Women in Economic and Social Life
Background Paper for the Working Group on the issue of
discrimination against women in law and in practice
Mayra Gómez1
Mayra Gómez is the Co-Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights. This paper was submitted to the Working Group to help inform its thematic report and
does not necessarily reflect the views of the Working Group.
1
The author would like to thank the members of the Working Group, and in particular Frances
Raday, for her central input into the conceptual framework of the project and the background
papers. The author would also like to thank Rebecca Brown, Graciela Dede, Federica Donati,
Elmira Nazombe, and Nathalie Stadelmann for their very helpful comments and input on
previous drafts of this paper.
Table of Contents
1.
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 3
2.
UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS ................................. 9
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
3.
WOMEN’S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE LIFE CYCLE ......... 38
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
4.
Multiple and intersecting discrimination and inequalities ..................................................38
Education.......................................................................................................................40
Women’s work: Formal and informal, paid and unpaid ..................................................47
Maternity and child care .................................................................................................58
Housing .........................................................................................................................64
Food and nutrition..........................................................................................................68
Land and property ..........................................................................................................71
Water and sanitation ......................................................................................................76
Social security and social protection ..................................................................................80
Austerity and women’s rights ..........................................................................................84
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WOMEN’S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS ........................ 92
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
5.
The legal basis for women’s economic and social rights ........................................................ 9
Advancing gender sensitive interpretations of economic and social rights .............................14
Understanding the obligations of States at the intersection of the rights to
non-discrimination and equality and economic and social rights.........................................17
Temporary special measures .............................................................................................35
The role of the International Human Rights System ........................................................92
Gender budgeting as a tool for monitoring and accountability ............................................96
International and regional economic/financial actors and agencies .....................................98
Thoughts on the post-2015 development framework .........................................................99
RECOMMENDATIONS ...........................................................................................105
5.1
5.2
5.3
Recommendations for States ......................................................................................... 105
Recommendations for United Nations Human Rights Bodies ....................................... 109
Recommendations to International and Regional Economic/Financial Actors
and Agencies .............................................................................................................. 110
ANNEX 1: SPECIFIC GUIDANCE AND RECOMMENDATIONS RELEVANT TO WOMEN’S
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS UNDER CEDAW ...................................................... 111
ANNEX 2: SPECIFIC GUIDANCE AND COMMENTS RELEVANT TO WOMEN’S
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS UNDER ICESCR ...................................................... 118
2
1.
INTRODUCTION
“Women’s economic, social and cultural rights must be a primary strategy in
addressing and remedying women’s inequality.”
- Primer on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights2
This paper addresses discrimination against women in economic and social life, with a
focus on economic and financial crisis. While much has been written about the recent
global economic and financial crises, and while some attention has been given to how
these crises have impacted women, less attention has been given to understanding these
impacts through an international human rights lens – and in particular through the lens
of women’s economic and social rights. This paper aims in part to help fill that gap.
However, women’s economic and social rights are fundamental at all times, not only
during times of crisis. Economic and social rights – including the rights to the highest
attainable standard of health,3 to adequate housing, to work and to just and favorable
conditions of work, to water and sanitation, to education, to social security, and to food
and nutrition – are all vital to women’s equality and to their ability to live a life of dignity.
Yet, in all parts of the world and in all areas of economic and social rights, women are
disproportionately disadvantaged and face unique challenges because of their gender.
Even today, in many respects women lag far behind men when it comes to the actual
enjoyment of economic and social rights, and in this way it can be said that women are
marginalized within the domain of economic and social rights.
In addition, it can also be said that economic and social rights are themselves
marginalized within the broader domain of human rights, and this is a related problem
which must also be brought to light and remedied. Despite repeated commitments from
the international community that all human rights – be they civil, cultural, economic,
political, or social – are “universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated”4 and
that they must be all be treated “on the same footing,”5 it is nonetheless true that
economic and social rights as a subset of human rights have been relegated to the
sidelines when it comes to international and national policy discourse and debates. This
is particularly true in the area of economic policy, where the goal of ‘growth’ is often
privileged over the enjoyment of human rights, and where the needs of the poorest and
of the most marginalized do not factor into routine decision making. Yet, civil society
continues to push for the centrality and primacy of economic and social rights, as can be
seen in recent debates related to the post-2015 development agenda.6
ESCR-Net, COHRE Women and Housing Program, and IWRAW Asia Pacific, ‘Primer on
Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ 2010.
3
While part of economic and social rights, the right to health is not addressed in this Background
Paper as it will be a focus on a forthcoming Working Group report on Health and Safety. This is similarly
true of cultural rights, which will be addressed in a forthcoming Working Group report on Family and
Culture.
4
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human
Rights in Vienna on 25 June 1993, and endorsed by GA Resolution 48/121.
5
Ibid.
6
See: Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ‘Over 300 groups call for human
rights in core of post-2015 development plan,’ 10 December 2013, available online at:
http://globalinitiative-escr.org/over-300-groups-call-for-human-rights-in-core-of-post-2015-developmentplan/ [last accessed 13 December 2013]. See also: Council of the European Union General Affairs
Council meeting on the Overarching Post 2015 Agenda - Council Conclusions, 25 June 2013, available
online at: http://www.eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_13692_en.htm [last accessed 13 December 2013].
2
3
The burden borne of those choices has not been shouldered equally by all. For women
to achieve the gender equality that is their right, the prevailing attitude towards economic
and social rights must change. Economic and social rights must garner the same
prominence and status as other human rights, and they (along with all human rights)
must be given primacy over any other policy area, as stated in Article 1 of the Vienna
Declaration of 1993: “Human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all
human beings; their protection and promotion is the first responsibility of
Governments.”7 States are first and foremost responsible to ensure that all human rights
are respected, protected, promoted, and fulfilled.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, enshrines civil and political
rights for women alongside their economic, social and cultural rights. CEDAW provides
an important legal basis and framework for women’s economic and social rights and the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has played an especially
critical role in advancing a holistic view of women’s rights which encompasses all
dimensions.
The quality of women’s economic and social life over the course of their life cycle mirrors
to a large degree the extent to which they are able to enjoy their human rights – including
their economic and social rights – and the extent to which these rights are upheld in
practice. To be sure, women’s economic and social life is deeply connected to their
public and political life, and in reality these aspects cannot be easily compartmentalized.
While many States now include legal guarantees of non-discrimination and equality in
their Constitutions, fewer States enshrine economic and social rights at this highest level
of national law (although to some extent this is also changing). However, equality
provisions within national law must be interpreted to extend to, and protect women’s
economic and social rights.
In addition, because the right to equality is not subject to progressive realization, it is an
immediate obligation of States to ensure that women are able to enjoy their right to equality
within economic and social spheres. Here a substantive and indivisible approach must
be used in order to ensure that women enjoy their right to equality in the de facto sense
(i.e. ‘equality of results’ and not only de jure equality). Immediacy of obligations can be
contrasted with the notion of progressivity, the latter of which has been described by the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as “a necessary flexibility device,”
which, while it applies to the general realization of an economic or social right, cannot be
said to apply to women’s right to equality.8
With this understanding in mind, there are two challenges which lay ahead. The first is
to raise the profile of economic and social rights, and within that, to shine a bright light
on women’s experiences and realities. Addressing these two challenges underpin the
structure and content of this paper.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human
Rights in Vienna on 25 June 1993, and endorsed by GA Resolution 48/121.
8
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 3, The nature of States
parties' obligations (Fifth session, 1990), U.N. Doc. E/1991/23, annex III at 86 (1991).
7
4
Women’s Economic and Social Rights in Crisis
While women’s economic and social rights are fundamental at all times, the recent
economic and financial crisis does help to illuminate the gaps that exist in the protection
of these rights, as well as to clarify the consequences for women across the world when
States fail to meet their human rights obligations. Therefore, the economic and financial
crisis offers a kind of window to understanding women’s economic and social rights, and
the real-world responses of States have illustrated how economic and social policy
measures can be protective or hostile towards women’s rights. This paper addresses
some of these consequences, and the various ways in which State policy has impacted
women.
To set the stage for this discussion we must say a few words at the outset about the
global economic crisis of 2007-2009. That crisis has had a range of devastating
consequences around the world, and it is perhaps hard to overstate the nature and scope
of the ramifications. Some economists have put it this way:
By now, the tectonic damage left by the global financial crisis of 2007-09 has been well
documented. World per capita output, which typically expands by about 2.2 percent annually,
contracted by 1.8 percent in 2009, the largest contraction the global economy experienced since
World War II. During the crisis, markets around the world experienced colossal disruptions in
asset and credit markets, massive erosions of wealth, and unprecedented numbers of
bankruptcies. Five years after the crisis began, its lingering effects are still all too visible in
advanced countries and emerging markets alike: the global recession left in its wake a worldwide
increase of 30 million in the number of people unemployed. These are painful reminders of why
there is a need to improve our understanding of financial crises.9
For developing nations and the economies of the Global South, economic crisis has been
on the one hand all too common, and on the other hand, all too often overlooked by the
international community. In one International Monetary Fund (IMF) study, researchers
covering the period from 1970-2007 showed that “of the 124 banking crises and 208
currency crises, 62% took place in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean
combined, while only 6% took place in advanced economies (OECD countries, except
Mexico and South Korea).”10 However, because of financial contagion effects as well as
the global economic recession, financial markets in developing countries have been
severely impacted within the most recent global crisis, as well.11
In light of the dramatic global consequences, in the wake of the crisis a critical space has
been opened – particularly for human rights advocates, progressive and feminist
Stijn Claessens, M. Ayhan Kose, Luc Laeven, and Fabián Valencia (Eds.), ‘Understanding
Financial
Crises:
Causes,
Consequences,
and
Policy
Responses,’
available
at:
http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2012/fincrises/pdf/ck.pdf [last accessed 9 September
2013].
10
As quoted from: Natalie Raaber & Diana Aguiar, ‘Feminist critiques, policy alternatives and calls
for systemic change to an economy in crisis,’ Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID),
2012. For original study, please see: Luc Laeven and Fabian Valencia, ‘Systemic Banking Crises: A New
Database,’ IMF Working paper, November 2008.
11
Statement by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School),
‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on
the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr ,
James Heintz & Stephanie Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox
Macroeconomics Meets Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
9
5
economists, environmental activists, and civil society movements around the world – to
question the fundamental assumptions which have long underpinned the global
economy. This is a vital opportunity for the world. While it may seem abstract and
removed, the truth is that every person – regardless of where they live or what their lives
are like – is very intimately impacted by global economic decisions. International
agencies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) have observed that “[a]
key lesson from the global financial and economic crisis is that policies for economic
growth which have prevailed over the past three decades need a rethink.”12
Many have argued that the global economic neo-liberal model is fundamentally flawed in
various ways: financially flawed as it operates with high levels of debt, socially flawed
because it concentrates extreme amounts of wealth in the hands of a few elite, and
environmentally flawed because it commodifies nature and sacrifices ecological
sustainability, all the while revering ‘growth’ as its overarching driver and rationale.13
It is a subject of intense debate as to whether certain macro-economic policies14 not only
further economic and social inequality,15 but also produce economic crisis as a matter of
course.16 Nonetheless, as the United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs has pointed out: “Even before the current financial and economic crisis,
questions had been raised about the core assumption that fiscal discipline and restrictive
monetary policies, combined with the liberalization of markets, would deliver on
economic growth and poverty reduction. That assumption has not been borne out by the
evidence.”17
From a women’s rights perspective, what is clear is that economic crises have a
disproportionate impact on women. Researchers have highlighted that in general men
are better positioned to weather economic crisis. In general, men have more economic
security as they have higher paying jobs along with more assets and wealth. Their jobs are
more likely to offer benefits, such as health care and pensions, and be covered by
unemployment insurance.18
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘The global crisis: Causes, responses and challenges,’
Geneva: International Labour Office, 2011.
13
Larry Elliott, economics editor of The Guardian, ‘Three myths that sustain the economic crisis,’
The Guardian, 5 August 2012.
14
Macro-economic policy has been defined as encompassing monetary policy (incl. interest rates),
exchange rate policy and fiscal policy (incl. public spending and taxation). See: Kate Bird, Dan
Harris, and Milo Vandemoortele, ‘The big picture: the role of macro-economic policies in the pro-poor
growth story,’ OECD, DAC and POVNE, JLP-PPG Briefing Note 3, June 2010.
15
UN-Women has noted that “Both the boom that preceded the Great Recession of 2008
and the subsequent evolution of the global economy after that crisis have thus far been associated with
significantly increased inequalities, both between and within countries.” See: Jayati Ghosh, ‘Economic
Crisis and Women’s Work: Exploring Progressive Strategies in a Rapidly Changing Global Environment,’
UN-Women, January 2013.
16
For an interesting discussion on these issues, see: The Structural Adjustment Participatory Review
International Network (SAPRIN), ‘The Policy Roots of Economic Crisis and Poverty: A Multi-Country
Participatory Assessment of Structural Adjustment,’ based on Results of the Joint World Bank/Civil
Society Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI) and the Citizens’ Assessment of
Structural Adjustment (CASA), November 2001.
17
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (Division for the Advancement of
Women), 2009 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Women’s Control over Economic
Resources and Access to Financial Resources, including Microfinance, UN Doc. No. ST/ESA/326, New York, 2009.
18
Statement by Stephanie Seguino (University of Vermont), ‘Emerging issue: The gender
perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on the Status of Women, Fiftythird session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr , James Heintz & Stephanie
12
6
On the whole, though the specific effects of the crisis differ by context, the overall
picture is one of deepening economic insecurity for women and an increase in women’s
burden of unpaid care work.19 There has also been a broad recognition amongst feminist
economists and others that the underlying macro-economic structures which gave rise to
the crisis in the first place are the very same structures which also perpetuate restrictions of
women’s economic opportunities compared to men’s.20 Therefore, addressing the crisis
provides an opportunity to address patterns of gender inequality and discrimination
which have too long existed as the economic status quo. In fact, the Global Jobs Pact,
adopted by ILO member States also in 2009 underscores this message, stating that the
“current crisis should be viewed as an opportunity to shape new gender equality policy responses.”21
Despite this opportunity, Government responses to the economic crisis have not always
taken gender into account. In fact, it could be said that they have rarely taken gender
into account. In Europe, for example, which has strong regional standards on women’s
rights and gender equality, the European Economic Recovery Plan made no mention of
the words “gender,” “‘women” or “equality,” an absence which some have highlighted as
“symbolic of a low sensibility towards gender equality in responding to the crisis.”22
Indeed, the European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for
Women and Men found that “[i]n the urgency of the crisis it appears that, to date, little
attention has been given to ensuring that gender is taken into account when formulating
policy responses.”23 With respect to the G20, which has emerged as an influential new
global actor in the wake of the economic crisis, some economists have argued that “the
G20 has not seriously considered the consequences for women and men when
formulating policies and setting its agenda.”24
This is the kind of ‘gender-blind’ and ‘rights-blind’ thinking which needs to end in order
for women to enjoy their economic and social rights. To tackle the problem, economic
and social rights must be taken seriously as human rights, and women’s equality must
occupy a central and visible space within economic decision-making and policy-making.
To help further thinking on women’s economic and social rights, the next three sections
Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox Macroeconomics Meets
Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31. See also: Radhika
Balakrishnan, ‘Macro policy and the MDGs,’ paper prepared for the UN-Women Expert Group Meeting
on Structural and policy constraints in achieving the MDGs for women and girls, Mexico City, Mexico, 2124 October 2013.
19
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), ‘The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis
on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication series: Women’s Economic Empowerment, Sida:
2 December 2010.
20
Ibid.
21
Emphasis added. ‘Recovering from the crisis: A Global Jobs Pact,’ adopted by the International
Labour Conference at its Ninety-eighth Session, Geneva, 19 June 2009.
22
Francesca Bettio, Marcella Corsi, Carlo D’Ippoliti, Antigone Lyberaki, Manuela Samek Lodovici
and Alina Verashchagina, ‘The impact of the economic crisis on the situation of women and men and on
gender equality policies,’ Synthesis report prepared for the use of the European Commission, DirectorateGeneral for Justice, 2013.
23
Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, ‘Opinion on the Gender
Perspective on the response to the economic and financial crisis,’ June 2009.
24
James Heintz (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), ‘Missing Women: The G20, Gender
Equality and Global Economic Governance,’ Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Washington, D.C.: March 2013. This
policy response is in contrast to countries like Iceland, which has (as we shall see below) taken a more
gender sensitive approach to the economic crisis. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr , James Heintz &
Stephanie Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox Macroeconomics
Meets Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
7
address understanding women’s economic and social rights (Section 2.), women’s
economic and social rights throughout the life cycle, (Section 3.) and accountability for
women’s economic and social rights (Section 4.). The final section (Section 5.) lays out
specific recommendation to States, United Nations Human Rights Bodies, and
International and Regional Economic/Financial Actors and Agencies for the promotion,
protection and advancement of women’s economic and social rights.
8
2.
UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS
2.1
The legal basis for women’s economic and social rights
International human rights law contains multiple provisions protecting economic and
social rights, as well as women’s right to equality in the enjoyment of these rights. It is
this vital intersection between substantive economic and social rights and women’s right
to equality that must be examined and advanced. This Sub-Section provides an overview
of the legal and other relevant standards which exist recognizing these rights.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights25 (UDHR) guarantees the right to nondiscrimination (Article 2); the right to marry and to found a family, and the equal rights
of spouses, both during marriage and at its dissolution (Article 16); the right to own
property alone as well as in association with others (Article 17); the right to work, to free
choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment (Article 23, §1); the right to equal pay for equal work (Article 23, §2); the
right to just and favorable remuneration (Article 23, §3); the right to form and to join
trade unions (Article 23, §4); the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation
of working hours and periodic holidays with pay (Article 24); the right to a standard of
living adequate for the health and well-being oneself and one’s family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security
(Article 25), the protection of motherhood and childhood (Article 25); and the right to
education (Article 26). Article 28 states that everyone is entitled to a social and
international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration can be
fully realized.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women26 (CEDAW) obliges States parties to embody the principle of equality of women
and men in their national legal frameworks and to “take all appropriate measures,
including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and
practices which constitute discrimination against women” (Article 2). Article 3 provides
that “States [p]arties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political, social, economic
and cultural fields, all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full
development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the
exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality
with men.”27 Article 4 encourages States to adopt temporary special measures aimed at
accelerating de facto equality between women and men.
As mentioned above, CEDAW enshrines women’s economic and social rights alongside
their civil and political rights, and specifically guarantee women’s rights to nondiscrimination and equality (Articles 1 and 2); in education (Article 10); in employment
Article 11 §1); in social security (Article 11 §1); as well as their right to protection against
discrimination on the grounds of marriage or maternity (Article 11 §2); to protection
against discrimination in the field of health care and appropriate services in connection
with pregnancy (Article 12); and to protection against discrimination in other areas of
economic and social life in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of women and men, the
same rights, in particular the right to family benefits and the right to bank loans,
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc A/810 at 71 (1948).
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, G.A. res.
34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force 3 September 1981.
27
Ibid, at Art. 3.
25
26
9
mortgages and other forms of financial credit (Article 13 §(a) and (b)). CEDAW also
specifies the particular rights of rural women, including the right to have equal access to
agricultural credit and loans, the right to equal treatment in land and agrarian reform, and
the right to equal enjoyment of adequate living conditions (Article 14), 28 and obliges
States parties to grant women legal capacity in civil matters equal to that of men
including equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and equal
treatment in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals (Article 15). In the context of
marriage and family relations, CEDAW requires States parties to uphold equal rights and
responsibilities for women and men during marriage and at its dissolution and to ensure
“the same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management,
administration, enjoyment and disposition of property, whether free of charge or for a
valuable consideration” (Article 16).29
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 30 (ICESCR)
also guarantees the right to non-discrimination (Article 2) and recognizes the equal right
of women and men to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Article
3).31 It guarantees the right to work (Article 6) and the right to just and favorable
conditions of work (Article 7). Article 7 explicitly provides that “Fair wages and equal
remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular
women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with
equal pay for equal work.”32 It guarantees the right of everyone to form trade unions and
join the trade union of one’s choice (Article 8); recognizes the right of everyone to social
security, including social insurance (Article 9); and recognizes that protection and
assistance should be accorded to the family (Article 10). Article 11 guarantees the right
of everyone to an adequate standard of living for oneself and one’s family, including
adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living
conditions, as well as the right to be free from hunger. Article 12 guarantees the right to
the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, while Articles 13 and 14
guarantee the right of everyone to education and the right to free primary education,
respectively.33
Article 14 (2) of CEDAW obligates State parties “to eliminate discrimination against women in
rural areas and to ensure to such women the right to enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in
relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply.”
29
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, G.A. res.
34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force 3 September 1981,
at Art. 16.
30
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21
U.N.GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force 3 January
1976.
31
Article 11 (i) of ICESCR calls upon States parties “to recognize the rights of every one to have
adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing and
to the continuous improvement of living conditions” and further calls upon States parties “to take
appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance
of international cooperation based on free consent.”
32
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21
U.N.GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force 3 January
1976, at Article 7, §a (i).
33
While water and sanitation are not explicitly mentioned in the Covenant, the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has said that
28
Article 11(1), paragraph 1, of the Covenant specifies a number of rights emanating from, and indispensable for, the
realization of the right to an adequate standard of living ‘including adequate food, clothing and housing.’ The use of the word
‘including’ indicates that this catalogue of rights was not intended to be exhaustive. The right to water clearly falls within the
category of guarantees essential for securing an adequate standard of living, particularly since it is one of the most fundamental
10
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights34 (ICCPR) guarantees the
right to non-discrimination (Article 2), the right to equality between women and men
(Article 3) and the right to equality of persons before the courts (Article 14). It prohibits
arbitrary or unlawful interference with one’s privacy, family, or home (Article 17), and it
too addresses equality of spousal rights during marriage and at its dissolution (Article 23),
and confirms equal protection of the law for all without discrimination (Article 26).
Additional dimensions of women’s (and girls’) economic and social rights are also
enshrined and protected within other international human rights instruments, including
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(1965),35 the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989),36 the Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees (1959),37 and the International Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990).38
At regional levels, similar legal protections exist on women’s economic and social rights.
Beginning in Africa, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights39 stipulates
that the rights enshrined within it apply to all persons regardless of sex (Article 2), that all
are entitled to equality before the law (Article 3), and that all are obliged to treat others
without discrimination (Article 2). It guarantees the right to work under equitable and
satisfactory conditions, and the right to receive equal pay for equal work (Article 15); the
right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical and mental health (Article 16); and the
right to education (Article 17). Article 18 provides that States parties shall eliminate
discrimination against women and also ensure the protection of the rights of the woman
and the child as stipulated in international declarations and conventions.
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights
of Women in Africa40 underscores the principles of non-discrimination (Article 2) and
specifically obliges States parties to “enact and effectively implement appropriate
conditions for survival. Moreover, the Committee has previously recognized that water is a human right contained in Article
11(1), paragraph 1, (see General Comment No. 6 (1995)). The right to water is also inextricably related to the right to the
highest attainable standard of health (Art. 12(1), para. 1) and the rights to adequate housing and adequate food (Art.
11(1), para. 1). The right should also be seen in conjunction with other rights enshrined in the International Bill of Human
Rights, foremost amongst them the right to life and human dignity.
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ‘General Comment 15: The Right to
Water (Arts.11 and 12),’ UN Doc. E/C.12/2002/11, 20 January 2003.
34
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR
Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force 23 March 1976.
35
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, G.A. res.
2106 (XX), Annex, 20 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 14) at 47, U.N. Doc. A/6014 (1966), 660 U.N.T.S. 195,
entered into force 4 January 1969.
36
Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at
167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989), entered into force 2 September 1990.
37
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, 189 U.N.T.S. 150, entered into force 22 April
1954.
38
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of Their Families, G.A. res. 45/158, annex, 45 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49A) at 262, U.N. Doc. A/45/49
(1990), entered into force 1 July 2003.
39
African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted 27 June 1981, OAU Doc.
CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982), entered into force 21 October 1986.
40
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in
Africa, Adopted by the 2nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union, Maputo, CAB/LEG/66.6 (13
September 2000); reprinted in 1 Afr. Hum. Rts. L.J. 40, entered into force 25 November 2005.
11
legislative or regulatory measures, including those prohibiting and curbing all forms of
discrimination, particularly those harmful practices which endanger the health and
general well-being of women” (Article 2).41 The same Article requires that States parties
“commit themselves to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of women and
men through public education, information, education and communication strategies,
with a view to achieving the elimination of harmful cultural and traditional practices and
all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of
either of the sexes, or on stereotyped roles for women and men.”42 Article 3 guarantees
protection against violence, exploitation or degradation of women.
The Protocol requires that in case of separation, divorce, or annulment of marriage,
women and men shall have the right to an equitable sharing of the joint property deriving
from the marriage (Article 7), and that existing discriminatory laws and practices shall be
reformed to promote and protect the rights of women (Article 8). Articles 12 and 13 of
the Protocol provide for women’s right to education and training, as well as their
economic and social welfare rights (which encompass women’s right to work and to just
and favorable conditions of work, as well States’ obligations to take necessary measures
to recognize the economic value of the work of women in the home. Article 13 also
guarantees adequate and paid pre- and post-natal maternity leave in both the private and
public sector. Article 13 recognizes that “both parents bear the primary responsibility for
the upbringing and development of children and that this is a social function for which
the State and the private sector have secondary responsibility.”43 Article 14 addresses
women’s health and reproductive rights, Article 15 the right to food security, Article 16
the right to adequate housing, Article 18 the right to a healthy and sustainable
environment, and Article 19 the right to development.
The Protocol also obliges States parties to take all appropriate measures to promote
women’s access to and control over productive resources such as land and guarantee
their right to property (Article 19). It articulates the rights of widows in terms of
treatment, custody of children, and remarriage (Article 20), and stipulates that “a widow
shall have the right to an equitable share in the inheritance of the property of her
husband. A widow shall have the right to continue to live in the matrimonial house. In
case of remarriage, she shall retain this right if the house belongs to her or she has
inherited it” (Article 21).44
The Revised Arab Charter on Human Rights45 upholds the right to nondiscrimination (Article 3) and to equal protection before the law (Articles 11, 12 and 22).
The Revised Charter states that: “Men and women have equal human dignity and equal
rights and obligations in the framework of the positive discrimination established in
favour of women by the Islamic Shariah and other divine laws and by applicable laws and
international instruments. Accordingly, each State party pledges to take all the requisite
measures to guarantee equal opportunities and effective equality between men and
women in the enjoyment of all the rights set out in this Charter” (Article 3 §3). The
Revised Charter contains provisions on the right to protection against arbitrary or
unlawful interference with regard to one’s privacy, family and home (Article 21); the right
Ibid., at Art. 2.
Ibid.
43
Ibid., at Art. 13.
44
Ibid., at Art. 21.
45
League of Arab States, Revised Arab Charter on Human Rights, 22 May 2004, reprinted in 12
Int’l Hum. Rts. Rep. 893 (2005), entered into force 15 March 2008.
41
42
12
to own property (Article 31); the right to work (Article 34); the right to freely form trade
unions or to join trade unions (Article 35); the right of every citizen to social security,
including social insurance (Article 36); the right to development (Article 37); the right to
an adequate standard of living, including food, clothing, housing, services and the right to
a healthy environment (Article 38); the right to the highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health and the right of the citizen to free basic health-care services (Article
39); and the right to education (Article 41).
The European Social Charter (revised)46 recognizes the right to work (Article 1); the
right to just conditions of work (Article 2); the right to safe and healthy working
conditions (Article 3); the right to a fair remuneration (Article 4); the right to organize
(Article 5); the right to bargain collectively (Article 6); the right of employed women to
protection of maternity (Article 8); the right vocational guidance and training (Articles 9
& 10); the right to protection of health (Article 11); the right to social security (Article
12); the right to social and medical assistance (Article 13); the right to benefit from social
welfare services (Article 14); the right of the family to social, legal and economic
protection (Article 16); the right of migrant workers and their families to protection and
assistance (Article 19); the right to equal opportunities and equal treatment in matters of
employment and occupation without discrimination on the grounds of sex (Article 20);
the right of elderly persons to social protection (Article 23); the right of workers with
family responsibilities to equal opportunities and equal treatment (Article 27); the right to
protection against poverty and social exclusion (Article 30); and the right to housing
(Article 31). The Charter also requires equality for women in respect to all the
enumerated rights.
In the Americas, the American Convention on Human Rights recognizes the right of
non-discrimination on the basis of sex (Article 1), as well as the equality of rights and the
adequate balancing of responsibilities of the spouses as to marriage, during marriage, and
in the event of its dissolution (Article 17). It recognizes rights to property (Article 21)
and privacy (Article 11).47 The Additional Protocol to the American Convention on
Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,48 (aka the
Protocol of San Salvador) recognizes the right to non-discrimination (Article 3); as well
as the right to work (Article 6); to just, equitable, and satisfactory conditions of work
(Article 7); to social security (Article 9); to health (Article 10); to food (Article 12); to
education (Article 13); and to the formation and the protection of families (Article 15).
Both the Convention and the Additional Protocol requires equality for women in respect
to all the enumerated rights. Also in the Inter-American system, the Inter-American
Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against
Women49 guarantees the right of every woman to be free from violence in both the
European Social Charter (revised), (ETS No. 163), entered into force 7 January 1999.
American Convention on Human Rights, O.A.S. Treaty Series No. 36, 1144 U.N.T.S. 123,
entered into force 18 July 1978.
48
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, “Protocol of San Salvador,” O.A.S. Treaty Series No. 69 (1988), entered into
force 16 November 1999. See also: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, ‘Guidelines for
Preparation of Progress Indicators in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ Doc No.
OEA/Ser.L/V/II.132, Doc. 14, 19 July 2008. See also: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
‘Access to Justice as a Guarantee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Review of the Standards
Adopted by the Inter-American System of Human Rights, Doc. No. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.129, Doc. 4, 7
September 2007.
49
Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against
Women, 33 I.L.M. 1534 (1994), entered into force 5 March 1995.
46
47
13
public and private spheres. Article 5 of the Convention provides that “Every woman is
entitled to the free and full exercise of her civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights, and may rely on the full protection of those rights as embodied in regional and
international instruments on human rights. The States [p]arties recognize that violence
against women prevents and nullifies the exercise of these rights.”50
Most recently, in 2009, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) established
the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, whose mandate it is to
promote human rights in the ten ASEAN countries.51 In 2012, the ASEAN Human
Rights Declaration was adopted.52 The Declaration affirms “all the economic, social
and cultural rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and enshrines a
number of specific economic and social rights (paras. 26-34), as well as makes specific
reference to the right to development (paras. 35-37). The Declaration also provides that
the rights of women are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, and references the 1988 Declaration of the Advancement of
Women in the ASEAN Region. Adopted some 24 years prior, the Declaration of the
Advancement of Women in the ASEAN Region specifically notes that each ASEAN
member should endeavor “[t]o promote and implement the equitable and effective
participation of women whenever possible in all fields and at various levels of the
political, economic, social and cultural life of society at the national, regional and
international levels.”53
2.2
Advancing gender sensitive interpretations of economic and social rights54
Much work remains to ensure that all economic and social rights are ‘engendered’ from a
women’s equality perspective. In this regard, it is vital that we approach women’s
economic and social rights through a substantive equality perspective, which understands
that the notion of equality cannot be seen in a purely formal sense. Rather, as has been
underscored by both the CEDAW Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, substantive equality entails that women must be guaranteed de facto
equality with respect to their economic and social rights, so that they are able to enjoy
these rights in practice.55 In particular, “the substantive equality approach requires States
Ibid., at Art. 5.
The countries include: Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia,
the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of
the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet
Nam.
52
ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, adopted unanimously by ASEAN members on 18
November 2012 (Phnom Penh, Cambodia).
53
Declaration of the Advancement of Women in the ASEAN Region, adopted on 5 July 1988
(Bangkok, Thailand).
54
See: International Women’s Rights Action Watch, ‘Equality and Women’s Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights: A Guide to Implementation and Monitoring Under the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ University of Minnesota: 2004.
55
As the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has understood:
50
51
The enjoyment of human rights on the basis of equality between men and women must be understood comprehensively.
Guarantees of non-discrimination and equality in international human rights treaties mandate both de facto and de jure
equality. De jure (or formal) equality and de facto (or substantive) equality are different but interconnected concepts. Formal
equality assumes that equality is achieved if a law or policy treats men and women in a neutral manner. Substantive equality
is concerned, in addition, with the effects of laws, policies and practices and with ensuring that they do not maintain, but rather
alleviate, the inherent disadvantage that particular groups experience.
14
to acknowledge the actual impact policies and practices have on women, looking at the
particular context and take positive measures to ensure equal access and equal benefits
for women.”56 The requirement of de facto equality is also a legal requirement under
international human rights law.
While economic and social rights are themselves well articulated in international human
rights law, and have over the years seen increasing refinement in terms of content and
understanding of State obligations, there remains a gap in the understanding of how
gender inequality affects the experience of either the enjoyment or violation of those
rights, and hence, how economic and social rights can be understood from a gendered
perspective. It is important to see economic and social rights not from a generic or
gender-blind perspective, but rather from the perspectives of women. So as to illuminate
further this question, Section 3 of this paper looks more closely at many of these rights
from the standpoint of women’s equality, through the lens of women’s life cycle.
The Montreal Principles on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have been
an important contribution in moving toward this understanding and this nexus.57 They
recognize that:
Economic, social and cultural rights have a particular significance for women because as a group,
women are disproportionately affected by poverty, and by social and cultural marginalization.
Women’s poverty is a central manifestation, and a direct result of women’s lesser social, economic
and political power. In turn, women’s poverty reinforces their subordination, and constrains their
enjoyment of every other right.58
Therefore, it is vital to delve into the question of what economic and social rights mean
from a gender perspective, and how economic and social rights, and women’s rights to
non-discrimination and equality, relate to each other. One pitfall, which we should be
careful not to fall into as we discuss this relationship, is that of ‘instrumentalizing’
women’s right to equality or women’s economic and social rights. That is, we must be
careful to ensure that the primary value or emphasis in terms of advancement for women
is not on some external aim (i.e. improvement of social welfare, improvement of
children’s health and well-being, or improvement of economies) but rather on the
intrinsic value of women’s equality itself. That is not to say that there are not very
important benefits which accrue when women are able to enjoy their human rights –
certainly there are many – but rather that the primary emphasis should remain on
advancing women’s equality and gender justice. Not for some other cause, but for its
own sake.59
As quoted from: Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the
equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
56
IWRAW Asia Pacific and ESCR Net, ‘Claiming Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
A Resource Guide to Advancing Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Using the Optional
Protocol and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the
Optional Protocol and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ April 2013.
57
The Montreal Principles on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted at a meeting
of experts held December 7 – 10, 2002 in Montréal, Canada.
58
Ibid.
59
See: Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Mr. V. Muñoz
Villalobos, ‘Girls’ right to education,’ UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/45, 8 February 2006.
15
For example, while it is no doubt important to highlight women’s vital contribution to
economies around the world, the World Bank has come under criticism from some
women’s rights advocates and feminist economists for instrumentalizing women and
reducing women’s equality to “smart economics.” A line of thinking which seemingly
embraces the idea that the advancement of women’s rights is important insofar as women
are ‘economic units’ that can boost national economic development .60 It is a vision
which stands somewhat at odds with a human rights centered approach to economic
policy making – which would see the advancement of women’s human rights in
economic and social life as the aim and the goal, not merely the vehicle to achieving
some other end.
Transforming the Instrumentalist View of Women
“States must respect, protect and fulfill human rights obligations and ensure that
responses to the crisis do the same. For example, proposed monetary or fiscal
responses to the crisis must be reviewed from the perspective of their effect on the
enjoyment of human rights, not solely on their effect on growth.”
-Natalie Raaber & Diana Aguiar
Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
Feminist critiques, policy alternatives and calls for systemic change to an
economy in crisis
Part of the key to transforming the instrumentalist view of women lies in gender
sensitization and changing the values that underpin the dominant economic model; a
model where women’s leadership has been largely absent:
It is clear that fewer women than men are involved in financial and economic decision making.
The European Commission’s 2009 Report on Equality between Women and Men indicates
that the Central Banks of all Member States were led by a male governor and its 2007 Report
indicated that on average, the highest decision-making bodies of EU central banks include five
men for every women. At European level, all three of the financial institutions (European
Central Bank, European Investment Ban and European Investment Fund) are led by men and
women account for only 16% of the highest decision-making bodies of these institutions. A
number of commentators consider that increasing the proportion of women decision makers in
these sectors may contribute to promoting a more gender-sensitive analysis of related responses. It
is also clear that decision makers generally need to be sensitive to the gender dimension of their
work.61
The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) has highlighted that
“Women need to take part in fiscal processes and in the broader debates around
responses to the crisis as these affect their lives: planning and implementing budgets and
dealing with tax policies are just two examples of spaces in which women should be.”62
See: Elaine Zuckerman, ‘Critique: Gender Equality as Smart Economics: A World Bank Group
Gender Action Plan (GAP) (Fiscal years 2007-10),’ Gender Action, January 2007. See also: Maya Sethi,
‘What contribution does feminist economics make to the understanding of gender equality?,’ thesis
submitted at the Gender Institute, London School of Economics, March 2011.
61
Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, ‘Opinion on: The Gender
Perspective on the response to the economic and financial crisis,’ June 2009.
