The Purpose of Module 4The purpose of this module is to provide an overview of the ESC rights of women. Show
The module
Introduction
This excerpt from the magazine Far Eastern Economic Review graphically captures the mul�tifaceted discrimination and exploitation faced by women.� Processes of political and eco�nomic transformation that have changed the face of the world over the past decades have had a profound impact on the lives of women.� Many of these changes have been positive.� Some, however, have strengthened the bonds of subordination and discrimination against women, restricting them from enjoyment of their economic and social rights.� Internal conflicts and wars have led to displacement and destruction of property and livelihoods, which place women in an ever more vulnerable position.� Military conflict also results in an increase in violence and crime, and women and girls become particular targets.� Extremism and religious fundamentalism deny women’s autonomy and subject them to the most cruel and inhuman of punishments for “transgression” of norms laid out by those in power within the hierarchies that rule these movements.� The rapid globalization of the world’s economies has brought in its wake not only structural adjustment programs that weaken national economies and nation-states, but also promotion of forms of industrialization and agriculture that are more exploitative of both human and natural resources.� Statistics show that the female labor force is the most affected.� In addi�tion, as the poor of the world become poorer, women become the poorest of them all; the “feminization” of poverty is a reality in the contemporary world.� A decrease in social spending—for example, on public health, education, transport, food and fertilizer subsidies—has been a critical part of the “structural adjustment programs” imposed on many countries by the international financial institutions.� This decrease has had a disastrous impact on the quality of life of populations in general, and on disadvantaged communities, such as women, in particular.� (See Module 26 for more on this issue.) The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 1993 high�lighted various areas in which women fare worse than men in accessing as well as enjoying ESC entitlements:
Understanding Gender Ideology and Its PracticeThe question of gender is normally ignored in the development of policies or programs for dealing with economic, social and cultural issues.� The 1995 UNDP Human Development Report rightly stated, “For too long it was assumed that development was a process that lifts all boats . . . that it was gender neutral in its impact.� Experience teaches otherwise.” [3] � It is thus essential to understand gender ideology and ensure that women’s perspective is not ignored or undermined by activists working in the field of ESC rights.� Differentiation based on gender (male-female) forms the core of gender ideology.� Biological differences are real (e.g., chromosomes, external and internal genitalia, hormonal states and secondary sex characteristics) and lead to the determination of the male or female sex.� Through gender ideology, however, these differences are extended to the social milieu and are taken for granted in establishing social position and hierarchy, providing access to re�sources and participation in society, and creating stereotyped roles for men and women.� On the basis of sex differences, a superordinate-subordinate hierarchy is established, through which males have access to land holdings, inheritance, skills, productive employment and the associated high status.� Women, on the other hand, receive poor nutrition and medical care, and inferior education; they suffer violence and are even denied life (female infanticide). Social institutions such as the family, religious groups or caste systems; political and legal structures; economic and educational institutions; and the mass media—all are permeated with norms and values that discriminate against women and legitimize and institutionalize social placements on the basis of gender.� Invisible WorkTanning of animal hides is a major export earning industry in the State of Tamil Nadu, India. Tanning is listed as one of the most hazardous industries in the state's Factories Act; it is considered seven times more hazardous than the next industry on the list. Employment of children and women in this industry is banned. A study on the tanning industry in the state found, however, that a large number of women are employed in contravention of the law. They are also involved in the most hazardous stage of production. Since their employment is illegal, it is hidden. They are never recorded as workers, so they have no rights or any form of protection under the existing industrial laws. 4 Applying a gender perspective would change the manner in which we articulate ESC rights.� The following are some examples: 1.� Right to Work and Rights at Work From a gender perspective, the meaning of work would be changed to include unpaid work at home, on the family farm, and elsewhere, work that is currently not valued by society.� A redefinition of work would recog�nize women’s productive labor and enable women to profitably engage in home-based work. Women are currently relegated to low-paid and low-skilled jobs; this needs to be rectified.� A fresh per�spective would help ensure that women have flexible working hours and that they are reintegrated into the labor force after time off for marriage and childbirth without penalization for absence.� Rights at work would include protection from sexual harassment in the work place, trade unions and labor organizations.� They would also include provision of nursing breaks for breast-feeding mothers, and establishment of cr�ches and day-care centers; separate toilet facilities and free access to them; provision of dayrooms for rest and recognition of men�struation-related health problems as the basis of rest breaks; and ensuring participation of women in trade unions by holding meetings at times that are convenient to women. (See Module 10 for more on the right to work and rights at work.) 2.� Land Rights and Right to Property Women’s claims to land bring into question their capacity to enjoy equal rights in every sphere—civil, political, economic, social and cultural.�� Women’s rights to equal inheritance, to equal shares of matrimonial property, to recognition as legitimate and legal owners of land and property, who can buy, sell, lease and raise loans on the basis of that property, are denied all over the world, in a wide range of cultures and communities.