of discrimination, its functions, and how progress for CEDAW
will be reviewed.
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THE WORLD CONFERENCE TO REVIEW AND APPRAISE THE ACHIEVEMENT

OF THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE FOR WOMEN
This conference was held in Nairobi in 1985. It adopted the Forward Looking
Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2000. The strategies have as immediate
and special priorities the promotion and effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental
freedoms for all, irrespective of sex. The strategies set out concrete measures to achieve the
Decade’s goal and objectives.
Measures for implementation at national level include:
 Governments that had not yet signed on to CEDAW were urged to do so. They
were also urged to take necessary steps for ratification and to ensure its provisions
are complied with. Those governments that had not established national
machineries were asked to do so. Statistical programmes of countries to include
concepts and methods for measuring inequalities between women and men.
 Education was once again reaffirmed as essential for the full realisation of equality
between men and women.
 Governments were asked to recognise and undertake measures, such as
employment laws, to implement the right to work for both men and women on
equal conditions regardless of marital status. In order to eliminate discrimination
against women, it is equally important to recognise women’s informal and
traditional contributions, such as housework, which should be given an economic
value.
 Agrarian reform is important to ensure legal access to land and other means of
production. It is also necessary to ensure women control their labour and the
income earned.
It was recognised that one of the main obstacles to effective women’s development is
the international situation, including the continuing arms race, exploitation, policies of force
and foreign domination and apartheid. The worsening economic situation, especially in Africa,
negatively affected the effective and equal integration of women in development.
THE 4TH UNITED NATIONS WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN
This conference was held in Beijing in 1995. It adopted the Platform of Action (PLA)
and Beijing Declaration. The PLA upholds CEDAW and aims at accelerating the
implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women.
THE PLA also recognises the importance of the agreements reached at various
conferences such as the World Summit for Children, the UN Conference on Environment and
Development, The World Conference on Human Rights, and many others. It recognised that
many goals set out in the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies had not been met. Many barriers
to the full empowerment of women remained. To this end, governments, the international
community and civil society were called upon to take immediate and concerted action in the
following critical areas of concern:
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 The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women

 The inadequate and unequal access to education and training
 The inadequate and unequal access to health-care and related services
 Violence against women
 The effects of armed and other kinds of conflict on women, including those living
under foreign occupation
 Inequality between women and men in the sharing of power and decision-making
at all levels
 Inequality of economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive activities
and in access to resources
 Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women
 Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the human rights
of women
 Stereotyping of women and inequality in women’s access to, and participation in,
communication systems and the media
 Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and the safe-guarding
of the environment
 Persistent discrimination against, and violation of, rights of the girl-child
In each critical area, strategic objectives and specific actions to be taken to achieve them
are proposed. The PLA recognises that women face barriers to full equality and advancement
due to various factors. These factors include race, age, culture, religion, disability and other
status. Additional barriers also exist for refugee women, other displaced women, and migrant
women. Many women also face obstacles because of their family status, particularly as single
parents, and to their socioeconomic status.
WOMEN 2000: GENDER EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE FOR THE
21ST CENTURY
The UN General Assembly resolved to convene a special session in 2000 to review
and assess the progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking
Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the Beijing Platform of Action. The meeting’s
other objective was to identify obstacles encountered in implanting the Beijing PLA and how
to overcome these obstacles. That meeting was convened in New York and came to be
popularly known as Beijing +5.
The Beijing +5 Outcome Document strengthened commitments to get rid of harmful
traditional practices. It also called upon governments to get rid of laws that discriminate on the
basis of gender by 2005 and to ensure affordable treatment and care for women and girls
living with HIV/AIDS.
The review process identified a number of challenges affecting the full
implementation of the Beijing 25 Women Gender Dev 09/02/2004 3:39 PM Page 25
Declaration and PLA. These included:
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 The globalisation process, which has transformed patterns of production and

quickened advances in information and communication technologies, while
increasing gender inequalities. In many countries the number of women in waged
employment has risen but this is often in very poorly waged and harsh working
conditions.
 Increasing economic difference among and within countries. The economic
difficulties have affected the ability of most countries to provide social security
and services. This has led to increased levels of poverty among women.
 The negative effects of structural adjustment programmes, and the high cost of
external debt servicing have worsened the existing obstacles to development,
making the situation of women worse. This, as a result of budget cuts in basic
social services, includes health.