62
Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), ‘Highlights from the Strategy Meeting
to Follow-Up Efforts on AID Effectiveness, Gender Equality and the Impact of the Crisis on Women,’ 67 August 2009. See also: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (Division for the
60
16
In terms of good practice, the Government of Iceland has sought to ensure equal
numbers of women and men on public committees, councils and boards. The
proportion of genders must be as even as possible and not less than 40 per cent when
there are more than three members. This standard on gender representation also applies
to the boards of public companies on which the Government or local authorities are
represented.63 In Malaysia, in June 2011, the Government mandated a 30 per cent target
for women representation at senior decision-making and corporate boards by 2016.64 To
realize the target, the Government has introduced the Women Directors Programme,
which aims to prepare qualified women for directorship roles in publicly-listed
companies.65
2.3
Understanding the obligations of States at the intersection of the rights to nondiscrimination and equality and economic and social rights
As we have seen in Sub-Section 2.1 above, CEDAW enshrines the full range of women’s
human rights and recalls in its Preamble that: “discrimination against women violates the
principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity, is an obstacle to the
participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the political, social, economic and
cultural life of their countries, hampers the growth of the prosperity of society and the
family and makes more difficult the full development of the potentialities of women in
the service of their countries and of humanity.”66 It enshrines women’s right to equality,
their right to non-discrimination, and integrates women’s civil, cultural, economic,
political and social rights within the framework of a single treaty.67
The CEDAW Committee has an impressive track record when it comes to addressing
women’s economic and social rights within the context of its Concluding Observations
on State party reports. Over the years an important body of norms has been amassed in
this area through CEDAW’s Concluding Observations alone. Over the course of just this
past year (2013), the Committee has reviewed a total of 24 State party reports. Within
the context of each individual review, women’s economic and social disadvantage was
addressed at length, and detailed recommendations were made to rectify this
disadvantage.68 The Table below is provided to give a sense of the economic and social
Advancement of Women), 2009 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Women’s Control over
Economic Resources and Access to Financial Resources, including Microfinance, UN Doc. No. ST/ESA/326, New
York, 2009.
63
The Government of Iceland, ‘25th National Report on the implementation of the 1961 European
Social Charter,’ on Articles 1, 15 and 18 for the period 01/01/2007 - 31/12/2010, Report registered by the
Secretariat on 8 October 2012.
64
OHCHR, ‘Preliminary Assessment of Responses Received from the Economic and Social Life
(ESL) Questionnaire,’ 21 June 2013 (on file with author).
65
Ibid.
66
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, G.A. res.
34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force 3 September 1981.
67
Yet, despite the widespread recognition of the principle of non-discrimination, in many
jurisdictions women continue to face legal discrimination and inequalities in all areas of economic and
social rights. Researchers have noted that de jure inequalities function as “a real impediment to the ability
of jobs to improve living standards, productivity and social cohesion in ways which facilitate economic
development.” Sandra Fredman, ‘Anti-discrimination laws and work in the developing world: A thematic
overview,’ background paper for the World Development Report 2013, 2013.
68
56th Session (30 September 2013 - 18 October 2013: Andorra, Benin, Cambodia, Colombia,
Republic of Moldova, Seychelles, Tajikistan; 55th Session (8 July 2013 - 26 July 2013): Afghanistan, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Serbia,
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland (Crown Dependencies), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Overseas
17
issues which the CEDAW Committee is regularly raising within the context of its
reviews, and the kinds of recommendations it is making to States parties.69
Summary of CEDAW 2013 Concluding Observations on States parties
addressing economic and social issues
Issues addressed
Specific concerns and recommendations
Education
*Concern over low enrolment of women
in traditionally male-dominated fields of
*CEDAW Article 10:
study, such as mathematics, informatics,
States Parties shall take all appropriate
natural sciences and technology (Andorra,
measures to eliminate discrimination
2013)
against women in order to ensure to them *Concern over lack of training for
equal rights with men in the field of
teachers on women’s rights and the
education and in particular to ensure, on a absence from school curricula and academic
basis of equality of men and women:
programs of a human rights-based approach
to addressing gender relations (Andorra,
(a) The same conditions for career and vocational 2013)
guidance, for access to studies and for the
*State party urged to strengthen literacy
achievement of diplomas in educational
programmes for women and girls,
establishments of all categories in rural as well as especially in rural areas, and increase
in urban areas; this equality shall be ensured in
opportunities for skills training of rural
pre-school, general, technical, professional and
women and girls through non-formal
higher technical education, as well as in all types
education, including in traditionally maleof vocational training;
dominated fields (Benin, 2013)
*State party urged to establish
reporting and accountability
(b) Access to the same curricula, the same
examinations, teaching staff with qualifications of mechanisms to ensure that the
perpetrators of sexual abuse of girls in
the same standard and school premises and
schools are duly prosecuted
equipment of the same quality;
and punished (Benin, 2013)
*State party should encourage young
(c) The elimination of any stereotyped concept of
the roles of men and women at all levels and in all women to choose non-traditional fields
forms of education by encouraging coeducation and of study and professions, including
other types of education which will help to achieve through the adoption of temporary special
measures, and implement programmes
this aim and, in particular, by the revision of
aimed at counseling boys and girls on the
textbooks and school programmes and the
full range of educational choices (Moldova,
adaptation of teaching methods;
2013; Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013)
*State party urged to develop a strategy to
(d ) The same opportunities to benefit from
ensure that essential education services
scholarships and other study grants;
for women and girls are sufficiently
funded (Afghanistan, 2013)
(e) The same opportunities for access to
*State party urged to review procedures
Territory); 54th Session (11 February 2013 - 1 March 2013): Angola, Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary,
Pakistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. See also: Marsha A. Freeman, Christine Chinkin
and Beate Rudolf (eds.), The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: A
Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2012.
69
Please note that this is not an exhaustive summary of the contents of the Concluding
Observations, but rather serves to indicate the scope of the economic and social issues which have been
addressed by the CEDAW Committee over the past year.
18
programmes of continuing education, including
adult and functional literacy programmes,
particularly those aimed at reducing, at the
earliest possible time, any gap in education
existing between men and women;
(f) The reduction of female student drop-out rates
and the organization of programmes for girls and
women who have left school prematurely;
(g) The same Opportunities to participate actively
in sports and physical education;
(h) Access to specific educational information to
help to ensure the health and well-being of
families, including information and advice on
family planning.
Employment
*CEDAW Article 11 .1 (§§ a, b, c
and d):
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in the field of employment
in order to ensure, on a basis of equality
of men and women, the same rights, in
particular:
(a) The right to work as an inalienable right of
all human beings;
(b) The right to the same employment
opportunities, including the application of the
same criteria for selection in matters of
employment;
(c) The right to free choice of profession and
employment, the right to promotion, job security
and all benefits and conditions of service and the
right to receive vocational training and retraining,
including apprenticeships, advanced vocational
training and recurrent training;
(d) The right to equal remuneration, including
benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work
of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in
relating to the university entrance
examination and remove biases that
effectively limit women’s access to this level
of education (Afghanistan, 2013)
*State party urged to raise awareness
among communities, families, students,
teachers and officials, especially men,
about the importance of women’s and
girls’ education (DRC, 2013)
*State party urged to step up career
guidance activities to encourage girls to
pursue non-traditional paths and improve
the gender awareness of teaching personnel
at all levels of the education system (United
Kingdom, 2013)
*State party urged to take coordinated
measures to encourage increased
participation by girls in science,
technology, engineering and
mathematics, and in apprenticeships
(United Kingdom, 2013)
*Concern over the pay gap between men
and women, including in the area of
domestic work (Andorra, 2013)
*Concern over the lack of legislation
specifically sanctioning sexual
harassment in the workplace (Andorra,
2013)
*Concern over the obstacles facing
women with disabilities in gaining
access to vocational training and the
labor market (Andorra, 2013)
*Concern over the lack of information
about the situation of women migrant
workers in the workplace, the possibility
for them to receive protection against
hazards, safety at work and mechanisms to
protect them from lower wages at work and
from unfair dismissal (Andorra, 2013)
*Concern over low number of women in
formal employment, the concentration of
women in the informal sector and the lack
of measures to facilitate their integration
into the formal sector (Benin, 2013)
*State party urged to adopt effective
measures to eliminate occupational
segregation both horizontal and vertical,
based on stereotypes related to gender; and
closely monitor the working conditions of
women in the informal sector and ensure
19
the evaluation of the quality of work …
their access to social services and social
security (Colombia, 2013; Afghanistan,
2013)
*State party urged to disseminate and
effectively implement the legislation
prohibiting and criminalizing sexual
harassment in the workplace (Moldova,
2013)
*State party urged to reduce the wage gap
between women and men and include
the principle of “equal pay for work of
equal value” in all areas of work
(Seychelles, 2013; Afghanistan, 2013)
*State party urged to take measures to
encourage and support self-employed
women by facilitating their access to
credit in all economic areas (Seychelles,
2013)
Maternity and child care
*Concern over lack of childcare facilities,
which constitutes an obstacle to the full
exercise of women’s right to work
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013)
*Concern over overprotective maternity
leave in the Labor Code and the lack of
parental leave that reinforce the
unequal division of family
responsibilities between women and men
and may drive women into unemployment
and poverty (Moldova, 2013)
*State party urged to enhance the
availability and affordability of childcare
facilities to help women exercise their right
to work, in order to increase women’s
access to the labor market (Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 2013)
*State party urged to ensure that the
implementation of the framework law
regulating the social sector results in the
harmonization of pregnancy and maternity
protection, in order to guarantee paid
maternity leave for all women (Bosnia
and Herzegovina, 2013)
*State party urged to carry out awarenessraising and education initiatives for both
women and men on the sharing of
domestic and family responsibilities
between women and men and provide
incentives for active participation by men in
such responsibilities, e.g., by introducing
special non-transferable paternity leave
*CEDAW Article 11.2:
In order to prevent discrimination against
women on the grounds of marriage or
maternity and to ensure their effective
right to work, States Parties shall take
appropriate measures:
(a) To prohibit, subject to the imposition of
sanctions, dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy
or of maternity leave and discrimination in
dismissals on the basis of marital status;
(b) To introduce maternity leave with pay or with
comparable social benefits without loss of former
employment, seniority or social allowances;
(c) To encourage the provision of the necessary
supporting social services to enable parents to
combine family obligations with work
responsibilities and participation in public life, in
particular through promoting the establishment
and development of a network of child-care
facilities;
(d) To provide special protection to women during
pregnancy in types of work proved to be harmful
to them.
20
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013)
*State party urged to increase the number
and capacity of public day-care
nurseries and day schools, promote
responsible fatherhood and take measures
to encourage fathers to participate more
actively in child-raising and to share
equally other domestic duties (Seychelles,
2013)
*State party urged to adopt a regulatory
framework for the informal sector and
for women working from home, with a
view to providing women with access to
social security, maternity protection and
other benefits (Tajikistan, 2013)
*State party urged to ratify the Workers
with Family Responsibilities
Convention, 1981 (No. 156), and the
Maternity Protection Convention, 2000
(No. 183), of the International Labour
Organization (Tajikistan, 2013; Cyprus,
2013)
*State party urged to expand and allocate
adequate resources to childcare facilities
throughout the State party and introduce
flexible working hours for women and men
in both the public and private sectors
(Dominican Republic, 2013)
*State party urged to mitigate the impact
of the proposed reforms of the welfare
system on the costs of childcare for lowincome families and the increased burden of
care that this places on women (United
Kingdom, 2013)
Housing
*CEDAW Article 13:
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in other areas of economic
and social life in order to ensure, on a
basis of equality of men and women, the
same rights …
*CEDAW Article 14.2 (§ h):
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in rural areas in order to
ensure, on a basis of equality of men and
women, that they participate in and
*Concern over women subjected to
displacement and eviction owing to
large-scale land concessions and urban
development (Cambodia, 2013)
*Concern that dismantling of the social
fund (OEE) and the workers´ housing
organization (OEK) as social dialogue
organizations has had a negative impact
on housing services (Greece, 2013)
*State party urged to recognize that forced
eviction is not a gender-neutral
phenomenon, but that it
disproportionately affects women, and
to take immediate measures to protect
women and girls from further eviction
(Cambodia, 2013)
21
benefit from rural development and, in
particular, shall ensure to such women the
right: …
h) To enjoy adequate living conditions,
particularly in relation to housing, sanitation,
electricity and water supply, transport and
communications.
*CEDAW Article 16.1(§ h)
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in all matters relating to
marriage and family relations and in
particular shall ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women: …
(h) The same rights for both spouses in respect of
the ownership, acquisition, management,
administration, enjoyment and disposition of
property, whether free of charge or for a valuable
consideration.
Food and nutrition
*CEDAW Article 13:
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in other areas of economic
and social life in order to ensure, on a
basis of equality of men and women, the
same rights …
Secure rights to land and productive
resources
*CEDAW Article 13:
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in other areas of economic
and social life in order to ensure, on a
basis of equality of men and women, the
same rights …
*CEDAW Article 14.2 (§§ g and h):
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
*State party urged to develop sustainable
solutions for women to whom their land
has been returned which, inter alia,
incorporate women’s right to have access
to productive resources, such as seeds,
water, and credit and foster their
capacity to earn a living and produce
their own food; and ensure that the
protection of these rights prevail over the
profit interests of third parties involved in
the mega-agricultural and mining projects by
inter alia promoting public-private
partnerships (Colombia, 2013)
*Concern over limited access of women
to land ownership (Dominican Republic,
2013)
*Concern that customary practices of
excluding women from inheriting
agricultural land remain dominant in rural
areas and that women continue to face
practical difficulties in gaining access to
both land and credit (Benin, 2013)
*Concern that women are not sufficiently
included in the decision-making process
and management of resources, such as
land, water and forestry (Benin, 2013)
*State party urged to take measures to
22
against women in rural areas in order to
ensure, on a basis of equality of men and
women, that they participate in and
benefit from rural development and, in
particular, shall ensure to such women the
right: …
tackle the root causes, including
irregularities in the registration of land,
preventing rural women from gaining
access to land, property and credit (Cape
Verde, 2013)
(g) To have access to agricultural credit and loans,
marketing facilities, appropriate technology and
equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as
well as in land resettlement schemes;
(h) To enjoy adequate living conditions,
particularly in relation to housing, sanitation,
electricity and water supply, transport and
communications.
*CEDAW Article 16.1(§ h)
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in all matters relating to
marriage and family relations and in
particular shall ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women: …
(h) The same rights for both spouses in respect of
the ownership, acquisition, management,
administration, enjoyment and disposition of
property, whether free of charge or for a valuable
consideration.
Water and sanitation
*CEDAW Article 13:
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in other areas of economic
and social life in order to ensure, on a
basis of equality of men and women, the
same rights …
*State party urged to increase its efforts to
strengthen the educational infrastructure
including the availability of appropriate
sanitary facilities (Benin, 2013)
*State party urged to build appropriate
sanitary facilities in existing and new
schools (DRC, 2013)
*CEDAW Article 14.2 (§ h):
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in rural areas in order to
ensure, on a basis of equality of men and
women, that they participate in and
benefit from rural development and, in
particular, shall ensure to such women the
right: …
23
(h) To enjoy adequate living conditions,
particularly in relation to housing, sanitation,
electricity and water supply, transport and
communications.
Social security and social protection
*CEDAW Article 11.1 (§ e)
States Parties shall take all appropriate
measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in the field of employment
in order to ensure, on a basis of equality
of men and women, the same rights, in
particular: …
(e) The right to social security, particularly in
cases of retirement, unemployment, sickness,
invalidity and old age and other incapacity to
work, as well as the right to paid leave …
*Concern that the large majority of the
female working population is engaged
in the informal labor sector hence
without access to social security benefits
(Colombia, 2013)
*Concern that large majority of women
work in the informal sector (agriculture)
and in the care economy (domestic and
home-based work), and that as such
they are not recognized as workers in the
existing labor legislation, and are thus
unprotected and do not have access to
social security and other benefits
(Afghanistan, 2013)
*Concern over barriers faced by domestic
workers in gaining access to social
security (Dominican Republic, 2013)
*State party urged to raise the retirement
age for women so that it is the same as
that for men and expand pension
schemes in order to ensure at least the
minimum subsistence level for women and
men (Moldova, 2013)
*State party urged to prepare a plan of
action for the protection of women
working in the informal sector, such as
agriculture and remunerated domestic work
(Afghanistan, 2013)
*State party urged to provide a regulatory
framework for the informal sector, with
a view to providing women in this sector
with access to social security and other
benefits (Angola, 2013)
Temporary Special Measures and
economic and social rights
*State party urged to adopt economic
temporary special measures with the
aim of developing and strengthening the
*CEDAW Article 4:
capacity of women entrepreneurs, in
1. Adoption by States Parties of
particular young women who intend to
temporary special measures aimed at
manage their own business (Andorra, 2013)
accelerating de facto equality between
*State party urged to enhance the economic
men and women shall not be considered
and political empowerment of women in
discrimination as defined in the present
rural areas, through the use of temporary
Convention, but shall in no way entail as a special measures, in order to ensure that
consequence the maintenance of unequal women participate in the decisionor separate standards; these measures shall making process and management of
24
be discontinued when the objectives of
equality of opportunity and treatment
have been achieved.
2. Adoption by States Parties of special
measures, including those measures
contained in the present Convention,
aimed at protecting maternity shall not be
considered discriminatory.
Intersectionality and economic and
social rights
resources, in particular land, water and
forestry (Benin, 2013)
*State party should encourage young
women to choose non-traditional fields
of study and professions, including
through the adoption of temporary
special measures, and implement
programmes aimed at counseling boys and
girls on the full range of educational choices
(Moldova, 2013)
*State party urged to strengthen efforts to
eliminate occupational segregation,
including through the adoption of
temporary special measures, and adopt
measures to implement the principle of
equal pay for work of equal value and to
narrow and close the gender wage gap by
applying job evaluation schemes in the
public sector connected with wage increases
in sectors dominated by women (Moldova,
2013)
*State party urged to adopt of temporary
special measures in the area of
employment where the better performance
of women and girls in mathematics and
scientific professions is not translated into
employment of women (Seychelles, 2013)
*State party urged to develop
comprehensive and gender-sensitive
policies for indigenous peoples and for
Afro-Colombians, aimed at effectively
addressing discrimination against them;
and ensure indigenous and AfroColombian women adequate access to
health care services, education and
employment opportunities (Colombia,
2013)
*State party urged to achieve de facto
equal opportunities for women and men
in the labor market, including
disadvantaged groups of women
(Colombia, 2013)
*State party urged to promote access for
Roma girls to education and their
retention at all levels of education, by
raising awareness of the importance of
education as a human right and as the basis
for the empowerment of women, and
strengthen the implementation of re-entry
policies enabling Roma girls who have
dropped out to return to school (Bosnia and
25
Herzegovina, 2013)
*State party urged to increase access by
Roma women, women in rural areas,
women with disabilities and older
women to formal employment (Moldova,
2013)
*State party urged to take effective
measures to ensure access for rural
women to justice, education, housing,
formal employment, skills development
and training opportunities and
ownership and use of land, taking into
account their specific needs (Tajikistan,
2013)
*State party urged to establish
mechanisms to regularly monitor the
impact of social and economic policies
on disadvantaged groups of women,
including by taking a comprehensive,
multifaceted approach to addressing the
specific challenges of migration that may
affect
women (Tajikistan, 2013; Cuba, 2013)
*State party urged to ensure that refugee
returnees, in particular women and girls,
have adequate access to health services,
education, food, shelter, free movement
and opportunities to secure justice and
durable solutions (Afghanistan, 2013;
Pakistan, 2013)
*State party urged to implement specific
measures to combat rural women’s
poverty and ensure their access to justice,
health-care services, education, housing,
clean water and sanitation, fertile land and
income-generating projects (Cape Verde,
2013; DRC, 2013; Angola, 2013)
To be sure, the CEDAW Committee has taken an extremely active role in advancing
women’s equality within the sphere of economic and social rights. 70 The CEDAW
Committee has also provided specific guidance on women’s economic and social rights
within the scope of its General Recommendations. These are summarized briefly in the
Table contained in Annex 1.
It has issued a number of specific General
Recommendations in the area of women’s economic and social rights, including No. 13
on equal remuneration for work of equal value; 71 No. 16 on unpaid women workers in
See also: Marsha A. Freeman, Christine Chinkin and Beate Rudolf (eds.), The UN Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2012.
71
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 13,
Equal remuneration for work of equal value (Eighth session, 1989), U.N. Doc. A/44/38 at 76 (1990).
70
26
rural and urban family enterprises;72 No. 17 on measurement and quantification of the
unremunerated domestic activities of women and their recognition in the GNP;73 No. 24
on women and health;74 and No 29 on economic consequences of marriage, family
relations and their dissolution.75 Several General Recommendations have also been
cross-cutting in nature, including No. 18 on disabled women;76 No. 19 on violence
against women;77 No. 21. on equality in marriage and family relations;78 No. 26 on
women migrant workers;79 and No. 27 on older women and protection of their human
rights.80
As also noted above, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR) also enshrines women’s right to equality, their right to nondiscrimination, and gives particular emphasis to economic and social rights. The
Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights has said that the rights of nondiscrimination and equality (contained in Articles 2 & 3 of the ICESCR) are not standalone provisions, but rather should be read in conjunction with each specific right
guaranteed under Covenant.81 The Committee has also provided specific guidance on
women’s economic and social rights within the scope of its General Comments, which
are summarized briefly in the Table contained in Annex 2.
In terms of understanding State obligations vis-à-vis women’s economic and social rights,
it is helpful to draw both from CEDAW and the ICESCR. An interesting legal concept
which is found under the ICESCR, but not under CEDAW, is the concept of
“progressive realization.”82 The ICESCR recognizes the varying ability of States to fulfill
the rights outlined in the Covenant, and therefore the concept of “progressive
realization” constitutes recognition of the fact that full realization of all economic and
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 16,
Unpaid women workers in rural and urban family enterprises (Tenth session, 1991), U.N. Doc. A/46/38 at
1 (1993).
73
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 17,
Measurement and quantification of the unremunerated domestic activities of women and their recognition
in the gross national product (Tenth session, 1991), U.N. Doc. A/46/38 at 2 (1993).
74
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 24,
Women and Health (Twentieth session, 1999), U.N. Doc. A/54/38 at 5 (1999).
75
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 29,
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution (Fifty-fourth session, 2013),
U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/29 (2013).
76
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 18,
Disabled women (Tenth session, 1991), U.N. Doc. A/46/38 at 3 (1993).
77
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 19,
Violence against women (Eleventh session, 1992), U.N. Doc. A/47/38 at 1 (1993).
78
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 21,
Equality in marriage and family relations (Thirteenth session, 1992), U.N. Doc. A/49/38 at 1 (1994).
79
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 26,
Women Migrant Workers (Forty-second session, 2008), U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/2009/WP.1/R (2008).
80
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 27,
Older women and protection of their human rights (Forty-seventh session, 2010), U.N. Doc.
CEDAW/C/GC/27 (2010).
81
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
82
Here it should be said that CEDAW in general addresses distribution of existing economic and
social rights (i.e. discrimination and equality vis-à-vis substantive economic and social rights). However,
Article 3 of CEDAW does provide that “States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political,
social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full
development and advancement of women ….”
72
27
social rights will generally not be able to be achieved in a short period of time. 83
However, when economic and social rights are seen through the lens of women’s rights
to non-discrimination and equality, it must be understood that State obligations are
immediate, and that progressivity cannot be said to apply.84 This is a critical nexus: the
place where women’s right to non-discrimination, their right to equality, and their
economic and social rights overlap and give rise to unique and specific State obligations
which are of an immediate nature.
General Comment No. 16 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on
the equal right of women and men to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural
rights85 provides special insight on the nature of State obligations in this area. Consistent
with State obligations articulated under CEDAW, it recognizes that the enjoyment of
human rights on the basis of equality between women and men must be understood
comprehensively and on the basis of substantive equality. In that regard, guarantees of
non-discrimination and equality in international human rights law mandate both de facto
and de jure equality. In particular, the Committee noted that:
Gender-based assumptions and expectations generally place women at a disadvantage with
respect to substantive enjoyment of rights, such as freedom to act and to be recognised as
autonomous, fully capable adults, to participate fully in economic, social and political
development, and to make decisions concerning their circumstances and conditions.
Gender-based assumptions about economic, social and cultural roles preclude the sharing of
responsibility between men and women in all spheres that is necessary to equality.86
General Comment No. 16 also provides insight into the question of how women’s rights
of non-discrimination and equality (contained in Articles 2 & 3 of the ICESCR) can be
Progressive realization should not be misinterpreted as depriving economic, social and cultural
rights of all meaningful content. The purpose, rather, is to give Governments flexibility and to recognize
government’s different economic capabilities. It is not an escape clause. It includes the idea of continuous
improvement and the obligation of the government to ensure that there are no regressive measures.
84
Article 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantees that
“The States [p]arties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the
enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the present Covenant.” International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No.
16) at 49, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force 3 January 1976. On Article 3 the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has noted that:
83
The travaux préparatoires state that article 3 was included in the Covenant, as well as in ICCPR, to indicate that beyond
a prohibition of discrimination, “the same rights should be expressly recognized for men and women on an equal footing and
suitable measures should be taken to ensure that women had the opportunity to exercise their rights …. Moreover, even if
article 3 overlapped with article 2, paragraph 2, it was still necessary to reaffirm the equality rights between men and women.
That fundamental principle, which was enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, must be constantly emphasized,
especially as there were still many prejudices preventing its full application.” Unlike article 26 of ICCPR, articles 3 and 2,
paragraph 2, of ICESCR are not stand-alone provisions, but should be read in conjunction with each specific right guaranteed
under part III of the Covenant.
As quoted from: Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the
equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
67
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ‘General Comment No. 16, Article 3:
the Equal Right of Men and Women to the Enjoyment of all Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ UN
Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
86
Ibid., at para. 14.
28
read in conjunction with each specific right guaranteed under Covenant.87 The following
illustrative examples help to highlight this intersection:
Equality in relation to the right to work (Article 11 of CEDAW and Article 6(1) of
the ICESCR) requires that, in law and in practice, men and women have equal access to
jobs at all levels and all occupations and that vocational training and guidance programs,
in both the public and private sectors, provide men and women with the skills,
information and knowledge necessary for them to benefit equally from the right to
work.88 Equality in terms of the right to just and favorable conditions of work (Article
7(a) of the ICESCR) requires, inter alia, that States identify and eliminate the underlying
causes of pay differentials, such as gender-biased job evaluation or the perception that
productivity differences between men and women exist. States should also monitor
compliance by the private sector with national legislation on working conditions through
an effectively functioning labor inspectorate. States should adopt legislation that
prescribes equal consideration in promotion, non-wage compensation and equal
opportunity and support for vocational or professional development in the workplace.
States should also reduce the constraints faced by men and women in reconciling
professional and family responsibilities by promoting adequate policies for childcare and
care of dependent family members.89 In relation to the right to form and join trade
unions (Article 8 of the ICESCR) States are required to allow women and men to
organize and join trade workers associations that address their specific concerns.
Particular attention should be given to domestic workers, rural women, women working
in female-dominated industries and women working at home, who are often deprived of
this right.90
Equality in relation to the right of everyone to social security (Article 11.1(e) of
CEDAW and Article 9 of the ICESCR), requires States to equalize the compulsory
retirement age for both men and women. They must further ensure that women receive
the equal benefit of public and private pension schemes, and States must also guarantee
adequate maternity leave for women, paternity leave for men, and parental leave for both
men
and
women.91
Equality in relation to marriage and family life (Article 16 of CEDAW and Article 10
of the ICESCR) requires that States provide victims of domestic violence, who are
primarily female, with access to safe housing, remedies and redress of physical, mental
and emotional damage. States must also ensure that women and men have an equal right
to choose if, when and whom to marry, as well as the right of women to decide on the
number and spacing of children. The legal age of marriage for men and women should
be the same, and boys and girls should be protected equally from practices that promote
child marriage, marriage by proxy, or coercion. States must also ensure that women have
equal rights to marital property and inheritance upon their husband’s death.
In
particular, States must take appropriate measures to eliminate violence against women
For more information, please also see Annexes 1& 2.
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ‘General Comment No. 16, Article 3:
the Equal Right of Men and Women to the Enjoyment of all Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ UN
Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005), at para. 23.
89
Ibid., at para. 24.
90
Ibid., at para. 25.
91
Ibid., at para. 26.
87
88
29
and act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, mediate, punish and redress acts of
violence against them by private actors.92
Equality in relation to the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living
(Articles 3 and 13 of CEDAW (see also Article 14 of CEDAW on Rural Women) and
Article 11 of the ICESCR) requires that women have a right to own, use or otherwise
control housing, land and property on an equal basis with men, and to access necessary
resources to do so. It also requires States parties, inter alia, to ensure that women have
access to, or control over, means of food production, and actively address customary
practices under which women are not allowed to eat until the men are fully fed, or are
only allowed less nutritious food.93
Equality in relation to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health (Article 12 of CEDAW and Article 12 of the ICESCR) obliges States to
remove legal and other obstacles that prevent women and men from accessing and
benefiting from healthcare on a basis of equality. They are required to address the ways
in which gender roles affect access to determinants of health (such as food and water),
remove legal restrictions on reproductive health provisions. States must also prohibit
harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and ensure provision of adequate
training for health care workers to deal with women’s health issues.94 Equality, in this
context means focusing on those restrictions which only or disproportionately impact
women, such as restrictions on access to the full range of reproductive health services.
Equality in relation to the right to education (Article 10 of CEDAW and Article 13
of the ICESCR) requires States to adopt legislation and policies to ensure the same
admissions criteria for boys and girls in all levels of education. States should ensure, in
particular through information and awareness raising campaigns, that families do not
giving preferential treatment to boys in sending their children to school, and that
curricula promote equality and non-discrimination and do not promote gender
stereotyping. States must also create favorable conditions to ensure the safety of children,
in particular girls, on their way to and from school, as well as within school.95
In addition to looking at the right to equality and its intersection with each of the
substantive rights, it is also possible to look more conceptually at the nature of State
obligations by understanding the general ‘types’ or ‘categories’ of State obligations.
Under both CEDAW and the ICESCR, States are obligated to respect, protect and fulfill
women’s economic and social rights. While these have been at times called ‘levels’ of
State obligations, no obligation here can be said to be more fundamental than another;
States are obligated to respect, protect and fulfill women’s economic and social rights at
all times. Let us look at each type of obligation more closely:
(1)
The Obligation to Respect entails that States shall refrain from any action
which infringes on women’s economic and social rights, or which prevents
women from satisfying these rights for themselves when they are able to do so.
Respecting the right obliges States not to adopt (or, as the case many be, to repeal
and rescind) laws, policies, administrative measures and programs that violate
women’s rights to non-discrimination and equality, including in economic and
92
93
94
95
Ibid., at para. 27.
Ibid., at para. 28.
Ibid., at para. 29.
Ibid., at para. 30.
30
social spheres. In particular, States must to take into account the effect of
apparently gender-neutral laws, policies and programs and to consider whether
they could result in a negative impact on the ability of women and men to enjoy
their economic and social rights on a basis of equality.96 States must refrain from
making laws, policies, regulations, programs, administrative procedures and
institutional structures that directly or indirectly result in the denial of the equal
enjoyment by women of their economic and social rights.97
(2)
The Obligation to Protect entails that States must protect women within
their jurisdiction from violations of their human rights, including economic and
social rights, by non-State actors (including businesses and international financial
institutions, as well as family members). CEDAW Article 2(e) specifically
provides that States must “…take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise” and
Article 2 in general imposes “a due diligence obligation” on States prevent
discrimination by private actors.98 The obligation to protect requires States to
take steps aimed directly at the elimination of prejudices, customary and all other
practices that perpetuate the notion of inferiority or superiority of either of the
sexes, and stereotyped roles for women and men. Obligations also include the
respect and adoption of constitutional and legislative provisions on the equal
right of women and men to enjoy all human rights and the prohibition of
discrimination of any kind; the adoption of legislation to eliminate discrimination
and to prevent third parties from interfering directly or indirectly with the
enjoyment of these rights; the adoption of administrative measures and
programs, as well as the establishment of public institutions, agencies and
programs to protect women against discrimination. In addition, States have an
obligation to monitor and regulate the conduct of non-State actors to ensure that
they do not violate the equal right of women to enjoy their economic and social
rights. This obligation explicitly applies, for example, in cases where public
services have been partially or fully privatized.99
(3)
The Obligation to Fulfill entails that States must realize the full
enjoyment of all human rights, including economic and social rights, for all
persons within their jurisdiction. The obligation requires States to take steps to
ensure enjoyment of economic and social rights, in line with a States’ maximum
of available resources.100 However, while some aspects of the obligation to fulfill
are subject to progressivity, other aspects – particularly those related to nondiscrimination and equality – are immediate (as discussed above). The obligation
to fulfill requires that States take a wide variety of immediate steps to ensure that
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
97
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General recommendation No.
28 on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/28 (16 December 2010).
98
Ibid.
99
Ibid. See also: Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16,
Article 3: the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights
(Thirty- fourth session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
100
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
96
31
women and men enjoy equal rights de jure and de facto, including, where
appropriate, the adoption of temporary special measures. This entails obligations
of conduct as well as obligations of results. States must fulfill their legal
obligations to all women through designing public policies, programs and
institutional frameworks that are aimed at fulfilling the specific needs of women
leading to the full development of their potential on an equal basis with men.101
In relation to this point, States must ensure the meaningful participation of
women in assessment and analysis, program planning and design, budgeting and
financing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and projects.102
The obligation to fulfill itself further contains duties to provide, promote and
facilitate.103
In addition to these obligations, States are also generally prohibited from engaging in
retrogressive measures,104 and at all times, States must prioritize the needs of the most
disadvantaged and marginalized, including women.
In relation to corporate and private actors, we have already seen that the obligation to
protect provides that States must protect women within their jurisdiction from violations
of their human rights, including economic and social rights, by non-State actors,
including businesses and international financial institutions. The Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights, endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council in
2011, help to unpack the obligations of States vis-à-vis business and corporate actors and
are grounded in the recognition of: (a) States’ existing obligations to respect, protect and
fulfill human rights and fundamental freedoms; (b) The role of business enterprises as
specialized organs of society performing specialized functions, required to comply with
all applicable laws and to respect human rights; and (c) The need for rights and
obligations to be matched to appropriate and effective remedies when breached.105 A
foundational principle is that States must protect against human rights abuse within their
territory and/or jurisdiction by third parties, including business enterprises, and that this
requires taking appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish and redress such abuse
through effective policies, legislation, regulations and adjudication.106 For further
information on women, business and human rights, please see the background paper prepared by Ama
Marston, which (inter alia) addresses women as business leaders, entrepreneurs and decision-makers, and
examines corporate responsibility and the gender impact of corporate and international trade practices.
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General recommendation No.
28 on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/28 (16 December 2010).
102
See: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Report on Indicators
for Promoting and Monitoring the Implementation of Human Rights,’ UN Doc. HRI/MC/2008/3, 6 June
2008. This report outlines a conceptual and methodological framework for quantitative human rights
indicators and discusses the relevance of using “structural-process-outcome” indicators. See also: Lilian
Chenwi, ‘Monitoring the progressive realisation of socio-economic rights: Lessons from the United
Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the South African Constitutional Court,’
Research paper written for Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute, 2010.
103
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
104
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 3, The nature of States
parties’ obligations (Fifth session, 1990), U.N. Doc. E/1991/23, annex III at 86 (1991).
105
John Ruggie, Interim Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue
of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, U.N. Doc.
E/CN.4/2006/97 (2006).
106
Ibid.
101
32
States also have human rights obligations outside of their own borders, and here the
Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations (ETOs) of States are especially
useful.107 The Maastricht Principles provide that the ETOs of States encompass a)
obligations relating to the acts and omissions of a State, within or beyond its territory,
that have effects on the enjoyment of human rights outside of that State’s territory; and
b) obligations of a global character that are set out in the Charter of the United Nations
and human rights instruments to take action, separately, and jointly through international
cooperation, to realize human rights universally.108
The Maastricht Principles reaffirm existing conventional and customary international law
in the area of extra-territorial obligations and lay out the international legal framework of
obligations to respect, to protect and to fulfill human rights abroad and make clear that
in that context “States must at all times observe the principles of non-discrimination,
equality, including gender equality, transparency and accountability.”109 The Maastricht
Principles also acknowledge that accountability and remedies are required under the
international human rights framework, and that “States must ensure the availability of
effective mechanisms to provide for accountability in the discharge of their
extraterritorial obligations”110
ETOs have recently been recognized under both the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. In 2011 in its Concluding Observations on Germany, the Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights addressed extra-territorial obligation to respect
rights including through development cooperation and trade agreements:
Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, adopted on 28 September 2011, at a gathering of experts in international law and human
rights convened by Maastricht University and the International Commission of Jurists.
108
Ibid.
109
Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, adopted on 28 September 2011, at a gathering of experts in international law and human
rights convened by Maastricht University and the International Commission of Jurists, General Principles
and Principle 32.
110
Ibid., at Principle 36. according to Principle 37 on general obligation to provide effective remedy
reaffirms that:
107
States must ensure the enjoyment of the right to a prompt, accessible and effective remedy before an independent authority,
including, where necessary, recourse to a judicial authority, for violations of economic, social and cultural rights. Where the
harm resulting from an alleged violation has occurred on the territory of a State other than a State in which the harmful
conduct took place, any State concerned must provide remedies to the victim. To give effect to this obligation, States should: a)
seek cooperation and assistance from other concerned States where necessary to ensure a remedy; b) ensure remedies are
available for groups as well as individuals; c) ensure the participation of victims in the determination of appropriate reme¬dies;
d) ensure access to remedies, both judicial and non-judicial, at the national and international levels; and e) accept the right of
individual complaints and develop judicial remedies at the international level.