� (See Module 18.) Zimbabwe's Supreme Court Rules against Women's InheritanceIn a case involving inheritance rights, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe issued a landmark decision in April 1999, giving precedence to customary law over the Constitution. In this case, Venia Magaya, a 58-year-old seamstress, sued her half brother for ownership of her deceased father's land after her brother evicted her from the home. Under the Zimbabwean constitution, Magaya had a right to the land. However, the court ruled unanimously that women should not be able to inherit land, " because of the consideration in the African society which, amongst other factors, was to the effect that women were not able to look after their original family (of birth) because of their commitment to the new family (through marriage)." The court backed up its decision by referring to Section 23 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. This section recognizes exceptions to the general rule against discrimination when it involves adoption, marriage, divorce, burial, devolution of property on death or other matters of personal law and in applying African customary law. Essentially, by making this judgment, the Supreme Court elevated customary law beyond constitutional scrutiny. 5 3.� Right to Health
See Module 14 for more on the right to health. Women’s Rights as Human Rights Some history Women have struggled in every historical epoch and in every part of the world for equal treatment. In the early part of this century, the right of women to receive an education, to obtain paid employment, to enter professions, to vote and to stand for elections were all highly contested issues.� However, by the end of the century these rights, which could be de�scribed as a part of the “liberal democratic” political agenda, have been both recognized and established through law and customary practice in most societies.� However, women in many parts of the world still face multiple obstacles in enjoying these rights. Women’s ability to enjoy civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights is interlinked with the issue of discrimination.� Discrimination based on gender ideology and patriarchy was not initially considered as part of the human rights agenda. Excluding sex discrimination and violence against women from the human rights agenda also results from a failure to see the oppression of women as political.� Female subordination runs so deep that it is still viewed as inevitable or natural rather than as a politically constructed reality maintained by patriarchal interests, ideology, and institutions.7 For many years the women’s movement has organized women at local, national, regional and international levels.� In recent decades, however, the movement has sought to use the human rights framework to mainstream women’s issues, rather than have the movement remain on the sidelines, benefiting from special programs, or continuing as a movement separate and apart from the rest of the human rights movement.� The Unfinished HistoryThe history of women's rights can in a brutal simplification be described as circular. A very early period of sex equality seems to have been followed by a long period of retrogression, then by efforts to regain some of the lost equality . . . Descriptions of a general downward trend in societal recognition of women's equality hide their efforts to challenge inequality . . . Women martyrs are rarely known, but in every society, in every generation, there were women who led the way. For example, Fatimih Umm Salamih lived in Persia in the nineteenth century. She was born in 1817 and became known as Tahirih (The Pure One). She challenged the rules of the time, which relegated women to inferiority, and championed equality between men and women. She was murdered in 1852 and her body was thrown into a well which was then filled with stones. She was killed but not silenced; her last words were recorded: "You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women." In the modern period, women have been active in the labour movement. The 1918 Rice Riots in Japan were triggered off when women port workers refused to load rice and were joined by other workers; this led to a long struggle and a political crisis. In China in 1922 many thousands of workers in 70 Shanghai silk factories went on strike, calling for increased wages and a ten hour working day; this was the first important strike by Chinese women workers. In India and Sri Lanka, in the years after World War I, women workers were active participants in militant industrial agitation and strikes. To give only one example from the region, the most militant activists of the Ceylon Labour Union, which led strikes in Sri Lanka in the 1920s, were women factory workers in Colombo; they used to dress in red, were the most vociferous of the strikers and picketers, and formed a bodyguard for male trade union leaders during demonstrations. In Iran, Egypt and Turkey women were to join with men in the formation of left-wing political groups and trade unions, in spite of repression and adverse conditions for mobilizing the people.8 The women’s movement has used the Convention on the Elimina�tion of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as an ef�fective tool for bringing women’s issues into the rights arena.� Another major strategy has been to use the opportu�nities presented by international meetings and UN confer�ences.� The unprecedented mobilization of women at the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights in 1991 led to the inclusion of women’s human rights within the Vienna Declaration.� The groups and networks that became active during that process continued on to target other UN con�ferences—the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the 1995 World Sum�mit on Social Development and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women.� Women’s human rights activism has focused on expanding existing definitions of rights to include more gender-specific sensitivity to abuse as well as to provide gender-sensitive solutions and re�dress.� In addition, it has focused on the inter-sec�tionality of rights, seeking to correlate the princi�ples enunciated in separate conventions and covenants with each other.� This has most successfully been done with the Convention on the Elimina�tion of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (hereafter referred to as the Women’s Convention). As a part of this exercise, violence against women has been framed as a violation of the right to life; the right not to be subjected to torture or to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treat�ment or punishment; the right to equal protection under the law; the right to liberty and secu�rity of person; and the right to the highest standard of physical and mental health.