importance of protecting women's rights essay

Essay On Women Rights

500 words essay on women rights.

Women rights are basic human rights claimed for women and girls all over the world. It was enshrined by the United Nations around 70 years ago for every human on the earth. It includes many things which range from equal pay to the right to education. The essay on women rights will take us through this in detail for a better understanding.

Importance of Women Rights

Women rights are very important for everyone all over the world. It does not just benefit her but every member of society. When women get equal rights, the world can progress together with everyone playing an essential role.

If there weren’t any women rights, women wouldn’t have been allowed to do something as basic as a vote. Further, it is a game-changer for those women who suffer from gender discrimination .

Women rights are important as it gives women the opportunity to get an education and earn in life. It makes them independent which is essential for every woman on earth. Thus, we must all make sure women rights are implemented everywhere.

How to Fight for Women Rights

All of us can participate in the fight for women rights. Even though the world has evolved and women have more freedom than before, we still have a long way to go. In other words, the fight is far from over.

First of all, it is essential to raise our voices. We must make some noise about the issues that women face on a daily basis. Spark up conversations through your social media or make people aware if they are misinformed.

Don’t be a mute spectator to violence against women, take a stand. Further, a volunteer with women rights organisations to learn more about it. Moreover, it also allows you to contribute to change through it.

Similarly, indulge in research and event planning to make events a success. One can also start fundraisers to bring like-minded people together for a common cause. It is also important to attend marches and protests to show actual support.

History has been proof of the revolution which women’s marches have brought about. Thus, public demonstrations are essential for demanding action for change and impacting the world on a large level.

Further, if you can, make sure to donate to women’s movements and organisations. Many women of the world are deprived of basic funds, try donating to organizations that help in uplifting women and changing their future.

You can also shop smartly by making sure your money is going for a great cause. In other words, invest in companies which support women’s right or which give equal pay to them. It can make a big difference to women all over the world.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Women Rights

To sum it up, only when women and girls get full access to their rights will they be able to enjoy a life of freedom . It includes everything from equal pay to land ownerships rights and more. Further, a country can only transform when its women get an equal say in everything and are treated equally.

FAQ of Essay on Women Rights

Question 1: Why are having equal rights important?

Answer 1: It is essential to have equal rights as it guarantees people the means necessary for satisfying their basic needs, such as food, housing, and education. This allows them to take full advantage of all opportunities. Lastly, when we guarantee life, liberty, equality, and security, it protects people against abuse by those who are more powerful.

Question 2: What is the purpose of women’s rights?

Answer 2: Women’s rights are the essential human rights that the United Nations enshrined for every human being on the earth nearly 70 years ago. These rights include a lot of rights including the rights to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination. In addition to the right to education, own property; vote and to earn a fair and equal wage.

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Essay on Importance of Women’s Rights

Students are often asked to write an essay on Importance of Women’s Rights in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Importance of Women’s Rights

Introduction.

Women’s rights are crucial for a balanced society. They ensure equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender.

Equality and Fairness

Women’s rights promote equality and fairness. They ensure women can work, study, and live without discrimination.

Women’s rights guarantee access to education for girls. This helps them become independent and contribute to society.

Economic Growth

When women can work and earn, it boosts economic growth. Women’s rights are thus vital for a country’s development.

In conclusion, women’s rights are essential for equality, education, and economic growth. They help create a fair and progressive society.

250 Words Essay on Importance of Women’s Rights

Women’s rights are fundamental to the progress of any society. They ensure equal opportunities and freedoms for half of the global population, creating a balanced, fair, and inclusive world.

Historical Context

Historically, women have faced systemic oppression and discrimination. They were denied basic rights, such as the right to vote, own property, or receive an education. The struggle for women’s rights began in earnest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the suffragette movement.

Economic Impact

Women’s rights are crucial for economic development. When women are educated and allowed to participate fully in the workforce, economies thrive. According to the World Bank, gender equality can enhance productivity and improve other development outcomes, including prospects for the next generation.

Social Impact

Women’s rights also have a profound social impact. They help break down patriarchal norms that have perpetuated gender inequalities. Empowered women can challenge these norms, fostering more equitable societies.

While significant strides have been made in advancing women’s rights, much remains to be done. Persistent issues such as gender-based violence, wage gaps, and underrepresentation in leadership roles underscore the ongoing need for advocacy. The importance of women’s rights cannot be overstated; they are not just women’s issues, but human rights and development issues that affect us all.

500 Words Essay on Importance of Women’s Rights

The historical context of women’s rights.

The struggle for women’s rights has been a long-standing issue spanning across centuries. Historically, women were confined to domestic roles, denied education, voting rights, and equal pay. However, through persistent efforts and global movements, women have achieved significant milestones.

Women’s Rights as Human Rights

Women’s rights are an integral part of human rights, grounded in the principle of equality. They encompass a broad spectrum of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. These include the right to life, freedom from violence, participation in public affairs, equal pay for equal work, and access to education and health services. By ensuring women’s rights, we uphold the fundamental dignity and equality of all human beings.

The Economic Imperative of Women’s Rights

Women’s rights also have an economic dimension. Women constitute roughly half of the global population, and their active participation in the economy can significantly boost growth. The World Bank estimates that gender inequality in earnings could cost the global economy $160.2 trillion. Hence, ensuring women’s rights to work and equal pay is not just a moral obligation but an economic necessity.

