EU-CHINA HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK
Working Paper on Right to Education,
Right to Political Affairs and
The Principles of Equality and Non-Discrimination
NETWORK SEMINAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS
BEIJING. 27-28 SEPTEMBER 2004
The Secretariat of the EU-China Human Rights Network
at the Irish Centre for Human Rights would like to acknowledge the work of
Ms. Deirdre O’Leary in the preparation of this discussion paper
The EU-China Human Rights Network is a project funded by the European
Commission. The opinions, findings and conclusions expressed do not
necessarily represent the views of the European Commission.
The Right to Education & Political Affairs, and
The Principles of Equality & Non-Discrimination
The human rights of women and of the girl-child are an inalienable, integral and
indivisible part of universal human rights. The full and equal participation of women
in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life, at the national, regional and
international levels, and the eradication of all forms of discrimination on grounds of sex
are priority objectives of the international community.
-Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.1
Nowhere is the indivisibility of civil and political rights and economic and social rights
more evident than in relation to the human rights of women. The task of ensuring
human rights for women is incomprehensible without taking into account the social and
economic conditions that characterise women’s lives around the world.2 Women are the
majority of the world’s poor and the number of women living in rural poverty has
increased by 50 per cent since 1975.3 In every country in the world, women are poorer
than men, and their poverty and economic inequality affects every aspect of their livestheir basic survival and the survival of their children, their access to food and housing,
their ability to escape from violence, their health, their access to education and literacy,
their ability to participate in public life, their ability to influence and participate in
decisions that affect them.4
In general, international human rights instruments protect the rights which men fear will
be violated (protection for men within their public life), and pre-eminence was afforded
to civil and political rights.5 Invariably, women have been assigned to the private or
domestic sphere, as men historically have both dominated public life and exercised the
power to confine and subordinate women within the private sphere.6 Economic and
social rights, which affect life in the private sphere, have not been afforded the same
importance, despite the situation that for many women, their right to a fair trial or
freedom to manifest their religion or beliefs are secondary to their desire for clean
drinking water, adequate nutrition or primary education for themselves or their
daughters.7 The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) recognises that despite legal rights being granted to women in many
countries, discrimination persists, and women’s access to legal rights are curtailed by
denial of women’s right to economic and social development. Founded on the principles
of equality and non-discrimination, CEDAW straddles the traditional boundaries
between civil and political and socio-economic rights.
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, World Conference on Human Rights, (UNDPI: New
York, 1993) (UN Doc: A/CONF.157/24), (part 1, para.18)
2 Steiner and Alston, International Human Rights In Context 2nd ed., (New York: Oxford University Press,
200) at p163
3 United Nations Fact Sheet No. 22, “Discrimination against Women: The Convention and the
Committee,” available at http://www.ohchr.org/english/about/publications/docs/fs22.htm
4 Farkas, “Equality in International Human Rights Treaties: An optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR)”, International Women’s Rights Action
Watch- Asia and the Pacific, available at http://www.iwraw-ap.org. (This website provides substantial
information on CEDAW, the activities of the CEDAW Committee, and guidance on how NGOs can
participate in the CEDAW enforcement process.)
5 Charlesworth and Chinkin, “The Gender of Just Cogens”, 15 Hum. Rts. Q. 63 (1993), as quoted in Steiner
and Alston, op. cit., at p174
6 CEDAW General Recommendation No. 23, “Political and Public Life” (1997), at para 8
7 Farkas, loc. cit.,
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Principles of Equality and Non-Discrimination
The legal principles of equality and non-discrimination are at the core of international
human rights instruments and they are essential principles for the promotion of women’s
human rights. Equality and the right to non-discrimination require that individuals be
protected against unreasonable or unacceptable different treatment.8 CEDAW is based
on the interrelated principles of equality, non-discrimination and state obligation.
EQUALITY
Creating an environment that provides equality of opportunity for full economic and
social participation is an essential building block of a modern, progressive and
equitable society.9
A problematic issue with regard to equality is the relationship between formal equality (de
jure equality) and substantive equality (de facto equality). Traditionally, formal equality has
been understood to mean receiving the exact same treatment as someone else- the right
to receive the same treatment as men for example. However, equal treatment of persons
in unequal situations will operate to perpetuate rather than to eradicate injustice.10 The
basic legal norm of CEDAW is the prohibition of all forms of discrimination against
women, but this norm cannot be satisfied solely by the enactment of gender-neutral laws.