Ibid., at Principle 37. According to Principle 38:
Remedies, to be effective, must be capable of leading to a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation; cessation of the
violation if it is ongoing; and adequate reparation, including, as necessary, restitution, compensation, satisfaction, rehabilitation
and guarantees of non-repetition. To avoid irreparable harm, interim measures must be available and States must respect the
indication of interim measures by a competent judicial or quasi-judicial body. Victims have the right to truth about the facts
and circumstances surrounding the violations, which should also be disclosed to the public, provided that it causes no further
harm to the victim.
33
Committee notes with deep concern the impact of the State party’s agriculture and trade policies,
which promote the export of subsidized agricultural products to developing countries, on the
enjoyment of the right to an adequate standard of living and particularly on the right to food in
the receiving countries … . The Committee urges the State party to fully apply a human rightsbased approach to its international trade and agriculture policies, including by reviewing the
impact of subsidies on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in importing
countries. In this regard, the Committee draws the attention of the State party to the guidelines
on international measures, actions and commitments as contained in the FAO Voluntary
Guidelines on the Right to Food (2004). The Committee expresses concern that the State
party’s policy-making process in, as well as its support for, investments by German companies
abroad does not give due consideration to human rights … [and] calls on the State party to
ensure that its policies on investments by German companies abroad serve the economic, social
and cultural rights in the host countries.111
In 2012, the Human Rights Committee similarly addressed accountability and remedies
for Germany’s extra-territorial obligation to protect rights in the context of corporate
accountability, stating that:
While welcoming measures taken by the State party to provide remedies against German
companies acting abroad allegedly in contravention of relevant human rights standards, the
Committee is concerned that such remedies may not be sufficient in all cases …. The State party
is encouraged to set out clearly the expectation that all business enterprises domiciled in its
territory and/or its jurisdiction respect human rights standards in accordance with the Covenant
throughout their operations. It is also encouraged to take appropriate measures to strengthen the
remedies provided to protect people who have been victims of activities of such business enterprises
operating abroad.112
The Maastricht Principles also provide a clear articulation of customary and conventional
international law as it relates to the obligations of Member States of inter-governmental
organizations, including in particular international financial institutions (IFIs) regarding
their respective human rights obligations, since such Member States make up the
decision-making bodies that control or otherwise influence IFIs. Principle 9 addresses
the scope of jurisdiction, and stipulates that:
A State has obligations to respect, protect and fulfil economic, social and cultural rights in any
of the following: a) situations over which it exercises authority or effective control, whether or not
such control is exercised in accordance with international law; b) situations over which State acts
or omissions bring about foreseeable effects on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural
rights, whether within or outside its territory; c) situations in which the State, acting separately
or jointly, whether through its executive, legislative or judicial branches, is in a position to
exercise decisive influence or to take measures to realize economic, social and cultural rights
extraterritorially, in accordance with international law.113
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Right, Concluding Observations: Germany, UN
Doc. E/C.12/DEU/CO/5, 12 July 2011, at paras. 9 and 10.
112
Human
Rights
Committee,
Concluding
Observations:
Germany,
UN
Doc.
CCPRC/C/DEU/CO/6, 12 November 2012, at para 16.
113
Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, adopted on 28 September 2011, at a gathering of experts in international law and human
rights convened by Maastricht University and the International Commission of Jurists., at Principle 9.
111
34
IFIs, as organs of society, also must abide by human rights norms. In particular, as a
Specialized Agency of the United Nations, the World Bank is obligated not to defeat the
purposes of the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter). Additionally, the World
Bank must work to further the objectives of the UN Charter, and of course must not
undermine those objectives.114 This requirement is laid out in Article 59 of the Charter,
which mandates that “the creation of any new specialized agencies require[s]
accomplishment of the purposes set forth in Article 55.”115 The purposes and objectives
articulated in Article 55 include, inter alia, the promotion of “universal respect for, and
observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.”116 Furthermore, Article
103 of the UN Charter makes clear that “in the event of a conflict between the
obligations of the Members of the United Nations under the present Charter and their
obligations under any other international agreement, their obligations under the present
Charter shall prevail.”117 In other words, these UN Charter obligations would trump any
contradictory clauses in donor project agreements.
2.4
Temporary special measures
To remedy patterns of gender inequality, States are also required to put in place
temporary special measures. This is an important concept within human rights, and
applies across the full spectrum of rights – be they civil, cultural, economic, political or
social. For our purposes here, we can define temporary special measures as measures of
a temporary nature which are intended to accelerate the improvement of the position of
women to achieve their de facto or substantive equality with men, and to effect the
structural, social and economic changes necessary to correct past and current
discrimination against women.118 Similar concepts include “affirmative action,” “positive
action,” “positive measures,” “reverse discrimination,” or “positive discrimination,” but
temporary special measures are the term of art under international human rights law.119
CEDAW explicitly requires under its Article 4 that:
1. Adoption by States Parties of temporary special measures aimed at accelerating de facto
equality between men and women shall not be considered discrimination as defined in the present
Convention, but shall in no way entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate
standards; these measures shall be discontinued when the objectives of equality of opportunity
and treatment have been achieved.
See, e.g., Mac Darrow, Between Light and Shadow: The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund and
International Human Rights Law, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2003, pp. 127-133.
115
Ibid.
116
Charter of the United Nations, Art. 55(c), adopted 26 June 1945, 59 Stat. 1031, T.S. 993, 3 Bevans
1153, entered into force 24 October 1945. Other human rights obligations are enshrined in Article 1 and
Article 56 of the UN Charter, and these too are binding upon all Member States of the United Nations.
Article 1(3) states that the “purposes and principles” of the United Nations is “to achieve international cooperation in … promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for
all….” Article 56 states that “all Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action … for the
achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55.”
117
Charter of the United Nations, Art. 103, adopted 26 June 1945, 59 Stat. 1031, T.S. 993, 3 Bevans
1153, entered into force 24 October 1945.
118
As adapted from: General recommendation No. 25, on article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on temporary special measures,
reprinted in Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human
Rights Treaty Bodies, U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7 at 282 (2004).
119
Ibid.
114
35
2. Adoption by States Parties of special measures, including those measures contained in the
present Convention, aimed at protecting maternity shall not be considered discriminatory.120
The CEDAW Committee has itself adopted two General Recommendation in the area of
temporary special measures, one in 1988121 and the most recent in 2004.122 The first of
these (General Recommendation No. 5) encourages States to make more use of
temporary special measures such as positive action, preferential treatment or quota
systems to advance women’s integration into education, the economy, politics and
employment.123 The second (General Recommendation No. 25) provides further insight
into the nature of State party obligations in this area.124
In its General Recommendation No. 25, the Committee provides that the adoption of
temporary special measures must be considered whenever issues of accelerating access to
equal participation, on the one hand, and accelerating the redistribution of power and
resources, on the other hand. It notes that “equality of results” is “the logical corollary
of de facto or substantive equality. These results may be quantitative and/or qualitative in
nature; that is, women enjoying their rights in various fields in fairly equal numbers with
men, enjoying the same income levels, equality in decision-making and political influence,
and women enjoying freedom from violence.”125
Therefore, in order to advance women’s equality within economic and social spheres,
States are mandated to enact temporary special measures aimed at enhancing women’s
status and ensuring that they are able to enjoy their economic and social rights on par
with men. It is also important within the context of temporary special measures to also
address patterns of intersectional discrimination which may be experienced by particular
groups of women (please see below for further discussion). Many States have taken such
measures, and some of these initiatives will be highlighted in the following Section as
good practice. Within the context of its Concluding Observations on States parties, the
CEDAW Committee has also repeatedly asked States to strengthen and expand the use
of temporary special measures, including within economic and social spheres. Two
recent examples include the CEDAW Committee’s Concluding Observations on
Afghanistan and Hungary. On Afghanistan, the Committee urged the State party to
“[a]dopt effective measures in the formal labour market, including temporary special
measures, to increase female participation and eliminate both horizontal and vertical
occupational segregation, to narrow and close the wage gap between women and men,
and to ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, G.A. res.
34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force 3 September 1981.
121
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 5,
Temporary special measures (Seventh session, 1988), U.N. Doc. A/43/38 at 109 (1988).
122
General recommendation No. 25, on article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on temporary special measures, reprinted in Compilation
of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, U.N.
Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7 at 282 (2004).
123
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 5,
Temporary special measures (Seventh session, 1988), U.N. Doc. A/43/38 at 109 (1988).
124
General recommendation No. 25, on article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on temporary special measures, reprinted in Compilation
of General Comments and General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, U.N.
Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7 at 282 (2004).
125
Ibid., at para. 9.
120
36
value, as well as equal opportunities at work.”126 On Hungary, the Committee
recommended that the State party apply temporary special measures to “… [f]acilitate
access to education and employment for women in rural areas, Roma women and
women with disabilities.”127
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has similarly
recognized that “Substantive equality for men and women will not be achieved simply
through the enactment of laws or the adoption of policies that are, prima facie, genderneutral,” and that “The adoption of temporary special measures may be necessary to
accelerate the equal enjoyment by women of all economic, social and cultural rights and
to improve the de facto position of women.”128
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations on
the combined initial and second periodic reports of Afghanistan,’ adopted by the Committee at its fiftyfifth session (8-26 July 2013), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/AFG/CO/1-2, 30 July 2013.
127
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations on
the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Hungary,’ adopted by the Committee at its
fifty-fourth session (11 February–1 March 2013), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/HUN/CO/7-8, 26 March 2013.
128
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
126
37
3.
WOMEN’S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE LIFE CYCLE
A girl child born into the world is born into a world which is profoundly gendered.
From her first days to her last, her life’s experiences – of others and of herself – will
inevitably be marked by the expectations, beliefs, stereotypes, values, opportunities, roles
and responsibilities that are associated with being female in her culture. While every girl
is unique, and while every woman’s life is different, they can be said to share certain
aspects of qualities of their life as a result of living in a gendered and patriarchal reality.
How gender discrimination and inequality manifest themselves at different stages of the
life cycle varies. Young girls, young women, middle-aged women and older women may
have different experiences of gender discrimination and inequality, yet at all stages of life,
gender discrimination and inequality are present and persistent factors in the lives of
women and girls. No country has yet succeeded in closing the gender gap in all aspects
of economic and social life.
This Section explores women’s economic and social rights throughout the life cycle and
attempts to illuminate three questions: First, what does women’s economic and social life
look like when seen through the lens of their enjoyment of economic and social rights –
for example, vis-à-vis education, work, etc.?; Second, how has the economic crisis of
recent years impacted or impinged the realization of these rights for women and what
can be learned from State policy responses?; and Third, how can economic and social
rights be better understood from a gender equality perspective and what benefit does this
have?
3.1
Multiple and intersecting discrimination and inequalities
Before embarking upon those discussions, however, it must be said that while gender
discrimination and inequality may affect all women to one degree or another, women are
not a homogenous group. The CEDAW Committee has recognized that certain groups
of women, in addition to suffering from discrimination directed against them as women,
may also suffer from multiple forms of discrimination, including as a result of
discrimination based on race, ethnic or religious identity, sexual orientation, disability,
age, class, caste or other factors. The Committee highlights that such discrimination may
affect these groups of women primarily, or to a different degree or in different ways than
men, and that States should take specific temporary special measures to eliminate such
multiple forms of discrimination against women and its compounded negative impact on
them.129 For example, the CEDAW Committee has recommended that States conduct
regular and comprehensive studies on discrimination against minority women in the field
of education and provide information and data on the situation of minority women in
education.130
The Montreal Principles on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights note that:
Intersecting discrimination can determine the form or nature that discrimination takes, the
circumstances in which it occurs, the consequences of the discrimination, and the availability of
appropriate remedies. To ensure that all women enjoy the benefits of their economic, social and
Ibid., at para. 12.
See: Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding comments of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Denmark,’ adopted by the
Committee at its thirty-sixth session (7-25 August 2006), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/DEN/CO/6, 25 August
2006.
129
130
38
cultural rights, specific measures are needed to address the ways in which women are differently
affected in their enjoyment of a right as a result of the intersection of discrimination based on sex
with discrimination based on other characteristics.131
In the area of economic and social rights, it is easy to see the effects of multiple and
intersecting inequalities in both Global North and Global South contexts. The
disparities are evident in all areas, including education, income, health outcomes, access
to services and benefits, etc. In Canada, for example, census data shows that racial
minorities are far more likely to live in poverty, to face barriers to workplaces, and even
when they get a job, they are more likely to earn less than the majority population.
Controlling for age, immigration status, and education does not eliminate the gap.132
When gender is added to the mix, researchers found that income poverty increases:
women belonging to minority racial groups were paid 53.4 cents for every dollar white
men were paid in 2005, whereas men belonging to minority racial groups were paid 73.6
cents for every dollar. Women belonging to minority racial groups made 84.7 cents for
every dollar that white women made.133 The OECD notes that empirical studies
highlight that gender and race discrimination in the labor market are important factors
behind the often high levels of earnings inequality in emerging economies.134 As the ILO
has recognized: “… men and women clearly do not form homogeneous, diametrically
opposed groups. Though gender inequality still exists on the labour market, we cannot
treat it in broad strokes, but rather must recognize diversity and ask ourselves which
women and which men are being affected?”135
With this understanding in mind, and in light of the previous discussion on State
obligations and the use of temporary special measures, it can be said that States also have
a duty to effectively combat multiple and intersectional discrimination and inequalities.
To address these situations, States must adopt the necessary laws, policies and practices,
and prioritize the needs to the most marginalized and excluded, including single women,
households headed by single women or girls, women belonging to
racial/ethnic/religious/linguistic minorities, immigrant and migrant women, lesbians,
women living with HIV, ‘at risk’ women and girls, women with disabilities, elderly
women, women with small children, and pregnant women. Because social inequalities
may be exacerbated during times of economic crisis, States should remedy and repair
multiple and intersecting discrimination and inequalities within the context of economic,
financial and related policy-making.
The Montreal Principles on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted at a meeting
of experts held December 7 – 10, 2002 in Montréal, Canada.
132
Sheila Block, ‘The Role of Race and Gender in Ontario’s Racialized Income Gap,’ Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives, June 2010.
133
Ibid.
134
OECD, ‘Special Focus: Inequality in Emerging Economies (EEs),’ 2010.
135
Megan Gerecke, ‘A policy mix for gender equality? Lessons from high-income countries,’
International Labour Organization (International Institute for Labour Studies), 2013.
131
39
3.2
Education
Summary of Global Trends
The Millennium Development Goals include as an explicit Goal the attainment of
universal primary education. While literacy rates among adults and youths are on the
rise and gender gaps are narrowing, some 57 million children continue to remain out
of school. However, this number has dropped significantly since 2000, when 102
million children were estimated to be out of school. The United Nations estimates
that today, 123 million youth ages 15-24 lack basic reading and writing skills, and 61
per cent are young women and girls.
__
Source:
UN Department of Public Information MDGs Factsheet, ‘Goal 2 – Achieve Universal Primary Education,’ September
2013.
From an early age, girls face discrimination and inequality that impacts their ability to
succeed and enjoy autonomy later in life. A girl’s inability to access quality education is a
prime example of how discrimination and inequality can take root. UNESCO has stated
that “Gender-based discrimination in education is both a cause and a consequence of
deep-rooted disparities in society.”136 The OECD’s Social Institutions and Gender Index
(SIGI) similarly shows that “[w]omen’s low status in the family is linked to reduced
educational attainment and economic outcomes for women and girls.”137
The gender gap in education is not as stark as it once was: today, female enrolment is
rising at greater rate than among males, and data show that gender parity achieved in
two-thirds of countries at primary and/or secondary levels.138 In some countries,
disparities in favor of girls sometimes develop at the higher levels of education.139 While
girls’ education has been at times seen as a game-changer for women’s equality and
empowerment, the reality is that the relationship, at least in terms of earning potential, is
not a direct one. The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative140 (UNGEI) notes that
while gender parity shows signs of improvement within schools, parallel changes in the
labor market and society at large do not show similar gains.141 In the United States, for
example, researchers have shown that while women are now more likely to complete
four-year college degrees than men, it does not appear that their higher levels of
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ‘Education:
Gender Equality in Education,’ available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leadingthe-international-agenda/gender-and-education/ [last accessed 9 September 2013].
137
OECD, ‘2012 SIGI: Social Institutions and Gender Index: Understanding the drivers of gender
inequality,’ 2012.
138
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ‘World Atlas on
Gender Equality in Education,’ 2012.
139
Ibid.
140
UNGEI’s work is driven by Millennium Development Goals - MDG 2: Achieve universal
primary education: Achieve universal primary education with the target to ensure that by 2015 all boys and
girls complete a full course of primary schooling, and by MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower
women: with the target to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education and at all levels by
2015.
141
The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), ‘Transforming Policy and Practice for
Gender in Education: A Gender Review of the 2010 EFA Global Monitoring Report Using an Equity and
Inclusion Lens,’ Technical Paper, United Nations Children’s’ Fund (UNICEF): New York, 2010.
136
40
education will close the gender wage gap.142 Nonetheless, it is important to stress that
girls’ education is valuable for its own sake, even while it may not be a panacea for
women’s economic equality.143
Despite the progress of recent years, it cannot be said that all of the doors to education
have been opened for girls. Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani schoolgirl whose
assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen in 2012 brought increased international
attention to girls’ right to education, has been a vocal advocate and her case
demonstrates that more gains must be made.144 Indeed, persistent gender barriers remain
in the area of access to education, and some of the apparent successes can be misleading.
In many countries girls take on domestic responsibilities, including the care of younger
siblings and the gathering of fuel and water, which may limit their ability to go to school
or to do well in school. Many girls also work for pay instead of going to school: an
estimated 67.1 per cent of all child domestic workers (17.2 million children worldwide)
are girls.145 Depending on the country and the culture, boys may also receive preferences
when it comes to education.146
Girls also may experience pressure for early marriage, as well as sexual harassment and
violence in and out of educational settings, which may force them to drop out of
school.147 Early marriage of course also sets girls up for early pregnancy, a significant
contributor to maternal mortality, particularly in developing countries.148 Even in
situations of early pregnancy, however, the CEDAW Committee has been very clear that
girls are entitled to continue with their schooling. For example, on Indonesia, the
Committee has urged the State party to “[e]nsure equal access of girls and young women,
including those in domestic services, to all levels of education and take measures to retain
girls in schools including by providing public scholarships for girls and incentives for
Michael F. Thompson, Economic Research Analyst (Indiana Business Research Center, Kelley
School of Business, Indiana University), ‘Earnings of a Lifetime: Comparing Women and Men with College
and Graduate Degrees,’ InContext, Vol. 10, No. 2, Mar-Apr 2009. One example to the contrary is China,
where researchers have found that the gender employment gap and the gender pay gap are narrower for
the better educated. See: Wei Chi and Bo Li, ‘Trends in China’s gender employment and pay gap:
Estimating Gender Pay Gaps with Employment Selection,’ Journal of Comparative Economics, in press, July
2013.
143
Girls’ education also has well known social benefits. For example, UNFPA has highlighted that
education of girls is closely related to improvements in family health and to falling fertility rates, and that
girls’ who are educated grow up to have more healthy children themselves. See: UNFPA, ‘Reproductive
Health
and
Education:
The
Mutual
Relationship,’
available
online
at:
http://web.unfpa.org/intercenter/cycle/education.htm [last accessed 13 December 2013].
144
See: UN News Centre, ‘At UN, Malala Yousafzai rallies youth to stand up for universal
education,’ 12 July 2013.
145
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Domestic Work,’ available online at:
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Childdomesticlabour/lang--en/index.htm [last accessed 15 December
2013].
146
The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), ‘Transforming Policy and Practice for
Gender in Education: A Gender Review of the 2010 EFA Global Monitoring Report Using an Equity and
Inclusion Lens,’ Technical Paper, United Nations Children’s’ Fund (UNICEF): New York, 2010.
147
Ibid.
148
According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, early pregnancy is associated with a higher risk
of maternal mortality: girls aged 10-14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy than women in their
twenties while girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die. See: Center for Reproductive Rights,
‘Supplementary information on Indonesia, scheduled for review by the CEDAW Committee during its
52nd session,’ 21 June 2012.
142
41
parents and employers to send their daughters and domestic workers to school and
enabling young women to return to school after pregnancy.”149
Plan International notes while most countries still only track enrolment, enrolment is an
inherently flawed measure of girls’ access to education.150 Attendance is a much better
measure of access, and for girls attendance is routinely cut short due to domestic
responsibilities such as cooking, fetching water and firewood, and childcare;151 lack of
adequate water and sanitation in schools to meet the needs of menstruating girls; 152 and
gender-based violence and sexual harassment in schools.153
Intersectional discrimination also greatly impacts upon girls’ schooling. For example,
researchers have reported Romani girls being given less attention at school because
authorities expect them not to complete their education due to ethnic stereotypes about
either early marriage or early pregnancy.154
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education (V. Muñoz Villalobos)
has noted that “[r]hetoric in favour of girls’ rights has not prevented education from
continuing to be one of the lowest budget priorities and one of the least favoured areas
in public policy.”155 The Special Rapporteur has also said that stereotyping at school and
within educational curriculum is a major problem, reporting inter alia that: both men and
women teachers have low expectations of girls’ intellectual skills, that teachers often give
girls less feedback and frequently report that they enjoy teaching boys more than girls;
that girls have lower and fewer expectations of themselves in and out of school and think
that their future consists primarily of being wives and mothers; that low expectations are
reinforced by textbooks, curricula and assessment material, in which no female figures
appear; that prizes won by girls and girls’ achievements are not as widely reported or
publicized as boys’; and that there is a clear tendency to use sexist language within
schools and within curricula.156
In terms of helping to develop the content of the right to education from a gender
equality perspective, the Special Rapporteur made a range of specific recommendations
aimed at increasing the availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability of
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Indonesia,’ adopted by the
Committee at its fifty-second session (9-27 July 2012), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/IDN/CO/6-7, 27 July 2012.
150
Plan International, ‘Because I am a Girl: The State of the World’s Girls 2012 - Learning for Life,’
2010.
151
Ibid.
152
One study by WaterAid Nepal found that more than half of all girls surveyed reported missing
school at least once because of menstruation, and lack of privacy for cleaning and washing was the major
reason identified by girls for being absent from school during their menstruation (41%). According to the
study, this was usually directly due to lack of water being available, but also sometimes due to other related
issues, such as missing door locks, even when a toilet is available. See: WaterAid Nepal, ‘Is Menstrual
Hygiene and Management an Issue for Adolescent School Girls? A Comparative Study of Four Schools in
Different Settings of Nepal,’ March 2009, p. iii.
153
Margaret Eleanor Greene, Omar J. Robles, Krista Stout and Tanja Suvilaakso, ‘A girl’s right to
learn without fear: Working to end gender-based violence at school,’ Plan International, 2013.
154
Camilla Ida Ravnbøl, ‘Intersectional Discrimination against Children: Discrimination
against Romani children and anti-discrimination measures to address child trafficking,’ Innocenti Working
Paper No. IDP 2009-11, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre: Florence, 2009.
155
Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Mr. V. Muñoz Villalobos,
‘Girls’ right to education,’ UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/45, 8 February 2006, at para. 55.
156
Ibid.
149
42
education for girls.157 In terms of good practice, UNESCO has noted that examples of
interventions for promoting gender equality in education can be thought of as ‘targeted’
(ensuring mostly access to education), ‘systemic’ (with a focus on universal access and
quality), or ‘enabling’ (with a focus mostly on access but also on long term change).158
Targeting strategies are reportedly the most common approach followed by
Governments to yield speedy results in expanding girls’ educational access.159 Examples
of targeted measures which have been used include cutting the costs of school fees
(China, Kenya, Malawi, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and the United Republic of
Tanzania) and also supplementing household access by covering indirect costs, providing
cash transfers that compensate for the opportunity costs of children’s income such as
scholarships and stipends (Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua and
Pakistan).160 While targeting is important, gains made in girls’ education can also be
quickly reversed without further systemic and enabling strategies in place.
Systemic measures focus on universal access as well as quality, which UNESCO defines
as follows:
Universal access reforms include those that focus on expanding provision of schooling
infrastructure and strengthening the environment in which schooling takes place. Quality reforms
include those that address the content or mode of provision of particular educational inputs, such
as revising curricula and textbooks, or improving teachers’ skills in gender-aware teaching and
learning methods.161
On quality, good practices include the removal of gender stereotypes from teaching
materials, the inclusion of women’s human rights in standard school curriculums and the
diversification of girls’ education into math, science and technology. It is also good
practice to ensure that school career guidance counseling encourages girls to choose
studies which will improve their earning capacity and career development. The CEDAW
Committee has also recommended to States parties that they ensure that technical and
vocational training enables girls to acquire income generating skills by also orienting
them towards traditionally male dominated careers.162 Other examples of systemic
measures to promote girls’ education include providing female teachers (Bangladesh) and
encouraging teachers to engage with communities to overcome inhibitions about girls’
schooling (Kenya, Uganda).163
Since 1976, Iceland has a core syllabus on education. The Centre for Gender Equality has
worked with the Ministry for Education and the Ministry for Welfare to increase these
Ministries’ focus on young people and gender equality issues. To this extent, the Ministry
of Education recently added “gender equality” to the main curriculum, and, in 2010
published a textbook (Kynungabók) which offers guidance to teacher on gender equality
Ibid., at paras. 127-152.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ‘‘Scaling up’
good practices in girls’ education,’ 2005.
159
Ibid.
160
Ibid., at pg. 33.
161
Ibid., at pg. 31.
162
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Indonesia,’ adopted by the
Committee at its fifty-second session (9-27 July 2012), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/IDN/CO/6-7, 27 July 2012.
163
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ‘‘Scaling up’
good practices in girls’ education,’ 2005.
157
158
43
issues and which has to be mandatorily used in their teaching. The objectives of the
textbook, designed for students in middle and secondary school, are: to provide a realistic
picture of the status of women and men in Icelandic society; to demonstrate that gender
stereotypes hurt everyone; to help children critically analyse cultural gender constructs;
and, more importantly, to create awareness about women’s rights.
Enabling measures have been defined as “intervening in the community through debates
and discussions on gender issues, mobilizing mothers to participate in community
forums or user committees, creating awareness of the importance of education of girls
through folk media, media campaigns and wider mobilization,”164 and include, for
example, the formations of mothers’ clubs fostering mother-to-mother interactions and
intense mobilization campaigns for girls’ education (the Gambia).165
The global trend when it comes to women and higher education is promising on many
fronts. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), there has been “unprecedented growth in women’s enrolment
over the past four decades” with the number of female students in tertiary institutions
growing almost at twice the rate of men since 1970.166 In fact, tertiary education is the
level at which female enrolments have seen the greatest increase in almost all regions, and
UNESCO reports that “these changing patterns of participation in tertiary education
shifted gender disparity from a male to a female advantage.”167 In the United States, for
example, the 2008-2009 academic year represented the first time ever that women
received more doctoral degrees than men.168
However, there continue to be significant gender gaps in higher education, and women
are for example still under-represented in science, engineering and technology.169 These
gender gaps in higher education can also translate later in life into gendered career paths
and less well paying and less prestigious jobs for women. Here too the CEDAW
Committee has made important recommendations, for example as with its Concluding
Observations on the United Kingdom, which encouraged the State party to “[s]tep up
career guidance activities to encourage girls to pursue non traditional paths and improve
the gender awareness of teaching personnel at all levels of the education system… [and]
take coordinated measures to encourage increased participation by girls in science,
Ibid., at pg. 32.
Ibid., at pg. 33.
166
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for
Statistics,
‘Women
in
Higher
Education,’
available
online
at:
http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/women-higher-education.aspx [last accessed 1 December
2013].
167
In fact, at the tertiary level UNESCO reports that female enrolment ratios exceed those of men in
two out of every three countries with data. This is because, in some cases, young men may be more likely
than young women to move directly from secondary education into the work force or nonformal
education or go abroad to continue their education. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), ‘Global Education Digest 2010: Comparing Education Statistics Across the
World,’ UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2010.
168
Daniel de Vise, ‘More women than men got PhDs last year,’ The Washington Post, 14 September
2010.
169
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ‘Science,
Technology and Gender: an International Report,’ 2011. See also: United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ‘Women and Science,’ available online at:
http://www.uis.unesco.org/ScienceTechnology/Pages/gender-and-science.aspx [last accessed 1 December
2013].
164
165
44
technology, engineering and mathematics, and in apprenticeships.170 Similarly, on
Norway the CEDAW Committee urged the State party to adopt temporary special
measures to accelerate advancement of women in academia, through women specific
grants and other affirmative action measures.171
Women’s and girls’ right to education with a focus on economic crisis
In situations of economic crisis, and as households cope with declining household
income, girls in poor countries with pre-existing low female schooling rates are highly
vulnerable to being pulled out of school.172 As the ILO has found, “because mothers
have to increase their hours of remunerated work, female children are likely to face a
high risk of being withdrawn from schools, in order to take care of younger siblings and
sick family members, undertaking unpaid work – replacing the mother’s role in the
household.”173
Plan International confirms this finding and reports that “it is frequently adolescent girls
who leave school to look after families when their mothers work longer hours and travel
further in search of work. Primary school completion rates often decline during periods
of economic contraction with girls experiencing 29 per cent decrease versus 22 per cent
for boys.”174 Girls also frequently need to find paid work themselves in order to boost
family income during periods of economic crisis.175 Plan International goes on to report:
In Cambodia, the lack of a social safety net meant that many girls left school and migrated from
their villages to urban centres to become domestic workers. In Bangladesh, there were widespread
reports of school dropouts, affecting girls more than boys, and children from femaleheaded
households. … Given their increased vulnerability, the vast majority of female-headed
households in rural areas reported that their children and more often their daughters had to quit
school as a result of the food price hikes. … A quantitative analysis conducted as part of
research in Nigeria found that a girl in Lagos was 2 per cent more likely to drop out of school
than a boy in 2007, whereas a year later, she was 10 per cent more likely to drop out. 176
Protecting girls’ education in many cases means protecting their families against
economic shocks and incentivizing parents to keep their girls in school. Brazil’s Bolsa
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations on
the seventh periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,’ adopted by the
Committee at its fifty-fifth session (8 July – 26 July 2012), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/GBR/CO/, 30 July
20132.
171
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ‘Concluding observations of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Norway,’ adopted by the Committee
at its fifty-first session (13 February – 2 March 2012), UN Doc. CEDAW/C/NOR/CO/8, 9 March 2012.
172
Statement by Mayra Buvinic (World Bank), ‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the
Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New
York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Report of the independent expert (Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona) on
the question of human rights and extreme poverty (on the impact of the current global financial crisis on
people living in extreme poverty and the enjoyment of their human rights), UN Doc. A/64/279, 11 August
2009.
173
Naoko Otobe, ‘Global economic crisis, gender and employment: The impact and policy
response,’ Employment Sector: Employment Working Paper No. 74, International Labour Organization:
Geneva, 2011. See also: International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global economic crisis, gender and
work: Key policy challenges and options,’ Global Jobs Pact Policy Briefs, Brief No. 15, 2011.
174
Maria Stavropoulou and Nicola Jones, ‘Off the balance sheet: the impact of the economic crisis
on girls and young women: A review of the evidence,’ Plan International, January 2013.
175
Ibid.
176
Ibid.
170
45
Familia program – reportedly the largest Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in
the world, assisting 12.6 million Brazilian families in 2010 – has successfully decreased
girls’ dropout rates. Reportedly, 94 per cent of the recipients of the Bolsa Familia
transfers are women.177 According to the World Bank, poor families with children
receive an average of R$70.00 (about US$35) in direct transfers. In return, parents
commit to keeping their girls and boys in school and taking them for regular health
checks.178 For girls ages 15 - 17, who are at greatest risk of dropping out of school, Bolsa
Familia increased their likelihood of remaining in school by 19 percentage points.179
Similarly, Bangladesh launched the Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP)
in 199 3. Within ten years the project covered one quarter of rural Bangladesh and now
benefits almost one million girls across the country in more than 6,000 schools.180 The
project provides a stipend to girls who agree to delay marriage until they complete
secondary education, and has proven highly successful in improving girls’ school
attendance rates.181 In addition, in Punjab, Pakistan, girls are eligible for a school stipend
under the broader Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme (PESRP). The female
school stipend program provides girls in targeted districts defined by their low literacy
rate with a stipend conditional on class attendance. An early study of the impacts of this
stipend found significant impact on girls’ attendance of schools.182
OHCHR, ‘Preliminary Assessment of Responses Received from the Economic and Social Life
(ESL) Questionnaire,’ 21 June 2013 (on file with author). See also: Report submitted by the Special
Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, ‘Women’s rights and the right to food,’ UN Doc.
A/HRC/22/50, 24 December 2012.
178
World Bank News & Broadcast, ‘Bolsa Família: Changing the Lives of Millions in Brazil,’
available
at:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21447054~pagePK:6425704
3~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html [last accessed 12 September 2013]
179
Maria Stavropoulou and Nicola Jones, ‘Off the balance sheet: the impact of the economic crisis
on girls and young women: A review of the evidence,’ Plan International, January 2013.
180
Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, ‘Women’s
rights and the right to food,’ UN Doc. A/HRC/22/50, 24 December 2012.
181
Ibid.
182
Ibid.
177
46
3.3
Women’s work: Formal and informal, paid and unpaid
“[M]any laws still make it difficult for women to fully participate in economic life
– whether by getting jobs or starting businesses. Discriminatory rules bar women
from certain jobs, restrict access to capital for women-owned firms and limit
women’s capacity to make legal decisions. Gender differences in laws affect both
developing and developed economies, and women in all regions.”
-- World Bank, ‘Women, Business and the Law 2014: Removing Restrictions to
Enhance Gender Equality – Key Findings,’ 2013183
Summary of Global Trends
The economic crisis has had major ramifications on the right to work globally, and the
International Labor Organization has noted a host of negative consequences in this
area, including increased unemployment, reduced wages and working hours, reduction
in social security benefits, and reduced de jure rights (such as loosening restrictions on
termination of employment). At the same time, there has also been a general decline
in collective bargaining. For women, the ILO points to worsening gender gaps in the
labor market, and highlights that the crisis destroyed 13 million jobs for women, with
projections showing no significant reduction in women’s unemployment expected
even by 2017. The period of the crisis has also seen a reversal in the historically
higher employment growth rates for women, again with no projected return to the
earlier trend even by 2017.
___
Sources:
David Tajgman, Catherine Saget, Natan Elkin and Eric Gravel, ‘Rights at work in times of crisis: Trends at the
country level in terms of compliance with international labour standards,’ ILO Employment Sector, Employment
Working Paper No. 101, 2011.
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’ International Labour
Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
Young adulthood for women may mean many things. It may mean advanced education.
Often, it means the beginning of participation in the labor market, whether formal or
informal. In many cases it also means staring a family, and balancing the demands of
work inside and outside of the home. The balance of roles and responsibilities that
women shoulder are heavily influenced by gender and age, with women’s reproductive
years generally spanning from age 15 to 44, according to the World Health Organization.
When it comes to women’s paid work, whether formal or informal, women as a whole
are more likely than men to be concentrated in part-time and low wage work, limiting
their economic independence and compromising opportunities for career advancement
and eligibility for social benefits.184 They tend to be under-represented “in positions of
power and status”185 and overrepresented in precarious, atypical and vulnerable work or
Almost 90 per cent of the 143 economies covered by Women, Business and the Law 2014 have at
least one legal difference which serves to restrict women’s economic opportunities.
184
Megan Gerecke, ‘A policy mix for gender equality? Lessons from high-income countries,’
International Labour Organization (International Institute for Labour Studies), 2013.
185
Ibid. Some countries, including Norway, Belgium, France, Canada (Quebec), Italy and Spain do
have explicit quotas for female representation on the Boards of State-owned enterprises, and sometimes
privately traded companies as well.
183
47
employment.186 Segregation in the workplace is a related problem, with women clustered
in what some have referred to as ‘pink-collar’ jobs, largely service sector jobs which offer
inferior working conditions, less job security and provide lower pay.187 In 2012, the ILO
reported that women “are confined to a more limited range of occupations than men”
and that there are significant gender gaps in economic indicators of job quality, including
gender gaps in employment vulnerability (where there is a global gender gap of 2.3
percentage points) and occupational segregation.188
Women are also less likely to be represented on corporate boards and in positions of
senior management.189 Globally, women hold just 24 per cent of senior management
roles and just 19 per cent of board roles are held by women.190 One notable exception is
China, where women now hold 51 per cent of senior management positions, and there
has also been a recent rise in the number of women CEOs.191
In terms of occupational segregation, in most developing countries, women have
increasingly moved out of agriculture and into the service sector, with the exception of
countries in East Asia, where women’s employment in industry has risen to 25 per
cent.192 In more affluent countries, more than 85 per cent of women work in the service
sector, primarily in education and health.193 The ILO reports that a number of countries
have taken important steps to reduce segregation in the workplace (including Czech
Republic, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and recommends that
policies to combat occupational segregation should also encourage men to enter
industries or occupations traditionally associated with women.194
Naoko Otobe, ‘Global economic crisis, gender and employment: The impact and policy
response,’ Employment Sector: Employment Working Paper No. 74, International Labour Organization:
Geneva, 2011. See also: International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global economic crisis, gender and
work: Key policy challenges and options,’ Global Jobs Pact Policy Briefs, Brief No. 15, 2011.
187
Megan Gerecke, ‘A policy mix for gender equality? Lessons from high-income countries,’
International Labour Organization (International Institute for Labour Studies), 2013.
188
The ILO describes occupational segregation as having both horizontal and vertical characteristics:
186
Occupational segregation can take two main forms: horizontal and vertical segregation. Horizontal segregation refers to the
over-representation of women in a particular occupation. In this case the employment share of women in certain occupations is
higher than their share in others. In contrast, vertical segregation – also referred to as the “glass ceiling” – occurs when men
and women work in the same occupation, but men more often do work that comes with more responsibilities, better pay and
higher status, due to reasons not attributable to their skills or experience.