The Societal Impact of Women’s Rights

The societal implications of women’s rights are profound. Empowered women contribute to the health and productivity of families and communities, and they can influence the next generation through their roles as mothers and educators. Studies show that women’s education is linked to lower maternal and child mortality rates, improved child nutrition, and increased school enrollment.

Challenges to Women’s Rights

Despite significant progress, women’s rights remain a contentious issue. Women worldwide continue to face discrimination, violence, and lack of access to quality education and health services. In many parts of the world, women are still denied their right to participate in political processes, and gender wage gaps persist.

The Way Forward

Addressing these challenges requires concerted efforts at all levels. Governments, civil society, and individuals must work together to eliminate discriminatory laws and practices, promote gender equality in public and private life, and ensure women’s full and effective participation in decision-making processes.

In conclusion, women’s rights are vital for the realization of human rights, economic growth, and societal development. While significant strides have been made, the journey towards full gender equality is still ongoing. It is incumbent upon us all to continue advocating for women’s rights and strive for a world where every woman has the opportunity to fulfill her potential, free from discrimination and violence.

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Power of Women’s Rights Essay

Introduction, works cited.

The struggle for women’s rights and abolition were intricately linked movements of the 19 th century. Professor Kelton in fact has argued that the former was in many ways an unintended outcome of the latter. Kathryn Kish Sklar is one of the women who were born in the early 19 th century and played a great role of ensuring that women achieve their equality with their male counterparts.

Thus, the 19 th century marked an era when this feminist views gradually came into play and greatly influenced gender interactions. Despite the challenges facing the women’s rights movement, the group is important movement that introduces women to equal opportunities with men.

How the Anti-Slavery Movement Challenge Established Notions of Manhood and Womanhood

Kathryn Kish Sklar’s general idea in the book is to enlighten people on the role of women in the society during the 19 th century, how it changed dramatically, how women began to realize the various opportunities for them outside the domestic scene.

She demonstrates this by showing how the white women became sympathizers of the black women who were held as slaves and were fighting for their liberation. Gender equality was the driving force behind the pushing for the freedom of slaves. As a result, the traditional views of women were changing, hence bringing about the notion of feminism (Sklar 14).

On the other hand, Feminism precedes anti-feminism. This means that when one makes an effort to eliminate male dominion in the society, another tries to counter this efforts in order to maintain the status quo (Heilmann 51). The issue of feminism was countered by the United States government by abolishing slavery and giving the black men the rights to vote instead (64). This shows that the government was not ready to offer the women their rights as it decided to be gender biased.

What Led the Grimké Sisters to Conclude That They Should Pursue Women’s Rights and Abolition

Sklar (31) points out that the Grimke sisters had a growing belief that every human being is an independent entity and only subject to God and not to another human being. In 1829, the Grimke sisters traveled from South Carolina to Philadelphia where they found an opportunity of justifying the rights for women in addressing their issues in public.

They received oppositions from the clergy men from South Carolina’s men, thus making the Grimke sisters to form the women’s rights movement in Philadelphia as they knew that the Orthodox Quakers in Philadelphia did not only oppose the issue of slavery but were also not ready to deal with challenging social issues that would result to disunity among members of their community.

Despite the fact that they still had a challenge of addressing the issues concerning women equality, the Grimke sisters managed to convey their intended message using the biblical point of view. This is illustrated through Angelina who claimed that she did not recognize the difference between the rights of men and the rights of women since Jesus Christ does not advocate for inequality (Sklar 35).

Therefore, the Grimke sisters objected the slavery and their inequality with their male counterparts by basing their arguments on a Christianity point of view. By addressing their issues publicly, they managed to push for the abolition of various rules that worked to their disadvantage. Some of these rules included obtaining the husband’s consent while carrying out some activities, loosing of their names once they got married, loosing their property once the women got married, lack of power in controlling the children (Sklar 53).

The Grimke sisters played a critical role in facilitating the passing of the married woman’s property law in 1850.This law provided the married women with an opportunity of owning as well as inheriting property (Sklar 96). Through these movements, the women continued pushing for other things such as schooling. As a result, they acquired high skilled jobs such as doctors. More over, in the civil war period they served as nurses to soldiers (104).

What Women in the Women’s Rights Movement Wanted and the Reasons Why

Towards the mid 19 th century, during the time of economic growth the family unit begun to realize that they needed to work together to keep up with a changing world with new opportunities and intensified needs (Weiss and Marilyn 103).

Most men went to urban centers to work in industries and women were left at home to carry out domestic work which included raising children, cooking and cleaning and being there when the husbands return. This resulted into a new dynamic in gender roles where women increasingly felt that they needed to do more to contribute to the welfare of the household through earning an income. This can be seen as the origin of women’s right movement whose reception was not welcomed by their male counterparts.

The women however did not relent on the push for their rights. In 1834, various women’s societies which comprised of members from Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and New England collaborated in order to abolish prostitution as well as other types of women’s sexual harassment. The women in United States continued to fight for their rights to vote in 1848, hence leading to National Women’s Rights Convention in 1850 which was headed by male who supported this move (Sklar 109).

In 1858, the rights for women however went to greater heights as they demanded for their reproductive rights. In spite the fact that women contributed greatly in the anti-slavery movement, their participation was however controversial and this led to a division in the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) in 1839 after Kelley Foster was elected as a business committee member (Sklar 111).