MCQ’S EXERCISES
EXERCISE # 1
Choose the correct answer and tick ()
1. Which of the following is the first charter of Human's rights?
(a) Bill of rights (b) Constitution of media
(c) The Cyrus cylinder (d) None of the above
2. Who played an important role in international human rights law?
(a) Economic summit (b) World War (c) The United Nations (d) None of the above
3. Who adopted the landmark document, the universal declaration of human rights?
(a) UNESCO (b) UNO (c) UNICEF (d) None of the above
4. When was the universal declaration of human rights adopted by UNO?
th
(a) 10 December 1946 (b) 10th December 1947
(c) 10th December 1948 (d) 10th December 1949
5. Which article of the universal declaration of human rights tells that the right of
nationality depends on one's wish?
(a) Article 10 (b) Article 20 (c) Article 30 (d) Article 15
6. Who was the first chairman of the commission on human rights?
(a) Thomas Jefferson (b) Thomas Paine(c) Eleanor Roosevelt (d) None of the above
7. The Universal declaration of human rights was adopted under whose chairmanship?
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(a) Adolf Hitler (b) Jawaharlal Nehru (c) Eleanor Roosevelt (d) None of the above
8. The Universal declaration of human rights is applicable to ----------
(a) Every individual, regardless of religion, race, gender, or cultural background
(b) The citizens of UN member countries (c) Some countries (d) None of the above
9. On which anniversary of the Universal Declaration of human rights, the slogan "All
human rights for all" was adopted?
(a) 12th (b) 30th (c) 50th (d) None of the above
10. How many articles are there in the Universal Declaration of human rights?
(a) 15 (b) 20 (c) 30 (d) 35
1. C 2. C 3. b 4. c 5. d
6. C 7. C 8. a 9. c 10. c
EXERCISE 2
Choose the correct answer and tick ()
1. In which of the following year, the declaration of the rights of the child passed by the
UN?
(a) 1949 (b) 1959 (c) 1969 (d) None of the above
2. Which of the following country has adopted the "Declaration of the rights of man and
of the citizen"?
(a) Italy (b) Pakistan (c) France (d) All of the above
3. The human rights day is observed on --------------.
(a) 10th December (b) 9th December (c) 1st December (d) None of the above
4. Which of the following year is observed as the International Year of the child?
(a) 1949 (b) 1959 (c) 1979 (d) None of the above
5. What is the full form of UNHCR?
(a) United Nations high commissioner for refugees
(b) United Nations high-level committee for refugees
(c) United Nations health committee for refugees (d) None of the above
6. National Human Rights Commission is a ......
(a) Statutory body (b) Constitutional body (c) Multilateral institution
(d) Both a and c
7. Which one of the following is not a UN Agency?
(a) UNICEF (b) UNESCO (c) WTO (d) ILO
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8. Which Article of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 defines the prisoners of War?
(a) Article 1 (b) Article 2 (c) Article 3 (d) Article 4
9. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Review Conference, 2010 held at
(a) Paris (b) Kampala (c) The Hague (d) Rio de Janeiro
10. The UN Sub-Commission on ‘The Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities’ wasestablished in 1947 by
(a) General Assembly (b) Security Council
(c) Commission on Human Rights (d) International Court of Justice
1. b 2. c 3. a 4. c 5. A
6. d 7. c 8. d 9. b 10. c