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’ International Labour
Organization: Geneva, December 2012. For a review of legal and other instruments aimed at addressing
labor market discrimination in developing countries, please see: Sandra Fredman, ‘Anti-discrimination laws
and work in the developing world: A thematic overview,’ background paper for the World Development Report
2013, 2013.
189
Grant Thornton International Business Report, ‘Women in senior management: setting the stage
for growth,’ 2013.
190
Ibid. The G7 economies have just 21 per cent of senior roles occupied by women, compared to
28 per cent in BRIC economies, 32 per cent in South East Asia and 40 per cent in Baltic states. In terms
of corporate boards, in the G7 just 16 per cent of board members are women, compared to 26 per cent in
BRIC economies and 38 per cent in Baltic states.
191
Ibid.
192
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012. For a review of legal and other instruments
aimed at addressing labor market discrimination in developing countries, please see: Sandra Fredman,
‘Anti-discrimination laws and work in the developing world: A thematic overview,’ background paper for
the World Development Report 2013, 2013.
193
Ibid.
194
Ibid.
48
According to one study by the ILO, in high income countries:
… gender inequality in the labour market remains a pressing problem. Despite women’s gains
in education, wage gaps remain substantial. Wage gaps are usually wider between men and
women with tertiary education. Women are still less likely to participate in the labour market,
and when they do, they are more likely to work part-time. In most countries, women are
overrepresented in low-wage work and are more likely to be poor or socially excluded. This trend
is particularly pronounced among women over age 65: for this group, gender gaps in poverty rates
are alarmingly high.195
For further information on women in the labor market, please see the background paper prepared by
Sandra Fredman, which provides a review of laws and best practice in relation to women’s labor market
equality in a selection of countries.196
The ILO has also indicated “striking inequalities” between female workers with and
without young children, noting that “the gap in employment rates is often wider among
these two groups of women than between the sexes.”197 This reality has in part caused
sociologists to coin the phrase ‘motherhood penalty,’ for the systematic disadvantage that
many mothers face in the workplace. For further information about the motherhood penalty,
please see the background paper prepared by Efrat Herzberg, which addresses these issues in additional
detail.
Sexual harassment and discrimination on the job are also pressing problems. According
to UN figures, between 40 and 50 per cent of women in the European Union experience
“unwanted sexual advances, physical contact, verbal suggestions or other forms of sexual
harassment” at work.198 In the Asia and Pacific region, the figure is estimated to be
between 30 to 40 per cent.199 For further information on women’s right to work and sexual
harassment, please see the background paper prepared by Frances Raday, which addresses these issues in
additional detail. Domestic violence also directly impacts women’s ability to work.
Researchers report that:
Domestic violence often causes victims to miss days of work due to injuries, mental health
problems, and fear of the abuser locating the victim at her workplace. The CDC [n.b. Centers
for Disease Control, a Government public health agency in the United States] estimated that
abused women in the United States missed nearly 8 million days of paid work in a single year –
the equivalent of losing more than 32,000 full-time jobs from the U.S. economy.[ Domestic
violence also reduces victims’ productivity when at work as a result of lowered self-esteem,
depression, elevated stress levels, poorer concentration, and other mental and physical health
issues stemming from the violence. Absenteeism and decreased productivity in turn can lead to
missed promotions and even job loss. Victims of domestic violence have higher rates of job
Megan Gerecke, ‘A policy mix for gender equality? Lessons from high-income countries,’
International Labour Organization (International Institute for Labour Studies), 2013. International Labour
Organisation Convention No. 100 addresses Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work
of Equal Value. For a literature review on the implementation of the Convention, please see: Sandra
Fredman, ‘Literature Review on the Implementation of Convention 100,’ 2013 [on file with author].
196
See also: World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2014: Removing Restrictions To Enhance Gender
Equality, 2013.
197
Ibid.
198
The Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, ‘Violence Against
Women: the Situation,’ Fact Sheet, November 2011.
199
Ibid.
195
49
turnover than non-abused women, contributing to victims’ reduced earning capacity and restricted
job mobility. A victim’s friends and family members may also miss work in order to assist the
victim, multiplying the productivity costs to households and the larger economy. In Bangladesh,
researchers calculated that each incident of domestic violence costs the victims’ household, on
average, roughly 4.5% of the household’s total monthly income.200
Women’s work is not limited only to paid employment. Care work – largely preformed
by women and girls in both developed and developing countries – is generally unpaid,
and undervalued. 201 Care work also places a heavy time burden on women and girls. In
Mexico, for example, UNDP has documented that on an average day, women spend
close to 6 hours on domestic activities and childcare, severely limiting the time available
for income-generating and leisure activities.202 Caregiving is also not limited to child care
(which is further addressed below), but encompasses the support and care of older
persons, the sick, persons with disabilities, and others.
Again, intersectional discrimination also profoundly affects women’s experiences in the
workplace. In the US, income data disaggregated by race and sex show that on average
African-American women earn just 63 cents for every dollar earned by a white man,
while Hispanic women earn just 54 cents for every dollar earned by a white man.. 203
White women earn on average 77 cents for every dollar earned by a white man.204
Women’s right to work with a focus on economic crisis
UN-Women has reported that, since the crisis, gender gaps in unemployment have
worsened across all regions.205 It has also noted that labor market deregulations which in
some countries have followed the crises led to a general worsening of working conditions
The Advocates for Human Rights, ‘Community Costs of Domestic Violence,’ available online at:
http://www.stopvaw.org/community_costs_of_domestic_violence [last accessed 15 December 2013].
201
According to the International Labor Organization:
200
Unpaid work is interlinked with the location individuals occupy in paid work through many channels: it (a) shapes the
ability, duration, and types of paid work that can be undertaken and therefore limits access to existing and potential collective
action processes and social security; (b) does not offer monetary remuneration, which reduces the exercise of “voice” over decision
making and ability to accumulate savings and assets; (c) as in many societies, it is regarded a woman’s “natural” work,
performed in the “private” sphere of the family and therefore it essentializes this work and strips it of its socio-economic
dimensions and contributions; and (d) assigns paid social reproduction (care) workers to jobs that are presumed to be
unskilled, with low pay, slender options for promotion, and scant social protection.
Rania Antonopoulos, ‘The unpaid care work - paid work connection,’ International Labour Organization,
Policy Integration and Statistics Department, Working Paper No. 86, Geneva, 2007.
202
United Nations Development Programme, ‘Human Development Report 2007/2008,’ Oxford
University Press: Oxford and New York, 2008.
203
Anna Chu and Charles Posner, ‘Explore the Data: The State of Women in America,’ Center for
American Progress, 25 September 2013.
204
Ibid.
205
Speech by Michelle Bachelet, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of
UN Women, at the economics symposium “Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Why
Gender Matters” being held in New York from 21-22 January 2013. See also: Amelita King Dejardin and
Jessica Owens, ‘Asia in the Global Economic Crisis: Impacts and Responses from a Gender Perspective,’
Technical Note, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok and ILO Policy Integration and
Statistics Department, Geneva, Responding to the Economic Crisis – Coherent Policies for Growth,
Employment and Decent Work in Asia and Pacific, Manila, Philippines, 18-20 February 2009. See also:
Report of the independent expert (Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona) on the question of human rights and
extreme poverty (on the impact of the current global financial crisis on people living in extreme poverty
and the enjoyment of their human rights), UN Doc. A/64/279, 11 August 2009.
50
and to a weakening of wage bargaining power that has pushed even more women into
vulnerable employment.206 Similarly, since the crisis, the ILO has also highlighted that
gender gaps in the labor market have worsened, and that the crisis has increased what
was an already large gender gap in unemployment.207
In the midst of economic crises, the World Bank has reported that:
The experience of past crises suggests gender-specific first and second round impacts of the current
crisis on women’s income and their work choices. First round impacts include the fall in women’s
income in developing countries as result of employment losses in export oriented industries,
tightening micro-finance lending, and/or drop in remittances. Second round impacts are part of
households coping strategies and result in women joining the work force to help poor families
weather drops in family income.208
Data demonstrates the significance of women’s income in situations of economic crises,
and one result has been what has been termed as the ‘added worker’ effect, whereby
women enter the labor force in order to provide additional income security to the
household, particularly in cases where there is male unemployment or wages are
reduced.209 In previous economic downturns, Argentina, Mexico and Peru all
experienced the added worker effect.210 These economic pressures can also force women
into precarious, exploitative or dangerous forms of work,211 or lead them to migrate
aboard in order to find employment.212 Eva Biaudet, the OSCE Special Representative
and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings has also warned that the
economic crisis could make women more vulnerable to trafficking, noting that
“[w]idespread unemployment, a drastic decline in opportunities and a loss in remittances
from labour migrants result in desperate situations both in countries of origin and of
destination, where people have few viable alternatives and are prone to take more
risks.”213
Women in the informal economy have also been deeply affected by the crisis. According
to research conducted between July and September 2009 by the Inclusive Cities Project
by Women in Informal Employment, Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), in
Ibid.
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
208
Statement by Mayra Buvinic (World Bank), ‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the
Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New
York, 2-13 March 2009.
209
Ibid. See also: Naoko Otobe, ‘Global economic crisis, gender and employment: The impact and
policy response,’ Employment Sector: Employment Working Paper No. 74, International Labour
Organization: Geneva, 2011. See also: International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global economic crisis,
gender and work: Key policy challenges and options,’ Global Jobs Pact Policy Briefs, Brief No. 15, 2011.
See also: International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
210
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
211
See: UN News Centre Press Release; ‘More women in Cambodia turning to sex trade amid
financial crisis – UN report,’ 21 July 2009.
212
Remittance flows to developing countries in 2009 were estimated to be 6.7 per cent lower than
those in 2008. See: Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), ‘The Impact of the Global
Economic Crisis on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication series: Women’s Economic
Empowerment, Sida: 2 December 2010.
213
As quoted in: OSCE Press Release, ‘Human traffickers exploit economic crisis, redoubled
prevention efforts urgently needed, warns high-level conference at OSCE,’ 14 September 2009.
206
207
51
developing countries there was an “overall deterioration of employment and income
levels of women workers in the informal economy.” 214 Results were based on interviews
with 219 informal workers, 82 per cent of whom were women. For example, 77 per cent
of waste-pickers interviewed in Pune, India, reported a decline in their income; between
January and June 2009, the prices of waste materials had dropped between 5 and 7 per
cent.215 In Bogotá, Colombia, and Santiago, Chile, prices had dropped even more, by 42
per cent and 50 per cent respectively.216 Researchers went on to highlight that:
Of the 52 street vendors interviewed, 62 per cent reported a decline in the volume of trade since
January, 2009; 77 per cent reported a reduction of weekly profits; and 83 per cent reported an
increase in business costs. Eighty-four per cent of own-account home-based workers reported that
their monthly incomes had fallen during the first half of 2009, and 75 per cent also reported a
reduction in the volume of trade. One third of these home-based workers worked longer hours
than before, in order to maintain the profit margin.217
The same research shows that nearly 40 per cent of female respondents were the primary
income earners in their household, and in other households, women’s income made a
vital contribution to household income. Twenty per cent of respondents reported recent
retrenchments of household members during the previous six months, whilst 40 per cent
reported a drastic reduction of income provided by one or more members of the
household over the same period. 218 Survey results indicated that an increased number of
informal women workers were supporting their entire families on substantially less
income.219
To combat these kinds of repercussions, some Governments have established special
programs which have greatly benefitted women – typically by increasing women’s
employment in the public sector. Such programs have been developed in Peru (through
the Programa de Apoyo al Ingreso Temporal – PAIT), Chile (through the Programa de Empleo
Mínimo – PEM), India (through the Employment Guarantee Scheme) and Argentina
(through the Programa Jefes de Hogar -- PJH).220 According to the ILO, in the wake of the
most recent crisis:
Ten countries reported on labour market measures targeting women, all high- and middle-income
countries where female participation was low (except Latvia). These measures included training
for unemployed women in Argentina and Chile and training for women returning to the labour
market (Italy and Japan). Four countries increased their public works programmes with quotas
for, or focus on, female participation (India, Latvia, Serbia and South Africa), while Turkey
increased the scope of subsidized employment for long-term unemployed women. Two countries
also targeted female entrepreneurs: Egypt introduced a 2 per cent cut in interest rates on loans to
As quoted from: Naoko Otobe, ‘Global economic crisis, gender and employment: The impact
and policy response,’ Employment Sector: Employment Working Paper No. 74, International Labour
Organization: Geneva, 2011. Original Sources: Zoe Elena Horn, ‘Effects of the global economic crisis on
women in the informal economy: research findings from WIEGO and the Inclusive Cities partners,’ Gender
& Development, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2010, pp. 263–276.
215
Ibid.
216
Ibid.
217
Ibid.
218
Ibid.
219
Ibid.
220
Statement by Mayra Buvinic (World Bank), ‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the
Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New
York, 2–13 March 2009.
214
52
micro- and small enterprises targeted at women-headed households and Turkey introduced
special credit lines for female artisans, as a crisis response.221
In Brazil, Chile, Singapore and Korea, Governments have invested in re-skilling, training
and unemployment protection, unemployment benefits and measures for women
workers.222 In Brazil, the National Technical Education and Employment Program
(PRONATAC) is a national program for capacitation and professionalization which
covers 66 per cent of women.223 In the Republic of Korea, the Initiative for Women’s
Reemployment seeks to resolve the problem of women’s career interruption due to
childbirth and childcare, and supports women’s re-employment.224 The Women’s Reemployment Support Center is an institution supporting employment, where various
services such as internship opportunities, job training and career management are
provided for women who interrupted their careers due to childbirth and child rearing.225
As of 2012, the Government reports that there are 100 Centers in operation throughout
the country.226
In Malta and Portugal, States have similarly invested in re-training of unemployed
persons to new jobs which break gender stereotypes, especially for those with family
responsibilities.227 In India, quotas for women in employment guarantee programs
targeted at the poorest households.228 In the Czech Republic, the Government instituted
in 2012 ‘Priorities and Procedures in Promoting Equal Opportunities for Men and
Women,’ which aimed at redressing discrimination in employment and guaranteeing
equal participation of women and men in the labor market.229
The ILO notes, however, that countries that were able to offer labor market measures to
unemployed women on a large scale already had programs in place. There were few
major new programs.230 For example, South Africa expanded the country’s public works
program, which has a quota for female participants.231 A similar approach was followed
in Turkey, where an additional 65,000 women benefited from subsidized employment
between 2009 and 2010.232
In addition to these challenges, in the wake of the economic crisis, women’s rights
advocates have described a ‘care crisis,’ in which women have to increasingly pick up the
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
222
ILO Bureau for Gender Equality, ‘Making the crisis recovery work for women!,’ International
Labour Office, International Women’s Day (8 March), 2011.
223
OHCHR, ‘Preliminary Assessment of Responses Received from the Economic and Social Life
(ESL) Questionnaire,’ 21 June 2013 (on file with author).
224
Ibid.
225
Ibid.
226
Ibid.
227
ILO Bureau for Gender Equality, ‘Making the crisis recovery work for women!,’ International
Labour Office, International Women’s Day (8 March), 2011.
228
Ibid.
229
OHCHR, ‘Preliminary Assessment of Responses Received from the Economic and Social Life
(ESL) Questionnaire,’ 21 June 2013 (on file with author). See also: Concluding observations of the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Czech Republic, UN Doc.
CEDAW/C/CZE/CO/5, 22 October 2010.
230
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
231
Ibid.
232
Ibid.
221
53
slack in care left by crumbling social protections in health, education, and other
sectors.233 Feminist economists warn that:
There is an important relationship between the work of social reproduction and market work
since there are only 24 hours a day. Demand for the unpaid work of social reproduction puts
pressure on the time available for paid work in the market economy. Many studies of the impact
of the 1990s Asian financial crisis and 1980s structural adjustment policies document
consequences such as reduced incomes as women have to go out of work or take up less
remunerative and part time work, or make compromises on time devoted to caring for
children.234
Other crises, for example the HIV pandemic, can also lead to increased care burdens on
women. In addition, economic policies which may seek to increase women’s
participation in formal employment may not pay sufficient attention to women’s
caregiving role, thereby having the effect of increasing women’s double burden. At the
same time that public policy must recognize caregiving and afford it more value, public
policy should also not reinforce gender stereotypes and roles by maintaining women’s
disproportionate burden when it comes to care work.
More affluent families may choose to hire domestic workers in order to alleviate the care
burden. The ILO and UNICEF note that domestic workers are often used as a ‘coping
strategy’ by wealthier families to help reconcile paid work with household responsibilities
and childcare. However, shifting the burden of care work onto domestic workers brings
up a range of other issues, as domestic workers remain among the most vulnerable to
exploitation and abuse:
Because domestic workers, the overwhelming majority of whom are women including some girls,
most often are in the informal economy, they are unprotected by labour legislation. Because they
carry out their work in private homes and hidden from view, they are not recognized as workers
and do not benefit from labour rights guarantees such as minimum wages, regulated hours of
work, overtime pay, paid leave, and maternity protection. Oftentimes, they work very long hours
for low pay and without entitlements to leave periods. Typically, they come from low-income,
rural or migrant groups, and lack voice and representation to improve their conditions of work.
Many are exposed to highly exploitative working conditions and violence, including sexual
harassment and verbal or physical abuse.235
Emily Esplen, ‘Gender and Care: Overview Report,’ BRIDGE Report, Institute of Development
Studies: Brighton, February 2009. Care work is defined as follows: “Care involves both the direct care of
persons – such as feeding and bathing a young child – and the domestic tasks that are a precondition for
care-giving, such as preparing meals, cleaning sheets and clothes, purchasing food, or collecting water and
fuel.”
234
Statement by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School),
‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on
the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr ,
James Heintz & Stephanie Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox
Macroeconomics Meets Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
235
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012. See also:
International Domestic Workers’ Network (IDWN), Human Rights Watch, and the International Trade
Union Confederation, ‘Claiming Rights: Domestic Workers’ Movements and Global Advances for Labor
Reform,’ 2013.
233
54
Several options exist for reducing women’s unpaid care burden. One important strategy
is to provide “subsidised care services – for children, older people, and people with
disabilities – to enable women’s more active participation in the public sphere.”236 In
developing countries, provision of water, electricity, and sanitation facilities all can
significantly reduce women’s time burden with respect to household labor and
caregiving. In particular, research shows that provision of electricity and water in or near
to the home can reduce the burden of care work in poorer countries where such
infrastructure is not in place, for example in remote and rural areas:
Easier access to fuel and water lessens the time that women and children must spend collecting
these resources and makes it quicker to complete tasks such as cooking and cleaning. In
addition, adequate safe water and fuel contributes to the health of family members and reduces
the time care-givers must spend looking after sick people. The Millennium Project Taskforce on
Water and Sanitation also notes that mothers with improved domestic water services are better
able to care for their children, in part because they devote less time to fetching water and seeking
privacy for defecation, which in turn contributes to reducing child mortality rates … In addition,
access to fuel and water in the home facilitates home-based income-earning activities such as
hairdressing and cooking, making it easier for those responsible for unpaid care to combine paid
work with their unpaid care responsibilities.237
In the Republic of Korea, Elderly Care Insurance (ECI) entitles all citizens over the age
of 65 to public care services, covering costs associated with a range of potential needs,
including help with domestic work, delivery of prepared meals, and institutional care.238
A similar program exists in Japan (called long term care insurance, or LTCI), which is
aimed at shifting responsibility away from the family (i.e. women) and into the public
domain.239
In terms of employment, because women tend to be concentrated in certain sectors,
women working in the public sector and in various export-oriented industries have been
disproportionately affected by job losses following the economic crises. Despite this,
much of the focus has been on male unemployment. The impact of austerity measures
on women working in the public sector is considered below. But here we can highlight
that export-oriented countries have experienced substantial declines in export levels due
to a drastic reduction in demand from countries like the United States and the United
Kingdom.240 This decline has disproportionately affected women working in certain
industries, such as textiles and apparel.
According to UNAIDS, women make up some 60–80 per cent of export manufacturing
workers in low- and middle-income countries.241 For example, in countries like Nicaragua
decreased demand for exported goods has led to the displacement of nearly a third of the
Emily Esplen, ‘Gender and Care: Overview Report,’ BRIDGE Report, Institute of Development
Studies: Brighton, February 2009.
237
Ibid.
238
Ibid.
239
Natasha Curry, ‘Low cost and high quality integrated care: what can we learn from Japan?,’ The
Guardian, 11 June 2012.
240
Naoko Otobe, ‘Global economic crisis, gender and employment: The impact and policy
response,’ Employment Sector: Employment Working Paper No. 74, International Labour Organization:
Geneva, 2011. See also: International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global economic crisis, gender and
work: Key policy challenges and options,’ Global Jobs Pact Policy Briefs, Brief No. 15, 2011.
241
UNAIDS, ‘Impact of the global economic crisis on women, girls and gender equality,’ Discussion
paper, August 2012.
236
55
maquila workforce, a workforce which is almost entirely made up of women.242 While the
maquilas are notorious for their poor and exploitative labor conditions, these job losses
have nonetheless made women’s economic lives more precarious. In Cambodia, over
38,000 jobs were lost in the textile and clothing sector, the largest formal sector employer
for women and comprised of 90 per cent women workers.243 In the Philippines, more
than half of the 40,000 jobs lost were in export processing zones, where 80 per cent of
workers are women.244
Unfortunately, economic crisis is often used as an excuse to reassert patriarchal attitudes
and stereotypes about the role of men as primary economic providers.245 The European
Commission’s Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men has
noted that “Gender based stereotypes may also exacerbate inequalities [in times of crisis].
For example, the ‘male breadwinner’ model which still predominates in many countries,
may lead to a priority being given to men’s jobs and a reliance on women to provide a
social safety net through informal paid and unpaid work.”246 Others have similarly noted
that “Women bear the brunt of crisis because of the paradigm of the male bread-winner
that prevails all over the world across cultural divides, from Cuba to Japan. When job
retrenchment takes place, the tendency is to protect employment for men and
compromise on women’s jobs.”247 During the Asian crisis, for example, women
experienced unequal treatment in terms of dismissal, social security entitlements and
rehiring.248
Similarly, seniority rules which determine whose jobs are kept and whose jobs are cut -while gender neutral on their face – often favor men in practice. Add to this the fact that
the impact on women in terms of unemployment is likely to be underestimated. Experts
have found that regardless of what sectors are most harmed by the economic crisis, in
some countries, gender norms are such that women are first fired, because men are
generally perceived to be the legitimate bread-winners when jobs are scarce:
A global survey conducted in 2005 found that almost 40 per cent of those interviewed agreed
that when jobs are scarce, men have more right to a job. Experience with the Asian financial
crisis confirmed this tendency, with women laid off at 7 times the rate of men in the Republic of
Korea. We can expect this to be a dominant feature of layoffs in a large number of countries in
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), ‘The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis
on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication series: Women’s Economic Empowerment, Sida:
2 December 2010.
243
Naoko Otobe, ‘Global economic crisis, gender and employment: The impact and policy
response,’ Employment Sector: Employment Working Paper No. 74, International Labour Organization:
Geneva, 2011. See also: International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global economic crisis, gender and
work: Key policy challenges and options,’ Global Jobs Pact Policy Briefs, Brief No. 15, 2011.
244
Jane Lethbridge, ‘Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Austerity Measures on Women,’
Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), May 2012.
245
Talking points for Yassine Fall, Chief of the Economic Empowerment Section, UN Women,
‘Promoting Human Rights in Financial Regulation and Macroeconomic Policies,’ 2013.
246
Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, ‘Opinion on: The Gender
Perspective on the response to the economic and financial crisis,’ June 2009.
247
Statement by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School),
‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on
the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr ,
James Heintz & Stephanie Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox
Macroeconomics Meets Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
248
Statement by Shamika Sirimanne (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific), ‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel,
Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009.
242
56
the current crisis, and it is likely that in developing economies, many more women will be pushed
into the informal sector as a result. Official unemployment data are likely to miss this trend
because, even if underemployed, women will be counted among the ranks of the employed in labor
force surveys. In developed economies, there is evidence that some unemployed women withdraw
from the labor force as a response to joblessness. This too will result in the underestimation of the
unemployment effects of the crisis on women.249
Economic crisis also has specific implications for women and men migrant workers.
Migrant workers in general are often targeted during periods of economic instability and
crisis. According to UNAIDS, reports from high-income countries that women migrant
workers were forced to return to their homelands began appearing shortly after the crisis
started: “This represents an entire shift in the global sphere of women’s labour from paid
to unpaid domestic work, and increases the burden of domestic labour on women in all
contexts.”250 In addition, nationalistic sentiment may increase, and local residents may
perceive that migrant workers are shrinking the pool of domestic jobs.251 Some countries,
for example Malaysia, have taken increased steps to discourage migrant workers from
entering.252 According to the Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (PWESCR), return migration associated with the economic crisis has exacerbated
pockets of poverty due to lost remittances and increased pressure on local labor markets.
In India, for example, large numbers of migrants have returned to their former villages. It
is estimated that out of the 60 million migrant workers, 10 million workers returned back.
In the city of Surat, the rate of return migration was reportedly as high as 50 per cent.253
Statement by Stephanie Seguino (University of Vermont), ‘Emerging issue: The gender
perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on the Status of Women, Fiftythird session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr , James Heintz & Stephanie
Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox Macroeconomics Meets
Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
250
UNAIDS, ‘Impact of the global economic crisis on women, girls and gender equality,’ Discussion
paper, August 2012.
251
Talking points for Yassine Fall, Chief of the Economic Empowerment Section, UN Women,
‘Promoting Human Rights in Financial Regulation and Macroeconomic Policies,’ 2013. As the Swedish
International Development Agency (Sida) has recognized:
249
International labour migration is an important coping strategy that women in poor countries have used to deal with
local unemployment and decline in earnings. But the migrant labour market is contracting as receiving countries,
beset by rising unemployment, increasingly restrict the legal entry of foreign workers. For example, women who
migrate from Ethiopia to the Middle East to seek work in domestic service face a shrinking market for legal
foreign labour …. Recorded remittances to Ethiopia (worth more to the national economy than FDI) fell by 20
percent from 2008 to 2009. Nevertheless, Ethiopian women continue to migrate as a strategy for coping with the
economic downturn in Ethiopia, and the country witnessed a spike in emigration in the first half of 2009. As
restrictions on legal migration increase, more women and men will resort to the desperate measure of illegal
migration. Undocumented migrants are even more vulnerable to human rights abuses and downward pressure on
wages than those with formal status.
As quoted from: Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), ‘The Impact of the Global Economic
Crisis on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication series: Women’s Economic
Empowerment, Sida: 2 December 2010.
252
See: Trades Union Congress (TUC), ‘Bearing the brunt, leading the response: Women and
the global economic crisis,’ March 2011.
253
Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR), ‘Global Financial and
Economic Crisis and its Impact on Women: A Human Rights Perspective,’ 2011.
57
3.4
Maternity and child care
Summary of Global Trends
When women have greater access to resources and information, they tend to have
fewer children, and to space out the births of their children. The total fertility rate, or
the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end
of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with current age-specific
fertility rates, varies significantly by country as well as by region. Countries in Subsaharan Africa and the Middle East have some of the highest fertility rates in the
world (for example, 7.6 in Niger and 4.3 in Yemen), while developed countries have
some of the lowest (for example, 1.5 in Switzerland and 1.6 in Canada). Globally, an
estimated 287,000 maternal deaths occurred in 2010, a decline of 47 per cent since
1990.
In terms of maternal benefits, according to the United Nations Department of
Economic and Social affairs, in 2009, some 141 out of 167 countries (or 85 per cent)
provided at 12-week paid maternity leave. However, only about half meet the higher
standard of 14 weeks set out by ILO Convention No. 183. On childcare, at least in
high income countries, UNICEF has noted that “today’s rising generation is the first
in which a majority are spending a large part of early childhood in some form of outof-home child care.” Approximately 80 per cent of the 3-6 year olds in high income
countries are in some kind of early childhood education or child care. In the United
States, 50 per cent of children under the age of one are in child care for an average of
28 hours a week. However, very few countries offer universal child care benefits.
Even more importantly, when child care services are made available they must be of
high quality to support a child’s healthy cognitive and social development.
___
Sources:
UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank, ‘Trends in Maternal Mortality:1990-2010,’ 2012.
The World Bank, ‘Fertility rate, total (births per woman),’ available online at:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN [last accessed 12 December 2013].
UNICEF, ‘The Child Care Transition,’ 2008.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, ‘The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics,’ UN
Doc. ST/ESA/STAT/SER.K/19, United Nations, New York, 2010.
Women are faced with a duality because a large part of their productive and reproductive
years are combined, making time demands on them that are not made on men in
societies that place care burdens on women (i.e. unpaid care work). Maternity and child
care represent one of the structural barriers preventing women from engaging in the
labor market on equal footing with men. The ILO Workers with Family Responsibilities
Convention, 1981, (No. 156)254 and its corresponding Recommendation (No. 165)255
provide a framework for reconciling work and family responsibilities.
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women has recognized that the full
integration of women into the formal economy and, in particular, into economic
decision-making, means changing the current gender-based division of labor into new
ILO C156 - Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156), Convention
concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers: Workers with
Family Responsibilities (Entry into force: 11 August 1983).
255
ILO R165 - Workers with Family Responsibilities Recommendation, 1981 (No. 165)
Recommendation concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers:
Workers with Family Responsibilities, Geneva, 67th ILC session (23 June 1981).
254
58
economic structures where women and men enjoy equal treatment, pay and power,
including sharing of paid and unpaid work.256 The Commission has also urged States and
other relevant actors to “take appropriate measures to achieve equal sharing of work and
parental responsibilities between women and men, including measures to reconcile care
and professional life and emphasize men’s equal responsibilities with respect to
household work,” as well as to “design, implement and promote family friendly policies
and services, including affordable, accessible and quality care services for children and
other dependants, parental and other leave schemes and campaigns to sensitize public
opinion and other relevant actors on equal sharing of employment and family
responsibilities between women and men.”257
The ILO has also had a special role in protecting maternity: It was during the first
International Labour Conference (ILC) in 1919 that the first Convention on maternity
protection (Convention No. 3) was adopted.258 This Convention was followed by
Convention No. 103 in 1952259 and Convention No.183 in 2000.260 These two
Conventions progressively expanded upon the scope and entitlements of maternity
protection at work, with the core aim of ensuring that women’s work does not pose risks
to the health of the woman and to her pregnancy, and to ensure that women’s
reproductive roles do not compromise their economic and employment security.261 The
ILO reports that:
Globally, 51 per cent, of countries provide a maternity leave period of at least 14 weeks, the
standard established by Convention 183. 20 per cent of countries meet or exceed the 18 weeks
of leave suggested in Recommendation No. 191. About one-third (35 per cent) of countries
provide 12 to 13 weeks of leave – less than the duration specified by Convention No. 183, but
consistent with the level set by Conventions No. 3 and 103 of at least 12 weeks of leave. Only
14 per cent of countries provide less than 12 weeks of maternity leave.262
The regions with the highest proportion of countries in conformity with these aspects of
Convention No. 183 are Central Asia and Europe, while conformity is particularly low in
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, ‘Agreed Conclusions on the equal sharing
of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV/AIDS,’ Fiftythird session, 2– 13 March 2009.
257
Ibid.
258
ILO C003 - Maternity Protection Convention, 1919 (No. 3) Convention concerning the
Employment of Women before and after Childbirth (Entry into force: 13 June 1921), Washington, 1st ILC
session (29 November 1919).
259
ILO C103 - Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (No. 103) Convention concerning
Maternity Protection (Revised 1952) (Entry into force: 7 September 1955), Geneva, 35th ILC session (28
June 1952).
260
ILO C183 - Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) Convention concerning the
revision of the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (Entry into force: 7 February 2002),
Geneva, 88th ILC session (15 June 2000).
261
Recommendation No. 191 complements Convention No. 183, and suggests higher protection,
including a longer duration of maternity leave and higher benefits. The Recommendation also discusses in
greater detail certain aspects of maternity protection addressed in the Convention, including how to ensure
health protection, and addresses some additional aspects related to types of leave and financing of benefits.
International Labour Office (ILO), ‘Maternity at Work: A review of national legislation: Findings from the
ILO Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws,’ 2nd Edition, ILO: Geneva, 2012.
262
Ibid.
256
59
the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.263 Out of the 167 countries studied, 97 per
cent provided some cash benefits to women during maternity leave.264
UN-Women notes that policies to subsidize or provide childcare by the public sector
would help to compensate women for the costs they incur within the home from
engaging in paid work. For example, childcare can be provided either through the
private sector (and ideally with the provision of public subsidies), or directly by the State
as it is done in many countries. UN-Women reports that evidence shows that such
policies increase women’s participation in economic activities.265
Providing protection and support to breastfeeding mothers in the workplace is also
important. While according to UNICEF and the ILO, in order to ensure a newborn’s
good health and nutrition exclusive breastfeeding is recommended during the first six
months after childbirth, “meeting these vital nutritional needs of the infant may present a
challenge for working mothers, especially in the informal economy and in other types of
precarious work in which decent work deficits often abound, including atypical,
temporary and short-term contracts.” 266 UNICEF and the ILO report that even when
maternity protection or provisions exist, enforcement is lacking, and that women still too
often suffer discrimination in hiring, or they risk losing their jobs once hired, due to
maternity. Sometimes new mothers cut short their leave for fear of losing their job, and
at times they may be forced to put the nutritional health of their child at risk, as when a
baby is weaned prematurely.267
For further information on maternity and childcare, please see the background paper prepared by Sharon
Offenberger, which addresses these issues in additional detail.
Maternity and child care with a focus on economic crisis
In the wake of the crisis in Europe, the rights of pregnant women to maternity leave and
benefits have been curtailed and discrimination against pregnant women has been
documented in at least four countries (Greece, Portugal, Italy and the Czech Republic).268
Some countries have taken positive steps. For example, Canada, Latvia, Hungary, Japan
and Spain have all put in place initiatives for women to return to work after maternity
Ibid.
Ibid. At the time of the study, only Australia, Lesotho, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and the
United States of America did not provide some sort of cash benefit to women during maternity leave. In
some countries, cash benefits were only made available for a certain number of births.
265
Talking points for Yassine Fall, Chief of the Economic Empowerment Section, UN Women,
‘Promoting Human Rights in Financial Regulation and Macroeconomic Policies,’ 2013.
266
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012.
267
Ibid.
268
Francesca Bettio, Marcella Corsi, Carlo D’Ippoliti, Antigone Lyberaki, Manuela Samek Lodovici
and Alina Verashchagina, ‘The impact of the economic crisis on the situation of women and men and on
gender equality policies,’ Synthesis report, report prepared for the use of the European Commission,
Directorate-General for Justice, 2013. The authors go on to highlight that: “In Greece, Ireland and
Portugal, Labour Inspections recorded a surge in the infringement of rights protecting pregnant women
and mothers of young children during the crisis, while in Italy and the Czech Republic infringements are
reported to have frequently occurred in ‘normal times’ as well.”
263
264
60
leave, encouragements for men to take paternity leave and more accessible childcare
services.269 The ILO reports that:
Nine countries reported on some form of additional childcare support, mostly belonging to the
group of high-income countries, including six where female labour force participation was high
(Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Moldova, Netherlands and
the United States). Noticeably, most additional childcare was provided in countries where there
was an added worker effect (i.e. an increase in female labour force participation post-crisis), and
in a few countries where female participation decreased (the Netherlands and the United States).
Moreover, childcare support – a labour intensive sector – acted as a labour demand-side measure
through the construction of childcare infrastructure.270
In the Netherlands, the Government introduced a package of family-friendly measures in
the 2009 Crisis Pact, which included extension of parental leave from 13 to 26 weeks.271
The Pact also included improvements in the accessibility and quality of childcare as well
as a public benefit scheme for self-employed women.272
In the Republic of Korea, the Government has also implemented measures to alleviate
women’s disproportionate childcare burden and to encourage women’s labor market
participation by expanding childcare benefits:
In 2012, all children aged between 0 and 2, all children at the age of five but for children of age
between 3 and 4, only those from the households with lower 70% income received the benefit.
From 2013, all children regardless of the household income can benefit from childcare benefit. In
addition, since the home care allowance was launched in 2009 and included children from the
households with income of 100-120 percent of the minimum living standard in 2012. In 2013,
this has been enlarged to all children aged 0 to 5, regardless of household income.273
In Luxembourg, the Ministry for Family and Integration in cooperation with the
municipalities in 2009 established a childcare voucher-service system (CSA). The CSA is
meant to improve the re-integration of parents into the labor market and also ensures
high quality services to children. Children from low income families and those at risk of
poverty benefit from 25 hours for care per week, free of charge, and for those hours of
care exceeding 25 hours per week, they benefit from reduced fees.274
While no ILO standard exists concerning paternity leave, paternity leave is available in a
number of countries.275 One interesting example of paternity leave protection can be
found in Iceland, where fathers have an “independent, non-transferable leave quota.”276
Even after the economic crisis, mothers and fathers are entitled to five months of nonILO Bureau for Gender Equality, ‘Making the crisis recovery work for women!,’ International
Labour Office, International Women’s Day (8 March), 2011.
270
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
271
Ibid. Other countries, however, contracted parental benefits and leave (for example, Germany,
and Estonia).
272
Ibid.
273
See: OHCHR, ‘Preliminary Assessment of Responses Received from the Economic and Social
Life (ESL) Questionnaire,’ 21 June 2013 (on file with author).
274
Ibid.
275
International Labour Office (ILO), ‘Maternity at Work: A review of national legislation: Findings
from the ILO Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws,’ 2 nd Edition, ILO: Geneva, 2012.
276
Ibid.