Therefore, the anti-slavery movement created an avenue for the formation of the women’s right movement thus bringing about what women wanted; women public speakers such as Grimke sisters, and Abby Kelly Foster among others. Women perceived that by being in a position of public speakers will provide them with an opportunity of creating a considerable impact on social changes of the women in the society.

How the Issues of Race and Gender Complicate the Respective Abolitionist and Suffrage Movements and Then Ultimately Weaken the Latter

The issue of race in the abolitionist and suffrage movement came as a result of the black women been given the rights to vote. This made the white men to be scared of what would happen if a women’s government came in place (Sklar 112).This facilitated the spread of racism into the women’s right movement which was instigated from both within the groups as well as outside the group.

On the other hand, the white women feared that the black men would take up their positions in the political arena and hence they started to portray racism within the movement (Fluehr-Lobban 190). Hence, the issue of race and gender complicated the abolitionist and suffrage movement, thus weakening it in the latter through formation of black women rights movement and white women right movement.

From the above illustrations, Kathryn Kish Sklar’s demonstrates the power of the women’s rights movement by expressing the women’s words, deeds and life experiences. Women like the Grimke sisters who were the pioneers of the movement during the time of the anti-slavery movement have influenced the women of the 20 th and the 21 st century. The 19 th century marked an era during which the foundation of what today is referred to as “the independent woman” was laid.

However, in spite the fact that the Grimke sisters managed to fight for the role of women in the society, racism thereafter played a critical role in segregating the blacks among the whites, thus forming what we see currently; the white women activist movement and the black women activist movement.

Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn. Race and racism: an introduction. Lanham, MD: Rowman Altamira, 2006, pp. 186-194.

Heilmann, Anne. Anti-feminism in Edwardian literature. London: Thoemmes Continuum, 2006, pp. 46-93.

Sklar, Kathryn. Women’s rights emerges within the anti-slavery movement, 1830-1870. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000, pp. 113-12.

Weiss, Penny and Marilyn Friedman. Feminism and community. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1995, pp. 109- 99.

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Women’s Rights

By Bastian Herre, Pablo Arriagada, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Hannah Ritchie, Joe Hasell and Max Roser

Women’s rights are human rights that all women have. But in practice, these rights are often not protected to the same extent as the rights of men.

Among others, women’s rights include: physical integrity rights, such as being free from violence and making choices over their own body; social rights, such as going to school and participating in public life; economic rights, such as owning property, working a job of their choice, and being paid equally for it; and political rights, such as voting for and holding public office.

The protection of these rights allows women to live the lives they want and to thrive in them.

On this page, you can find data and visualizations on how the protection of women’s rights has changed over time, and how it differs across countries.

Research & Writing

Women have made major advances in politics — but the world is still far from equal

Women have gained the right to vote and sit in parliament almost everywhere. But they remain underrepresented, especially in the highest offices.

Bastian Herre

If we can make maternal deaths as rare as they are in the healthiest countries, we can save almost 300,000 mothers each year

Maternal mortality was much more common in the past. Today, it is much lower — but there are still large inequalities across the world.

Hannah Ritchie

Interactive Charts on Women’s Rights

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Publications

Women's and Children's Rights

Publication

Making the Connection

Number of pages: 67

Publication date: 01 Jan 2011

Author: UNFPA, UNICEF

Publisher: UNFPA, UNICEF

In a compartmentalized world, the rights of women and those of children have often been promoted in isolation from one another. The purpose of this advocacy booklet is to explore the human rights links between these two groups, the practical implications of considering them together, and four areas for strategic action.

Written for UN and other development practitioners, the booklet shows how discrimination and other human rights violations against women affect children and vice versa. It also shows how the two international treaties addressing the rights of women and children and the committees that monitor them can be used to effectively address four major development issues: promoting the human rights of adolescent girls, eliminating child marriage, preventing the spread of HIV and reducing maternal mortality.

Gender equality and the protection of human rights, especially of children and those most vulnerable, are fundamental principles of the United Nations. These rights cut across all aspects of the UN’s work and are crucial to long-term progress, including achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Related Content

In race to save women's lives, solutions are within reach, says UNFPA head

Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2013

UNFPA Annual Report 2013

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10 Essential Essays About Women’s Reproductive Rights

“Reproductive rights” let a person decide whether they want to have children, use contraception, or terminate a pregnancy. Reproductive rights also include access to sex education and reproductive health services. Throughout history, the reproductive rights of women in particular have been restricted. Girls and women today still face significant challenges. In places that have seen reproductive rights expand, protections are rolling back. Here are ten essential essays about reproductive rights:

“Our Bodies, Ourselves: Reproductive Rights”

bell hooks Published in Feminism Is For Everyone (2014)

This essay opens strong: when the modern feminism movement started, the most important issues were the ones linked to highly-educated and privileged white women. The sexual revolution led the way, with “free love” as shorthand for having as much sex as someone wanted with whoever they wanted. This naturally led to the issue of unwanted pregnancies. Birth control and abortions were needed.

Sexual freedom isn’t possible without access to safe, effective birth control and the right to safe, legal abortion. However, other reproductive rights like prenatal care and sex education were not as promoted due to class bias. Including these other rights more prominently might have, in hooks’ words, “galvanized the masses.” The right to abortion in particular drew the focus of mass media. Including other reproductive issues would mean a full reckoning about gender and women’s bodies. The media wasn’t (and arguably still isn’t) ready for that.

“Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights”

Angela Davis Published in Women, Race, & Class (1981)

Davis’ essay covers the birth control movement in detail, including its race-based history. Davis argues that birth control always included racism due to the belief that poor women (specifically poor Black and immigrant women) had a “moral obligation” to birth fewer children. Race was also part of the movement from the beginning because only wealthy white women could achieve the goals (like more economic and political freedom) driving access to birth control.

In light of this history, Davis emphasizes that the fight for reproductive freedom hasn’t led to equal victories. In fact, the movements driving the gains women achieved actively neglected racial inequality. One clear example is how reproductive rights groups ignored forced sterilization within communities of color. Davis ends her essay with a call to end sterilization abuse.

“Reproductive Justice, Not Just Rights”

Dorothy Roberts Published in Dissent Magazine (2015)

Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body and Fatal Invention , describes attending the March for Women’s Lives. She was especially happy to be there because co-sponsor SisterSong (a collective founded by 16 organizations led by women of color) shifted the focus from “choice” to “social justice.” Why does this matter? Roberts argues that the rhetoric of “choice” favors women who have options that aren’t available to low-income women, especially women of color. Conservatives face criticism for their stance on reproductive rights, but liberals also cause harm when they frame birth control as the solution to global “overpopulation” or lean on fetal anomalies as an argument for abortion choice.

Instead of “the right to choose,” a reproductive justice framework is necessary. This requires a living wage, universal healthcare, and prison abolition. Reproductive justice goes beyond the current pro-choice/anti-choice rhetoric that still favors the privileged.

“The Color of Choice: White Supremacy and Reproductive Justice”

Loretta J. Ross, SisterSong Published in Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology (2016)

White supremacy in the United States has always created different outcomes for its ethnic populations. The method? Population control. Ross points out that even a glance at reproductive politics in the headlines makes it clear that some women are encouraged to have more children while others are discouraged. Ross defines “reproductive justice,” which goes beyond the concept of “rights.” Reproductive justice is when reproductive rights are “embedded in a human rights and social justice framework.”

In the essay, Ross explores topics like white supremacy and population control on both the right and left sides of politics. She acknowledges that while the right is often blunter in restricting women of color and their fertility, white supremacy is embedded in both political aisles. The essay closes with a section on mobilizing for reproductive justice, describing SisterSong (where Ross is a founding member) and the March for Women’s Lives in 2004.

“Abortion Care Is Not Just For Cis Women”

Sachiko Ragosta Published in Ms. Magazine (2021)

Cisgender women are the focus of abortion and reproductive health services even though nonbinary and trans people access these services all the time. In their essay, Ragosta describes the criticism Ibis Reproductive Health received when it used the term “pregnant people.” The term alienates women, the critics said, but acting as if only cis women need reproductive care is simply inaccurate. As Ragosta writes, no one is denying that cis women experience pregnancy. The reaction to more inclusive language around pregnancy and abortion reveals a clear bias against trans people.

Normalizing terms like “pregnant people” help spaces become more inclusive, whether it’s in research, medical offices, or in day-to-day life. Inclusiveness leads to better health outcomes, which is essential considering the barriers nonbinary and gender-expansive people face in general and sexual/reproductive care.

“We Cannot Leave Black Women, Trans People, and Gender Expansive People Behind: Why We Need Reproductive Justice”

Karla Mendez Published in Black Women Radicals

Mendez, a freelance writer and (and the time of the essay’s publication) a student studying Interdisciplinary Studies, Political Science, and Women’s and Gender Studies, responds to the Texas abortion ban. Terms like “reproductive rights” and “abortion rights” are part of the mainstream white feminist movement, but the benefits of birth control and abortions are not equal. Also, as the Texas ban shows, these benefits are not secure. In the face of this reality, it’s essential to center Black people of all genders.

In her essay, Mendez describes recent restrictive legislation and the failure of the reproductive rights movement to address anti-Blackness, transphobia, food insecurity, and more. Groups like SisterSong have led the way on reproductive justice. As reproductive rights are eroded in the United States, the reproductive rights movement needs to focus on justice.

“Gee’s Bend: A Reproductive Justice Quilt Story From the South”

Mary Lee Bendolph Published in Radical Reproductive Justice (2017)

One of Mary Lee Bendolph’s quilt designs appears as the cover of Radical Reproductive Justice. She was one of the most important strip quilters associated with Gee’s Bend, Alabama. During the Civil Rights era, the 700 residents of Gee’s Bend were isolated and found it hard to vote or gain educational and economic power outside the village. Bendolph’s work didn’t become well-known outside her town until the mid-1990s.

Through an interview by the Souls Grown Foundation, we learn that Bendolph didn’t receive any sex education as a girl. When she became pregnant in sixth grade, she had to stop attending school. “They say it was against the law for a lady to go to school and be pregnant,” she said, because it would influence the other kids. “Soon as you have a baby, you couldn’t never go to school again.”

“Underground Activists in Brazil Fight for Women’s Reproductive Rights”

Alejandra Marks Published in The North American Congress on Latin America (2021)

While short, this essay provides a good introduction to abortion activism in Brazil, where abortion is legal only in the case of rape, fetal anencephaly, or when a woman’s life is at risk. The reader meets “Taís,” a single mother faced with an unwanted pregnancy. With no legal options, she researched methods online, including teas and pills. She eventually connected with a lawyer and activist who walked her through using Cytotec, a medication she got online. The activist stayed on the phone while Taís completed her abortion at home.