Neutral laws and policies treating men and women in the same way may seem to be nondiscriminatory but are inadequate to ensure that women enjoy the same rights as men.
Gender equality requires the achievement of equal outcomes for men and women,
notwithstanding that they are starting from different positions of advantage, and are
constrained in different ways.11 For example, a neutral retrenchment policy of “last-in,
first-out” would be discriminatory against women if it does not take into consideration
the effect of past discriminatory recruitment policies, which denied women job
opportunities.12
The substantive approach to equality, recognises that women and men cannot be treated
the same, and for equality of results to occur, women and men may need to be treated
differently. By demanding the practical realisation of rights, CEDAW promotes the
substantive model of equality. In addition to demanding that women be accorded equal
rights with men, the Convention goes further by prescribing the measure to be taken to
ensure that women everywhere are able to enjoy the rights to which they are entitled.
Higgins, “The Right to Equality and Non-discrimination with Regard to Language,” Murdoch University
Electronic Journal of Law, Vol. 10, Issue 1, available at
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v10n1/higgins101_text.html
9 O’Sullivan, “The Approach to Equality”, Irish Equality Authority Equality News, Summer 2002, at p5
(www.equality.ie)
10 UN Fact Sheet No. 22, loc. cit.
11 UNESCO, Gender and Education for All: The Leap to Equality (2003), at p 116, available at
www.efareport.unesco.org
12 Dairiam, “Equality and Non-discrimination: The Two Essential Principles for the Promotion and
Protection of the Human Rights of Women,” Keynote speech to conference organised by the Centre for
Comparative and Public Law and the Women’s Studies Research Centre, University of Hong Kong, 20
April 2002 available at http://www.hku.hk/ccpl/pub/conferences/20042002.doc
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NON-DISCRIMINATION AND
STATE OBLIGATION
Under international law the concept of equality of individuals includes two
contemporary notions: (i) the principle of non-discrimination, which is a negative aspect
of equality designed to prohibit differentiation on irrelevant, arbitrary or unreasonable
grounds; and (ii) the principle of protection or special measures, designed to achieve
‘positive’ equality.13
CEDAW requires in Article 114, not only that women should be accorded rights equal to
those of men, and that is there should be no de jure discrimination, but also that women
should be able to enjoy all their rights in practice. The concept of discrimination set out
in article 1 encompasses any difference in treatment on the grounds of gender which
intentionally or unintentionally disadvantages women; prevents society as a whole from
recognising women’s rights in both the domestic and public spheres; or which prevents
women from exercising the human rights and fundamental freedoms to which they are
entitled.15 The definition of discrimination makes it clear that while a law or policy may
not have the intention of denying a woman the enjoyment of rights, “if the result is a
nullification or impairment of equal rights in any of the forms set out (in Article 1), then
the differentiation is discriminatory and therefore prohibited under the Convention”.16
Articles 2 to 4 of CEDAW set out the extent of the State parties obligations to eliminate
discrimination against women, in both law and practice, and to take all appropriate
measures to ensure the full development and advancement of women.17 The
Convention’s embrace of the concept of positive duties (affirmative action) is set out in
article 4, which permits States to use special remedial measure to accelerate de facto
equality between men and women.
In Article 5, CEDAW recognises the negative impact of social, customary and cultural
practices, which are based on the “idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either sex
or on the stereotyped roles for women and men.” States have a positive obligation to
modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct to achieve the elimination of
prejudices. Article 2(f) imposes an obligation on States parties to “modify or abolish
existing laws, … customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women.”
The Human Rights Committee, in a General Comment on Equality of Rights between
Men and Women18 recognises that inequality in the enjoyment of rights by women
throughout the world, is deeply embedded in tradition, history and culture including
religious attitudes. State parties should ensure that traditional, historical, religious or
McKean, “Warwick Equality and Discrimination under International Law” (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1983), at p8, quoted in Higgins, loc. cit.