EXERCISE 3
Choose the correct answer and tick ()
1. The legal positivism, a school of thought which does not accept human rights as
merely moral or just was propounded by
(a) Plato (b) Aristotle (c) Hegel (d) Austin
2. Who introduced the concept of third generation Human Rights?
(a) TulliusCesero (b) Jermy Bentham (c) John Finnis (d) Karel Vasak
3. Which one of the following statements is not correct about the Refugees?
(a) They are outside their country (b) Fear of persecution
(c) Absence of National protection (d) Poverty as reason of being outside the country
4. Right to Education is guaranteed under Article
(a) 14 (b) 19 (c) 21-A (d) 21
5. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is Fighting for_________________?
(a) Organizational development (b) Human rights
(c) Social integrity (d) None of these
6. Governance theory is mainly occupied with institutional change and it involves ______
agency.
(a) Political agency (b) Human agency (c) Public agency (d) None of these
7. People who are discriminated based on sex, race, by birth in a particular community,
religious or disability or any other criteria that is specific to each society are generally
described as:
(a) Disabled Persons (b) Prisoners (c) Disadvantaged People (d)Stateless Persons
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8. People who are discriminated based on sex, race, by birth in a particular community,
religious or disability or any other criteria that is specific to each society are generally
described as:
(a) Disabled Persons (b) Prisoners (c) Disadvantaged People (d) Stateless Persons
9. People who are forced to leave their home and place of residence due to adverse
effects or events that take place in their habitual dwelling are described as……….
(a) Refugees (b) Internally Displaced Persons
(c) Externally Displaced Persons (d) Stateless Persons
10. In the international scenario, if any person moves from one country to another
country in search of work or any other avocation, then he or she is described as……
(a) Stateless person (b) Displaced person (c) Disabled person (d) Migrant worker
1. d 2. d 3. d 4. c 5. b
6. b 7. d 8. d 90. b 10. d

EXERCISE 4
Choose the correct answer and tick ()
1Female labor force participation is negatively affected by
(a) Women’s self-perception of need to work. (b) Spread of mass media
(c) Prevalence of information technology.
(d) Women’s interest in extracurricular activities
2. Which of the following is incorrect to define Sexual harassment?
(a) Unwelcome sexually determined behaviour. (b) Physical contact advances.
(c) Sexually coloured remarks. (d) Demand work
3. When was Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) introduced in the Human
Development Report?
(a) 2010 (b) 2009 (c) 2008 (d) 2011
4. In Pakistan women received full voting rights in national elections in.
(a) 1973 (b) 1970 (c) 1956 (d) 1961
5. Pakistani women were granted the suffrage in 1947 under the
(a) Pakistan Ordinance (b) interim Constitution(c) Indian Act 1935 (d) None of these
6. The act to protect women from sexual harassment at work place was passed in----
(a) 1990 (b) 2000 (c) 2003 (d) 2013
7. Which of the following is the cause for gender inequality?
(a) Poverty (b) Illiteracy (c) Patriarchy (d) All the above
8. What was the first country that granted women the right to vote?
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(a) Canada (b) Germany (c) New Zealand (d)United Kingdom

9. When was the first Conference on Women held?
(a) 1970 (b) 1972 (c) 1975 (d) 1980
10. Which is regarded as the International Bill of Rights for Women?
(a)Convention on the elimination of All Forms of discrimination Against Women
(b) UDHR (c) ICCPR (d) ICESCR
11. Which world conferencee on women discussed domestic violenceas an important
matter.
(a) Copenhagen (b) Mexico (c) Nairobi (d) Beijing
12. A meeting on violence in the family was held in -------- in 1986.
(a) New York (b) Vienna (c) Beijing (d) Mexico
1. a 2. d 3. a 4. c 5. a 6. d
7. d 8. c 9. c 10. a 11. a 12. B