For decades, Latin American activists have helped pregnant people get abortion medications while wealthy Brazilians enter private clinics or travel to other countries. Government intimidation makes activism risky, but the stakes are high. Hundreds of Brazilians die each year from dangerous abortion methods. In the past decade, religious conservatives in Congress have blocked even mild reform. Even if a new president is elected, Brazil’s abortion rights movement will fight an uphill battle.

“The Ambivalent Activist”

Lauren Groff Published in Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 years of Landmark ACLU Cases (2020)

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion regulation around the country was spotty. 37 states still had near-bans on the procedure while only four states had repealed anti-abortion laws completely. In her essay, Groff summarizes the case in accessible, engaging prose. The “Jane Roe” of the case was Norma McCorvey. When she got pregnant, she’d already had two children, one of whom she’d given up for adoption. McCorvey couldn’t access an abortion provider because the pregnancy didn’t endanger her life. She eventually connected with two attorneys: Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee. In 1973 on January 2, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that abortion was a fundamental right.

Norma McCorvey was a complicated woman. She later became an anti-choice activist (in an interview released after her death, she said Evangelical anti-choice groups paid her to switch her position), but as Groff writes, McCorvey had once been proud that it was her case that gave women bodily autonomy.

“The Abortion I Didn’t Want”

Caitlin McDonnell Published in Salon (2015) and Choice Words: Writers on Abortion (2020)

While talking about abortion is less demonized than in the past, it’s still fairly unusual to hear directly from people who’ve experienced it. It’s certainly unusual to hear more complicated stories. Caitlin McDonnell, a poet and teacher from Brooklyn, shares her experience. In clear, raw prose, this piece brings home what can be an abstract “issue” for people who haven’t experienced it or been close to someone who has.

In debates about abortion rights, those who carry the physical and emotional effects are often neglected. Their complicated feelings are weaponized to serve agendas or make judgments about others. It’s important to read essays like McDonnell’s and hear stories as nuanced and multi-faceted as humans themselves.

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

• CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS
• RESOLUTIONS
• INFOGRAPHICS

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS

The full range of violations of the rights of women and girls must be addressed by all international actors. Women’s security is strongly linked to the integrity of their rights, yet we are still far from embracing gender equality as an organizing principle to humanitarian interventions.

Key messages

• Humanitarians, development workers, the international and regional human rights system, and the interventions of our peace and security actors must address the full range of violations of the rights of women and girls protected by international humanitarian, refugee and human rights law, including, but not limited to, their right to life and physical integrity.
• Women’s rights to education, to health, to land and productive assets, and rights of participation, decision-making and leadership in village or community matters are strongly linked to women’s security.
• Increased attention has been paid to violence against women and girls, particularly sexual violence in conflict, resulting in greater visibility, high-level advocacy, and the development of technical tools. However, too little funding is allocated to programming and services for survivors.
• We are still far from genuinely embracing gender equality as an organizing principle of our humanitarian work, and this undermines the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance.

Percentage of people living with HIV, 15-49 Years old, 2013

Maternal Mortality Ratio, deaths per 100,000 live births, 2013 estimates

Adjusted Net enrolment ratio in primary school, girls, 2013

Incidence of female agricultural landowners (legal titles), 2013

Nationality laws and discrimination against women

Facts and figures

• Prioritizing women in food distribution is strongly correlated with greater dietary diversity and, in some cases, a 37 percent lower prevalence of hunger.
• The inclusion of women in water and infrastructure committees can make women and girls 44 percent less likely to walk more than 60 minutes each way to access drinking water.
• The ten worst performing countries on maternal mortality are all either conflict or post-conflict countries, and girls’ net enrolment rate in primary education in these contexts is 17 points below the global rate.
• Currently 27 countries across the world have laws that discriminate against women in their ability to confer nationality to their children, leading to statelessness, particularly in conflict settings.

“We perceive peace to mean being free from all incapacitating health conditions that bring misery and trauma caused by violent conflict. Peace to women means being healthy (the body); having hope and confidence in oneself as we plan for our families (mind); and being free from anger and rage, especially as their painful conflict experiences are concerned (spirit).”

Participant in the 2014 open day, women, peace and security, uganda, “bullets are often fired over the clinic and our staff members have to lie down until the shooting stops. but we have no plans to stop providing a space for women’s health. these women will not be afterthoughts.”, meinie nicolai, president, msf belgium, “i was a girl in a land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away behind a curtain, their role in life simply to prepare food and give birth to children.”, malala yousafzai, nobel laureate, key recommendations.

• Gender equality and women’s human rights must be both a focus area of the World Humanitarian Summit and be integrated throughout the other themes.
• Expressly mandate that all programmes adopt and apply the gender marker and relevant IASC guidance on gender and gender-based violence throughout the entire project cycle, and require it in all funding applications.
• Current levels of approximately 1 percent funding for local women’s organizations, including women’s human rights defenders, should be increased until they reach at least 5 percent in the next three years, before setting progressively more ambitious targets in the following years.
• Fund the establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism run by women’s civil society groups and women’s human rights defenders to track the performance on gender equality of humanitarian assistance (e.g. collection of sex-disaggregated data and gender-sensitive analysis to the systematic application of the gender marker and the engagement of local women).
• Ensure that UN Women is a member of all relevant high-level inter-agency forums on peace and security and humanitarian response, including the IASC and the Senior Advisory Group on peace and security.
• Commit to creating a humanitarian workforce that is 50 percent women and 100 percent trained in gender equality programming and women’s rights.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Member states should +.