14 Article 1 of CEDAW: For the purposes of the present Convention, the term ‘discrimination against
women’ shall mean 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.
15 UN Fact Sheet No. 22, loc. cit.
16 ibid
17 Article 3 CEDAW; see also Dariam, loc.cit. the writer sets out an example of a situation where a state
builds schools but the family does not send the girl child to study; the state will say “we have done
everything; it is beyond our control”. But the Convention is unequivocal in its demands. The measure of
state action to secure the human rights of women lie not just in what the state does (such as building
schools) but more importantly in what the state achieves (the level of progress).
18 HRC General Comment No. 28, “Equality of Rights Between Men and Women” (2000) (UN Doc:
CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.10)
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cultural attitudes are not used to justify violations of women’s right to equality before the
law and to equal enjoyment of all rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Right.19 The subordinate role of women is illustrated by the various
discriminatory practices which impinge the human rights of women, but which are
defended in the name of culture. Such practices include:
a preference for sons, leading to female infanticide; female genital mutilation
(FGM); sale of daughters in marriage, including giving them in forced marriage as
child brides; paying to acquire husbands for daughters through the dowry system;
patriarchal marriage arrangements, allowing the husband control over land,
finances, freedom of movement; husband's right to obedience and power to
discipline or commit acts of violence against his wife, including marital rape;
witch-hunting; compulsory restrictive dress codes; customary division of food,
which produces female malnutrition; and restriction of women to the roles of
housewives or mothers, without a balanced view of women as autonomous and
productive members of civil society.20
By placing an obligation on States parties to eliminate discrimination in both the public
and private sphere, CEDAW redresses the abuses suffered by women in the name of
family, religion, and culture which were previously concealed by the sanctity of the socalled private sphere, and thus allowed the perpetrators of such human rights violations
to enjoyed immunity from accountability for their actions.21
The Right to Education
Education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realising
other human rights. As an empowerment right, education is the primary vehicle by
which economically and socially marginalized adults and children can lift themselves
out of poverty and obtain the means to participate fully in their communities.22
The right to education bridges the division of human rights into civil and political on the
one hand, and economic, social and cultural, on the other hand. The right to education
is a civil and political right since it is central to the full and effective realisation of all
human rights and freedoms. In this respect, the right to education epitomises the
indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights.23 Even the European Convention
on Human Rights, which is generally considered to cover only civil and political rights
issues, states that ‘no person shall be denied the right to education’.24 The Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognises in its General Comment that
increasingly education is appreciated as one of the best financial investments states can
make as it has a vital role in empowering women, safeguarding children from exploitative
and hazardous labour and sexual exploitation, promoting human rights and democracy,
protecting the environment, and controlling population growth. 25 Nevertheless, millions
ibid, at para. 5
Raday, “Culture, Religion, and Gender”, (2003) Icon 1.4 (663)
21 Bunch and Frost, “Women’s Human Rights: An Introduction”, in Routledge International Encyclopedia
of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge, (Routledge, 2000), available at
http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcentre/whr.html
22 CESCR General Comment 13, “The Right to Education” (1999) (UN Doc: E/C.12/1999/10), at para. 1
23 CESCR General Comment 11, “Plans of Action for Primary Education” (1999) (UN Doc:
E/C.12/1999/4) at para. 2
24 Article 2, Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
25 CESCR General Comment 13, loc.cit.
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of children around the world still fail to gain access to schooling, and even larger
numbers among those who do enrol, leave prematurely, dropping out before the skills of
literacy and numeracy have been properly gained.26 A majority of such children are girls.
As a result, the scourge of illiteracy still affects more than 860 million adults, almost twothirds of whom are women.27 The General Assembly in 1997 reiterated the importance
of literacy as a human right and an indispensable element for economic and social
progress while appealing to all governments to redouble efforts to achieve their own
goals of education for all, by setting targets and timetables, where possible, including
gender-specific education targets and programmes to combat the illiteracy of women and
girls.28
Figure 1 29
DE JURE RIGHT TO EDUCATION
Educational inequality is a major infringement of the rights of women and girls and an
important barrier to social and economic development.30 The right to education under
UNESCO, Gender and Education for All: The Leap to Equality- Summary Report (2003) (hereinafter
referred to as UNESCO Summary Report) at p1, available at www.efareport.unesco.org
27 ibid
28 Commission on the Status of Women, “Review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action”, (2000) (UN Doc: E/CN.6/2000/PC/2), at para182.