269
61
transferable leave, with an additional two months of shared leave. The reimbursement
rate is 80 per cent of the normal salary. These kinds of initiatives are encouraging and
ought to be replicated in order to promote a more equitable sharing of family
responsibilities. UNICEF and the ILO have noted that:
Paid paternity leave is a measure that provides an opportunity for men’s more equal sharing of
their infant’s care. When incentives to take such leave exist, these measures have been shown to
facilitate greater involvement of fathers in such care, which enhances child development. Evidence
shows that extended periods of paternity leave and parental leave available to both men and
women have a positive effect in supporting workers with family responsibilities, while enabling
fathers to exercise their rights as parents and caregivers. Moreover, these provisions contribute to
achieving gender equality, since greater sharing of childcare gives women better access to and
sustained participation in the labor force, greater income-earning potential, and more equitable
treatment and opportunities including for advancement, all of which contribute to closing the
gender pay gap.277
Parental leave – which as opposed to maternity/paternity leave is “a relatively long-term
leave available to either parent, allowing them to take care of an infant or young child
over a period of time usually following the maternity or paternity leave period” – is also
not included in any of the ILO Conventions. However, both Recommendation No.
191278 (accompanying Convention No. 183279 on maternity protection) and
Recommendation No. 165280 (accompanying Convention No. 156281 on workers with
family responsibilities) do contain provisions on parental leave.282
To guide policy making in this area the ILO has recommended the following
‘Requirements for family-friendly measures to be gender-equality-friendly:’
▪
Recognizing men’s caring role: Offering parental leave and making parental leave, after the
initial maternity leave, available to both men and women and non-transferable.
▪
Making paid work more family-compatible: Flexible arrangements with regard to working
schedules, rest periods and holidays; provision of annual leave, short leave for emergencies; (good)
part-time, flexitime, time banking, teleworking, reduction of daily hours of work and of
overtime.
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012.
278
ILO R191 - Maternity Protection Recommendation, 2000 (No. 191) Recommendation
concerning the revision of the Maternity Protection Recommendation, 1952, Geneva, 88th ILC session (15
June 2000).
279
ILO C183 - Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) Convention concerning the
revision of the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (Entry into force: 7 February 2002),
Geneva, 88th ILC session (15 June 2000).
280
ILO R165 - Workers with Family Responsibilities Recommendation, 1981 (No. 165)
Recommendation concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers:
Workers with Family Responsibilities, Geneva, 67th ILC session (23 June 1981).
281
ILO C156 - Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156), Convention
concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers: Workers with
Family Responsibilities (Entry into force: 11 August 1983).
282
International Labour Office (ILO), ‘Maternity at Work: A review of national legislation: Findings
from the ILO Database of Conditions of Work and Employment Laws,’ 2nd Edition, ILO: Geneva, 2012.
277
62
▪
Making family responsibilities more compatible with work: Ensure availability of affordable
and good-quality child-care and other family services and facilities that assist workers in meeting
their employment and family responsibilities.
▪
Promoting a more equal sharing of family responsibilities between men and women, through
information, awareness-raising measures and education policies.
▪
Promoting public and private actions to lighten the burden of family and household
responsibilities through labor-saving devices, public transport, supply of water and energy.283
Some countries also provide tax deductions/credits for costs associated with care. For
example, in the United States, the Federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit helps
working parents or caregivers pay for child care or other dependent care. The amount of
credit received is a percentage of care expenses, ranging from 20-35 per cent (the benefit
is provided on a sliding scale such that as income increases, the percentage paid
decreases).284 In South Africa, the Government had been implementing a Child Support
Grant in the form of childcare allowances paid to the main caregiver.285 In Colombia,
working mothers receive subsidized childcare.286
In 2006, Croatia adopted its National Policy for the Promotion of Gender Equality,
which sets out a number of specific measures promoting the sharing of family
responsibilities between women and men and increasing the availability of childcare
services.287 The Policy also provides for conducting media campaigns to promote equal
sharing of household work and family responsibilities and equal distribution of parental
responsibilities for the care of children, including the promotion of use of parental leave
by fathers to ensure more active participation of women in the labor force and increase
the number of fathers taking parental leave.288
The ILO and UNICEF also report that the Government of Chile has made
“considerable efforts to expand childcare services as a means to create better quality jobs
and to promote gender equality and national development.” Since 2005, for example, the
number of free public nursery places for children aged 3 months to 2 years who are living
the poorest areas of Chile increased from 14,400 to 64,000 in 2008. Kindergarten places
As quoted in: UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child
development and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual
Ministerial Review of the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012.
284
United States Internal Revenue Service, ‘Ten Things to Know About the Child and Dependent
Care Credit,’ IRS Tax Tip 2011-46, 7 March 2011.
285
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012.
286
World Bank, ‘World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development,’ 2012.
287
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012. See also: ‘National
Policy for the Promotion of Gender Equality, 2006-2010,’ adopted by the Croatian Parliament at its session
held on 13 October 2006.
288
‘National Policy for the Promotion of Gender Equality, 2006-2010,’ adopted by the Croatian
Parliament at its session held on 13 October 2006.
283
63
for children aged 2–4 years, which numbered 84,000 in 2005, we estimated to expand to
about 127,000 by 2009.289
3.5
Housing
Summary of Global Trends
Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, and by the year 2030,
that percentage is estimated to increase to 81 per cent. Some have argued that the
trend of mass urbanization has had a devastating impact on the right to adequate
housing, as a result of urban renewal projects and investments which every year
forcibly evict hundreds of thousands of poor men, women, and children from their
homes in order to pave the way for the development of the next ‘world class city’ or
mega-event.
In 2012, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing (Raquel Rolnik)
released a report on the human rights implications of private housing finance systems,
noting a general trend away from publicly supported housing initiatives. In her
report, the Special Rapporteur highlights that “Evidence indicates that housing
policies based exclusively on facilitating access to credit for homeownership are
incompatible with the full realization of the right to adequate housing of those living
in poverty, failing to supply habitable, affordable and well-located housing solutions
accessible to the poor.” Of course, the US sub-prime mortgage crisis is widely
believed to have caused the financial crisis and subsequent global recession that began
in 2008. What is less well known is that women were disproportionately targeted for
risky loans via sub-prime lending, illustrating the gender bias in housing finance.
___
Sources:
Human Rights Advocates, ‘Mega-Events, Urban Development, and Human Rights: The Duty to Prevent and Protect
Against Evictions and Ensure the Right to Adequate Housing,’ 2012.
Report by the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living,
Raquel Rolnik, ‘The Right to Adequate Housing,’ UN Doc. A/67/286, 10 August 2012.
Carol Necole Brown, ‘Women and Subprime Lending: An Essay Advocating Self-Regulation of the Mortgage Lending
Industry,’ Indiana Law Review, Vol. 43, 2010, pp. 1217-1227.
For many women, the home is often the center of daily life – it is a place for carrying out
daily household chores, raising a family, and engaging in small income generating
activities. As with other economic and social rights, for women in particular the status of
their housing rights is intimately connected to their health, their security and their overall
well-being.
Some of the most important work done around women’s housing rights internationally
in the past was done under the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Adequate Housing between 2002 and 2006 (then Miloon Kothari). The 2006 report of
the Special Rapporteur on these issues, presented to the Human Rights Council, offered
the main findings stemming from a significant body of thematic research, country
missions, regional civil society consultations and information received from
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012.
289
64
Governments and other actors on the status and implementation of women’s right to
adequate housing.290
Those consultations highlighted how, in all parts of the world, the status of a woman’s
housing reflects her overall level of economic and personal security. For many women,
the home is the economic and social center of a woman’s life, and it is the space in which
much of a women’s day-to-day life is lived. Yet, despite the obvious importance of
housing to women, the gendered nature of social and economic relations within and
outside of the household means that women are often excluded from and discriminated
against in virtually every aspect of housing -- be it policy development, control over
household resources, rights of inheritance and ownership, community decision-making,
and even the design and construction of housing.
The most recent report of the mandate (2011) of the UN Special Rapporteur on the
Right to Adequate Housing (Raquel Rolnik) looking at the question of women and
housing rights, highlighted a host of issues which continue to impact the ability of
women to enjoy their right to adequate housing or which otherwise have a
disproportionate gender impact.291 The report found that:
In all regions, patriarchy and gender discrimination; poverty; and the impact of globalization,
neo-liberal economic policies and privatization surfaced as overarching issues of concern which set
the stage for violations of women’s right to adequate housing. More specifically, the impact of
natural and human-induced disasters, conflict and internal displacement, war and occupation,
lack of affordable and low-cost housing, forced evictions, homelessness, domestic violence, lack of
women’s participation in law and policy-making, lack of access to remedies, inadequate and
discriminatory laws, and the application of discriminatory customary law, all emerged as relevant
barriers to women’s right to adequate housing across regions.292
In relation to the practice of forced evictions, the United Nations Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has recognized that women deserve special
consideration and assistance in cases of evictions, noting that “Women … suffer
disproportionately from the practice of forced evictions.”293 In addition, in its resolution
2004/28 on forced evictions, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights noted
that that “every woman, man and child has the right to a secure place to live in peace and
dignity, which includes the right not to be evicted unlawfully, arbitrarily or on a
discriminatory basis from their home, land or community.”294 The Commission also
recalled that while certain groups were more vulnerable to forced eviction, “women in all
groups are disproportionately affected, given the extent of statutory and other forms of
discrimination which often apply in relation to the property rights of women, including
Report by the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination, Miloon Kothari, ‘Women and
Adequate Housing,’ UN Doc. E/CN.4/2006/118, 27 February 2006. See also: UN Docs.
E/CN.4/2006/41 (14 March 2006), E/CN.4/2005/43 (25 February 2005), and E/CN.4/2003/55 (26
March 2003).
291
Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Raquel Rolnik, UN
Doc. A/HRC/19/53, 26 December 2011.
292
Ibid.
293
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 7, Forced evictions, and
the right to adequate housing (Sixteenth session, 1997), U.N. Doc. E/1998/22, annex IV at 113 (1997).
294
Commission on Human Rights Resolution: 2004/28, ‘Prohibition of forced evictions,’ 52nd
meeting, 16 April 2004.
290
65
homeownership and rights of access to property of accommodation, and given the
particular vulnerability of women to acts of gender based violence and sexual abuse when
they are rendered homeless.”295
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteurs on Violence against Women and on the Right
to Adequate Housing have also addressed violence against women within the context of
forced eviction (which may or may not coincide with conflict situations). In 2000, the
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (Radhika Coomaraswamy) observed:
Violence occurring in relation to forced eviction starts before the eviction process. Psychological
stress on learning about the eviction can destabilise the family atmosphere and cause emotional
trauma. Sometimes, rape is used by the evictors to break resistance. During the eviction, verbal
abuse and beatings, rape and even killing are common. The destruction of the home and the
destruction of property are further traumatic experiences. The destruction of the home is often
equivalent to the destruction of life; everything that was accomplished so far is destroyed. Coping
with injuries, the death of family members, inadequate housing or even homelessness, poverty,
lack of community support when relocated away from the home town are all possible burdens
that have to be taken on by women after eviction.296
In 2009, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women (Yakin
Ertürk) reported that, “The impact of these forced evictions, often by militia or armed
forces, is profoundly devastating for women and is correlated with heightened rates of
physical, psychological and economic violence against women before during and after the
evictions. This is true both in terms of violence against women at the hands of state
authorities, non-state actors, community members, as well as violence against women by
their partners or relatives within the home.”297 Similar concerns have been voiced by the
former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing (Miloon
Kothari), whose global consultations revealed that within the context of forced evictions
women were often beaten by the authorities, arrested, beaten and abused, inhumanly
transported, and arbitrary detained.298
Women also face barriers related to housing because of intersectional discrimination.
Immigrant women in Europe, for example, are more likely to be homeless or to live in
sub-standard accommodations.299 In the United States, the Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) reports that African-American home buyers learned about
the existence of 17 per cent fewer homes and were shown on average 18 percent fewer
properties that prospective white home buyers with similar profiles and backgrounds.300
Ibid.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes
and consequences, Addendum: Economic and social policy and its impact on violence against women,’ UN
DocE/CN.4/2000/68/Add.5, 24 February 2000.
297
Yakin Ertürk, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and
consequences, Addendum: Political economy and violence against women,’ UN Doc.
A/HRC/11/6/Add.6, 23 June 2009.
298
Women’s Right to Adequate Housing and Land: Middle East/North Africa Proceedings of the
Alexandria Consultation, Miloon Kothari (UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing) with
collaboration and support from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
23–26 July 2004.
299
Bill Edgar, Joe Doherty and Henk Meert, Immigration and Homelessness in Europe, The Policy Press:
Bristol, United Kingdom, 2004.
300
United States, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Policy
Development and Research, ‘Housing Discrimination Against Racial And Ethnic Minorities 2012,’ 2013.
295
296
66
Women’s right to adequate housing with a focus on economic crisis
The Special Rapporteur (Raquel Rolnik) also highlighted the impact of the economic
crisis, and particularly cuts to public housing programs which were reported to have a
devastating impact for women in many countries across the world. For example, the
Special Rapporteur highlighted that in 2011, the United States cut US$2.8 billion from its
federal housing programs, impacting ethnic minority women, women single heads of
households, and women with disabilities, the hardest.301 In addition, the Special
Rapporteur addressed the impact of the foreclosure crisis on women, highlighting that
“[t]he consequences of foreclosure for women are similar to what has been documented
in terms of the impact of forced evictions, namely increased social isolation, increased
exposure to domestic violence, and deepened poverty.”302
In terms of domestic violence, there is a well known relationship between violence
against women and situations of homelessness and inadequate housing.303 Lack of
adequate housing severely limits a woman’s abilities to leave a violent situation, and
economic crisis can aggravate this dynamic by diminishing a woman’s economic
autonomy. In this area, the Special Rapporteur however has noted that new policies
have been adopted in recent years which increasingly protect women’s right to adequate
housing is within the context of domestic violence. For example:
[T]he Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe issued a recommendation on
the implementation of the right to housing in 2009, advocating the adoption and implementation
of national housing strategies by all Council of Europe member States. Section 4.3.6. of the
recommendation deals explicitly with women and women victims of violence, calling upon States
―to protect women victims of violence through specific legal and policy initiatives including the
provision of specialized emergency shelters and other alternative housing. Section 5 also urges
States to adopt national housing strategies that ―apply a gender perspective, identify
disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and include positive measures for ensuring their effective
enjoyment of the right to housing, and also to ―adopt anti-violence provisions in housing
legislation and policies and ensure that domestic violence laws include provisions to protect
women’s right to housing, including the right to privacy and security.304
In addition, at national levels, countries like Serbia, Brazil and Argentina have also
recognized in their domestic legislation the right of women to reside in their marital
home, regardless of ownership, and to have the perpetrator removed from the home.305
Brazil in 2009 also institutes the Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) public
housing program. Minha Casa Minha Vida guarantees accessible housing to low income
Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Raquel Rolnik, UN
Doc. A/HRC/19/53, 26 December 2011.
302
Ibid.
303
The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), ‘A Place in the World: The Right to
Adequate Housing as an Essential Element of a Life Free from Domestic Violence,’ COHRE: Geneva,
July 2010.
304
Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Raquel Rolnik, UN
Doc. A/HRC/19/53, 26 December 2011.
305
Ibid.
301
67
families, gives women the titles to properties, except when the man holds child
custody.306
In her report, the Special Rapporteur also took the opportunity to provide guidance on a
gender perspective on the specific elements of the right to adequate housing.307 Her
approach is one which should be replicated vis-à-vis other economic and social rights.
For example, the Special Rapporteur highlighted that housing law, policy and
programming should explicitly recognize the independent right of women to security of
tenure, irrespective of their family or relationship status. She also highlighted that
definitions of affordable housing should take into account any gender disparity in income
and access to financial resources, and prioritize the allocation of social or public housing
to those who cannot afford the cost of housing.308
3.6
Food and nutrition
Summary of Global Trends
While global per capita food production has risen to unprecedented levels, hunger
remains a pervasive reality, with an estimated 842 million people in the world today
who do not have enough to eat. The World Food Programme has highlighted that in
many parts of the world, women are more likely to go hungry than men. In some
countries, tradition dictates that women eat last (after all the male family members and
children have been fed) and in times of crisis women are generally the first to sacrifice
their food consumption.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) highlights that overall
“progress in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world has been tragically
slow,” and projections indicate that by 2050, a 70 per cent increase in current food
production will be necessary to meet the expanding demand for food. The combined
effected of climate change, desertification, rising energy prices and the practice of
large scale land acquisition (or land-grabbing) also place increased stress on global
food security.
___
Sources:
World Food Programme (WFP), ‘Focus on Women’ available online at: http://www.wfp.org/focus-on-women [last
accessed 12 December 2013].
World Food Programme (WFP), ‘10 Facts About Women And Hunger’ available online at:
http://www.wfp.org/stories/10-facts-about-women-and-hunger [last accessed 12 December 2013].
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), ‘2012 Global Hunger Index,’ 2012.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has stated that,
globally, people’s overall access to food is very dependent on the work of rural women.309
Statement by H.E. Eleonora Menicucci de Oliveira, Minister of State of Brazil of Public Policies
for Women, Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women, New York, 9 July 2012. See also: OHCHR, ‘Preliminary Assessment of Responses
Received from the Economic and Social Life (ESL) Questionnaire,’ 21 June 2013 (on file with author).
307
Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Raquel Rolnik, UN
Doc. A/HRC/19/53, 26 December 2011. See in particular Section III.
308
Ibid.
309
FAO Women and Population Division, Sustainable Development Department, ‘Rural women
and the right to food,’ available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w9990e/w9990e10.htm [last accessed 13
September 2013].
306
68
While the next Sub-Section (please see Sub-Section 3.7 below on land and property)
addresses in more detail women’s role in agriculture, here is can be said that even though
rural women are critical to global food security, the irony is that they themselves are
amongst the most likely to be undernourished and to be pushed into hunger when food
prices escalate. This has obvious health ramifications for women, especially pregnant
women and lactating mother who have additional nutritional needs. In this regard,
researchers have highlighted that “Women are doubly vulnerable to malnutrition,
because of their high nutritional requirements for pregnancy and lactation and also
because of gender inequalities in poverty.”310
This reality, coupled with gender discriminatory practices in the allocation of food within
the household place women and girls at increased risk of a series of health complications.
For example, studies from India show that women, as caretakers of the family, are
expected to eat only the remaining or leftover food, which can result in malnutrition. 311
Similar patterns, where women are simply not prioritized within the household to receive
the food they need to safeguard their health and well-being, have also been observed in
countries as diverse as Vietnam and Guatemala; resulting in stunted growth,
micronutrient deficiencies, chronic energy deficiency, low-birth weight babies, and
maternal mortality.312 While food scarcity exacerbates these problems, evidence also
shows that men reap “proportionally more nutritional benefit from economic
development than women.”313
The 2012 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food (Olivier De Schutter)
addresses women’s rights and the right to food.314 In his report, the Special Rapporteur
highlights that access to food can be secured by obtaining incomes from employment or
self-employment; by social transfers; or by own production, for individuals who have
access to land and other productive inputs, and that in each of these areas women face
persistent gender discrimination.315 The Special Rapporteur has also recommended
making women direct beneficiaries of the cash transfer systems (rather than the men as
heads of households) to improve household food security.316
Hélène F. Delisle (Department of Nutrition and WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutritional
Changes and Development, Universite de Montreal, Canada), ‘Poverty: The Double Burden of
Malnutrition in Mothers and the Intergenerational Impact,’ Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,
Volume 1136 on, Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Health and Human Development: Scientific
Approaches, June 2008, pp. 172–184.
311
UNAIDS, ‘Impact of the global economic crisis on women, girls and gender equality,’ UNAIDS
Discussion Paper, August 2012.
312
Hélène F. Delisle (Department of Nutrition and WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutritional
Changes and Development, Universite de Montreal, Canada), ‘Poverty: The Double Burden of
Malnutrition in Mothers and the Intergenerational Impact,’ Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,
Volume 1136 on, Reducing the Impact of Poverty on Health and Human Development: Scientific
Approaches, June 2008, pp. 172–184.
313
Ibid.
314
Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, ‘Women’s
rights and the right to food,’ UN Doc. A/HRC/22/50, 24 December 2012. See also, Center for Women’s
Global Leadership, ‘The Right to Food, Gender Equality and Economic Policy,’ Meeting Report, 16-17
September 2011.
315
Ibid.
316
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter (Addendum: Mission
to China), UN Doc. A/HRC/19/59/Add.1, 20 January 2012.
310
69
Women’s rights to food and nutrition with a focus on economic crisis
The global food crisis, spurred on by contracting economies, rising oil prices and climate
change has caused food prices to escalate in many parts of the world. The World Bank
reports that food prices remain volatile, and that local food prices in many countries have
not come down, despite the fact that international food prices have fallen. 317 In South
Africa, food prices increased by 7.1 per cent between 2010 and 2011, and some of the
highest increases in food prices over the past 3 to 4 years have occurred in the Russian
Federation, with increases between 7 per cent and 11 per cent every year since 2008.318
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific has also
reported:
While food prices have come down from the historical peaks observed in early-2008, the prices of
many staples remain higher than the pre-food-price-crisis levels. This means that the poor face a
“twin” crisis—high cost of food on which they spend around 60-80 per cent of their incomes;
and the threat to their livelihoods from the still unfolding global financial crisis. Women, who
have the responsibility to put food on the table, bear the brunt of the burden.319
Indeed, the World Food Programme (WFP) has highlighted that high food prices
associated with the food crisis have forced many poor families to reduce their food
intake.320 At the same time, women’s workload – both paid and unpaid – has been
increased in order to either produce more food or earn more income to purchase food.321
The WFP reports that “[a]nd as usual, a woman will always be the last to eat …”322
UNAIDS has similarly noted a qualitative study from six countries (Bangladesh,
Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Yemen, Zambia) which showed that women’s nutritional
needs, even when pregnant, are not prioritized during times of crisis.”323
To help ensure food security for women, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food has
recommended that States make the investments to relieve women of the burden of the
care; accommodate the specific time and mobility constraints on women as a result of
their role in the care work, while at the same time transforming gender roles; mainstream
gender across all laws, policies and programs; and adopt multisector and multi-year
strategies that move towards full equality for women, under the supervision of an
independent body to monitor progress, relying on gender-disaggregated data in all areas
relating to the achievement of food security.324
World
Bank,
‘Food
Crisis:
Overview,’
available
at:
http://www.worldbank.org/foodcrisis/bankinitiatives.htm [last accessed 13 September 2013].
318
UNAIDS, ‘Impact of the global economic crisis on women, girls and gender equality,’ Discussion
paper, August 2012.
319
Statement by Shamika Sirimanne (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific), ‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel,
Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009.
320
Statement by Isatou Jallow (head of the WFP gender unit), ‘Women Shoulder Heaviest Burden in
Global Food Crisis,’ International Women’s Day Statement, 5 March 2009.
321
Ibid.
322
Ibid.
323
UNAIDS, ‘Impact of the global economic crisis on women, girls and gender equality,’ Discussion
paper, August 2012.
324
Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, ‘Women’s
rights and the right to food,’ UN Doc. A/HRC/22/50, 24 December 2012. See also, Center for Women’s
Global Leadership, ‘The Right to Food, Gender Equality and Economic Policy,’ Meeting Report, 16-17
September 2011.
317
70
3.7
Land and property
Summary of Global Trends
The World Bank has highlighted that many countries have changed their land and
property laws to guarantee women’s equal property and inheritance rights. Most Latin
American nations, for example, have removed discriminatory clauses in codes
applying to family and inheritance. Similar movements to reform legislation have
occurred in Africa and Asia. However, not all progress has been uniform and even
when legal equality exists there is too often an implementation gap in the area of land
and property rights when it comes to women.
In recent years, secure rights to land have been made even more critical for women
because globally land resources are increasingly contested. Land-grabbing, or the
practice of large scale land acquisition, has at times resulted in farmers being kicked
off of their land, making it in particular more difficult for women whose rights to land
are often already insecure. In addition, in some countries, land degradation as a result
of desertification and climate change has drastically changed the availability of fertile
land for farming, a trend which is only predicted to worsen in the future. Biofuel
production has also led to greater competition for fertile land and in particular places
increased pressures on marginal lands, often the very same lands which are allocated
to women for farming. Because of these combined land pressures researchers have
foretold that women’s land rights are likely to become increasingly important over
time.
___
Sources:
The World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), The Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook, Module 4, October 2008, pp. 125171.
Bina Agarwal, ‘Gender and Land Rights Revisited: Exploring New Prospects via the State, Family and Market,’
Journal of Agrarian Change, Vol. 3, Issue 1-2, January 2003, pp. 184–224. See also: UN-Women/OHCHR,
‘Realizing women’s rights to land and other productive resources,’ 2013.
Women’s access to and control over land and property is essential to women’s equality
and well-being. These resources help to ensure that women are able to provide for the
essential needs of themselves and their families, and help women to weather economic
shocks.325 The Swedish International Development Agency has noted that “In many
parts of the world, women’s poorer command over productive resources, including land,
technology, and credit, translates into lower earnings, fewer options, and greater
vulnerability compared to men. This is especially true during economic crises and
recessions.”326 According to the OECD’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI),
on average, women hold only 15 per cent of land titles for countries where data is
Mayra Gómez, ‘Good Practices in Realizing Women’s Rights to Productive Resources, with a
Focus on Land,’ Background Paper prepared for the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on ‘Good
Practices in Realizing Women’s Rights to Productive Resources, with a Focus on Land,’ convened by UN–
Women and UN-OHCHR, Geneva, Switzerland, 25 to 27 June 2012.
326
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), ‘The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis
on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication series: Women’s Economic Empowerment, Sida:
2 December 2010.
325
71
available, and that 86 out of 121 countries scored in the 2012 SIGI have discriminatory
inheritance laws or practices.327
Land is of course also closely connected to food security and the right to food (please see
Sub-Section 3.6 above). Women play a critical role in agriculture, and represent most of
the world’s small farmers of irrigated crops. At least half of the world’s food is grown by
women farmers, and in African countries that figure rises to 80 per cent.328 Yet, while
African women increasingly assume a vital role in agriculture – and are the backbone of
food security on the Continent – they remain among the most disadvantaged. African
women, like women in other parts of the world, very often lack formal rights to the land
which they farm, making their access to land tenuous at best.
Globally, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that if
women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields
on their farms by 20–30 per cent.329 These gains in agricultural production could lift
some 100–150 million people out of hunger.330 FAO also added:
[T]he potential production gains calculated by this method are based on the existing distribution
of land. This implies that countries where women control proportionately more land could
achieve the greatest potential gains. It may be the case, however, that the overall gender gap in
access to agricultural resources is, in fact, wider where women control less land. The actual gains
from closing the gender gap in access to resources would be greater in countries where the gender
gap is wider. Increasing women’s access to land as well as complementary inputs in that case
would generate broader socio-economic benefits than those captured in this analysis.331
A recent study from the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on
discrimination in the context of the right to food found that women’s access to control
and ownership of land or property is crucial to the strengthening of their security and
livelihoods:332
It is important to understand the multiple factors – laws, inheritance, marital status and
agrarian reform policies – that impede women’s equal access to land and the way these affect
women by virtue of their gender at the individual, community and national levels. FAO [The
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization] estimates that de facto female-headed
households account for around 25 per cent of all rural households, reflecting the multiplicity of
women, from single parents, widows and wives of migrant workers to women migrant workers.
Despite representing the majority of the agricultural workforce and production, women are
estimated to have access to or control 5 per cent of land globally. … The right to control, have
OECD, ‘Poverty reduction and social development: Discrimination against women persists
around
the
globe
hampering
development,’
available
online
at:
http://www.oecd.org/social/poverty/discriminationagainstwomenpersistsaroundtheglobehamperingdevel
opment.htm [last accessed 1 December 2013]. See also: OECD, ‘2012 SIGI: Social Institutions and
Gender Index: Understanding the drivers of gender inequality,’ 2012.
328
Women in Development Service (SDWW), FAO Women and Population Division, ‘Women and
sustainable food security,’ available online at: http://www.fao.org/sd/fsdirect/fbdirect/fsp001.htm [last
accessed 15 December 2013].
329
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The State of Food and Agriculture: 20102011, 2011.
330
Ibid.
331
Ibid.
332
Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on discrimination in the context of the
right to food, UN Doc. A/HRC/16/40, 16 February 2011.
327
72
access to and manage land is tied to a woman’s right to exercise financial independence, earn a
livelihood and subsequently provide a livelihood for herself and her household. Agrarian reform
policies that are “gender-blind” continue to exclude women from entitlements to land. States
undergoing agrarian reform or land redistribution schemes must uphold the equal right of women
to land, regardless of marital status.333
UN-Women and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also
recently released a Handbook on Effective Strategies to Realize Women’s Rights to Land and Other
Productive Resources.334 The Handbook provides a summary of the international human
rights standards which have been articulated protecting these rights, as well as multiple
examples of good practices adopted by States in this area.335 Good practice examples
centered around overarching issues and strategies; security of tenure and prohibition of
forced eviction; legal systems and access to justice; marriage and family; land law, policy
and programming; institutional implementation; awareness raising and training; and
particular groups of women, including Indigenous women, women affected by HIV and
displaced women.336
Despite the good laws, policies and practices which have been adopted by States, the
greatest challenges in implementation, particularly in terms of ensuring gender equality,
often arise at the local level in the context of regulation of land use, management and
administration. While States are sometimes reluctant to address the gender-bias inherent
in many customary systems of land allocation, women’s human rights advocates highlight
that gender equality in access to and control over land, has to be argued from the point
of view of women’s interests and not that of citizens or the family. 337
Lessons from various land reform processes demonstrate that women are often excluded
as beneficiaries of agrarian land reform. For various reasons often related to genderbased assumptions about land ownership and access (or rather, failure to account for
gender-based realities of land ownership and access), land reform legislation thus fails to
address issues of equal access and representation for women. Notwithstanding the
increasing number and proportion of female-headed households, land reform often
targets generic ‘heads of households’ that are assumed to be men. The continuous
disregard for joint ownership, as well as single female heads of households, contributes
to the under-representation of women as beneficiaries of agrarian land reform. To
reverse this trend, programs targeting women should include direct proactive inclusion
measures such as mandatory joint titling. Moreover, proactive measures must consider
gender equality as a specific and central objective of land reform.
Women’s rights to land and property with a focus on economic crisis
One of the results of the economic crisis and of rising food and fuel prices has been an
increase in large scale land acquisitions or ‘land grabs.’ Land grabs themselves tend to be
quite controversial, and have been defined as the purchase or lease of vast tracts of land
Ibid.
UN-Women and UN-OHCHR, Handbook on Effective Strategies to Realize Women’s Rights to Land and
Other Productive Resources, New York and Geneva, 2013.
335
Ibid.
336
Ibid.
337
Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay, ‘Introduction: Women and Property, Women as Property,’ Gender
Perspectives on Property and Inheritance, A Global Source Book, Oxfam GB, 2002.
333
334
73
by wealthier, food-insecure nations and private investors from mostly poor, developing
countries in order to produce crops for export.338
Today’s food and financial crises have, in tandem, triggered a new global land grab. On the one
hand, ‘food insecure’ governments that rely on imports to feed their people are snatching up vast
areas of farmland abroad for their own offshore food production. On the other hand, food
corporations and private investors, hungry for profits in the midst of the deepening financial
crisis, see investment in foreign farmland as an important new source of revenue. As a result,
fertile agricultural land is becoming increasingly privatised and concentrated. If left unchecked,
this global land grab could spell the end of small-scale farming, and rural livelihoods, in
numerous places around the world.339
Oxfam reports that, to date, at least 33 million hectares of land deals have been identified
since 2001 – an area 8 times the size of the Netherlands.340
Because women are the majority of the world’s small farmers, this situation has special
implications for them. And, because women already have tenuous rights over land, due
to gender discrimination in land allocation and rights, land grabbing can make their
situation more even precarious by further depriving them of access to land, either entirely
or by pushing them to more and more marginal land for farming.
It should also be said that much of the land purchased in this manner is not intended for
food production at all, but rather for biofuel production. While biofuels have been hailed
as ‘green’ energy alternatives to fossil fuels, FAO warns that there is no guaranteed
outcome. Rather, “[t]he impact depends on how biofuels are produced – both in terms
of how crops are grown and of how conversion takes place – as well as on how they are
brought to the market. The global impact is more likely to be negative if large tracts of
additional land are brought under agricultural cultivation.”341 When no food is grown on
land used to produce biofuel crops, food security for local populations can deteriorate
and displacement of communities due to forced eviction can have further detrimental
impacts on food production and access to land, particularly for women.
FAO has specifically highlighted that risks associated with the development of biofuels
include worsening income distribution and a deterioration of women’s status:
“[e]xpansion of biofuel production will, in many cases, lead to greater competition for
land. For smallholder farmers, women farmers and/or pastoralists, who may have weak
land-tenure rights, this could lead to displacement. The emphasis on exploiting marginal
lands for biofuel crop production may also work against female farmers.”342
Shepard Daniel with Anuradha Mittal, ‘The Great Land Grab: Rush for World’s Farmland
Threatens Food Security for the Poor,’ The Oakland Institute, 2009.
339
The Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT), ‘Land Grabbing,’
available at: http://www.ejolt.org/2012/12/land-grabbing/ [last accessed 13 September 2013]. The
Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade is an FP7 project supported by the European
Commission that will run from 2011-2015. See also: GRAIN, ‘Seized: The 2008 landgrab for food and
financial security,’ 24 October 2008.
340
Oxfam, ‘Land grabs,’ available at: http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/issues/land-grabs [last
accessed 13 September 2013].
341
FAO, ‘The State of Food and Agriculture, 2008: Biofuels: Prospects, Risks and Opportunities,’
Rome, 2008.
342
Ibid.
338
74
This, of course, also has negative implications in terms of food security, as agricultural
land gets converted from growing food crops to growing biofuel crops. On this last
point, FAO also reports that:
The conversion of these [marginal] lands to plantations for biofuels production might therefore
cause the partial or total displacement of women’s agricultural activities towards increasingly
marginal lands, with negative repercussions for women’s ability to meet household obligations,
including traditional food provision and food security. Furthermore, if land traditionally used by
women switches to energy crop plantations, the roles men and women play in decision-making
concerning household agricultural activities may be altered. In particular, women’s ability to
participate in land-use decision-making may be reduced as the amount of land they control will
decline.343
The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, (Olivier De Schutter), in his proposed Core
Human Rights Principles Applicable to Large-Scale Land Acquisitions or Leases
advocates for the inclusion of sex-disaggregated data in undertaking impact
assessments.344 Other positive steps include the African Union Declaration on Land
Issues and Challenges in Africa, in which African States have resolved to “strengthen
security of land tenure for women which require special attention.” 345 In addition, the
Nairobi Action Plan on Large Scale Land-Based Investments in Africa also highlights the
need to “maximize opportunities for Africa’s farmers, with special attention to
smallholders [n.b. the majority of whom are women] and minimize the potential negative
impacts of large-scale land acquisitions, such as land dispossession and environmental
degradation, in order to achieve an equitable and sustainable agricultural and economic
transformation that will ensure food security and development.” 346
Andrea Rossi & Yianna Lambrou, ‘Gender and Equity Issues in Liquid Biofuels Production:
Minimizing the Risks to Maximize the Opportunities,’ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), Rome 2008.
344
Olivier De Schutter, ‘Large-scale land acquisitions and leases: A set of core principles and
measures to address the human rights challenge,’ 11 June 2009.
345
African Union Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa,
Doc No.
Assembly/AU/Decl.1(XIII) Rev.1, 2009.
346
Nairobi Action Plan on Large Scale Land-Based Investments in Africa, as adopted by participants
of the High Level Forum on Foreign Direct Investments in Land in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, 4-5 October
2011.
343
75
3.8
Water and sanitation
Summary of Global Trends
The United Nations highlights that 1.2 billion people, almost one-fifth of the world’s
population, live in areas of physical water scarcity with another 500 million people
approaching this situation. 1.6 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world’s
population, face economic water shortage. Demand for freshwater is only expected
to increase under the combined pressures of climate change, population growth. The
UN predicts that demand to grow at about 64 billion cubic meters a year, with
competition for water forecasted to increase in almost all countries.
According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): “[l]ack of
access to water is … a serious constraint that has grown dramatically in recent years
due to the privatization of water services, poor service delivery and increasing
population.” The effects of increased population, rural to urban migration, climate
change, privatization, environmental degradation, desertification, as well as industrial
and agricultural pressures, today combine and result in a situation wherein
approximately one in three people experiences some kind of water scarcity, either for
physical or economic reasons. Among them, women are some of the most direly
affected, due to entrenched patterns of gender discrimination and unequal access to
resources. At the household level, water is necessary not only for drinking, but also
for food production and preparation, care of domestic animals, personal hygiene, care
of the sick, cleaning, washing and waste disposal. According to UN-Water, in most
societies women have primary responsibility for management of household water
supply, sanitation and health.
___
Sources:
UN-Water, ‘Statistics and graphs: Water Use,’ available online at: http://www.unwater.org/statistics_use.html [last
accessed 12 December 2013].
United Nations, ‘Water Scarcity,’ available online at: http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml [last
accessed 12 December 2013].
IFAD, ‘Desertification and Gender: Expanding Roles for Women to Restore Dryland Areas,’ 2010.
UN-Water, ‘Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief,’ June 2006.
The water literature on gender reflects women’s unique relationship with water, as well as
with sanitation and hygiene. Globally, gendered division of labor in water collection
shows that women and girls together represent 75 per cent of household water
collectors, and that in some countries the proportion reaches up to 90 per cent.347
According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply
and Sanitation this “creates significant burden, especially when the time taken to collect
water is considerable.”348 According to a combined analysis of 25 countries in SubSaharan Africa, women spend at least 16 million hours per day collecting water compared
to 6 million hours spent by men.349
WHO/UNICEF, ‘Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, Drinking
Water: Equity, Safety and Sustainability,’ 2012.