• Remove discriminatory laws and regulations that impede full equality in accessing basic rights and services during and after conflict—including the rights to life, health, education, property and livelihood—and remove discriminatory laws and regulations that impede full equality in accessing basic rights and services, including the right to nationality.

Member States, the UN and regional organizations should: - Detach programming on women’s rights from counter-terrorism and extremism, and all military planning and military processes. Any effort at empowering them should be through civilian assistance to the women themselves or to development and human rights agencies. - Protect women’s and girls’ rights at all times and ensure that efforts to counter violent extremism strategies do not stereotype, instrumentalize or securitize women and girls.

Member States and the UN should: +

• Ensure that preparations for and outcomes of the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit have gender equality and women’s human rights as a focus area as well as integrated throughout the other themes.

Donors, including Member States and private foundations, should: +

• Expressly mandate that all programmes adopt and apply the Gender Marker and relevant IASC guidance on gender and gender-based violence interventions in humanitarian settings throughout the entire project cycle and require it in all funding applications.
• Increase current levels of targeted funding for women’s and girls’ programming to a minimum of 15 per cent. Current levels of approximately 1 per cent funding for local women’s organizations, including women’s human rights defenders, should be increased until they reach at least 5 per cent in the next three years, before setting progressively more ambitious targets in the following years. Funding for core operations, advocacy and capacity building should match funding for projects.
• Fund the establishment of an independent monitoring mechanism run by women’s civil society groups and women’s human rights defenders to track the compliance of humanitarian assistance with normative frameworks and standards and international human rights law as well as performance on gender equality—from the collection of sex-disaggregated data and gendersensitive analysis to the systematic application of the Gender Marker and the engagement of local women.
• Invest in translating all relevant tools on sexual and reproductive health and prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence into local languages to ensure local engagement and sustainability. Translations and long-term capacity building should be prioritized over the repetitive production of new tools, strategies, guidelines and advocacy campaigns from capitals in donor countries.

The UN and NGOs should +

• Commit to create a humanitarian workforce that is 50 per cent women and 100 per cent trained in gender equality programming and the protection of women’s human rights.

The UN should +

• Ensure that UN Women is a member of all relevant high-level inter-agency forums on peace and security and humanitarian response, including the IASC and the Senior Advisory Group on peace and security, to ensure a gender perspective is mainstreamed throughout the UN’s response in conflict and emergencies.

All relevant actors, including Member States, the UN, donors, and civil society, should +

• Ensure that all global humanitarian and local health-care workers are trained in basic life-saving sexual and reproductive health care, in accordance with international human rights standards, as well as emergency response for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, including emergency contraception and abortion/post-abortion services. Increased investment must be made in local health systems’ ability to provide quality sexual and reproductive health and care for survivors and to put in place referral pathways to specialist care in all fragile settings.
• Ensure that women affected by humanitarian crises, including refugees, internally displaced and stateless women, are supported to participate meaningfully and equally in community decisionmaking, in leadership roles and in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian interventions. Obstacles to their participation should be addressed within programme design.

Resolution 1325

Calls on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict

Resolution 1820

Requests the Secretary- General and relevant United Nations agencies, […] to develop effective mechanisms for providing protection from violence, including in particular sexual violence, to women and girls in and around UN managed refugee and [IDP] camps

Resolution 1888

Demands that all parties to armed conflict immediately take appropriate measures to protect civilians, including women and children, from all forms of sexual violence

Resolution 1960

Calls upon parties to armed conflict to make and implement specific and time-bound commitments to combat sexual violence, which should include, inter alia, issuance of clear orders through chains of command prohibiting sexual violence and the prohibition of sexual violence in Codes of Conduct, military field manuals, or equivalent; and further calls upon those parties to make and implement specific commitments on timely investigation of alleged abuses in order to hold perpetrators accountable

Resolution 2122

Recognizes the importance of seeking to ensure humanitarian aid and funding includes provision for the full range of medical, legal, psychosocial and livelihood services to women affected by armed conflict and postconflict situations... Notes the need for access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services, including regarding pregnancies resulting from rape, without discrimination

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Women’s Rights: Does the Law Matter?

Address by the Honorable Louise Arbour, President & CEO of the International Crisis Group, on the occasion of the International Conference: Women, Power and Politics – The Road to Sustainable Democracy, 14 November 2013, Oslo.

For a right that is virtually universal now, it is hard to imagine that in 1911, there were only two countries in which women were allowed to vote.  Of course, we are here today in Oslo in celebration of this social and political progress, and specifically the centenary of women’s suffrage in Norway, a clear example – one of many – of why this country is often commended for its leadership in the promotion of gender equality.

The history of the move towards universal suffrage, as well as the history of much of the human rights movement, reflects the interface between law and politics. Perhaps more surprisingly, it reflects also the increasing importance of international law - or maybe better put, international doctrine - in the advancement of rights at the local level. Conversely, legal blockages, particularly at the international level, have a deleterious impact on the more progressive national efforts. And ultimately, I suggest, a lack of application and enforcement of rights remains the greatest obstacle to the fulfilment of the universal promise of equality.

Does the law matter?

So the advent of women’s right to vote, the subject of long, protracted battles in many countries, should rightly be celebrated. It consolidates the right of women to participate in their own governance, and opens public space to women otherwise relegated - in most countries and across many cultures - to a place, often of submission, in the private affairs of the family.  Securing the right of women to vote has thus been the product of a modern conflation of two important ideas: democracy and equality.  It has also been the impetus for advancing further the merger of these two concepts, by generating debate over the place of women in the workplace, in government and in the private sector, and raising the questions of pay equity and the burden of child care. Not least, women’s suffrage has opened the doors to the idea of substantive equality, which asserts that true equality may require different treatment.