� Freedom of expression and association have been additional critical areas under which diverse issues, ranging from the denial of access to information regarding contraceptives to the forced veil�ing of women, have been considered.� The mainstreaming of women’s rights issues within the human rights movement and agenda has involved both conceptual and programmatic challenges: Women’s rights—public and private sphere divideBecause women are defined in most human rights instruments in terms of their child-bearing and familial responsibilities, and because the family, which is a site of violence and oppres�sion for many women, continues to be described as the primary unit of society, there are se�vere limitations on the possibility of according equal treatment to women within the existing human rights regime. The division between the “public” and “private” spheres constitutes the foundation for all forms of discrimination against women.� In the so-called private arena, the equal treatment of women remains extremely controversial.� The primacy of woman’s biological and reproduc�tive roles in defining her identity and her role in society is reinforced by social and cultural norms the world over.� Critical areas of human life such as marriage, divorce, maintenance, custody of children and inheritance continue to be determined according to religious, tradi�tional and customary practices in many countries.� Domestic violence, incest and marital rape are perceived as “private” matters and therefore “outside” the purview of the law.� These at�titudes are also articulated through many, varied legal systems and frameworks.� Given this context, women’s capacity to enjoy economic and social rights is often constrained by eco�nomic dependence and social attitudes that affirm her secondary and subordinate status in society. The right to be treated on an equal basis with men when it comes to domestic and family matters is essential for women’s economic and social freedom.� The Women’s Convention remains the instrument with the largest number of reservations by governments ratifying in�ternational human rights conventions.� The fact that almost all of the reservations focus on the spirit of the Convention, which calls for changing unequal power relations between men and women in the private sphere, speaks to the resistance to this area of women’s rights. Since civil and political rights have dominated human rights concerns over the last five dec�ades, the focus has been on the negative obligation of the state to refrain from action as op�posed to its positive obligation to intervene.� This, in turn, has strengthened the private/public dichotomy; the state was expected to refrain from interfering in the private sphere.� The em�phasis on constraints of state power has meant that gender inequality has been seen as falling under development policy rather than as part of the state’s affirmative human rights obliga�tions.� Understanding of the responsibility of nonstate actors has, however, been evolving in recent years, and this has and will have a bearing on this private/public sphere debate.� (See Module 9 for further discussion on this point.) Women’s rights and universality The principle of universality—that human rights belong to all human beings on an equal ba�sis (see Module 2)—is an extremely critical, and sometimes hotly contested, concept within the struggle for women’s human rights.� Many customary practices, traditions and religious beliefs relegate women to a secondary status and sometimes even deny adult women their legal majority.� Most women define themselves, both as individuals and as members of communities, in terms of cultural factors that are inextricably linked to the social and eco�nomic aspects of their lives.� In a world where conflicts based on differences and identities are rampant, the issue of cultural rights remains one of the most controversial and divisive.� This makes the consideration of cultural rights from a women’s rights perspective very problematic.� The Women’s Convention reflects a clear awareness of this dilemma; in article 5(a) it calls on states parties to the Convention
While respect for diversity and for diverse forms of social and cultural expression and identity must guide adherence to human rights princi�ples, women's rights activists argue for transformation of these practices and beliefs on the basis of recogni�tion of the dignity and worth of women as full human beings.� Women’s human rights groups, while organizing cross-culturally, remain sensitive to the needs and de�sires of every region of the world.� This sensitivity is a challenge for human rights activists in general and those involved in ESC rights activ�ism in particular.� Ar�ticulating and advocating for ESC rights requires a process that respects diversity as well as consensus.� (See Module 17 for a more in-depth discussion of cultural rights.) "Tradition" and Women's RightsThe extreme extent to which culture and tradition can be used by those supporting patriarchical interests came to light in the State of Uttar Pradesh in India. A women's group, Vanangana, rescued an 11-year old girl who was being abused by her father. The organization helped the child and her mother seek protection and also took legal action against the father. The accused and his supporters in turn filed several false charges against, and published pamphlets attacking, the members of the women's organization. They charged that the organization was destroying the institution of the family and attacking Indian culture.9 Women’s rights and the indivisibility of human rights The experiences of women all over the world point to the impossibility of their enjoying their ESC rights as a result of situations where their freedom and autonomy are constrained.�� For example, the capacity of a woman worker to enjoy to the full her freedom to work, to receive equal pay, to organize or to be an active member in a workers’ organization is restricted by the prescription of a clearly defined role for her within the family and the community.�� So�cial expectations that she fulfill her role as wife, housewife and mother combine with cultural sanctions that impose restrictions on her mobility and on her ability to interact on equal terms with male colleagues in public spaces.� Together these create a situation in which a woman worker’s capacity to become a leader in the workers’ movement is severely hampered.� Thus, a focus on the indivisibility of human rights is a critical part of women’s activism. Empowering Women |