29 UNESCO Institute for Statistics, at
http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=5020_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC; see also UNESCO “GenderSensitive Education Statistics and Indicators- A Practical Guide”
30 UNESCO Summary Report, loc. cit., at p3
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international law originated in article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
which states that “everybody has the right to education.” The UDHR also declared that
elementary education should be free and compulsory, and that the higher levels of
education should be accessible to all on the basis of merit. This provision was followed
up by the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, adopted in 1960,
which placed the right to education in a binding treaty for the first time. Under article 4
of the UNESCO Convention the right to free and compulsory education is guaranteed,
and States parties “undertake … to formulate, develop and apply a national policy, which
… will tend to promote equality of opportunity and of treatment in the matter of
education”. The right to education is protected comprehensively under articles 13 and
14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)31
which also enshrines a prohibition on discrimination based on sex, both in law and in
fact.32 The two most recent conventions – CEDAW in 1979 and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC in 1990) – contain the most comprehensive set of legally
enforceable commitments concerning both rights to education and to gender equality. By
mid-2003, some 173 countries had ratified CEDAW, whereas the CRC has been ratified
by all the nations of the world with the exception of Somalia and the United States.33
Article 10 of CEDAW sets out the right to education in terms of gender equality: “States
parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in
order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education”. Article 10 also
recognises that equality in education forms the foundation for women’s empowerment in
all spheres: in the workplace, in the family and in the wider society. It is through
education that traditions and beliefs, which reinforce inequality between the sexes can be
challenged, thereby helping to break down the legacy of discrimination handed from one
generation to the next.34
EDUCATING THE GIRL CHILD
Non-discriminatory education benefits both girls and boys and thus ultimately
contributes to more equal relationships between women and men. Equality of access to
and attainment of educational qualifications is necessary if more women are to become
agents of change. Literacy of women is an important key to improving health, nutrition
Article 13(1) The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to education.
(2) The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, with a view to achieving the full realization
of this right:
(a) Primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all;
(b) Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational secondary education,
shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular by the
progressive introduction of free education;
(c) Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate
means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education;
Article 14: Each State Party to the present Covenant which, at the time of becoming a Party, has not been
able to secure in its metropolitan territory or other territories under its jurisdiction compulsory primary
education, free of charge, undertakes, within two years, to work out and adopt a detailed plan of action for
the progressive implementation, within a reasonable number of years, to be fixed in the plan, of the
principle of compulsory education free of charge for all.
32 Article 2(2) ICESCR
33 UNESCO Summary Report, loc. cit., at p3
34 UN Fact Sheet No. 22, loc. cit.
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and education in the family and to empowering women to participate in decisionmaking in society.35
According to a report by the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, devoting
resources to girls’ education is one of the best investments any society can make, since
educating girls supports36:
 Protection of their human rights and an improved quality of life;
 Greater participation of girls and women in leadership and decision-making roles;
 Real and significant reductions in national levels of poverty;
 Increased ability of girls to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and other
diseases, sexual violence, economic exploitation, poverty and hunger;
 A gender perspective that draws attention to the specific needs of boys as well as
girls;
 Later marriages, smaller family size, reduced maternal mortality and healthier, and
better-nourished children;
 Increased household income and resources spent on children;
 Lasting benefits to future generations and all of society.