The progress made in national legal systems on the democratic rights of women has often been accompanied by increased legal protection for women in the private sphere or, more accurately, in opening the so-called private domain of the family to public scrutiny, exposing and denouncing violence against women in its most prevalent and insidious form.

The last part of the 20th century saw an increase, both domestically and internationally, in the legal affirmation and protection of women’s rights. The necessity to anchor rights in enforceable law has proven critical. Although some interests can be advanced politically, many can only be secured by law duly implemented. The right to vote is a prime example. No matter how much public acceptance full universal suffrage may get, it can ultimately only be ensured by law.

The many manifestations of gender inequality are often said to be cultural, reflecting religious or historical traditions engrained in the diversity that we should celebrate and protect in this otherwise more integrated world. This suggests that they will probably disappear over time, as societies shed old practices and express their identities in more modern forms. However, this obscures the role that law plays in either freezing old norms or, on the contrary, propelling reforms. In the civil law system under which I was trained, the status of married women remained, until 1964, akin to that of minors and persons stripped of their legal capacity. Women in my own province of Quebec did not obtain the right to vote until 1940, after more than a decade of intense lobbying. In contrast, when gender equality was entrenched in the constitution in 1982, the enforceable legal requirement of equality opened the door to a range of courtroom victories for women’s rights, which transformed the reality of women’s lives in significant ways, most importantly, in my view, on the issue of reproductive rights, to which I will return later.

There is therefore no doubt that the law has a critical role to play in the implementation of the idea of equality and non-discrimination. The question remains: how significant is international law?

Does international law matter?

Since the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law has provided a global framework for the promotion of equality, and has served as a critical impetus for the adoption of progressive legislation at the national levels. One fitting example – and I say fitting because it brings us back to the issue of female suffrage – is that of Kuwait in 2005.

For decades, women in Kuwait fought for their right to vote and for political participation. In 1994, when Kuwait ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, it did so with reservation to Article 7, stating that the ‘paragraph conflicts with the Kuwaiti Electoral Act, under which the right to be eligible for election and to vote is restricted to males.’ Ten years later, in 2004, Kuwait presented to the CEDAW committee its first report on the status of its commitment to the Convention. Unsurprisingly, Committee members rebuked the decision of Kuwait to ratify the convention with reservation to Article 7 (amongst others) and stressed the need for the parliament to extend voting rights to women. The next year, in 2005, Kuwait officially withdrew its reservation to Article 7, having finally granted women their full political rights.

I have now mentioned CEDAW without any introduction, but I wouldn’t wish to discuss it further without first acknowledging my fellow speaker who sits on CEDAW’s Committee of 23 experts, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari. I very much look forward to hearing her intervention, and to hearing from Kate Lappin of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development.

It is surely significant that CEDAW holds the dual qualities of being a treaty amongst the fastest to enter into force, and also the treaty with the most reservations. On the positive side, the rapidity of ratification demonstrated an emerging global alertness to what should have been the self-evident realization that human rights applied, in full, to women. Somewhat more cynically, when one couples that with the unprecedented number of reservations – some of which nullify the very commitment that is purported to being made – it leads one to question whether states consider that they get more benefit from treaty ratification than from implementation.

Despite this apparent cynicism, I maintain that international legal instruments have proved invaluable in advancing women’s rights. Domestic courts, for example, have relied on international treaty obligations, including CEDAW, to decide that women’s sexual and reproductive health rights are recognized as human rights and therefore must be protected. The Colombian Constitutional Court’s 2006 decision to overturn the country’s total ban on abortion is one such example, and there are many.

Reproductive rights

Reproductive rights are the most gender specific and, perhaps not surprisingly, they remain the least legally protected, both internationally and nationally, along with LGBT rights. They are the most relevant to all women, irrespective of race, wealth, education, or nationality. And so I believe that we cannot have a discussion about the empowerment of women without addressing this deficiency in the legal framework.

Reproductive rights have proven to be some of the hardest-fought and most controversial of the modern era, spanning generations, cultures and stages of economic development. The specificity of reproductive rights is rooted in the fact that other inalienable rights of women – such as liberty, security, health and education - cannot be adequately protected and promoted without ensuring women have control over their bodies and sexuality, including decisions on when, how and whether to bear children.

Few other rights are more vulnerable to the interpretation and opinion of those who hold power, usually men. In 2002, we saw, for example, how the Bush administration suddenly withdrew the United States’ 34 million dollars in funding to the UNFPA on a basis that had been difficult to ascertain. This decision cut funding to an organisation that routinely proves instrumental in implementing family planning services, reducing maternal mortality, and combating the AIDS epidemic around the globe – to name but a few of its efforts. The hostility and potency of lobbies adverse to the very idea of women controlling their sexuality and fertility has few equivalents in the human rights environment.

And yet remarkable success has been achieved in the advancement of every woman’s right to maternal health and reproductive freedom.  The U.S. based Center for Reproductive Rights has, for 20 years now, been using the law to advance this issue. Through legal action at every judicial level – including internationally – the Center has fought to secure and protect reproductive rights for women around the world, even succeeding in reframing preventable maternal deaths as human rights violations.