348
Ibid.
349
United Nations, ‘The Millennium Development Goals Report,’ United Nations, New York, 2012.
According to UN-Women, in Pakistan, putting water sources closer to the home was associated with
increased time allocated to productive market work, and in Tanzania, girls’ school attendance was reported
to be 25 per cent higher for girls from homes located 15 minutes or less from a water source than girls
347
76
This is a significant burden in terms of time, as well as in terms of labor. Often, women
and girls must travel great distances and carry heavy loads. In fact, evidence suggests that
women and girls will carry water equaling up to 20 kilograms (or slightly over 44 pounds,
which is the weight of 20 liters of water).350 Repetitively, this kind of chronic exertion
can lead to back and joint problems, as well as acute injury such as sprains and fractures
from falls. In some countries, spending three, four or five hours each day, every day,
collecting water is not unusual.351 In Africa, UN-Water reports that forty billion working
hours, or 25 per cent of household time, are spent each year carrying water.352 And for
these working hours, it is overwhelmingly women who are performing the work, almost
all of it is unpaid, a dimension which is not often investigated or discussed. The need for
women’s unpaid labor – including vis-à-vis the time and effort it takes to meet daily
water and sanitation needs – also often increases with shocks, such as those associated
with climate change, the AIDS pandemic or economic restructuring.353
Water is life, and the reality is that the collection of water must take priority over other
activities. As such, this responsibility in practice prevents women and girls from engaging
in other meaningful activities, including going to school, running a business, taking care
of other personal responsibilities, or having time left over for rest and recreation.354
Over time, this detrimentally affects women’s health and wellbeing, their ability to access
education and their ability to earn a livelihood.355 Moreover, because of their domestic
roles and responsibilities women are also the ones in greatest physical contact with
contaminated water and human waste.356 This fact alone exposes them to a host of
biological pathogens and chemical hazards which negatively affect health, including when
disposing of their own family’s waste.357
In many communities women must also walk a long distance to use toilet facilities, often
risking their personal safety. There is an increased incidence of sexual and physical assault
for women when toilets are in a remote location. In rural areas where toilets may be
unavailable, deforestation and loss of vegetation have forced women and girls to rise
earlier in the mornings and to walk further in search of privacy.358 In addition to those
personal security issues, according to the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA), the International Water and Sanitation
Centre (IRC), Cap-Net and the Global Water Partnership (GWP), women are also
from homes one hour or more away. See: Remarks by Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN
Women, ‘Gender perspectives on water and food security,’ delivered at the Closing Plenary Session of the
2012 World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, 31 August 2012.
350
United Nations Department of Public Information, ‘Fact Sheet: The Future We Want – Water
and Sanitation,’ June 2012.
351
UN Interagency Task Force on Gender and Water, ‘A Gender Perspective on Water Resources
and Sanitation,’ Background Paper submitted to the Commission on Sustainable Development,
Background Paper No. 2, UN Doc. DESA/DSD/2005/2, (2005).
352
UN-Water, ‘Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief,’ June 2006.
353
UNFPA, ‘Gender Equality: Women’s Work and Economic Empowerment,’ available online at:
http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment1.htm [last accessed 13 November 2013].
354
IFAD, ‘Desertification and Gender: Expanding Roles for Women to Restore Dryland Areas,’
2010.
355
Women’s Environment & Development Organization, ‘Untapped Connections: Gender, Water
and Poverty: Key Issues, Government Commitments and Actions for Sustainable Development,’ 2003.
356
UN-Water, ‘Gender, Water and Sanitation: A Policy Brief,’ June 2006.
357
Ibid.
358
Women’s Environment & Development Organization, ‘Untapped Connections: Gender, Water
and Poverty: Key Issues, Government Commitments and Actions for Sustainable Development,’ 2003.
77
acutely affected by the absence of sanitary latrines for the following reasons: 1) When
women have to wait until dark to defecate and urinate in the open they tend to drink less
during the day, resulting in all kinds of health problems such as urinary tract infections
(UTIs); 2) Hygienic conditions are often poor at public defecation areas, leading to
worms and other water-borne diseases, which women often have to deal with because of
their care-giving roles; and 3) Girls, particularly after puberty and after the onset of
menses, miss school due to lack of proper sanitary facilities.359
The UN Special Rapporteur on Water and Sanitation (Catarina de Albuquerque) has
similarly raised concern within the context of her field missions about that fact that
women and girls are overwhelmingly tasked with collecting water and must spend an
inordinate amount of time searching for water.360 She has also raised concern over the
fact that, while collecting water, women and girls are physically and sexually threatened,
abused and assaulted.
Women’s rights to water and sanitation with a focus on economic crisis
In many countries, privatization of social services has been a common response to
economic crisis. The Government of Greece, for example, has moved to privatize Stateowned services, including water and energy. 361 While privatization in and of itself does
not necessarily violate women’s economic and social rights, it can at times amount to a
retrogressive measure if it is done without the proper processes and safeguards in place.
Privatization hits women both in terms of lost jobs in the public sector, and diminished
access to quality services. From the standpoint of women’s jobs, advocates have warned
that: “It is becoming clearer that if public sector jobs are replaced at all, it is by
outsourcing of public services to the private sector, with poor pay and terms and
conditions.”362
UNDP, GWA, IRC, Cap-Net and GWP, ‘Resource Guide: Mainstreaming Gender in Water
Management,’ Version 2.1 November 2006. In addition:
[e]asier access to fresh water would improve living conditions for girls who generally drop out of school and start
working in the fields and fetching water at a very young age. Lack of access to water is an obstacle to their right to
have access to formal education.
See: Erin Kelly, ‘Water and Women’s Empowerment: More Closely Tied Than You May Think,’ Women
Thrive Worldwide, 4 September 2012. Reports indicate that about 1 in 10 school-age African girls will not
attend school during menstruation or drop out at puberty because of the absence of clean and private
sanitation facilities in schools.
360
Catarina de Albuquerque, ‘Report of the independent expert on the issue of human rights
obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation: Addendum - Mission to Egypt,’ UN
Doc. A/HRC/15/31/Add.3, 5 July 2010. See also: Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on
the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, ‘Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the
post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene,’ UN Doc. A/67/270, 8 August 2012.
361
In the case of Greece, the United Nations Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and
other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights,
particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Mr. Cephas Lumina highlighted after a recent mission to
Greece that some of the rights guaranteed under international human rights law, and “particularly socioeconomic rights,” are “under threat or being undermined by the harsh pro-cyclical policies (austerity,
labour reforms, liberalization and privatization) that the Government has been constrained to implement
since May 2010 in return for a bailout ….” See: End of mission statement by United Nations Independent
Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the
full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Mr. Cephas Lumina, on
his mission to Greece, 22-26 April 2013, issued in Athens, 26 April 2013.
362
Jane Lethbridge, ‘Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Austerity Measures on Women,’
Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), May 2012.
359
78
Additionally, the impact of water privatization illustrates well how women carry a
disproportionate burden when social services that were once public become private. The
Interagency Task Force on Gender and Water highlights that “[a] majority of the world’s
poor, women are significantly affected when water services are privatized. When the
price of water increases, the burden on women as caregivers and household and
economic providers also increases.”363
UNDP, GWA, IRC, Cap-Net and GWP highlight further that for women, privatization
means an increase in water user rates and thus affects poor people negatively, particularly
poor women and female-headed households and, furthermore, that privatization of water
and sanitation fails to take into account community water management experiences and a
gender perspective. 364 Others similarly report:
Poor women, as managers of household and community water and related responsibilities, have
been first to signal problems with water privatization, including: astronomical price hikes, in
some cases consuming a large portion of monthly income; water cut-offs due to unpaid bills; lack
of accountability mechanisms for users; deterioration of water quality; and hygiene issues. In
some instances, poor and working women have been forced to decide between paying for water
and feeding their children.365
In order to protect against these kinds of situations, clear rules and regulations are
needed to ensure that privatization does not negatively affect poor households, and in
particular women and female-headed households.366
UN Interagency Task Force on Gender and Water, ‘A Gender Perspective on Water Resources
and Sanitation,’ Background Paper submitted to the Commission on Sustainable Development,
Background Paper No. 2, UN Doc. DESA/DSD/2005/2, (2005).
364
UNDP, GWA, IRC, Cap-Net and GWP, ‘Resource Guide: Mainstreaming Gender in Water
Management,’ Version 2.1 November 2006.
365
Women’s Environment & Development Organization, ‘Untapped Connections: Gender, Water
and Poverty: Key Issues, Government Commitments and Actions for Sustainable Development,’ 2003.
366
UNDP, GWA, IRC, Cap-Net and GWP, ‘Resource Guide: Mainstreaming Gender in Water
Management,’ Version 2.1 November 2006. See also: Catarina de Albuquerque and Virginia Roaf, ‘On the
Rights Track: Good practices in realising the rights to water and sanitation,’ 2012.
363
79
3.9
Social security and social protection
“Gender-based inequalities in the labour market and the unequal share of unpaid
family responsibilities born by women as well as a subsequent bias in the way
social protection systems are structured (mainly through social insurance for the
formal economy in many countries) have resulted in unequal access, coverage
and provision of social security for women. In return, gender inequalities and the
lack of consideration given to women’s specific social protection needs often put
women at greater risk throughout the life course. This situation calls for a gender
responsive policy approach.”
- Lou Tessier, Maya Stern Plaza, Christina Behrendt, Florence Bonnet and
Emmanuelle St-Pierre Guilbault, ‘Social Protection Floors and Gender Equality:
A Brief Overview,’ 2013
Summary of Global Trends
Using the ILO’s definition of social security as income security plus availability of
medical care, it is estimated that only about 20 per cent of the world’s working-age
population (and their families) have effective access to comprehensive social
protection. Although a larger percentage of the world’s population has access to
health-care services, nearly one-third has no access to any health facilities or services
at all. Even in developing countries with high economic growth the ILO reports that
“increasing numbers of workers – most often women – have less than secure
employment, such as casual labour, home work and self-employment, lacking social
security coverage.” The ILO highlights that poverty in old age and the worldwide
pattern of pension coverage have strong gender dimensions, and that “a significant
gender gap shows up everywhere.”
___
Source:
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘World Social Security Report 2010/11: Providing coverage in times of
crisis and beyond,’ 2010.
Old age brings special challenges to women in terms of their economic and social
security and rights. The cumulative disadvantage that women face throughout the life
cycle – in education, work and pay, marriage and the family, ability to access resources
and assets – result in higher levels of female poverty and economic insecurity during old
age.367 In the United States, for example, research shows that poverty falls fairly
consistently throughout the life cycle for men.368 However, the same is not true for
women. While older men have poverty rates below 7 per cent, the only time that the
poverty rate for women falls below 10 per cent is during middle age (ages 45-59).369
According to researchers “[t]hese are likely the years when they are most likely to live
See: Frances Raday (Chair of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in
law and in practice), ‘Gender Pension Gap: Background Paper for Report to the Human Rights Council,’
2013 (on file with author).
368
Heidi Hartmann (President, Institute for Women’s Policy Research), ‘Gender Implications of the
Financial Crisis in the United States,’ presented at an event on the gender implications of the global
financial crisis, co-sponsored by the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America, the Center of Concern, and
the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), 22 April 2009.
369
Ibid.
367
80
with men and among those when they are unlikely to have sole responsibility for the care
of dependent children.”370
General Recommendation No. 27 of the CEDAW Committee on older women and
protection of their human rights recognizes that the “impact of gender inequality
throughout their lifespan is exacerbated in old age.”371 General Recommendation No. 27
also underscores that States have a legal obligation under the CEDAW Convention to
eliminate discrimination in all its forms against older women in economic and social
life.372
One problem that older women face is the gender gap in pensions, which is defined as
the percentage by which women’s average pension is lower than that of men.373 In the
European Union, the gender gap in pensions is 39 per cent.374 For further information on
women and pension, please see the background paper prepared by Frances Raday, which addresses these
issues in additional detail.
However, not all women receive pensions and the World Bank reports that, globally,
public spending on pensions tends to be regressive and tends to concentrate on a very
small proportion of workers.375 Moving beyond pension schemes, an estimated 75 to 80
per cent of the world’s population lacks access to social security.376 For those that do
have access to social security, women in particular are far less likely to benefit from
contributory social security schemes.377 This is because women have generally lower
rates of labor force participation as compared to men, and their labor force participation
is often interrupted as a result of pregnancy and child care. Women also tend to be
concentrated in jobs which are more often insecure, informal, and which on the whole
pay less, and “[a]cross all regions, women are strongly represented in non-waged
employment” (e.g. contributing family workers).378 As the ILO has noted:
Ibid.
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 27,
Older women and protection of their human rights (Forty-seventh session, 2010), U.N. Doc.
CEDAW/C/GC/27 (2010).
372
Ibid.
373
European Commission – Directorate-General for Justice, ‘The Gender Gap in Pensions in the
EU,’ European Union, 2013. See also: Frances Raday (Chair of the Working Group on the issue of
discrimination against women in law and in practice), ‘Gender Pension Gap: Background Paper for Report
to the Human Rights Council,’ 2013 (on file with author).
374
Ibid.
375
World
Bank,
‘Pensions:
Overview,’
available
at:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALPROTECTION/EXTPENS
IONS/0,,contentMDK:20216715~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:396253,00.html
[last
accessed 13 September 2013].
376
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012.
377
UNICEF/ILO, ‘Supporting workers with family responsibilities: connecting child development
and the decent work agenda,’ UNICEF/ILO Working Paper presented at the Annual Ministerial Review of
the High-Level Segment of Economic and Social Council, New York, 2–9 July 2012. See also: Lou
Tessier, Maya Stern Plaza, Christina Behrendt, Florence Bonnet and Emmanuelle St-Pierre Guilbault,
‘Social Protection Floors and gender equality: A brief overview,’ ESS (Extension of Social Security)
Working Paper no. 37, International Labour Organization: Geneva, 2013.
378
Lou Tessier, Maya Stern Plaza, Christina Behrendt, Florence Bonnet and Emmanuelle St-Pierre
Guilbault, ‘Social Protection Floors and gender equality: A brief overview,’ ESS (Extension of Social
Security) Working Paper no. 37, International Labour Organization: Geneva, 2013.
370
371
81
Many women are not in a position to contribute to social insurance at all due to the nature of
their employment, or have irregular contribution records and/or low contributions that lead to
low benefit levels or - in the worst cases - no derived benefit at all. The persistent inequalities in
earnings between men and women further enhance the gap in the level of benefits received by
women in some contributory schemes, which calculate benefit as a proportion of past wages.379
The ILO also highlights that that cuts in tax-funded pension schemes disproportionately
disadvantage women, since the better paid contribution-funded schemes favour workers
in the formal economy who tend to be men, and in particular men with many years in
high income jobs with uninterrupted careers.380
Women’s rights to social security and social protection in the context of economic crisis
The World Bank reports that the financial crisis has significantly impacted pension
systems in the Europe and Central Asia region, noting that “[t]he financial crisis has
quickly turned into an economic crisis with major implications for all public programs,
including pension systems.”381 Some countries have responded to the crisis by raising
pensionable ages and some have cut pensions in payment, as well as reducing future
public pension obligations.382 The ILO has highlighted that cuts in tax-funded pension
schemes disproportionately disadvantage women, since the better paid contributionfunded schemes favor workers in the formal economy who tend to be men, and in
particular men with many years in high income jobs with uninterrupted careers.383
While it is important to bolster the pension system, it is also important to strengthen the
social safety net for older women as a whole. The Report of the Advisory Group chaired
by Michelle Bachelet on “Social protection floor for a fair and inclusive globalization,”
(aka Bachelet Report) emphasizes the role of social protection in cushioning the impact
of the economic crisis, particularly for marginalized groups, including women.384 The
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty (Magdalena
Sepúlveda Carmona) has also noted that social protection systems play an important role
in protecting the economic and social rights of the poor during times of economic crisis
and recommended that:
A comprehensive rights-based social protection system must therefore be the foundation of any
transformative recovery from the global economic and financial crises. Strengthening social
protection systems now will ensure greater resilience against future crises, while supporting the
Ibid., at pg. 4.
ILO Bureau for Gender Equality, ‘Making the crisis recovery work for women!,’ International
Labour Office, International Women’ s Day (8 March), 2011.
381
World Bank, ‘Pensions in Crisis: Europe and Central Asia Regional Policy Note,’ 12 November
2009.
382
Bernard Casey (Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick), ‘The implications of
the economic crisis for pensions and pension policy in Europe,’ Global Social Policy, Vol. 12, No. 3,
December, pp. 246-265. See also: David Natali, ‘Pensions after the financial and economic crisis:
a comparative analysis of recent reforms in Europe,’ Working Paper 2011.07, European Trade Union
Institute (ETUI), Brussels, 2011.
383
ILO Bureau for Gender Equality, ‘Making the crisis recovery work for women!,’ International
Labour Office, International Women’s Day (8 March), 2011.
384
Report of the Advisory Group chaired by Michelle Bachelet (aka Bachelet report), ‘Social
protection floor for a fair and inclusive globalization,’ Convened by the ILO with the collaboration of the
WHO, International Labour Organization: Geneva, 2011.
379
380
82
most vulnerable will help to prevent the transmission of the effects of the crises to future
generations.385
Social protection is also especially relevant for women, who as a group tend to enjoy less
economic security at all stages of the life cycle. UN-Women highlights that “… [i]t is
easy to see how a universal rights-based approach [to social protection], instead of a
selective needs-based one, will contribute more towards reducing poverty, containing
inequality, sustaining equitable economic growth and encouraging women’s greater
empowerment and autonomy for women.”386
In 2009, the Social Protection Floor Initiative (SPF-I) launched by the ILO put forward
an two-dimensional concept of social protection which guarantees the following
elements:
▪
basic income security, in the form of various social transfers (in cash or in kind),
such as pensions for the elderly and persons with disabilities, child benefits,
income support benefits and/or employment guarantees and services for the
unemployed and working poor;
▪
universal access to essential affordable social services in the areas of health, water
and sanitation, education, food security, housing, and others defined according to
national priorities.387
ILO Recommendation No. 202 concerning National Floors of Social Protection388
provides that States should establish as quickly as possible and maintain their social
protection floors comprising basic social security guarantees. These guarantees should
ensure at a minimum that, over the life cycle, all in need have access to essential health
care and to basic income security which together secure effective access to goods and
services defined as necessary at the national level.389 Indeed, Social Protection Floors for
women are particularly important because of ongoing inequality with respect to income
and labour force participation. But, this is not the only reason. Rather, women are far
less likely than men to hold economic power across the board: they are less likely to own
assets, to have access to financing and credit alternatives, or to have secure rights to land
and other productive resources.390 This situation of economic vulnerability means that
women often have very little protection against poverty and economic shocks of all
kinds.391 Such a situation also increases women’s economic dependency on men, thereby
reducing their autonomy and ability to act in their own interest.
Report of the Independent Expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty,
Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, UN Doc. A/HRC/17/34, 17 March 2011.
386
Jayati Ghosh, ‘Economic Crisis and Women’s Work: Exploring Progressive Strategies in a Rapidly
Changing Global Environment,’ UN-Women, January 2013.
387
As quoted from: Report of the Advisory Group chaired by Michelle Bachelet, ‘Social protection
floor for a fair and inclusive globalization,’ Convened by the ILO with the collaboration of the WHO,
International Labour Organization: Geneva, 2011.
388
ILO R202 - Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), Recommendation
concerning National Floors of Social Protection, Geneva, 101st ILC session, 14 June 2012.
389
Ibid.
390
Lou Tessier, Maya Stern Plaza, Christina Behrendt, Florence Bonnet and Emmanuelle St-Pierre
Guilbault, ‘Social Protection Floors and gender equality: A brief overview,’ ESS (Extension of Social
Security) Working Paper no. 37, International Labour Organization: Geneva, 2013.
391
Ibid.
385
83
3.10
Austerity and women’s rights
“The bottom line is this: It is becoming clear that fiscal austerity may hold back
the very growth and restructuring that is needed and at the same time, erode
hard-won gains for women.”
-Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women
Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Why Gender Matters
It is also important to focus on the specific impacts of austerity on women’s economic
and social rights. In the immediate aftermath of the recent economic and financial crisis,
many Governments responded with increased spending (for example, increased
expenditure on public infrastructure, expanding social employment services, and
increased benefits to unemployed persons).392 These efforts mitigated some of the worst
effects of the crisis, and were estimated to have created some 7 to 11 million jobs in
2009.393
This approach, however, was later superseded by a trend towards austerity and cuts to
public sector expenditure. While European countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Spain and Greece perhaps come most readily to mind when discussing austerity, many
countries outside of Europe also adopted austerity measures in the aftermath of the
economic crisis, including Ghana, New Zealand, South Korea and Botswana.394 Many
countries, both inside and outside of Europe, have been made to accept austerity
measures as a condition to receive International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans needed to
finance government debt, including Latvia, Romania, Ghana, Ireland, Côte d’Ivoire and
Jamaica.395 In a survey of 56 developing countries, researchers found that in 2010 twothirds of those countries were cutting budget allocations to sectors significantly affecting
women’s rights and gender equality, including education, health, social protection, as well
as public subsidies for food and fuel and other essential items.396
The main focus of austerity measures has been on reducing public expenditure rather
than raising taxation levels.397 Austerity measures are often grounded in the argument that
cut backs to public expenditure is necessary to slash deficits and revitalize economy after
times of crisis.398 However, many economists contest this point, arguing that austerity
A study of 130 developing countries shows that from 2008 to 2009, 120 countries increased
spending by an average of 25 per cent over 2005 to 2007 levels. Only 10 countries reduced spending for
the same time periods. See: Isabel Ortiz and Matthew Cummins (eds.) ‘A recovery for All: Rethinking
socio-economic policies for children and poor households,’ New York: UNICEF, 2012.
393
Jayati Ghosh, ‘Economic Crisis and Women’s Work: Exploring Progressive Strategies in a Rapidly
Changing Global Environment,’ UN-Women, January 2013.
394
Jane Lethbridge, ‘Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Austerity Measures on Women,’
Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), May 2012.
395
Ibid.
396
See: Stephanie Seguino (Professor of Economics University of Vermont, USA), ‘Financing for
Gender Equality: Reframing and Prioritizing Public Expenditures to Promote Gender Equality,’ UNWomen Policy Brief, January 2013. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr , James Heintz & Stephanie Seguino,
‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox Macroeconomics Meets Feminist
Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
397
France and Luxembourg, however, have introduced higher taxation for high income groups. See:
Jane Lethbridge, ‘Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Austerity Measures on Women,’ Public
Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), May 2012.
398
Center for Economic and Social Rights, ‘Fiscal Fallacies: 8 Myths about the “Age of Austerity”
392
84
policies lead countries to sink deeper into recession.399 Even the IMF’s chief economists
have noted hat austerity measures have caused more economic damage than some
experts had previously assumed.400
From a human rights perspective, austerity measures can often be considered
retrogressive measures, and as such are subject to heightened scrutiny.401 Maria Virginia
Bras Gomes, member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights has observed that “When countries claimed that they did not have
adequate resources, you normally saw that it was probably not that they did not have the
resources, but it was because these rights had not been considered a priority, and
therefore domestic investment was not based on such a priority.”402
Austerity deserves special attention from the standpoint of women’s rights. UN-Women
has underlined that fiscal contraction generated by austerity produces both cuts in female
employment as well as in the provision of public goods and services. These cuts impact
women both in their roles as household economic providers as well as in their roles as
caregivers.403 A recent report of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights highlights that:
Structural inequalities and disparities affecting women’s enjoyment of human rights have been
worsened by the cumulative effects of several austerity measures, particularly as regards the rights
to decent work and an adequate standard of living.49 In 2011, women faced a higher risk of
poverty than men in the EU, with rates of 25.2% and 23% respectively. Cuts in public-sector
jobs, pensions and services, including childcare, parental and child benefits, health care and
services to victims of violence and legal aid, affect women in particular. Cuts have also been made
in gender equality programmes. Women who are primary caretakers in the family have assumed
the largely unrecognised burden of care, such as for people with disabilities or children, which has
grown heavier as states reduce staff and financial support and impose stricter conditions for
receiving benefits. As governments recede from social protection and the uncompensated care
economy grows, women’s ability to participate on an equal footing in public and economic life
dwindles.404
And Human Rights Responses,’ Rights in Crisis Series Briefing Paper, July 2012. See also: ESCR-NET,
Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), Center of Concern, Center for Women’s
Global Leadership (CWGL), and the Center for Economic and Social Rights, ‘Bringing Human Rights to
Bear in Times of Crisis: A human rights analysis of government responses to the economic crisis,’
Submission to the High-Level Segment of 13th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on
the global economic and financial crises, 2010.
399
See, for example: Ha-Joon Chang, ‘Austerity has never worked: It’s not just about the current
economic environment. History shows that slashing budgets always leads to recession,’ The Guardian, 4
June 2012.
400
Brad Plumer, ‘IMF: Austerity is much worse for the economy than we thought,’ The Washington
Post, 12 October 2012.
401
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has stated that
“deliberately retrogressive measures … would require the most careful consideration and would need to be
fully justified by reference to the totality of the rights provided for in the Covenant and in the context of
the full use of the maximum available resources.” Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
General Comment 3, The nature of States parties’ obligations (Fifth session, 1990), U.N. Doc. E/1991/23,
annex III at 86 (1991).
402
As quoted in: Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR),
‘Global Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Women: A Human Rights Perspective,’ 2011.
403
Jayati Ghosh, ‘Economic Crisis and Women’s Work: Exploring Progressive Strategies in a Rapidly
Changing Global Environment,’ UN-Women, January 2013.
404
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Safeguarding human rights in times of
economic crisis,’ November 2013. See also: Report of the independent expert (Magdalena Sepúlveda
85
Looking at female employment, public sector lays offs and wage cuts generated through
austerity measures have had a disproportionate impact on women. Such cuts have taken
place in countries like Greece, Italy and Ireland.405 In the European Union, 69.2 per cent
of public sector workers are women, concentrated in health, social work and education.406
In the United Kingdom, some 710,000 public sector jobs are due to be cut by 2015 as a
result of austerity measures, and in most regions, between 60 per cent and 75 per cent of
jobs lost are women’s jobs.407 As a result, in the United Kingdom women’s rate of
unemployment is growing faster than men’s, despite an initial surge of male layoffs in
construction and manufacturing.
Since 2008, the data reveals that women’s
unemployment in the United Kingdom has increased at double the rate for men (by 2.3
and 1.2 percentage points respectively).408 In the United States, women held an estimated
70 per cent of the 765,000 public sector jobs which were cut between 2007 and 2011.409
Looking at cuts in goods and services, the European Women’s Lobby, the largest
umbrella organization of women’s associations in the European Union, has noted that:
Although cutbacks in public services and benefits affect everyone, the impact will be particularly
felt by women, who use public services more than men and who rely more on social benefits. Cuts
in public services and benefits have a double impact on women: on the one hand, women’s
economic independence is compromised and their poverty heightened. On the other hand, women
are forced to cushion the impact of cutbacks in public services as the services are transferred back
to the households, i.e. women.410
In the United Kingdom, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) estimates that because of
cuts to social programs and other measures which disproportionately benefit women,
“women will pay for roughly 72 per cent of the changes in taxes, benefits and tax credits
set out in the budget,” with single mothers hit hardest of all.411
Furthermore, the European Women’s Lobby warned that “Public gender equality
institutions are being destroyed on the pretext of austerity.”412 In Spain and Romania,
national gender equality institutions/bodies have been abolished altogether. In Turkey,
Denmark, Ireland and the Czech Republic, they have been merged with other
Carmona) on the question of human rights and extreme poverty (on the impact of the current global
financial crisis on people living in extreme poverty and the enjoyment of their human rights), UN Doc.
A/64/279, 11 August 2009.
405
BBC News, ‘EU austerity drive country by country,’ 21 May 2012.
406
European Women’s Lobby, ‘The price of austerity - The impact on women’s rights and gender
equality in Europe,’ October 2012.
407
Jane Lethbridge, ‘Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Austerity Measures on Women,’
Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), May 2012.
408
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), ‘The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis
on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication series: Women’s Economic Empowerment, Sida:
2 December 2010. In fact, the United Kingdom has seen the highest level of women’s unemployment in
25 years. See: Jane Lethbridge, ‘Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Austerity Measures on
Women,’ Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), May 2012.
409
International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global Employment Trends for Women,’
International Labour Organization: Geneva, December 2012.
410
European Women’s Lobby, ‘The price of austerity - The impact on women’s rights and gender
equality in Europe,’ October 2012.
411
Trades Union Congress (TUC), ‘Bearing the brunt, leading the response: Women and
the global economic crisis,’ March 2011.
412
European Women’s Lobby, ‘The price of austerity - The impact on women’s rights and gender
equality in Europe,’ October 2012.
86
institutions, while in the United Kingdom and Greece they have had their funding cut
drastically.413 In Ireland there have also been cuts to budgets for monitoring incidents
and patterns of gender-based violence, as well as reduction in budgets of public bodies
responsible for equal opportunities.414
For developing countries, austerity has been a common – although not uncontested –
reality, often imposed as a condition of international financial agreements and so –called
‘structural adjustment policies’ (SAPs).415 One study on the impact of these policies on
women concluded that “[w]omen constitute a disproportionate section of the losers
because of the additional burdens imposed on them as a result of decline in real wages,
rising unemployment, dramatic increases in prices of household goods … .”416 Feminist
economists have similarly surmised that “[t]he neoliberal macroeconomic restructuring
policies such as Structural Adjustment Policies implemented by the International
Monetary Fund during the 1980s were criticised for being extremely gender-blind, the
austerity measures that they encouraged meant that the gap in social services had to be
provided elsewhere, and it was often women who took up the slack, adding to their timeburden.”417
Alternative Visions to Austerity
“… the experience of the past 40 years has shown the limitations of our ability to
liberate and empower women if we are forced to accept the current rules of the
economic game.”
-Julie Matthaei, Professor of Economics
‘Beyond Economic Man: Economic Crisis, Feminist Economics, and the
Solidarity Economy’
While many States have adopted policy responses to the crisis which have deepened
women’s inequality and poverty, austerity and privatization are not the sole visions, nor
are they the only alternatives. Counter-cyclical approaches (as put in place in the United
States,418 as well as in some Latin American countries, for example Chile419) in general
have “helped to reduce the depth and duration of the impact and to leverage a more
Ibid. See also: Jane Lethbridge, ‘Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Austerity Measures
on Women,’ Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU), May 2012.
414
Ursula Barry and Pauline Conroy, ‘Ireland in Crisis 2008-2012: Women, austerity and inequality,’
National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) and Think Tank on Social Change (TASC), School of Social
Justice, University College Dublin, Ireland, October 2012.
415
SAPs include, for example: currency devaluation, price deregulation, privatization, export-led
growth strategies, and the removal of subsidies on public services, for example in the areas of education,
food, water and sanitation, and health services. See: Bharati Sadasivam, ‘The Impact of Structural
Adjustment on Women: A Governance and Human Rights Agenda,’ Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 3,
1997, pp. 630-665.
416
Ibid.
417
Maya Sethi, ‘What contribution does feminist economics make to the understanding of gender
equality?,’ thesis submitted at the Gender Institute, London School of Economics, March 2011.
418
See: ‘Achieving Equity for Women: Policy Alternatives for the New Administration Symposium
Report,’ A policy research symposium co-sponsored by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and
Wellesley Centers for Women, Washington D.C., 2 April 2009.
419
Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe, ‘La actual crisis financiera internacional y
sus efectos en América Latina y el Caribe,’ Santiago, Chile, 2009. See also: Norma Sanchís & Alma Espino,
‘The Impacts of the Crisis on Women in Latin America,’ Brief 1 of the 2010 series edition: 2010 Updates:
Impacts Of The Crisis On Women’s Rights: Sub Regional Perspectives, AWID, 2010.
413
87
rapid recovery.”420 UN-Women has also found that maintaining public investment and
social spending can help to counter the worst effects of the recession on women and fuel
economic recovery: stating “There is a wealth of evidence to support this and to draw
upon for a better policy response.”421
Merely refusing to engage in austerity and cut backs to social programs can be protective
for women. For example, in most European Union countries, States have either kept or
increased minimum wages, an issue which disproportionately affects women as they tend
to be lower paid than men due to the gender wage gap.422 Likewise, in Japan and
Germany work-sharing schemes include workers who don’t have regular contracts, and
decrease the working hours of all the workers for a certain time, without having to lay
some off.423 This has helped to ensure that women, who are often amongst the first to
be laid off, are able to continue to work.
However, not all countries have been in a position to deploy strong countercyclical
policies. This is true for the poorest countries, where it is estimated that only a quarter
have had sufficient financial resources to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis by
creating social safety nets or job programs.424 In Latin America for example, the capacity
to implement countercyclical tools during the crisis varied considerably between
countries in the region.425
UN-Women’s report on ‘Economic Crisis and Women’s Work: Exploring Progressive
Strategies in a Rapidly Changing Global Environment,’ highlights the cases of Sweden in
the 1990s and Argentina as two examples where States adopted crisis response strategies
that were sensitive to women’s rights.426 In Sweden, the Government provided direct
public employment for women and helped reduce unpaid work in the care economy and
household.427 Rather than allowing its social welfare model to deteriorate during crisis:
ECLAC/ILO, ‘Countercyclical policies for a sustained recovery in employment,’ The employment
situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, Issue No. 5, June 2011.
421
Speech by Michelle Bachelet, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of
UN Women, at the economics symposium “Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Why
Gender Matters,” held in New York from 21-22 January 2013. UN-Women has also said that “A crucial
point that is often overlooked is that public programmes and interventions in the labour market to provide
social protection are not just welfare measures—they are important counter-cyclical buffers that reduce or
prevent downturns and enable faster recovery.” See: Jayati Ghosh, ‘Economic Crisis and Women’s Work:
Exploring Progressive Strategies in a Rapidly Changing Global Environment,’ UN-Women, January 2013.
422
ILO Bureau for Gender Equality, ‘Making the crisis recovery work for women!,’ International
Labour Office, International Women’s Day (8 March), 2011.
423
Ibid.
424
Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), ‘The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis
on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication series: Women’s Economic Empowerment, Sida:
2 December 2010.
425
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), ‘The reactions of the
Governments of the Americas to the international crisis: follow-up to policy measures adopted up to
31 December 2011,’ April 2012. Some scholars have in particular highlighted that: “We cannot accept the
double-standard of counter-cyclical measures for rich countries and pro-cyclical measures for poor
countries, or, Keynesian economics for rich countries and neo-liberal economics for poor countries.” See:
Statement by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School),
‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on
the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr ,
James Heintz & Stephanie Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox
Macroeconomics Meets Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
426
Jayati Ghosh, ‘Economic Crisis and Women’s Work: Exploring Progressive Strategies in a Rapidly
Changing Global Environment,’ UN-Women, January 2013.
427
Ibid.
420
88
Sweden expanded the system with a renewed emphasis on employment programmes and active
labour market policies. This protected women from the worst effects of the financial crisis and
economic downswing and provided a demand cushion that assisted faster recovery of the real
economy. … The Swedish recovery programme also focused on avoiding labour market
exclusion, particularly for women. Two cornerstones of Swedish family policy—paid parental
leave and subsidies to day care for children—that were both maintained during the crisis and
even expanded to some extent, have been recognized as being particularly beneficial to women
workers, even by researchers who have otherwise queried the fiscal costs of such programmes
…The welfare state provisions continued to provide strong social protection and safety nets to
those at the bottom of the income and wage pyramid. Government benefits supplemented the
incomes of the lower- paid and non-working population. These measures prevented the emergence
of poverty, reduced tendencies to enhance inequality in the wake of the crisis, and also operated
as countercyclical buffers that cushioned domestic demand from further declines.428
Similarly, in Argentina, the Government instituted countercyclical macroeconomic
policies in response to national economic crisis in 2001-2002. While Argentina had up
until that time been marked by extreme social inequality, the Government sought to
“drastically change the economic policy model in order to move away from dynamics of
exclusion and marginalization in labourmarkets, which had become the norm in the
economy since the mid 1970s.”429 The combined results of increased public employment
opportunities (all the while protecting just and favorable conditions of work), as well as
expansions in social protection benefits, finally reversed the trend of increasing income
inequality.430 Argentina recovered from the 2001 crisis with an annual growth rate of 8
per cent from 2002. It also reduced its overall poverty rate from 56 per cent to 20 per
cent, and its unemployment rate fell from 30 per cent to 7 per cent.431 However, there is
also evidence to suggest that while women workers benefitted, they did not benefit from
the recovery as much as did men workers, again underscoring the need to ensure robust
gender-sensitive counter-cyclical policies.432
In terms of other good practice, UNAIDS has also noted that:
Evidence from previous economic crises supports the need to invest in social protection
mechanisms on a long-term basis, which can then be ramped up during times of crisis in
conjunction with stimulus packages and other financial measures. Developing countries that
already had social safety nets in place were best able to weather the effects of the beginning of the
economic crisis in 2008 and 2009. This included several Asian countries, which had already
experienced a significant economic shock in 1997–1998 and had put in place social protection
mechanisms, including social insurance schemes, food subsidies, welfare programmes for children,
elderly people and people with disabilities, student subsidies, and conditional cash transfers for
women sending their children to school. Social health insurance schemes and exemption
mechanisms for vulnerable people provide a well-recognized means of reducing the impact of
Ibid.
Ibid.
430
Ibid.