Universal education might seem a relatively straightforward goal, but it has proven as
difficult as any to achieve. Girls continue to systematically lose out on the benefits that
education affords. As a result, the children whose lives would have been saved if their
mothers had been educated continue to die.37
BARRIERS TO EDUCATING THE GIRL CHILD
The single most important factor preventing girls from attending and achieving in school
is gender discrimination. Problems affecting the exercise of rights to education include
constraints in the family and within society that affect girls’ access to school. The
prevalence of gender-role stereotypes is seen most particularly in the traditional concept
of women's role in the domestic sphere. Many women are denied an education because
their role is considered primarily as one of caring for the family. Moreover, this role is
often viewed as unimportant and not, in itself, worthy of an education.38 However,
according to Sen,39 ‘considerable empirical evidence’ suggests that gainful employment
such as working outside the home for a wage as opposed to unpaid housework ‘can
substantially enhance the deal that women get’. Working outside the home provides
access to funds; improves a woman’s status and standing in the family; supplies a form of
education by bringing home experience of the outside world; and as a result “counters
the relative neglect of girls as they grow up, as women are seen as economic
producers.”40
However, societies differ considerably in the extent to which women also participate in
paid work outside the home: the most marked gender inequalities are generally found in
societies where women are confined to the home and denied the possibility of
Fourth World Conference on Women, “Platform for Action”, Beijing (1995), at para 69
“A New Global Partnership meets an Old Global Challenge”
37 UNICEF, “The State of the World’s Children: Girls, Education and Development” (2003), at p1
38 ibid
39 Sen, “More than 100 Million Women are Missing,” New York Review of Books, (Dec. 1990), at p61, as
quoted in Steiner and Alston, op. cit., at p167
40 ibid
35
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participating in work outside it.41 Countries in which there is a strong cultural preference
for sons also tend to have the greatest gender inequalities. According to UNESCO,
these societies exhibit ‘extreme’ forms of patriarchy. Gender inequalities in education in
such societies are simply one aspect of a generalised and systematic discrimination
against women and girls.42 Indeed, owing to the strong social and economic pressure to
have sons, women are at risk from before birth due to the practice in some areas of
aborting female foetuses, and immediately after birth, because of higher incidence of
female infanticide.43 The preference for boys can also lead to the abandonment and nonregistration of female children, who are thus not entitled to education, health care or
other social benefits.44
Other barriers to the education of girls are the low level of parents’ education; family
poverty; lower priority for girls’ education; a weak legal framework surrounding
education; girls education is perceived as incompatible with traditional beliefs and /or
religious principles; early marriages and pregnancies; the role of the girl/women as a wife
and mother; inadequate and gender-biased teaching and educational materials, sexual
harassment; lack of adequate and accessible schooling facilities; and sceptical attitudes
towards the benefits and outcomes from educating girls.
DE FACTO RIGHT TO EDUCATION
Creation of an educational and social environment, in which women and men, girls and
boys, are treated equally and encouraged to achieve their full potential, respecting their
freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, and where educational resources
promote non-stereotyped images of women and men, would be effective in the
elimination of the causes of discrimination against women and inequalities between
women and men.45
There are very few places in the world where women are denied a formal right to
education. However, as is already established, formal equality is inadequate to ensure and
guarantee equality of rights between men and women. Even when the state provides
girls with access to education, gender discrimination can be reinforced by practices such
as a curriculum which is inconsistent with the principles of gender equality, by
arrangements which limit the benefits girls can obtain from the educational opportunities
offered, and by unsafe or unfriendly environments which discourage girls’ participation.46
True equality in education requires the development of specific and effective guarantees
to ensure that female students are provided with access to the same curricula and other
educational and scholarship opportunities as male students.47 In order to address gender
disparity in education, states need to:
(1) establish an environment conducive to girls’ education through legislation and
policy reforms;
(2) redistribute educational ‘costs’, both opportunity costs and financial costs; and
UNESCO, Gender and Education for All: The Leap to Equality (2003), at p 119, available at
