Gender Equality and Human Rights
Frankie McCarthy
frankie.mccarthy@glasgow.ac.uk
Outline of class
9.00-9.20: Introduction
9.20-9.50: Why do women need rights?
9.50-10.20: The UN framework for women’s rights
10.20-10.40: Break
10.40-11.20: Discussion questions on CEDAW
11.20-11.40: Enforcing CEDAW & post-CEDAW
developments
11.40-12.00: Break
12.00-12.10: Sex stereotyping
12.10-12.50: Case studies on sex stereotyping
Source
12.50-13.00: Conclusion and goodbye!
Are men and women now equal
everywhere in the world?
Are men and women now equal
in your country?
Discrimination Against Women
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60% of chronically hungry people in the
world are women and girls
Women hold only 21.4% of the world’s
parliamentary seats
In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,
80% of all jobs for women are in the
informal working sector
Two thirds of the world’s illiterate
population are women
3 out of 10 women worldwide report
having experienced physical or sexual
violence by an intimate partner
Approximately 800 women die every day
from preventable causes during
pregnancy and childbirth
UN Development Programme –
Women’s Empowerment
World Economic Forum Global Gender
Gap Report 2013
Source
Women in the UK
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Source
Employment
58.3% of women in the workforce - 72.5% of
men
Gender wage gap across the economy is 40%
– Median average hourly pay for women
12.2% less than for men.
– Men earn £40 in bonuses per week on
average, women earn £16
– PT workers’ median hourly wage 69% of
FT workers’ median hourly wage
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Violence
– 3 million women suffer violence each year
– 80,000 rapes annually
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Representation
– 26% of MPs are women
Bechdel Test
Alison Bechdel, “The Rule” in Dykes to Watch Out For (1985)
Are women human?
“A man once asked me ... how I managed in my books to write such
natural conversation between men when they were by themselves.
Was I, by any chance, a member of a large, mixed family with a lot of
male friends? I replied that, on the contrary, I was an only child and
had practically never seen or spoken to any men of my own age till I
was about twenty-five. "Well," said the man, "I shouldn't have
expected a woman (meaning me) to have been able to make it so
convincing." I replied that I had coped with this difficult problem by
making my men talk, as far as possible, like ordinary human beings.
This aspect of the matter seemed to surprise the other speaker; he
said no more, but took it away to chew it over. One of these days it
may quite likely occur to him that women, as well as men, when left to
themselves, talk very much like human beings also.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on
the Role of Women in Society
So why do we need women’s rights?
• Historical background: men
asserting dignity against the state
• The problem of the public/private
divide
• Eliminating discrimination is not
the only problem
• Mainstreaming gender equality
Source
Protecting women’s rights
• 1945: UN Charter, art 1(3)
• 1946: UN Commission on the
Status of Women (UNCSW)
established
• 1967: UN Declaration on the
Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women
• 1976: UN Decade for Women
1979:
Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women
(CEDAW)
CEDAW: What does it say?
Definition of discrimination:
‘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, social, cultural,
civil or any other field.’
CEDAW: What does it say?
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Article 2 is the core of the Convention.
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States condemn discrimination and
agree to eliminate it ‘by all appropriate
means and without delay.’
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Principle of equality to be embedded
in constitution
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Appropriate legislative measures to be
taken
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Legal protection of women to be
established
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Abolition of discriminatory law,
regulations, customs and practices
CEDAW: What does it say?
Source
• Art 6: steps to end trafficking and prostitution
• Art 7: political and public life – right to vote,
right to be elected to office
• Art 8: right to represent government
internationally
• Art 9: non-dependent nationality rights
• Art 10: right to education and vocational
training.
• Art 11 equal rights in the workplace. Equal
pay and conditions.
• Art 12 equality in healthcare, including family
planning.
• Art 13 equality in access to family benefits,
social security payments.
• Art 14 rights of rural women.
• Art 15 equality before the law re capacity,
property, residence & domicile.
• Art 16 equality in marriage and family
relations.
Break
Discussion questions
• Is anything missing from CEDAW?
• Some majority Muslim states have ratified the
Convention subject to reservations on articles
said to conflict with Sharia (eg art 9, art 15.)
What arguments can be made in favour of
allowing such reservations? What arguments
can be made against allowing them?
• Are women the only disadvantaged group
relevant in a discussion of gender equality?
Enforcing CEDAW
• Committee EDAW
• 23 experts elected for 4 year
terms
• Scrutinise reports by States
Parties
• Since 2000, hear complaints from
individuals and conduct enquiries
into systematic breaches
• Can make General
Recommendations and General
Comments
Source
Post-CEDAW developments
• 1993: Vienna Declaration
• 1995: Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action
• 2000: Security Council Resolution
1325 on Women, Peace & Security
• 2010: Creation of UN Women
• 2011: Human Rights Council
Resolution on Sexual Orientation
and Gender Identity
Break
Sex stereotyping
source
CEDAW article 5: eliminate practices based on the idea of inferiority of
women/superiority of men, or on stereotyped roles for men and women.
source
Source
Case studies
• Schmidt v Austicks Bookshops
[1978] ICR 75
• Smith v Safeway PLC [1996] ICR
868
• What were the facts?
• Who made a complaint of sex
discrimination?
• What was the basis of the
complaint?
• Did the court uphold the
complaint?
• What was the reasoning behind
the court’s decision?
• Is this an example of sex
stereotyping? Explain why or why
not.
Ciao!