431
Statement by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Graduate Program in International Affairs, The New School),
‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on
the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr ,
James Heintz & Stephanie Seguino, ‘Critical Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox
Macroeconomics Meets Feminist Economics,’ Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
432
Jayati Ghosh, ‘Economic Crisis and Women’s Work: Exploring Progressive Strategies in a Rapidly
Changing Global Environment,’ UN-Women, January 2013.
428
429
89
rising healthcare costs on poorer households. Unconditional cash-transfer programmes, as
introduced by Indonesia, that provide cash to poor households as a means of mitigating economic
shock have also proven to be a viable form of protection. A combination of policies that protect
the multiple dimensions of welfare, nutrition and educational status of women and girls alongside
mechanisms such as cash transfers leave women and girls better able to manage crises.433
Iceland stands out as a country which has taken pioneering steps to protect women
within the context of the current crisis. In the beginning of 2009, the Government of
Iceland appointed a working group tasked with evaluating the impact of the economic
crisis from a gender perspective, and with the objective of ensuring that gender equality
principles will be reflected in State-led initiatives taken to restore the economy.434
While these approaches serve as important precedents, responses to the current crisis
have tended to fall short for women. UNAIDS has highlighted that “[s]timulus packages
that have been introduced to provide an economic boost in several high- and middleincome countries have not considered how they might be able to address gender
inequalities.”435 Indeed, many States have directed their stimulus packages towards maledominated industries and implemented counter-cyclical approaches in the form of large
infrastructure development and construction projects (for example as in China), which
have tended to create more jobs for men rather than for women. This approach “runs
the risk of reaffirming gender inequalities” and research shows that supporting formal
employment that benefits men while at the same time making cuts to health and social
services such as child-care facilities places women in a position of economic dependency
and puts an increased care burden on women, exacerbating their time poverty.436
In this regard, it is important for public sector spending to focus on social infrastructure
investment, particularly in the areas of education, health care, child and dependent care,
as well as other social services (water and sanitation, energy, etc.). From a women’s rights
perspective the benefits are two fold: first, this kind of investing helps to support and
stimulate those sectors of the labor market in which women tend to be employed, and
second, investment in these areas also has the added benefit of relieving women’s
disproportionate care burden.437
UNAIDS, ‘Impact of the global economic crisis on women, girls and gender equality,’ Discussion
paper, August 2012.
434
Centre for Gender Equality Iceland, ‘Gender Equality in Iceland,’ January 2012. See also: The
Government of Iceland, ‘25th National Report on the implementation of the 1961 European Social
Charter,’ on Articles 1, 15 and 18 for the period 01/01/2007-31/12/2010, Report registered by the
Secretariat on 8 October 2012.
435
UNAIDS, ‘Impact of the global economic crisis on women, girls and gender equality,’ Discussion
paper, August 2012.
436
Ibid.
437
Statement by Stephanie Seguino (University of Vermont), ‘Emerging issue: The gender
perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on the Status of Women, Fiftythird session, New York, 2-13 March 2009. See also: Swedish International Development Agency (Sida),
‘The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Women’s Well-Being and Empowerment,’ Publication
series: Women’s Economic Empowerment, Sida: 2 December 2010. See also: Natalie Raaber & Diana
Aguiar, ‘Feminist critiques, policy alternatives and calls for systemic change to an economy in crisis,’
Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), 2012. See also: Cecilia Alemany, Graciela
Dede, Natalie Raaber, and Anne Schoenstein, ‘Cross–Regional Analysis on the Impact of the Crisis on
Women and Women’s Rights,’ AWID, 2009. See also: Nerea Craviotto, ‘The Impact of the global
economic crisis on women and women’s human rights across regions,’ AWID, 2010.
433
90
In addition, many countries have also implemented gender responsive budgeting which
can be undertaken in the design and review of counter-cyclical stimulus packages.
Morocco, for example, is taking innovative steps in relation to gender budgeting and
requires reporting on the extent to which women’s rights are being realized in the
implementation of public policies.438 Many other countries have taken similar steps.
While gender budgeting is a good idea in terms of women’s equality generally, in the
context of economic crisis gender budgeting can “enhance the chances of women
equitably benefiting from counter-cyclical measures, both in public investment for job
retention and creation, and expanding social protection, in particular for the poor and the
most vulnerable” (for a more detailed discussion on gender budgeting, please see also
Sub-Section 4.2 below)439
This has been recognized as a good practice by the Working Group on the issue of discrimination
against women in law and in practice. See: Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination
against women in law and in practice, Addendum: Mission to Morocco,’ UN Doc. A/HRC/20/28/Add.1,
19 June 2012.
439
Naoko Otobe, ‘Global economic crisis, gender and employment: The impact and policy
response,’ Employment Sector: Employment Working Paper No. 74, International Labour Organization:
Geneva, 2011. See also: International Labour Organization (ILO), ‘Global economic crisis, gender and
work: Key policy challenges and options,’ Global Jobs Pact Policy Briefs, Brief No. 15, 2011.
438
91
4.
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WOMEN’S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS
4.1
The role of the International Human Rights System
Accountability is a crucial component of a rights regime and of the rights based approach
to development. Accountability entails States, as duty bearers, being held accountable to
human rights standards as well as to the beneficiaries of those standards – the rights
holders. Accountability can take many forms. First and foremost, accountability
provides a means by which rights holders can challenge the acts and omissions of States
that result in violations of human rights and the States’ corresponding human rights
obligations to respect, protect and fulfill those rights. Such accountability mechanisms,
as discussed further below, can be at domestic or international levels.
Other forms of human rights accountability can entail independent and impartial
monitoring of human rights with findings that can compel a State to abide by their
human rights obligations. Periodic reporting to UN treaty bodies or investigation by UN
special procedures, while not necessarily meant for individual or specific complaints, can
be effective at addressing legislation, policies and practices that do not conform with
international human rights standards.
Domestic Incorporation of Human Rights Accountability
Its been demonstrated that one of the most effective means of accountability is for
human rights norms and standards to be made justiciable in the domestic legal
framework and for rights holders to not only hold duty bearers accountable but also
achieve remedies for violations of human rights. Indeed, under the human rights
framework, with rights come corresponding obligations and when those rights and
obligations are violated there must be accountability and remedies. Article 8 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights requires that “Everyone has the right to an
effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental
rights granted him by the constitution or by law.”440 The UN General Assembly has also
weighed in on this issue, stating that “Remedies for gross violations of international
human rights … include the victim’s right to … adequate, effective and prompt reparation
for harm suffered.”441
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women also
recognizes the need for accountability mechanisms, with Article 2(c) requiring States
parties “to establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men
and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public institutions the
effective protection of women against any act of discrimination.”442
Similarly, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), in Article 2,
requires that “Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes …. to ensure that any
person whose rights or freedoms as herein recognized are violated shall have an effective
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. res. 217A (III), U.N. Doc A/810 at 71 (1948).
Emphasis added. Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for
Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International
Humanitarian Law, adopted by United National General Assembly, resolution60/147, UN Doc.
A/RES/60/147 (21 March 2005), at Art. 11(b) .
442
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, G.A. res.
34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force 3 September 1981.
440
441
92
remedy” and “to ensure that any person claiming such a remedy shall have his right
thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by
any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the State, and to
develop the possibilities of judicial remedy.”443 Article 2 of the ICCPR also requires
States parties “to ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce such remedies when
granted.”444
While the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),
under which the most elaborate articulation of economic and social can be found, lacks
an explicit clause dealing with remedies, the right to a remedy is implicit in any human
rights instrument, and Article 8 of the UDHR reaffirms this principle of law. Indeed,
General Comment No. 3 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
states that “among the measures which might be considered appropriate [for
implementation of the ICESCR] … is the provision of judicial remedies” and “that the
enjoyment of the rights recognized, without discrimination, will often be appropriately
promoted, in part, through the provision of judicial or other effective remedies.”445 In its
General Comment No. 9, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, citing
“fundamental requirements of international human rights law,” made clear that
“Covenant norms must be recognized in appropriate ways within the domestic legal
order, [including that] appropriate means of redress, or remedies, must be available to
any aggrieved individual or group, and appropriate means of ensuring governmental
accountability must be put in place.”446
Furthermore, General Comment No. 9 points out that while “the right to an effective
remedy need not be interpreted as always requiring a judicial remedy” as “administrative
remedies will, in many cases, be adequate and those living within the jurisdiction of a
State party have a legitimate expectation, based on the principle of good faith, that all
administrative authorities will take account of the requirements of the Covenant in their
decision-making.”447 However, “any such administrative remedies should be accessible,
affordable, timely and effective” and “an ultimate right of judicial appeal from
administrative procedures of this type would also often be appropriate.”448 Many aspects
of ICESCR rights, however, readily lend themselves to judicial remedies, which,
according to the Committee “would seem indispensable in order to satisfy the
requirements of the Covenant” and thus “whenever a Covenant right cannot be made
fully effective without some role for the judiciary, judicial remedies are necessary.” 449
Consequently, with respect to women, domestic accountability mechanisms and remedies
must be effective in enforcing human rights from a woman’s perspective and must be
accessible, including economically accessible, to women.
The issue of retrogression is key in the context of the financial crisis and austerity
measures. The ICESCR prohibits any deliberately retrogressive measures that can not be
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, G.A. res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR
Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976.
444
Ibid. See also: Varun Gauri and Daniel M. Brinks, Courting social justice: judicial enforcement of
social and economic rights in the developing world, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
445
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 3, The nature of States
parties’ obligations (Fifth session, 1990), U.N. Doc. E/1991/23, annex III at 86 (1991).
446
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 9, The domestic
application of the Covenant (Nineteenth session, 1998), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1998/24 (1998).
447
Ibid.
448
Ibid.
449
Ibid.
443
93
justified by reference to the totality of the rights provided for in the Covenant and in the
context of the full use of the maximum available resources. 450 National accountability
mechanisms thus should be able to hold States accountable to this standard and any
prima facia case of retrogression should shift the burden of proof to the State to
demonstrate that any retrogression in economic or social rights of women is otherwise
justified. When the State fails to do so, national accountability mechanisms should
require that the retrogressive measures end and that remedies are made available to those
who are damaged by such measures.
International Accountability and Cases Brought before International Human Rights
Mechanisms
In cases were domestic mechanisms fall short of providing full accountability and
effective remedies, international mechanisms are available. These mechanisms include
UN treaty bodies and regional human rights tribunals.451 All treaty bodies and regional
mechanisms are increasingly taking into consideration the gender dimensions of human
rights and all have strict prohibitions on discrimination.
Various cases involving women’s right to equality in the area of economic and social life
have been successfully brought before several international treaty bodies, most notably
the Human Rights Committee and the CEDAW Committee. For example, one of the
first such cases was decided in 1987 by the Human Rights Committee. F. H. Zwaan-de
Vries v. the Netherlands (1987)452 held that that legislation which granted unemployment
benefits to married men but not married women was discriminatory under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.453 In 1988, the Human Rights
Committee issued its judgment in the case of Avellanal v. Peru. In this case, the petitioner
challenged a legal provision which stipulated that when a woman is married only the
husband is entitled to represent matrimonial property before the Courts (then Article 168
of the Peruvian Civil Code).454 Here too the Human Rights Committee found a
violation under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.455
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 3, The nature of States
parties’ obligations (Fifth session, 1990), U.N. Doc. E/1991/23, annex III at 86 (1991).
451
Several cases addressing women’s economic and social rights have also been brought before
regional human rights mechanisms. For more information, please see the ESCR-Net’s Caselaw database,
available online at: http://www.escr-net.org/caselaw [last accessed 15 December 2013].
452
F. H. Zwaan-de Vries v. the Netherlands, Communication No. 182/1984 (9 April 1987), U.N.
Doc. Supp. No. 40 (A/42/40) at 160 (1987).
453
Ibid.
454
Graciela Ato del Avellanal v. Peru, Communication No. 202/1986, U.N. Doc. Supp. No. 40
(A/44/40) at 196 (1988). Regional human rights bodies have also taken similar cases. For example, in the
case of Maria Eugenia Morales de Sierra v. Guatemala (2000) the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights addressed the issue of married women’s equal property rights, with the petitioner challenging the
Guatemalan Civil Code. In Guatemala at the time, the Civil Code conferred upon the husband the power
to represent the marital union and empowered the husband to administer marital property. The
Commission found, however, that those provisions were in contravention of the obligations of Guatemala
under the American Convention on Human Rights. See: María Eugenia Morales de Sierra v. Guatemala,
Case 11.625, Report No. 4/00, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111 Doc. 20 rev. at 929 (2000).
455
Ibid. The Human Rights Committee also decided in the case of LMR v. Argentina (2011), a case
in which the petitioner, a young woman with permanent mental impairment, was refused an abortion by a
hospital despite a Court order authorizing that the abortion could take place. In this case, the Human
Rights Committee found a violation of the right to be free from torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment on the basis that the petitioner was subjected to physical and mental suffering
which was made especially serious by the victim’s status as a young woman with a disability. The
Committee also held that the facts constituted arbitrary interference into the petitioner’s private life, and
450
94
The CEDAW Committee has perhaps seen the most cases addressing discrimination in
women’s economic and social rights, including several cases brought by victims of
domestic violence. The case of Ms. A.T. v. Hungary (2003), addresses in part the question
of women’s housing rights within the context of domestic violence.456 In this case, the
CEDAW Committee found that immediate and effective measures were necessary to
guarantee the physical and mental integrity of the victim and her family. The Committee
also found that the States had an obligation to ensure that the victim was provided with a
safe home, appropriate child support, and legal assistance. The Committee specifically
held that an adequate emergency shelter system must be put in place to address the
immediate needs of victims of domestic violence.457 In subsequent years, several other
cases have also been brought addressing violence against women and outline State
obligations of support and due diligence, including Fatma Yildirim (deceased) v. Austria
(2007),458 Şahide Goekce (deceased) v. Austria (2007),459 Karen Tayag Vertido v. The Philippines
(2010),460 Isatou Jallow v. Bulgaria (2012),461 V.K. v. Bulgaria (2011),462 V.P.P. v. Bulgaria
(2012),463 and Cecilia Kell v. Canada (2012).464
This last case also addresses women’s housing and property rights within the context of
domestic violence. In this case, the husband – who had been physically as well as
economically abusive to the petitioner for a number of years –unilaterally removed the
petitioner’s name from the certification of co-ownership of their martial home (or
‘Agreement of Lease’), in effect making the husband the sole owner of the property. 465 In
this case the CEDAW Committee found violations of Canada’s obligations and ordered
the State party, inter alia, to provide the petitioner with housing commensurate in quality,
location and size to the one that she was deprived of and provide appropriate monetary
compensation for material and moral damages commensurate with the gravity of the
violations of her rights.466 In addition, the CEDAW Committee held that the petitioner
was a victim of intersectional discrimination based on her status as an Aboriginal woman,
as well as a survivor of domestic violence. The CEDAW Committee also recommended
that Canada recruit and train more aboriginal women to provide legal aid to women from
their communities, including on domestic violence and property rights.467
that she did not have access to an effective remedy as guaranteed to her under the Covenant. LMR v.
Argentina, Communication No. 1608/2007, UN Doc. CCPR/C/101/D/1608/2007 (28 April 2011).
456
Ms. A. T. v. Hungary, Communication No.: 2/2003, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/32/D/2/2003
(2005).
457
Ibid.
458
Fatma Yildirim (deceased) v. Austria, Communication No. 6/2005, UN Doc.
CEDAW/C/39/D/6/2005 (1 October 2007).
459
Şahide Goekce (deceased) v. Austria, Communication No. 5/2005, UN Doc.
CEDAW/C/39/D/5/2005 (6 August 2007).
460
Karen Tayag Vertido v. The Philippines, Communication No. 18/2008, UN Doc.
CEDAW/C/46/D/18/2008 (22 September 2010).
461
Isatou Jallow v. Bulgaria, Communication No. 32/2011, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/52/D/32/2011
(28 August 2012).
462
V.K. v. Bulgaria, Communication No. 20/2008, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/49/D/20/2008 (17
August 2011).
463
V.P.P. v. Bulgaria, Communication No. 31/2011, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/53/D/31/2011 (24
November 2012).
464
Cecilia Kell v. Canada, Communication No. 19/2008, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/51/D/19/2008 (26
April 2012).
465
Ibid.
466
Ibid.
467
Ibid.
95
In the area of employment, R.K.B. v. Turkey (2012), involves a case of a woman whose
employment contract was terminated.468 Her employer also allegedly threatened to
spread rumors that the petitioner had extramarital affairs, and pressured her to sign a
document stating that she had received all of her work entitlements and precluding her
from suing for unfair dismissal.469 Because she felt her work contract had been
terminated without a valid reason, the petitioner filed a complaint within the Turkish
Labor Courts, and also initiated criminal proceedings for libel against her employer.470
Failing to find redress at the national level, the petitioner then took her case before the
CEDAW Committee, which found that the State party has failed to fulfill its obligations
under the Convention. The CEDAW Committee ordered, inter alia, that the petitioner be
awarded with appropriate reparation, including adequate compensation, in accordance
with article 5 of the Labour Act. It also ordered that that the State take measures to
ensure that article 5 of the Labour Act and the Convention are implemented in practice
by relevant national tribunals and other public institutions in order to provide for
effective protection of women against any act of gender-based discrimination in
employment.471
Finally, international accountability can also consist of monitoring and recommendation,
including through periodic reporting processes before treaty bodies, examination by
Human Rights Council special procedures, and the Universal Periodic Review process.
While these mechanisms may not be well suited for individual or group complaints, they
can provide international pressure aimed at holding States accountable for general
violations at the level of policy or practice or both. Civil society should avail themselves
to these mechanisms in order to provide full details of any policies or practices that
violate or otherwise erode women’s economic and social rights, particularly at the
structural or systemic level.
4.2
Gender budgeting as a tool for monitoring and accountability
As discussed briefly above in Sub-Section 3.10 above, gender budgeting can promote
accountability for women’s economic and social rights. UN-Women has described
gender-responsive budgeting as “government planning, programming and budgeting that
contributes to the advancement of gender equality and the fulfillment of women’s
rights.”472 Researchers have highlighted that:
The public sector has a key role to play in creating the conditions for gender equality. Through
its budget allocations, the state has the potential to redress inequalities and discrimination in the
household, in asset ownership, and in labor and credit markets. This can be achieved through
various measures including spending on education and training that close gender gaps,
investments in access to health care, and expenditures that reduce women’s care burden.473
R.K.B. v. Turkey, Communication No. 28/2010, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/51/D/28/2010 (13
April 2012).
469
Ibid.
470
Ibid.
471
Ibid. The Committee also ordered that the State party provide for appropriate and regular
training on the Convention, its Optional Protocol and its general recommendations for judges, lawyers and
law enforcement personnel in a gender-sensitive manner, so as to ensure that stereotypical prejudices and
values do not affect decision-making.
472
UN-Women, ‘Gender-Responsive Budgeting,’ available at: http://www.gender-budgets.org/ [last
accessed 15 September 2013].
473
Stephanie Seguino (Professor of Economics University of Vermont, USA), ‘Financing for Gender
Equality: Reframing and Prioritizing Public Expenditures to Promote Gender Equality,’ UN-Women
468
96
Furthermore:
Use of gender-responsive budgets can be used to systematically ensure adequate resources for
gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of the financial crisis, as long as they
are founded on a gender-sensitive macroeconomic policy framework. The gender budgeting
initiatives have sometimes failed to meet this need in the past because they are being implemented
outside the macroeconomic policy framework. The principles underpinning macroeconomic policy
tend to conflict with the gender agenda leading to limited resource allocations. A sector-wide
approach to gender budgeting is also recommended as it will enable more resources to be
identified to fund the social sector, which benefits women and girls.474
Gender responsive budgeting essentially consists of five components: describing the
situation of women and men (as well as girls and boys) when analyzing a particular
situation problem; assessing whether government policy and program interventions
aimed at addressing that situation have been designed in a gender-sensitive manner;
checking to see whether sufficient budgetary allowances have actually been made to
implement gender–sensitive policies and programming; checking whether the
expenditure has actually been spent according to plan; and lastly, examining the de facto or
actual impact of the policies, programs and expenditures in the lives of women and men,
girls and boys, with a view to the impact on advancing gender equality.475
Good practice in the area of gender budgeting have been well documented.476 Many
countries, such as Australia, Mozambique, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Rwanda,
Switzerland, Tanzania, Uganda and the United Kingdom have incorporated gender
equality in their national budgets. The European Parliament has also taken important
steps to design and apply a gender budgeting methodology to the European Union
Budget.477
Gender responsive budgeting can illuminate the reasons underlying gaps between policies
and implementation, a frequent barrier to women’s de facto enjoyment of their economic
and social rights. In South Africa, a main objective of the Women’s Budget Initiative is
to make the functioning of the Government transparent and to hold it accountable for
implementing gender-responsive policies.478
According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
Pacific, that region has seen progress in gender budgeting, but the gains made in this
front need to be protected during the current crisis. They have also highlighted that it is
Policy Brief, January 2013. See also: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr , James Heintz & Stephanie Seguino, ‘Critical
Perspectives on Financial and Economic Crises: Heterodox Macroeconomics Meets Feminist Economics,’
Feminist Economics, Volume 19, Number 3, 2013, pp. 4-31.
474
Statement by Elizabeth A. Eilor, ‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial
Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel, Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 213 March 2009.
475
Debbie Budlender, ‘Budgeting to Fulfill International Gender Commitments,’ UNIFEM, 2004.
476
Debbie Budlender and Guy Hewitt, ‘Gender Budgets Make More Cents: Country Studies and
Good Practice,’ the Commonwealth Secretariat, August 2002. See also: Debbie Budlender, ‘Budgeting to
Fulfill International Gender Commitments,’ UNIFEM, 2004.
477
European Parliament’s Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, ‘The multi-annual
financial framework 2014-2020 from a gender equality perspective,’ 2012
478
Deepti Bhatnagar and Ankita Dewan at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and
Magüi Moreno Torres and Parameeta Kanungo at the World Bank, ‘Women’s Budget Initiative: South
Africa,’ Washington D.C., date unspecified.
97
especially important to make sure that fiscal stimulus measures do not divert funds set
aside for gender budgeting initiatives. Similarly, it is important to have in place strong
and effective public expenditure monitoring systems to ensure that budgetary allocations
reach their intended beneficiaries.479
In addition, it is important to ensure that poverty indicators used to monitor the
effectiveness of anti-poverty policies and programs are themselves made gendersensitive. Because indicators are often aggregates whose units of analysis are households
rather than individuals, they do not necessarily capture women’s experience clearly. As
highlighted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC) this methodology often wrongly assumes that resources are evenly distributed
among all members of a household and that their needs are equivalent.480
4.3
International and regional economic/financial actors and agencies
As articulated in Sub-Section 2.3 above on understanding the obligations of States, States
do not rescind their human rights obligations when they become part of an international
financial institution (IFI). IFIs include multi-lateral development banks (e.g. the World
Bank, the European Investment Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic
Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Inter-American
Development Bank). They also include other global institutions, such as the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Most, if not all, IFIs have made commitments to ensure gender equality, at least
rhetorically. Many also have specific gender policies in place. For example, the World
Bank’s Gender and Development Policy Framework comprises of nine Operational
Policies and/or Bank Procedures: five of which are relevant for investment lending
generally, one of which is relevant for development policy lending, and three of which
are relevant for safeguard policies.481 One of these Operational Policies (OP/BP 4.20)
specifically focuses on gender and development.482 The African Development Bank has
an Updated Gender Policy and Gender Plan of Action (UGPOA) for 2009-2011.483 The
Asian Development Bank also has an Operational Policy on Gender and Development484
Statement by Shamika Sirimanne (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific), ‘Emerging issue: The gender perspectives of the Financial Crisis,’ Interactive Expert Panel,
Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2-13 March 2009.
480
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional
Headquarters for the Caribbean, ‘The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Women in the Caribbean,’ UN
Doc No. LC/CAR/L.243, 18 December 2009. See also: International Women’s Rights Action Watch,
‘Equality and Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Guide to Implementation and Monitoring
Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,’ University of Minnesota:
2004.
481
The World Bank, ‘The World Bank Gender and Development Policy Framework – A Guidance
Note,’
available
at:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTGENDER/0,,contentMDK:22550450
~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:336868,00.html [last accessed 15 September 2013]. See also:
Nasreen Khundker, ‘A Gentle Touch? Gender and the World Bank: A Critical
Assessment,’ paper for Heinrich Böll Foundation event on the WB gender mainstreaming seminar, 13
January 2004.
482
Ibid.
483
African Development Bank, ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: an Updated Gender
Plan of Action (UGPOA) 2009 – 2011.’
484
Asian Development Bank, ‘Policy on Gender and Development,’ June 2003.
479
98
and the Inter-American Development Bank has adopted a Operational Policy on Gender
Equality in Development.485
However, other institutions such as the IMF have no gender policy whatsoever, and
critiques highlight that even when gender policies are in place they “… tend to be weak,
are poorly resourced, understaffed, and lack incentives for staff to engender their work.
… gender experts -- or IFI staff who work on gender issues -- comprise less than 1
percent at all the IFIs, and the average is .3 percent.”486
Accountability of IFIs to international human rights norms in general, and women’s
rights in particular, is a major challenge which makes it all the more important to
enforced the ETOs of States (as detailed in Sub-Section 2.3 above). While some IFIs
have internal accountability mechanisms, one problem is that internal policies at times
have been written in such a way as to exclude certain decisions from gender equality
standards. For example, the World Bank applies its gender and development policy only
to project-based lending, and not to policy-based lending, despite the fact that policybased lending frequently supports economic reforms that significantly harm women and
girls through cuts to social services and benefits.487 Lack of transparency as been cited is
also a major concern, making it even more difficult to bring effective complaints using
IFI complaint mechanisms.488
4.4
Thoughts on the post-2015 development framework
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been widely accepted as the
dominant global framework for improving human development, yet they have also been
widely criticized for failing to integrate human rights, prioritize the most marginalized,
and hold Governments around the world accountable for their progress. This
accountability gap – wherein State obligations for economic and social rights are clear
under international human rights law, but not meaningfully incorporated and reflected in
development goals – is a vital aspect of the global development agenda that must be
remedied, particularly from the standpoint of women’s rights and gender equality.
On 5 April 2013 the United Nations observed the 1,000-day mark to the 2015 target date
for achieving MDGs. As the MDGs enter their final days before expiring in 2015, many
human rights organizations,489 development agencies,490 women’s rights groups,491 and
Inter-American Development Bank, ‘Operational Policy on Gender Equality in Development,’
2010. See also: Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and Gender Action, ‘Gender Justice:
A Citizen’s Guide to Gender Accountability at International Financial Institutions,’ Heinrich Böll
Foundation, 2007.
486
Ibid.
487
Ibid.
488
Gender Action, ‘Gender, IFIs & Accountability Mechanisms,’ 2010.
489
For example, on 10 December 2013 over 300 human rights organizations co-signed the ‘Human
Rights for All Post-2015 Statement, available at: http://globalinitiative-escr.org/over-300-groups-call-forhuman-rights-in-core-of-post-2015-development-plan/ [last accessed 18 December 2013].
490
For example, ActionAid International, ‘Righting the MDGs: Contexts and Opportunities for a
Post-2015 Development Framework,’ October 2012.
491
For example, Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), ‘Getting At The Roots:
Reintegrating Human Rights & Gender Equality In Post-2015 Development Agenda,’ paper submitted by
AWID to the UNICEF/UN Women Global Thematic Consultation on the post-2015 agenda ‘Addressing
Inequalities,’ October 2012.
485
99
environmental groups492 are demanding that human rights be at the at the core of any
post-2015 development framework. At the center has been the call to ensure that the
post-2015 framework is “anchored in human rights” and that the new framework “moves
from a model of charity to one of justice, based on the inherent dignity of people as human
rights-holders, domestic governments as primary duty-bearers, and all development
actors sharing common but differentiated responsibilities.”493 Advocates have also
highlighted that relying on human rights standards and principles to give moral and legal
force to development targets is more in line with the principle of accountability than
relying on goal-setting alone, and would yield better results in terms of achieving actual
development objectives.494
This call had been increasingly echoed by others. For example, on 21 May 2013, 17
Special Procedures mandate-holders of the United Nations Human Rights Council issued
a joint statement calling for “[g]rounding development priorities in human rights.”495 It
states that “human rights norms and standards provide concrete guidance as to how
goals and targets for the post-2015 development agenda should be framed. Governments
have already committed to uphold human rights in numerous international treaties.
Grounding development priorities in human rights is not only a legal and moral
imperative, but can also enhance effectiveness and accountability.”496 The statement also
puts forward three key recommendations for a post-2015 agenda, namely: 1)
incorporation of equality as a stand-alone and cross-cutting goal, 2) inclusion of a goal on
the provision of social protection floors, and 3) putting accountability at the core of the
post-2015 development framework.497
On 6 June 2013, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay,
also wrote an open letter to permanent representatives of UN Member States in New
York and Geneva, outlining her key messages for the post-2015 development agenda. In
her letter, the High Commissioner proposes ten elements for the post-2015 agenda,
which include: a human rights-based approach; freedom from fear as well as freedom
from want; equality as a separate goal (rather than economic growth); inclusion of
marginalized groups; an end to poverty; a healthy environment as the underlying
determinant of internationally guaranteed human rights; international reform, to ensure
human rights-based policy coherence at the international level; universal applicability; a
strong accountability framework; and greater responsibility to be shown by the private
sector, with appropriate government regulation.498 On 25 June 2013, the European
For
example,
WWF,
‘Post-2015
Global
Goals,’
available
at:
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/people_and_conservation/our_work/global_goals/i
ndex.cfm [last accessed 5 August 2013]. See also: WWF contribution to the UN online consultation on
Environmental Sustainability and the post-2015 development agenda, ‘Environmental sustainability and
human rights,’ publication date unspecified.
493
Emphasis added. ‘Human Rights for All Post-2015,’ available at: http://globalinitiativeescr.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/HRsForAllByAllStatement-v2.3.pdf [last accessed 21 August
2013].
494
Ellen Dorsey, Mayra Gómez, Bret Thiele, and Paul Nelson, ‘Falling Short of Our Goals:
Transforming the Millennium Development Goals into Millennium Development Rights,’ Netherlands
Quarterly of Human Rights, Vol. 28, No. 4, December 2010, pp. 516-522.
495
‘Statement by 17 Special Procedures mandate-holders of the Human Rights Council on the Post2015 development agenda,’ 21 May 2013.
496
Ibid.
497
Ibid.
498
Open letter by Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on ‘Human
Rights in the Post-2015 Agenda,’ addressed to permanent representatives of UN Member States in New
York and Geneva, 6 June 2013.
492
100
Union Council Conclusions on the Overarching Post 2015 Agenda also emphasize that
the post-2015 framework “[e]nsure a rights-based approach encompassing all human
rights.”499
In addition, civil society organizations have also expressed their views in the form of
consensus documents. Most notably, the Vienna+20 CSO Declaration, adopted in
Vienna on June 26, 2013,500 addresses human rights in the post-2015 sustainable
development agenda, calling upon States to “reaffirm the primacy of human rights in the
post-2015 sustainable development agenda … [and] to transform the current aid-based
model into a new universally applicable framework based on human rights and wellbeing, gender equality, social and economic justice and respect for planetary
boundaries.”501 It also calls upon States to:
… respect, protect and fulfil the economic, social, and cultural rights of all peoples, with
prioritization of marginalized groups without retrogression and on the basis of nondiscrimination and equality, immediately ensuring universal social protection floors, universal
health coverage, adequate food and nutrition, water, sanitation, education and housing. For this
purpose, any new targets and indicators have to be disaggregated, time-bound and equitysensitive and consistent with the progressive realization of human rights. They have to protect
workers’ rights, guarantee minimum wages and pensions, close gender, ethnic, regional and other
wage gaps, and restrain excessive levels of compensation.502
These developments point to a widespread consensus around this idea of employing a
human rights approach to development. However, placing human rights at the center of
the post-2015 development framework remains a significant challenge. Some have said
that “Human rights could be [a] faultline in post-2015 development agenda”503 Some
politicians have even suggested that Governments may have “red lines” when it comes to
the integration of human rights in the post-2015 framework.504
For women’s economic and social rights, the post-2015 agenda represents both a risk
and an opportunity. One risk is that the post-2015 agenda will take a limited view of
women’s economic and social rights, and instead of prioritizing the poorest and most
marginalized women, will prioritize development objectives which are not rights-based
and that amount to ‘low hanging fruit.’ The opportunity, of course, is to further
entrench women’s rights and the principle of gender equality into the global development
Council of the European Union General Affairs Council meeting on the Overarching Post 2015
Agenda - Council Conclusions, 25 June 2013.
500
On 25 and 26 June 2013, the Vienna+20 CSO Conference of more than 140 persons
from various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) around the world gathered at Vienna on the occasion of
the 20th anniversary of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights and its Vienna Declaration and
Programme of Action issued on 25 June 1993. The Vienna+20 CSO Declaration, adopted in Vienna on
June 26, 2013, available at: http://viennaplus20.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/vienna-20-cso-declarationfinal-post2.pdf [last accessed 14 September 2013].
501
Ibid.
502
Ibid.
503
Mark Tran, ‘Human rights could be faultline in post-2015 development agenda: UK development
secretary says too much emphasis on human rights in future development goals might block progress,’ The
Guardian, 21 November 2012.
504
Ibid.
499
101
agenda, resulting in important concrete gains for women and girls across the world and
greater equality and empowerment in economic and social life.505
UN-Women has prepared a document to help guide global discussions on the integration
of women’s rights in the post-2015 agenda, entitled A Transformative Stand-Alone Goal on
Achieving Gender Equality, Women’s Rights and Women’s Empowerment: Imperatives and Key
Components.506 Stating that the post-2015 development framework “must avoid the
shortcomings of the MDG framework which, from a gender perspective, include the
failure to address the structural causes of gender inequality (including addressing issues
such as violence against women, unpaid care work, limited control over assets and
property, and unequal participation in private and public decision-making,” UN-Women
suggests three basic components to comprise a new stand-alone goal on gender equality,
namely: freedom from violence; capabilities and resources; and voice, leadership and
participation.507 Many of the specific targets and indicators suggested go directly to
effective monitoring and implementation of a range of women’s economic and social
rights. These specific targets and indicators, as specified under each of the goal areas, are
summarized in the Table below.
Summary of Targets and Indicators
suggested by UN-Women for a Stand-Alone Goal to Achieve Gender Equality,
Women’s Rights and Women’s Empowerment in the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Goal Area 1: Freedom
Suggested Indicators
From Violence
Target: Prevent and respond
▪ Total and age-specific rate of ever-partnered women
to violence against women and
subjected to sexual and/or physical violence by a
girls
current or former intimate partner in the last 12
months, by frequency.
▪ Total and age-specific rate of ever-partnered women
subjected to sexual and/or physical violence by a
current or former intimate partner during lifetime, by
frequency.
▪ Rates of female genital mutilation and other traditional
harmful practices.
▪ Percentage of women aged 20-24 who were married or
in a union before age 18.
Target: Change perceptions,
▪ Percentage of people who think it is never justifiable for
attitudes and behaviors that
a man to beat his wife, by sex.
condone and justify violence
▪ Percentage of people who think a woman can refuse to
against women and girls
have sex with her husband under any circumstance, by
sex.
Target: Ensure security,
▪ Proportion of women over 15 years-old subjected to
support services and justice for
physical or sexual violence in the past 12 months who
women and girls
reported it to the justice system.
▪ Proportion of the population who feel safe walking
See: Center for Women's Global Leadership, ‘Feminist Reflections: UNs High Level Panel Report
on Post-2015 Development Agenda,’ 2013. See also: Diane Elson and Radhika Balakrishnan, ‘The Post2015 Development Framework and the Realization of Women’s Rights and Social Justice,’ 2012.
506
UN-Women, ‘A Transformative Stand-Alone Goal on Achieving Gender Equality, Women’s
Rights and Women’s Empowerment: Imperatives and Key Components,’ paper prepared in the context of
the post-2015 sustainable development framework and the sustainable development goals, June 2013.
507
Ibid.
505
102
▪
▪
Goal Area 2: Capabilities
and Resources
Target: Eradicate women’s
poverty
Target: Promote decent work
for women
Target: Build women’s access
to, and control over,
productive assets
Target: Reduce women’s time
burdens
Target: Promote education
and skills for women and girls
Target: Improve women’s
and girls’ health
Target: Reduce maternal
mortality and ensure
women’s and girls’ sexual and
reproductive health,
and reproductive rights
Target: Ensure women’s
sustainable access to
energy
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Target: Ensure women’s
sustainable access to water
and sanitation
▪
▪
▪
Goal Area 3: Voice,
alone at night in the area where they live, by sex.
Proportion of national budgets allocated to the
prevention of, and the response to, violence against
women.
Proportion of law enforcement professionals who are
women (including judges and the police).
Suggested Indicators
Percentage of people earning their own income, by sex
Ownership of dwelling, by sex.
Percentage of population undernourished, by sex.
Old age pension recipient ratio 65+, by sex.
Proportion employed in vulnerable employment, by sex.
Gender gap in wages.
Percentage of low pay workers, by sex.
Proportion of adult population owning land, by sex.
Proportion of population with access to institutional
credit (other than microfinance), by sex.
Average weekly number of hours spent on unpaid
domestic work, by sex.
Proportion of children under primary school age
enrolled in organized childcare.
Transition rate to secondary education, by sex.
Secondary completion rate, by sex.
Share of female science, engineering, manufacturing and
construction graduates at tertiary level.
Percentage of population using the Internet, by sex.
Prevalence of lower respiratory tract infections, by sex.
Percentage of population aged 15-49 living with
HIV/AIDS, by sex.
Under-5 mortality rate, by sex.