www.efareport.unesco.org
42 ibid
43 Charlesworth and Chinkin, loc. cit., as quoted in Steiner and Alston, op. cit., at p174
44 Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
Women: China (1999) (UN Doc: A/54/38) at para 300
45 Fourth World Conference on Women, “Platform for Action”, Beijing (1995), at para 72
46 CRC, General Comment No. 1: The Aim of Education (2001) (UN Doc: CRC/GC/2001/1) at para 10
47 UN Fact Sheet No. 22 loc. cit.
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(3) mitigate the cultural and economic effects on families of females who pursue
education.48
To promote gender equality and parity in education, states must target their efforts not
only toward education itself, but also toward society’s cultural and institutional
framework.49 For example, in many countries, parents do not expect their daughters to
have careers outside the home. Consequently, girl-children are encouraged to leave
school after completing only a basic or elementary education.50 In addition, if the
benefits of schooling for boys far outweigh those for girls, economically disadvantaged
parents will typically choose to send only the male to school.51 States should reduce the
financial burdens of sending female children to school, and should reform the education
system so that it no longer creates or permits the existence of separate standards and
opportunities for females and males.52
States parties have an obligation to eliminate gender-role stereotyping in and through the
education system,53 and they must close the existing gap in education levels between men
and women.54 States should create programmes which give women the opportunity to
return to school after pregnancy, though the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Education noted that the “frequent clash between societal norms which pressurises girls
into early pregnancy, and the legal norms which aim to keep them in school makes this
phenomenon difficult to tackle.” 55
The Beijing Platform for Action states that “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.56
Right to Political Affairs
Fundamentally, the link between equality and rights is the right to participate, since
participation denotes that you are a full and equal partner in the decision making
process, which will allow you to change your condition, rather than having that change
made dependent on someone else.57
Unequal levels of female participation in political or public life, further demonstrates the
indivisibility of civil and political, and socio-economic rights. Without adequate levels of
Chamblee, “Rhetoric or Rights? When culture and religion bar girls’ right to education,” (2004) 44 Va. J.
Int'l L. 1073, at p1097
49 ibid
50 UN Fact Sheet No. 22 loc. cit.
51 Chamblee, loc. cit., at p1098
52 UN Fact Sheet No. 22, loc. cit.
53 ibid, textbooks used in schools often reinforce traditional, unequal stereotypes, particularly as these apply
to employment and domestic and parenting responsibilities. Teachers may promote this type of genderrole stereotyping by discouraging female students from engaging in mathematics, sciences, sports and other
so-called "male" areas of study or activity. States should, where necessary, revise textbooks and offer
special training courses for teachers in order to combat gender-based discrimination
54 ibid
55 Progress Report of the Special Rapporteur to the CESCR, quoted in Chamblee, loc. cit., at p1100
56 Fourth World Conference on Women, “Platform for Action”, Beijing (1995), at para 79
57 Mary Robinson, “Equality and Rights”, Irish Equality Authority Equality News, Summer 2000 at p5. (see
www.equality.ie)
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education, the opportunities for women to become involved in decision-making are
severely curtailed. Policies developed, and decisions made, by men alone reflect only part
of human experience and potential.58 Women’s equal participation in political life plays a
pivotal role in the general process of the advancement of women. Women’s equal
participation in decision-making is not only a demand for simple justice or democracy
but can also be seen as a necessary condition for women’s interests to be taken into
account. Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s
perspective at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace
cannot be achieved.59
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to take
part in the Government of his or her country.60 The empowerment and autonomy of
women and the improvement of women’s social, economic and political status is
essential for the achievement of both transparent and accountable government in all
areas of life.61 CEDAW places special importance on the participation of women in the
public life of their countries. Articles 7 and 8 of CEDAW stipulate that States parties
shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the
political and public life of the country and to ensure that women enjoy equality with men
in political and public life.62 Article 7 requires States parties to broaden the rights
guaranteed in article 2563 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
ensure to women the right to vote in all elections and public referenda.64 Article 7 also
recognises that, while it is essential, the right to vote is not in itself sufficient to guarantee
the real and effective participation of women in the political process. The article
therefore requires States to ensure to women the right to be elected to public office and
to hold other government posts and positions in non-governmental organisations.65
Under article 4, the Convention encourages the use of temporary special measures in
order to give full effect to articles 7 and 8. Where countries have developed effective
temporary strategies in an attempt to achieve equality of participation, a wide range of
CEDAW General Recommendation No. 23, loc. cit., at para. 13
Fourth World Conference on Women, “Platform for Action”, Beijing (1995), at para 181
60 Article 21, UDHR
61 ibid, also quoted in Baylis and Smith, The Globalisation of World Politics, 2nd ed., (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2001), at p 582
62 CEDAW General Recommendation No. 23, loc. cit., sets out the characterisation of ‘political and public
life’:
“The political and public life of a country is a broad concept. It refers to the exercise of political power, in
particular the exercise of legislative, judicial, executive and administrative powers. The term covers all
aspects of public administration and the formulation and implementation of policy at the international,
national, regional and local levels. The concept also includes many aspects of civil society, including public
boards and local councils and the activities of organizations such as political parties, trade unions,
professional or industry associations, women's organizations, community-based organizations and other
organizations concerned with public and political life,” at para 5
63 Article 25 of the ICCPR: Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of
the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions:
(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen
representatives;
(b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal
and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of
the will of the electors;
(c) To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.