Short Answers
1. What is Gender?
Ans. 'Gender' is generally used as synonym of 'sex'. But sex is a physical and biological
distinction while gender is a social and cultural one. Though the feminine/masculine gender is
usually used interchangeably with the female/male sex, the correlation between the two is not
absolute. For instance, many trans-sexual are unambiguously of one sex, but they identify
themselves with the opposite gender.
2. What is Gender Bias?
Ans.Gender bias refers to a person receiving different treatment based on the person's real or
perceived gender identity.It predisposes a certain type of behaviour towards the object of bias
and manifests itself in many forms. The 'bias' in the present context is being used in terms of
attitudinal prejudice, the notion of structural hierarchy, asymmetry, inequality and oppression.
3. What is Gender Discrimination?
Ans.Gender discrimination is when someone is treated unequally or disadvantageously based
on their gender but not necessarily in a sexual nature. This includes harassment/discrimination
based on sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
4. What are human rights?
What is meant by human rights?
Ans. Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of
nationality, sex, national or ethnic, race, religion, language or other status.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 1.

5. Who has human rights?
Ans. Absolutely everyone, Criminals, heads of state, children, men, women, Africans,
Americans, Europeans, refugees, stateless persons, the unemployed, those in employment,
bankers, those accused of carrying out acts of terrorism, charity workers, teachers, dancers,
astronauts ...
6. How we can improve the position of human rights in Pakistan?
Ans. The government should educate the masses to cultivate healthy attitudes. Teachings of
Islam must be interpreted and conveyed accurately. Social values should be emphasized.
Every help should be sought from international community to improve the condition of human
rights at home.

1. Who played an important role in international human rights law?

Ans. The United Nations has played an important role in international human rights law.
2. Who adopted the landmark document, the universal declaration of human rights?
Ans. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by UNO. UNO stands for
United Nations Organization. It is an international organization, which was established in
1945 after seeing the consequences of World War II.
3. Which of the following is the first charter of Human's rights?
Ans. The Cyrus cylinder is the first charter of human rights in the world. It was issued by the
king Cyrus the Great. This charter was translated into six official languages of the United
Nations.
4. Which article of the universal declaration of human rights tells that the right of nationality
depends on one's wish?
Ans. Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of human rights states that -
"Everyone has the right to a nationality."
"No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his
nationality."
5. When was the universal declaration of human rights adopted by UNO?
Ans. The universal declaration of human rights was adopted by UNO on 10th December 1948.
UNO stands for United Nations Organization. It is an international organization, which was
established in 1945 after seeing the consequences of World War II.
6. How many articles are there in the Universal Declaration of human rights?
Ans. The Universal declaration of human rights consists of 30 articles that detail the
fundamental freedom and basic rights of an individual.
7. On which anniversary of the Universal Declaration of human rights, the slogan "All human
rights for all" was adopted?
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Ans. On the 50th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, the UN set the
theme "All human rights for all". This slogan was adopted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of human rights in 1998.
8. The Universal declaration of human rights was adopted under whose chairmanship?
Ans. The Universal declaration of human rights was adopted under the chairmanship of
Eleanor Roosevelt. She was an American political figure and also served as the first lady of
the United States. Eleanor Roosevelt was the first chairperson of the commission on human
rights (CHR).
9. Who was the first chairman of the commission on human rights?
Eleanor Roosevelt was the first chairperson of the commission on human rights (CHR). She
was an American political figure and also served as the first lady of the United States. The
Universal declaration of human rights was adopted under the chairmanship of Eleanor
Roosevelt.
10. What is the human rights day is observed?
Ans. 10th December is observed as the human rights day every year to reaffirm the importance
of human rights. It is celebrated in the commemoration of the anniversary of the adoption of
the Universal Declaration of human rights.
11. Which of the following country has adopted the "Declaration of the rights of man and of
the citizen"?
Ans. The French National constituent assembly was issued a declaration "des droits de
l'homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen)" on 26th August
1789. It is a fundamental document of the French revolution.
12. In which of the following year, the declaration of the rights of the child passed by the
UN?
Ans. On 20th November 1959, the declaration of the rights of the child was adopted by the UN
general assembly. It was adopted unanimously by 78 members of the UN general assembly.
13. What is the full form of UNHCR?
Ans. UNHCR stands for "United Nations high-level committee for refugees." It is also known
as the UN refugee agency. It was created in 1950 to help the millions of Europeans who have
lost their homes during the Second World War.