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Gender Equality and Development
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Despite significant achievements, inequalities between men and women are still persisting.
International frameworks such as the Beijing Platform for Action (United Nations 1995b) and the Millennium Declaration (United Nations 2000b) have made us aware of the progress made and of the
challenges society is still facing:
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The recently achieved parity in primary education is not reflected in the secondary and tertiary levels.
Women's participation to economic and political decision-making
is still much lower than men's. Though women have entered paid employment in great numbers,
they are still often concentrated in lower paid, less protected jobs,
and they are overrepresented in the informal economy.
Gender-based violence still devastates the lives of
women and men world-wide.
The plague of HIV/AIDS, takes its toll on women and men but is disproportionately putting
the burden of caring for the sick on women and girls.
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There is no country in the world, yet, where women and girls can
be said to be fully enjoying their fundamental human rights.
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Do you encounter or observe inequality?
Do you feel more or less powerful as the other sex?
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The primary reason why gender equality is a global developmental objective
is that it is a fundamental human right, which is
impaired by the persistence of specific social, cultural and economic biases against women.
Discrimination against is one of the major causes of
gender inequality and it needs to be eliminated through dedicated legal provisions and actions.
The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (United Nations 1979),
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979, is often described as the
international bill of women's rights.
It provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through ensuring women's
equal access to – and equal opportunities in – political and public life, as well as
education, health and employment. The Convention makes it clear that gender discrimination
is not only about denied opportunities and unequal outcomes, it is first and foremost a
violation of the human rights of women.
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To read the text of the Convention open the link in the right-hand column:
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A number of important international documents, such as the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (OHCHR 1948) and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OHCHR 1966a) and International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (OHCHR 1966b), had previously aimed at ensuring equal
enjoyment of rights to both women and men. However, such documents did not specifically
address the issue of existing gender inequalities as a major obstacle for the enjoyment of
rights on equal grounds. CEDAW (United Nations 1979) reformulates the
issue of women's rights as a problem of access – to
health, education, economic assets, land, credit, natural resources, but also to paid
employment and political representation. Thus, it establishes a comprehensive concept of
equality, one that is both formal and substantive:
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- FORMAL EQUALITY (or equality de jure)
implies
equality of treatment under the law in terms of
procedures, and refers to the legal status of women
and men in the society. From the state's side, this implies a 'negative'
obligation, i.e. the obligation not to violate a
citizen's right to vote, to express their opinions, to receive appropriate education and
health assistance etc.
- SUBSTANTIVE EQUALITY (or equality de facto),
on
the other hand, refers to the equality of outcomes:
it implies a principle of non-discrimination (both
direct and indirect), and refers to the actual possibility of women and men to enjoy
such rights.
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From the state's side, this implies a 'positive' obligation
to intervene and provide appropriately targeted policies and programs aimed at ensuring
equal access to public goods such as education, health assistance, natural resources,
employment etc. The importance of CEDAW lies in this unprecedented focus on state obligation.
By ratifying the Convention, states are legally bound to undertake a series of measures
to end discrimination against women in all forms, including to:
- incorporate the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system, abolish all discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate
ones prohibiting discrimination against women;
- establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination; and
- ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises.
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The enforcement of the principles contained in the Convention is closely monitored by the
CEDAW Committee, which meets in New York under the auspices of the UN Commission
on the Status of Women (CSW).
Countries which have ratified CEDAW must produce an initial report
one year after ratification and periodic reports every four years thereafter, describing
the progress achieved on the implementation of the
Convention and on the overall situation of women in their country.
In many countries a 'shadow' report is also produced by
NGOs and civil society groups. As of August 2006, 184 countries – over ninety percent of
the members to the United Nations – were party to the Convention.
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