64 Of particular importance for women is the right to vote anonymously. Women who are not allowed to
vote anonymously are often pressured to vote in the same way as their husbands and are thus prevented
from expressing their own opinions (UN Fact Sheet No. 22)
65 ibid
58
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measures has been implemented, including recruiting, financially assisting and training
women candidates, amending electoral procedures, developing campaigns directed at
equal participation, setting numerical goals and quotas and targeting women for
appointment to public positions such as the judiciary or other professional groups that
play an essential part in the everyday life of all societies.66 The formal removal of barriers
and the introduction of temporary special measures to encourage the equal participation
of both men and women in the public life of their societies are essential prerequisites to
true equality in political life.
In all nations, the most significant factors inhibiting women’s ability to participate in
public life have been the cultural framework of values and religious beliefs, the lack of
services and men’s failure to share the tasks associated with the organisation of the
household and with the care and raising of children. Article 5(b)67 of CEDAW requires
that States recognise the raising of children as a responsibility that should be shared by
women and men, and not as a task that is borne by women alone. This may well require
the development of social infrastructures (e.g. paternal leave schemes) which would make
possible a sharing of parental duties.68 A more equal sharing of those responsibilities
between women and men not only provides a better quality of life for women and their
daughters but also enhances their opportunities to shape and design public policy,
practice and expenditure so that their interests may be recognized and addressed.69
In all nations, cultural traditions and religious beliefs have played a part in confining
women to the private spheres of activity and excluding them from active participation in
public life.70 Traditional attitudes, by which women are regarded as subordinate to men
or as having stereotyped roles, perpetuate widespread practices involving violence or
coercion. The effect of such violence on the physical and mental integrity of women is
to deprive them of the equal enjoyment, exercise and knowledge of human rights and
fundamental freedoms. The underlying consequences of gender-based violence help to
maintain women in subordinate roles and contribute to their low level of political
participation and to their lower level of education, skills and work opportunities. 71 The
Beijing Platform for Action states: “achieving the goal of equal participation of women
and men in decision-making will provide a balance that more accurately reflects the
composition of society and is needed in order to strengthen democracy and promote its
proper functioning.”72
Conclusion
Gender equality is an overarching principle that applies to the enjoyment of all rightscivil, cultural, economic, political and social. The Committee on CEDAW notes that the
persistence of prejudice and stereotypical attitudes concerning the role of women and
CEDAW General Recommendation No. 23, loc. cit., at para. 15
Article 5(b): To ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of maternity as a social
function and the recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and
development of their children, it being understood that the interest of the children is the primordial
consideration in all cases.
68 UN Fact Sheet No. 22, loc. cit.
69 Fourth World Conference on Women, “Platform for Action”, Beijing (1995), at para 185
70 CEDAW General Recommendation No. 23, loc. cit., at para. 10
71 CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against Women (1992) (UN Doc: A/47/38), at
para. 11
72 Fourth World Conference on Women, “Platform for Action”, Beijing (1995), at para 181
66
67
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men in the family and in society, based on views of male superiority and the
subordination of women, constitutes a serious impediment to the full implementation of
the Convention.73 To combat gender-based discrimination, the Convention requires
States parties to recognise the important economic and social contribution of women to
the family and to society as a whole. It emphasises that discrimination will hamper
economic growth and prosperity. It also expressly recognises the need for a change in
attitudes, through education of both men and women, to accept equality of rights and
responsibilities and to overcome prejudices and practices based on stereotyped roles.74
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against
Women: China (1999) (UN Doc: A/54/38) at para
74 UN Fact Sheet No. 22, loc. cit.
73
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