Maternal mortality ratio.
Available emergency obstetric care facilities per 100,000
population.
Unmet need for family planning.
Proportion of births attended by skilled health
personnel.
Age of mother at birth of first child ever born.
Percentage of households using solid cooking fuels, by
urban/rural location.
Percentage of households with access to electricity, by
urban/rural location.
Average weekly time spent on firewood collection, by
sex.
Average weekly time spent in water collection
(including waiting time at public supply points), by sex.
Proportion of population using an improved drinkingwater source.
Proportion of population using an improved sanitation
facility.
Suggested Indicators
103
Leadership and
Participation
Target: Promote equal
decision making in households
▪
▪
▪
▪
Target: Promote
participation in public
institutions
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Target: Promote women’s
leadership in the private sector
Target: Strengthen women’s
collective action
▪
▪
▪
▪
Percentage of women who have a say in household
decisions regarding large purchases.
Percentage of women who have a say in household
decisions regarding their own health.
Percentage of women who have a say in household
decisions regarding visiting relatives.
Percentage of people who think important decisions in
the household should be made by both men and
women, by sex.
Proportion of seats held by women in national
parliaments.
Proportion of seats held by women in local
governments.
Percentage of the population with basic national identity
documentation, by sex.
Birth registration coverage, by sex.
Proportion of women in decision-making roles in
relevant regional organizations involved in preventing
conflict
Proportion of women in company boards. Percentage
of women in managerial positions in firms.
Proportion of media professionals who are women.
Proportion of managers of civil society institutions who
are women.
Proportion of women who are members of civil society
organizations.
104
5.
RECOMMENDATIONS
“While it is important to ensure that policies designed to address the immediate
crisis identify differential impacts on vulnerable groups, it is also important to
look to the future and identify the world that we want to emerge from the current
crisis. We need to act now to challenge inequalities and discrimination, so that in
the recovery we draw on the talents, skills and energies of the widest possible
cross-section of society.”
- European Commission Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities
for Women and Men
5.1
Recommendations for States
Women’s economic and social rights are a fundamental dimension of women’s equality
and empowerment. While economic and financial crisis represent particular challenges,
women’s economic and social rights are critical at all times and demand specific attention
and protection. States, international human rights bodies and mechanisms, and
international and regional economic/financial actors all have a vital role to play. The
following recommendations are offered to help improve the status of these rights.
Ratification of International Treaties and Domestication
States should ratify – without reservations – key international human rights treaties
protecting women’s economic and social rights, as well as their rights to nondiscrimination and equality, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. States who
have already ratified these treaties should remove any reservations that they may have,
and States should also ratify the relevant Optional Protocols associated with these
treaties.
Temporary Special Measures
States should accelerate the equal participation of women in economic and social life, and
should adopt without delay temporary special measures aimed at ensuring women’s de
facto equality in economic and social life, including in relation to education, employment,
health, housing, food and nutrition, land and property, water and sanitation, and social
security. States should consult CEDAW General Recommendations and Concluding
Observations for guidance on how to design and implement temporary special measures.
Intersectionality
States should recognize and address at all levels the impact of multiple
disadvantage/intersectional discrimination on women’s economic and social life,
including in the context of addressing the economic crisis, and ensure that measures pay
attention to women in particularly marginalized/vulnerable positions – for example, as
experienced by women marginalized on the basis of race/ethnicity/language/culture or
caste, older women, single mothers, women affected by HIV, disabled women, displaced
women and female migrant workers, etc. States should ensure that data and national
105
statistics are broken down by sex and other relevant factors such as age, disability, race,
and ethnic origin.
Women’s Substantive Economic and Social Rights
States must comply fully with their international human rights obligations to respect,
protect and fulfill the complete spectrum of women’s economic and social rights in
accordance with the provisions of international human rights laws and standards
(including vis-à-vis education, work, health, housing, food and nutrition, land and
property, water and sanitation, etc.) and do so on the basis of non-discrimination and
substantive equality. Several important recommendations have been made in this regard
by Unites Nations treaty bodies (please see Annexes 1 & 2 for further detail) as well as by
United Nations Special Rapporteur and others, which should be looked to for
authoritative guidance on how to formulate effect laws, policies and programs. States
should pay special attention to these recommendations and ensure their domestic
implementation. States should further recognize that the right to equality entails
immediate obligations related to women’s economic and social rights, and therefore is
not to be subject to the ‘progressive realization’ standard. States obligated to allocate the
maximum for available resources to the effective realization of women’s economic and
social rights.
Concretely, States should design, adopt and implement gender-sensitive and human
rights-based laws, policies and programs which reflect international human rights
standards related to women’s economic and social rights, and incorporate and reflect
gender sensitive understandings these rights. In particular, States should: ensure
accountability for actors who violate women’s economic and social rights and women’s
access to effective remedies; facilitates women’s empowerment by creating awareness of
women’s economic and social rights;508 prioritize the needs of particularly vulnerable
and/or marginalized women, taking into account intersectional and multiple forms of
discrimination; ensure that women are able to meaningful participate in design, planning,
implementing, monitoring and evaluation of laws, policies, programs and budgets related
to the enjoyment of their economic and social rights; ensure that implementation of laws,
policies, programs and budgets is adequately supported in terms of both financial and
human resources; and provide for the collection of gender-sensitive and genderdisaggregated data which can serve as a tool for evaluation and measurement of women’s
de facto enjoyment of their economic and social rights.
Specific areas of women’s economic and social rights are also addressed in more detail
below:
Education
States must uphold girls’ right to education, and should adopt measures to guarantee
their rights to non-discrimination and equality in relation to the right to education.
States should ensure that girls are protected against exploitation and child/early marriage,
and that they are protected against physical and sexual abuse both within and outside of
the school system. States should provide incentives to further girls’ education, and
They should also raise awareness about women’s economic and social rights amongst key
audiences, including law and policy makers; judges, lawyers and legal advocates; law enforcement
authorities and administrative personnel; gender ministries; traditional, religious and customary leaders; and
those engaged in development activities.
508
106
provide support to vulnerable girls and their families to offset the costs of education,
including by providing specific programs aimed at ensuring girls are able to succeed in,
and stay in, school. In particular, States should ensure that mechanisms are put in place
to ensure that girls stay in school despite economic strain on families and a potential
increase in the burden of care for women are needed. Conditional cash transfers have
been effective in many countries and should be combined with measures to reduce the
higher burden of care put on women and girls during crises. States should also
encourage young women to choose non-traditional fields of study and professions and
step up career guidance activities to encourage girls to pursue non-traditional paths.
States should also improve the gender awareness of teaching personnel at all levels of the
education system, and ensure that curricula promote the human rights of women and
girls, and combat gender stereotypes.
Employment
States should ensure that women have access to quality part-time and full-time work and
should adopt effective measures to eliminate occupational segregation, both horizontal
and vertical. States should reduce the wage gap between women and men and include
the principle of “equal pay for work of equal value” in all areas of work. States should
also ensure more flexible working opportunities for women, contributing to gendersensitive employment creation. States should also adopt, disseminate and effectively
implement legislation prohibiting and criminalizing sexual harassment in the workplace.
States should encourage balanced representation of both sexes in positions of senior
leadership (at both Board and management levels) through gender mainstreaming,
affirmative action, and active campaigns against gender stereotypes.
States should compensate for unequal employment opportunities based on gender –
principally compensating for the adverse impact of career breaks through paid leave and
right of return to post. States should also provide training and apprenticeship
opportunities to women and include the skills needed for new jobs in the future. States
should encourage implementation of Women’s Empowerment Principles509 by
businesses, so as to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community.
Maternity and Child Care
States should ensure that legislative and social policy frameworks at national level should
contain strong provisions on maternity protection, in keeping with ILO Convention No.
183 on Maternity Protection.
States should also reduce the burden of unpaid care work through provision of care
services – child care (and in some demographic contexts, care for elderly) being especially
correlated to women’s participation in the labor force.
Subtitled ‘Equality Means Business,’ the Principles emphasize the business case for corporate
action to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment and are informed by real-life business
practices and input gathered from across the globe. The Women’s Empowerment Principles seek to point
the way to best practice by elaborating the gender dimension of corporate responsibility, the UN Global
Compact, and business’ role in sustainable development. As well as being a useful guide for business, the
Principles seek to inform other stakeholders, including governments, in their engagement with business.
See: http://www.weprinciples.org
509
107
Reducing Women’s Caregiving Burden and Promoting Equal Sharing of Family
Responsibilities
States should ratify ILO Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981, (No.
156) and implement its corresponding Recommendation (No. 165). States should reduce
the burden of house work through better infrastructure – principally electricity, water,
sanitation, mobility and school access. States should support workers with family
responsibilities and facilitate a more even sharing of these responsibilities between the
sexes. In this regard, States should take steps to balance the gender division of paid and
unpaid work and invest in programs to increase fathers’ share of parenting and other
caregiving. There should be a focus on encouraging greater sharing of domestic labor so
that women do not continue to carry the majority of domestic tasks. States should also
carry out awareness-raising and education initiatives for both women and men on the
sharing of domestic and family responsibilities
States should ensure that the increase in unpaid care for women and girls that often
occurs in times of economic crisis needs to be mitigated against through the provision of
social care supports such as child-care services and support for elderly people and people
with disabilities.
Social Security and Social Protection
States should implement Recommendation 202 of the ILO on Social Protection Floors
(2012). States should combat gender inequality by creating and maintaining an adequate
Social Protection Floor and should ensure that social protection measures actively
promote gender equality and empowerment of women.
In the design and implementation of social protection systems, States should also take
into account the multiple forms of discrimination that women experience throughout
their lives and ensure that women’s specific needs are addressed throughout the life
cycle.
Public Financing and Economic Crisis Response
States should ensure that allocation of public resources promotes gender equality and
ensure that all proposed policies are subject routinely to gender impact assessment, as a
matter of good governance. States should finance public campaigns to challenge gender
stereotypes, and finance adequately implementation of legislation against discrimination.
In particular, States should combat patriarchal attitudes about men as primary economic
‘breadwinners.’
States should give systematic consideration to the differential gender impacts of the crisis
and of policy responses to the crisis; assess the impact of the economic crisis on women
and girls and take into account the gender dimension in future initiatives taken to
counteract the crisis or limit its impact. In regard to financial stimulus packages for
women’s employment, States should ensure that priorities do not focus only on
infrastructure projects which create jobs primarily for men but also social investments in
care services which reduce the pressure on unpaid work.
States should create jobs especially in the public sector by investing in social
infrastructure (education, health, child and dependent persons care), which would also
108
ease the disproportionate burden on women to enable them to participate in the labor
market. States should also allocate funding for social infrastructure investment, in areas
such as public health, education, child care, and other social services.
States should avoid austerity measures in general, but where unavoidable and justified
under international human rights law, should assess them carefully for gendered effects.
Gender Budgeting
States should ensure that participatory ender budgeting is a standard methodology of all
public budget processes and ensure oversight bodies have a quota for equal
representation of women. States should endeavor to ensure gender equality by
correcting negative consequences of ‘gender-blind’ budgets and improve governance and
accountability, in particular in respect of the financial targeting and future budgets.
States should improve women’s participation at all levels of decision-making, especially in
the areas of budgets and in respect of governance arrangements for financial systems.
Monitoring and Data Collection
States should effectively monitor and analyze women’s enjoyment of economic and
social rights, including by disaggregating key employment data by gender to improve
monitoring and analysis of the gender impact of the economic and financial crisis, and to
facilitate the identification of measures at national level to ameliorate adverse impacts.
5.2
Recommendations for United Nations Human Rights Bodies
Accountability for Women’s Economic and Social Rights
United Nations human rights bodies and special procedures should prioritize ensuring
access to timely and effective accountability mechanisms for violations of women’s
economic and social rights, and pay special attention to addressing any conceptual
tensions between the immediate obligations of States to ensure women’s right to equality
and the ‘progressive realization’ standard. They should encourage States that have not
done so to ratify international human rights treaties along with their Optional Protocols.
United Nations human rights bodies and special procedures should also encourage
effective implementation of human rights obligations in domestic laws, so as to ensure
women’s de jure and de facto equality, including in the sphere of economic and social life.
Normative Development of Women’s Economic and Social Rights
United Nations human rights bodies and special procedures should continue to provide
gender-sensitive analyses of substantive economic and social rights and their relationship
to women’s right to equality, including paying particular attention to the obligations of
States to respect, protect and fulfill women’s economic and social rights.
109
5.3
Recommendations to International and Regional Economic/Financial Actors and
Agencies
Internal Gender Policy
International and regional economic/financial actors and agencies should adopt and/or
strengthen internal gender policies so as to meaningfully reflect women’s rights to nondiscrimination and equality, as well as their substantive economic and social rights, as
guaranteed under international human rights law, in all decisions, policies and
programming.
Activities and Lending Practices which Detrimentally Impact Women
International and regional economic/financial actors and agencies should refrain from
activities and lending practices which result in violations of women’s rights to nondiscrimination and equality, as well as depravation of their substantive economic and
social rights. International and regional economic/financial actors and agencies should
also refrain from activities and lending practices which would result in adding to
women’s burden of care, for example, through cuts to social services and protection
benefits.
Effective Enforcement Mechanisms
International and regional economic/financial actors and agencies should ensure
effective enforcement mechanisms are in place through which women can effectively
lodge complaints related to violations of their rights and receive just and fair remedies.
Monitoring and Evaluation
International and regional economic/financial actors and agencies should continually
monitor and evaluate the impact of their decisions, policies and programming on
women’s rights to non-discrimination and equality, as well as their substantive economic
and social rights, and correct policies and programs which have a discriminatory impact
or effect.
110
ANNEX 1: SPECIFIC GUIDANCE AND RECOMMENDATIONS RELEVANT TO WOMEN’S
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS UNDER CEDAW
CEDAW General
Subject of
Recommendation CEDAW General
No.
Recommendation
General
Education and
Recommendation public information
no. 3
campaigns511
General
Temporary special
Recommendation measures512
no. 5
General
Effective national
Recommendation machinery and
no. 6
publicity513
General
Statistical data
Recommendation concerning the
no. 9
situation of
women514
General
Equal remuneration
Recommendation for work of equal
no. 13
value515
Specific Guidance and
Recommendations Relevant to
Women’s Economic and Social Rights510
Urges States to adopt education and public
information programs to eliminate
prejudices and current practices that hinder
the full operation of the principle of the
social equality of women.
Recommends that States make more use of
temporary special measures such as positive
action, preferential treatment or quota
systems to advance women’s integration
into education, the economy, politics and
employment.
Urges States to establish and/or strengthen
effective national machinery, institutions
and procedures, at a high level of
Government, and with adequate resources,
commitment and authority to: (a) Advise on
the impact on women of all government
policies; (b) Monitor the situation of women
comprehensively; and (c) Help formulate
new policies and effectively carry out
strategies and measures to eliminate
discrimination.
Recommends that States ensure that their
national statistical services responsible for
planning national censuses and other social
and economic surveys formulate their
questionnaires in such a way that data can
be disaggregated according to gender.
Encourages States to ratify the International
Labour Organisation Convention No. 100
concerning Equal Remuneration for Men
and Women Workers for Work of Equal
Value.
Please note that this is not meant to be a comprehensive listing. For more information and
further detail, please consult the citations provided for each of the General Recommendations.
511
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 3,
Education and public information campaigns (Sixth session, 1987), U.N. Doc. A/42/38 at 78 (1987).
512
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 5,
Temporary special measures (Seventh session, 1988), U.N. Doc. A/43/38 at 109 (1988).
513
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 6,
Effective national machinery and publicity (Seventh session, 1988), U.N. Doc. A/43/38 at 110 (1988).
514
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 9,
Statistical data concerning the situation of women (Eighth session, 1989) , U.N. Doc. A/44/38 at 73
(1990).
515
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 13,
Equal remuneration for work of equal value (Eighth session, 1989), U.N. Doc. A/44/38 at 76 (1990).
510
111
General
Female
Recommendation circumcision516
no. 14
General
Avoidance of
Recommendation discrimination
no. 15
against women in
national strategies
for the prevention
and control of
acquired
immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS)517
General
Unpaid women
Recommendation workers in rural and
no. 16
urban family
enterprises518
Recommends that States take appropriate
and effective measures with a view to
eradicating the practice of female
circumcision and that they include in their
national health policies appropriate
strategies aimed at eradicating female
circumcision in public health care.
Recommends (a) that that States intensify
efforts in disseminating information to
increase public awareness of the risk of HIV
infection and AIDS, especially in women
and children, and of its effects on them;
(b) that programs to combat AIDS should
give special attention to the rights and needs
of women and children, and to the factors
relating to the reproductive role of women
and their subordinate position in some
societies which make them especially
vulnerable to HIV infection; (c) that States
ensure the active participation of women in
primary health care and take measures to
enhance their role as care providers, health
workers and educators in the prevention of
infection with HIV; and (d) that States
include in their reports under article 12 of
the Convention information on the effects
of AIDS on the situation of women and on
the action taken to cater to the needs of
those women who are infected and to
prevent specific discrimination against
women in response to AIDS.
Affirms that unpaid work constitutes a form
of women’s exploitation that is contrary to
the Convention, and recommends that
States: (a) include in their reports to the
Committee information on the legal and
social situation of unpaid women working
in family enterprises; (b) collect statistical
data on women who work without payment,
social security and social benefits in
enterprises owned by a family member, and
include these data in their report to the
Committee; and (c) take the necessary steps
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 13,
Equal remuneration for work of equal value (Eighth session, 1989), U.N. Doc. A/44/38 at 76 (1990).
517
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 15,
Avoidance of discrimination against women in national strategies for the prevention and control of
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), (Ninth session, 1990), U.N. Doc. A/45/38 at 81 (1990).
518
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 16,
Unpaid women workers in rural and urban family enterprises (Tenth session, 1991), U.N. Doc. A/46/38 at
1 (1993).
516
112
General
Measurement and
Recommendation quantification of the
no. 17
unremunerated
domestic activities
of women and their
recognition in the
gross national
product519
General
Disabled women520
Recommendation
no. 18
General
Violence against
Recommendation women521
no. 19
General
Equality in marriage
Recommendation and family
to guarantee payment, social security and
social benefits for women who work
without such benefits in enterprises owned
by a family member.
Recommends that States encourage and
support research and experimental studies
to measure and value the unremunerated
domestic activities of women; for example,
by conducting time-use surveys as part of
their national household survey programs
and by collecting statistics disaggregated by
gender on time spent on activities both in
the household and on the labor market; and
that they take steps to quantify and include
the unremunerated domestic activities of
women in the gross national product.
Recommends that States provide
information on disabled women in their
periodic reports, and on measures taken to
deal with their particular situation, including
special measures to ensure that they have
equal access to education and employment,
health services and social security, and to
ensure that they can participate in all areas
of social and cultural life.
Provides various recommendations to States
related to elimination of violence against
women. Highlights that poverty and
unemployment increase opportunities for
trafficking in women, as well as force many
women, including young girls, into
prostitution. Notes that equality in
employment can be seriously impaired
when women are subjected to genderspecific violence, such as sexual harassment
in the workplace. Underscores that States
should take appropriate and effective
measures to overcome all forms of genderbased violence, whether by public or private
act. It also recognizes that lack of economic
independence forces many women to stay
in violent relationships.
Notes that the responsibilities that women
have to bear and raise children affect their
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 17,
Measurement and quantification of the unremunerated domestic activities of women and their recognition
in the gross national product (Tenth session, 1991), U.N. Doc. A/46/38 at 2 (1993).
520
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 18,
Disabled women (Tenth session, 1991), U.N. Doc. A/46/38 at 3 (1993).
521
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 19,
Violence against women (Eleventh session, 1992), U.N. Doc. A/47/38 at 1 (1993).
519
113
no. 21
relations522
General
Women and
Recommendation health523
no. 24
right of access to education, employment
and other activities related to their personal
development, and impose inequitable
burdens of work on women. The General
Recommendation also notes that women
have the right to choose a profession or
employment that is best suited to her
abilities, qualifications and aspirations. It
also reiterates a woman’s right to own,
manage, enjoy and dispose of property,
which “is central to a woman’s right to
enjoy financial independence.” This
General Recommendation also provides
specific guidance on marital property and
inheritance, and highlights that when girls
marry and have children, their health can be
adversely affected and their education is
impeded. As a result their economic
autonomy is restricted.
Requires States to eliminate discrimination
against women in their access to health-care
services throughout the life cycle,
particularly in the areas of family planning,
pregnancy and confinement and during the
post-natal period. Notes that the full
realization of women’s right to health can
be achieved only when States parties fulfill
their obligation to respect, protect and
promote women’s fundamental human right
to nutritional well-being throughout their
lifespan by means of a food supply that is
safe, nutritious and adapted to local
conditions. Notes socio-economic factors
that vary for women in general and some
groups of women in particular. For
example, unequal power relationships
between women and men in the home and
workplace may negatively affect women’s
nutrition and health. They may also be
exposed to different forms of violence
which can affect their health. Girl children
and adolescent girls are often vulnerable to
sexual abuse by older men and family
members, placing them at risk of physical
and psychological harm and unwanted and
early pregnancy. Some cultural or traditional
practices such as female genital mutilation
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 21,
Equality in marriage and family relations (Thirteenth session, 1992), U.N. Doc. A/49/38 at 1 (1994).
523
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 24,
Women and Health (Twentieth session, 1999), U.N. Doc. A/54/38 at 5 (1999).
522
114
General
Temporary special
Recommendation measures524
no. 25
General
Women migrant
Recommendation workers525
also carry a high risk of death and disability.
The General Recommendation underscores
the duty of States to take all appropriate
measures to ensure adequate living
conditions, particularly housing, sanitation,
electricity and water supply, transport and
communications, all of which are critical for
the prevention of disease and the
promotion of good health care. It further
calls upon States to ensure, on a basis of
equality of women and men, access to
health-care services, information and
education implies an obligation to respect,
protect and fulfill women’s rights to health
care.
Provides guidance on the concept of
substantive equality, highlighting that a
formal legal or programmatic approach is
not sufficient to achieve women’s de facto
equality with men, which the Committee
interprets as substantive equality. In
addition, the Convention requires that
women be given an equal start and that they
be empowered by an enabling environment
to achieve equality of results. It is not
enough to guarantee women treatment that
is identical to that of men. Rather, biological
as well as socially and culturally constructed
differences between women and men must
be taken into account. Under certain
circumstances, non-identical treatment of
women and men will be required in order to
address such differences. Pursuit of the goal
of substantive equality also calls for an
effective strategy aimed at overcoming
under-representation of women and a
redistribution of resources and power
between women and men. The General
Recommendation encourages States to
adopt temporary special measures to
accelerate the equal participation of women
in, inter alia, economic, social, and cultural
fields.
Describes the common responsibilities of
countries of origin and destination with
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 25,
Temporary special measures (Thirtieth session, 2004), reprinted in Compilation of General Comments and
General Recommendations Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7 at
282 (2004).
525
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 26,
Women Migrant Workers (Forty-second session, 2008), U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/2009/WP.1/R (2008).
524
115
no. 26
General
Older women and
Recommendation protection of their
no. 27
human rights526
General
Core obligations of
Recommendation States parties under
no. 28
Article 2527
respect to women migrant workers. The
General recommendation highlights the
obligation of States to ensure safe
migration procedures and the obligation to
respect, protect and fulfill the human rights
of women throughout the migration cycle.
Those obligations must be undertaken in
recognition of the social and economic
contributions of women migrant workers to
their own countries and countries of
destination, including through caregiving
and domestic work.
Notes that States have an obligation to
eliminate discrimination in all its forms
against older women in economic and social
life. In relation to work and pension
benefits, the General Recommendation
provides that States have an obligation to
ensure that pension policies are not
discriminatory in any manner, even when
women opt to retire early, and that all older
women who have been active have access to
adequate pensions. States parties should
adopt all appropriate measures, including,
where necessary, temporary special
measures, to guarantee such pensions. The
General Recommendation also provides
that States should ensure that older women,
including those who have the responsibility
for the care of children, have access to
appropriate social and economic benefits,
such as childcare benefits, as well as access
to all necessary support when caring for
elderly parents or relatives. Similarly, States
should provide adequate non-contributory
pensions, on an equal basis with men, to all
women who have no other pension or
insufficient income security, and Statefunded allowances should be made available
and accessible to older women, particularly
those living in remote or rural areas.
Notes that States must address all aspects of
their legal obligations under the Convention
to respect, protect and fulfill women’s right
to non-discrimination and to the enjoyment
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 27,
Older women and protection of their human rights (Forty-seventh session, 2010), U.N. Doc.
CEDAW/C/GC/27 (2010).
527
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 28,
The Core Obligations of States Parties under Article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women (Forty-seventh session, 2010), U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/28 (2010).
526
116
General
Economic
Recommendation consequences of
no. 29
marriage, family
relations and their
dissolution528
of equality. Notes also that States have an
obligation not to cause discrimination
against women through acts or omissions;
they are further obliged to react actively
against discrimination against women,
regardless of whether such acts or
omissions are perpetrated by the State or by
private actors.
Notes that family structures, gendered labor
division within the family and family laws
affect women’s economic well-being no less
than labor market structures and labor laws.
Indeed, women often do not equally enjoy
their family’s economic wealth and gains,
and they usually bear greater cost than men
upon the breakdown of the family and may
be left destitute upon widowhood,
especially if they have children and
particularly where the State provides little or
no economic safety net. The General
Recommendation makes various
recommendation with respect to
Constitutional and legal frameworks, forms
of family, economic aspects of family
formation, economic aspects during
relationship, and economic and financial
consequences upon dissolution of
relationships.
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation 29,
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution (Fifty-fourth session, 2013),
U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/29 (2013).
528
117
ANNEX 2: SPECIFIC GUIDANCE AND COMMENTS RELEVANT TO WOMEN’S
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS UNDER ICESCR
CESCR General
Comment No.
Subject of CESCR
General Comment
General
Comment no. 4
The right to
adequate housing530
General
Comment no. 5
Persons with
disabilities531
General
Comment no. 6
The economic,
social and cultural
rights of older
persons532
Specific Guidance and Comments
Relevant to Women’s Economic and
Social Rights529
Describes the content of the right to
adequate housing. Provides that the right to
adequate housing applies to everyone. While
the reference to “himself and his family”
reflects assumptions as to gender roles and
economic activity patterns commonly
accepted in 1966 when the Covenant was
adopted, the Committee notes that the
phrase cannot be read today as implying any
limitations upon the applicability of the
right to individuals or to female-headed
households or other such groups.
Notes that persons with disabilities are
sometimes treated as genderless human
beings. As a result, the double
discrimination suffered by women with
disabilities is often neglected. Despite
frequent calls by the international
community for particular emphasis to be
placed upon their situation, very few efforts
have been undertaken. The Committee
therefore urged States parties to address the
situation of women with disabilities, with
high priority being given in future to the
implementation of economic, social and
cultural rights-related programs. Provides
that women with disabilities also have the
right to protection and support in relation
to motherhood and pregnancy.
In accordance with article 3 of the
Covenant, by which States parties undertake
“to ensure the equal right of women and
men to the enjoyment of all economic,
social and cultural rights,” the Committee
considers that States parties should pay
particular attention to older women who,
because they have spent all or part of their
Please note that this is not meant to be a comprehensive listing. For more information and
further detail, please consult the citations provided for each of the General Comments.
530
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 4, The right to adequate
housing (Sixth session, 1991), U.N. Doc. E/1992/23, annex III at 114 (1991).
531
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 5, Persons with
disabilities (Eleventh session, 1994), U.N. Doc E/1995/22 at 19 (1995).
532
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General comment No. 6, The economic,
social and cultural rights of older persons (Thirteenth session, 1995), U.N. Doc. E/1996/22 at 20 (1996).
529
118
General
Comment no. 7
Forced evictions533
General
Comment no. 12
The right to
adequate food534
lives caring for their families without
engaging in a remunerated activity entitling
them to an old-age pension, and who are
also not entitled to a widow’s pension, are
often in critical situations. In addition, to
deal with such situations and comply fully
with article 9 of the Covenant and
paragraph 2 (h) of the Proclamation on
Ageing, States parties should institute noncontributory old-age benefits or other
assistance for all persons, regardless of their
sex, who find themselves without resources
on attaining an age specified in national
legislation. Given their greater life
expectancy and the fact that it is more often
they who have no contributory pensions,
women would be the principal beneficiaries.
Notes that women, children, youth, older
persons, indigenous people, ethnic and
other minorities, and other vulnerable
individuals and groups all suffer
disproportionately from the practice of
forced eviction. Women in all groups are
especially vulnerable given the extent of
statutory and other forms of discrimination
which often apply in relation to property
rights (including home ownership) or rights
of access to property or accommodation,
and their particular vulnerability to acts of
violence and sexual abuse when they are
rendered homeless. The non-discrimination
provisions of articles 2.2 and 3 of the
Covenant impose an additional obligation
upon Governments to ensure that, where
evictions do occur, appropriate measures
are taken to ensure that no form of
discrimination is involved.
Outlines the content of the right to food
and notes that national strategies to ensure
food and nutrition security for all should
give particular attention to the need to
prevent discrimination in access to food or
resources for food. This should include:
guarantees of full and equal access to
economic resources, particularly for women,
including the right to inheritance and the
ownership of land and other property,
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 7, Forced evictions, and
the right to adequate housing (Sixteenth session, 1997), U.N. Doc. E/1998/22, annex IV at 113 (1997).
534
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 12, Right to adequate
food (Twentieth session, 1999), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1999/5 (1999).
533
119
General
Comment no. 13
The right to
education535
General
Comment no. 14
The right to the
highest attainable
standard of health536
credit, natural resources and appropriate
technology; measures to respect and protect
self-employment and work which provides
a remuneration ensuring a decent living for
wage earners and their families (as stipulated
in article 7 (a) (ii) of the Covenant);
maintaining registries on rights in land
(including forests).
Notes that States have obligations to
respect, protect and fulfill each of the
“essential features” (availability,
accessibility, acceptability, adaptability) of
the right to education. By way of
illustration, a State must protect the
accessibility of education by ensuring that
third parties, including parents and
employers, do not stop girls from going to
school. Provides also that States parties are
obliged to remove gender and other
stereotyping which impedes the educational
access of girls, women and other
disadvantaged groups.
Provides that States are obligated to abstain
from imposing discriminatory practices
relating to women’s health status and needs.
States are also obliged to ensure that
harmful social or traditional practices do
not interfere with access to pre- and postnatal care and family-planning; to prevent
third parties from coercing women to
undergo traditional practices, e.g. female
genital mutilation; and to take measures to
protect all vulnerable or marginalized
groups of society, in particular women,
children, adolescents and older persons, in
the light of gender-based expressions of
violence. Notes further that the failure to
protect women against violence or to
prosecute perpetrators and the failure to
discourage the continued observance of
harmful traditional medical or cultural
practices constitute violations of the
Covenant. For girls, the General Comment
notes that implementation of the principle
of non-discrimination requires that girls, as
well as boys, have equal access to adequate
nutrition, safe environments, and physical as
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 13, The right to
education (Twenty-first session, 1999), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1999/10 (1999).
536
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 14, The right to the
highest attainable standard of health (Twenty-second session, 2000), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2000/4 (2000).
535
120
General
Comment no. 15
The right to water537
General
Comment no. 16
The equal right of
men and women to
the enjoyment of all
economic, social
and cultural rights538
well as mental health services. There is a
need to adopt effective and appropriate
measures to abolish harmful traditional
practices affecting the health of children,
particularly girls, including early marriage,
female genital mutilation, preferential
feeding and care of male children.
Notes that States must give attention should
be given to ensuring that disadvantaged and
marginalized farmers, including women
farmers, have equitable access to water and
water management systems, including
sustainable rain harvesting and irrigation
technology. Provides that whereas the right
to water applies to everyone, States parties
should give special attention to those
individuals and groups who have
traditionally faced difficulties in exercising
this right, including women. In particular,
States parties should take steps to ensure
that women are not excluded from decisionmaking processes concerning water
resources and entitlements. The
disproportionate burden women bear in the
collection of water should be alleviated.
Provides further that States parties have an
obligation to progressively extend safe
sanitation services, particularly to rural and
deprived urban areas, taking into account
the needs of women and children.
Provides a conceptual framework on the
right to equality and the right to nondiscrimination. Notes that the essence of
article 3 of the ICESCR is that the rights set
forth in the Covenant are to be enjoyed by
women and men on a basis of equality, a
concept that carries substantive meaning.
While expressions of formal equality may be
found in constitutional provisions,
legislation and policies of governments,
Article 3 also mandates the equal enjoyment
of the rights in the Covenant for women
and men in practice. The General
Comment also provides guidance on
temporary special measures, noting that the
principles of equality and non-
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, The right to water
(Twenty-ninth session, 2003), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2002/11 (2002).
538
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 16, Article 3: the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty- fourth
session, 2005), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2005/3 (2005).
537
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General
Comment no. 18
The right to work539
discrimination, by themselves, are not
always sufficient to guarantee true equality.
Temporary special measures may sometimes
be needed in order to bring disadvantaged
or marginalized persons or groups of
persons to the same substantive level as
others. Temporary special measures aim at
realizing not only de jure or formal equality,
but also de facto or substantive equality for
women and men. However, the application
of the principle of equality will sometimes
require that States parties take measures in
favor of women in order to attenuate or
suppress conditions that perpetuate
discrimination. As long as these measures
are necessary to redress de facto
discrimination, and are terminated when de
facto equality is achieved, such differentiation
is legitimate. The General Comment also
provides specific guidance on State
Obligations, as well as implementation at
the national level.
Notes that Article 3 of the Covenant
prescribes that States parties undertake to
“ensure the equal right of men and women
to the enjoyment of all economic, social and
cultural rights.” The Committee underlined
the need for a comprehensive system of
protection to combat gender discrimination
and to ensure equal opportunities and
treatment between women and men in
relation to their right to work by ensuring
equal pay for work of equal value.6 In
particular, pregnancies must not constitute
an obstacle to employment and should not
constitute justification for loss of
employment. Lastly, emphasis should be
placed on the link between the fact that
women often have less access to education
than men and certain traditional cultures
which compromise the opportunities for
the employment and advancement of
women. Notes that States parties are bound
by the obligation to respect the right of
women and young persons to have access
to decent work and thus to take measures to
combat discrimination and to promote
equal access and opportunities. Notes also
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 18, Article 6: the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Thirty-fifth session,
2006), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/GC/18 (2006).
539
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General
Comment no. 19
The right to social
security540
that the strategies, programs and policies
adopted by States parties under structural
adjustment programs should not interfere
with their core obligations in relation to the
right to work and impact negatively on the
right to work of women, young persons and
the disadvantaged and marginalized
individuals and groups. Provides that
national employment strategies must take
particular account of the need to eliminate
discrimination in access to employment.
They must ensure equal access to economic
resources and to technical and vocational
training, particularly for women.
Notes that Article 10 of the Covenant
expressly provides that “working mothers
should be accorded paid leave or leave with
adequate social security benefits.” Paid
maternity leave should be granted to all
women, including those involved in atypical
work, and benefits should be provided for
an adequate period.16 Appropriate medical
benefits should be provided for women and
children, including perinatal, childbirth and
postnatal care and care in hospital where
necessary. Implementation of Article 3 in
relation to Article 9 requires, inter alia,
equalization of the compulsory retirement
age for both women and men; ensuring that
women receive equal benefits in both public
and private pension schemes; and
guaranteeing adequate maternity leave for
women, paternity leave for men, and
parental leave for both women and men. In
social security schemes that link benefits
with contributions, States parties should
take steps to eliminate the factors that
prevent women from making equal
contributions to such schemes (for example,
intermittent participation in the workforce
on account of family responsibilities and
unequal wage outcomes) or ensure that
schemes take account of such factors in the
design of benefit formulas (for example by
considering child rearing periods or periods
to take care of adult dependents in relation
to pension entitlements). Differences in the
average life expectancy of women and men
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 19, The right to social
security (art. 9) (Thirty-ninth session, 2007), U.N. Doc. E/C.12/GC/19 (2008).
540
123
General
Comment no. 20
Non-discrimination
in economic, social
and cultural rights541
can also lead directly or indirectly to
discrimination in provision of benefits
(particularly in the case of pensions) and
thus need to be taken into account in the
design of schemes. Non-contributory
schemes must also take account of the fact
that women are more likely to live in
poverty than men and often have sole
responsibility for the care of children.
In order for States parties to “guarantee”
that Covenant rights will be exercised
without discrimination of any kind,
discrimination must be eliminated both
formally and substantively. On formal
discrimination, eliminating formal
discrimination requires ensuring that a
State’s constitution, laws and policy
documents do not discriminate on
prohibited grounds; for example, laws
should not deny equal social security
benefits to women on the basis of their
marital status. Some individuals or groups
of individuals face discrimination on more
than one of the prohibited grounds, for
example women belonging to an ethnic or
religious minority. Such cumulative
discrimination has a unique and specific
impact on individuals and merits particular
consideration and remedying. Notes that
‘sex’ is an expressed ground for
discrimination, and notes that since the
adoption of the Covenant, the notion of the
prohibited ground ‘sex’ has evolved
considerably to cover not only physiological
characteristics but also the social
construction of gender stereotypes,
prejudices and expected roles, which have
created obstacles to the equal fulfillment of
economic, social and cultural rights. Thus,
the refusal to hire a woman, on the ground
that she might become pregnant, or the
allocation of low-level or part-time jobs to
women based on the stereotypical
assumption that, for example, they are
unwilling to commit as much time to their
work as men, constitutes discrimination.
Refusal to grant paternity leave may also
amount to discrimination against men.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 20, NonDiscrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 2, para. 2) U.N. Doc. E/C.12/GC/20 (2009).
541
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