There have also been remarkable advances in the movement to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation and that is largely due to the efforts of organizations such as UNFPA, Unicef, and No Peace Without Justice, who have launched a sustained campaign, leveraging legal, social, and political means through a broad based coalition led by women in the countries most affected. Entire communities have declared their commitment to renouncing the practice; numerous countries have passed laws banning it; and last year, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a worldwide ban against this abhorrent practice affecting millions of girls and women.  

Women, peace and security

I would like to turn now briefly to a subject in which I have been more closely involved in recent years, that of women, peace and security. Broadly speaking, international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as seen through a gender lens, have much to contribute to a framework for the protection of women at times of conflict, and for their right to participate in mechanisms of conflict resolution. But this has been overtaken, to a large extent, by the enactment of Resolution 1325 of the UN Security Council in 2000, and by the many resolutions that have since followed. Despite being anchored in the authority of the Security Council, I’m afraid these resolutions have so far attracted more repetition of intention than success in implementation. Rather encouragingly however, the latest of these contains surprisingly progressive language on reproductive rights. SCR 2122, which was passed last month, includes in the preamble a reference to the need to provide women in armed conflict and post-conflict situations with ‘the full range of medical, legal, psychosocial and livelihood services’, and then – crucially – notes the need ‘for access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services, including regarding pregnancies resulting from rape, without discrimination’.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of discussion on the ‘lessons learned’ from this much celebrated resolution, and as we draw nearer to its 15th anniversary, we’ll likely see more. Despite having given rise to a flurry of activities, I’m afraid that Resolution 1325 and its numerous reiterations have fallen far short of accomplishing their intended objectives. Already the passage of 2122, despite its remarkable attention to reproductive rights, was met by some with expressions of ‘resolution fatigue’ and ‘resolution creep’.

It has been pointed out, repeatedly, that the problem with Resolution 1325 is one of implementation; that it lacks a necessary mechanism for follow-up and accountability. Nearly 14 years in, only 43 countries have implemented their National Action Plans. Norway – again, a consistent leader in advancing women’s issues – was one of the first countries to do so, but even here it took 6 years to accomplish.

I would suggest to you that the problem with Resolution 1325 lies even deeper than its lack of an enforcement mechanism. I question whether the resolution’s positioning of women in relation to armed conflict accurately reflects all the complexities of war. By framing women almost exclusively as victims and peacemakers, the resolution not only ignores the reality of war - which is essentially about the power of arms and money - but it obscures the other roles and aspirations of women in war times. In particular, it overlooks the partisan role of women in conflict, sometimes as combatants, often in support roles, in the pursuit of a political agenda in which they often have a say. In this way the resolution embraces stereotypes about women, revealing an angelic view of their role in war, and therefore perpetuating their absence from the issues and the stakes that underlie the conflict.

I don’t want to minimize the particular victimisation of women in armed conflict, including the atrocious scale of sexual violence that is often unleashed or exacerbated when all forms of violence become the daily afflictions of entire communities. Neither do I want to deny the importance of inclusive peace processes, and the necessity for all sectors of society, including women, to participate in the reconstruction of war-torn communities. The reality remains that when peace is negotiated, the important players are those who have something real to put on the table; the deal makers are those who can surrender their troops and their weapons. Bringing women to the table with the agenda of mending the social fabric is no doubt useful, but it also serves to perpetuate the assumption that women only address the soft issues, thereby reinforcing stereotypes, rather than serving to displace them.

Over the past decade, we have continued to see a notably low level of women’s participation in peace processes. While it remains essential to increase the representativeness of those who construct post-conflict environments, focus should shift to examining the more partisan role of women in conflictual environments and validating their leadership even when it is expressed in non-stereotypical ways, such as in combat, and more largely in political engagement. Women depicted as bystanders of history will find it harder to occupy their full place as citizens in emerging democracies. The young women of the Arab uprisings, for example, who have taken to the street in remarkably large numbers, need to be supported on equal terms, as citizens and as women. And when they are given a seat at the peace table, it should be clear that they speak in both capacities.

All is not wrong with Resolution 1325. It has helped to place women and security issues squarely on the international and national agendas, and it has spurred the kind of conversations – like the one we’re having today – which are attracting the attention they deserve.

But I suggest that we must continue to be vigilant in confronting the gender stereotypes that have for so long precluded women from occupying their proper place first in their own governance, and then more broadly in the life and the future of their communities, on terms of their own choosing. For instance, I believe that we should be particularly attentive to the overuse of the expression “women and children”. While there are circumstances where it is appropriate to refer to the two as a single group, the suggestion that they are homogeneous, and stand as a group in contrast to men, who are different, is hardly a message of empowerment for women. Used automatically, even when there is no particular factual need to do so, perpetuates, and by doing so validates, a stereotypical view of women as less able and therefore less deserving, of occupying positions of power and authority.

Lack of power - of control over one’s destiny - is both a lack of liberty and of security. In the context of armed conflict the security of women must therefore be understood to include their empowerment - quite a dilemma when power in war comes from money and arms, not from law suits and negotiations.

The situation of women in conflict and post conflict environments could not be better illustrated than by the recent report we have published at International Crisis Group on women in Afghanistan. In the last decade, considerable advances have been made in the legal framework for protection of women from violence and abuse; however, all of this could unravel next spring in the political transition that Kabul is about to undertake with its elections and the withdrawal of international troops. It may be that a decade of legal progress is not enough to consolidate the reversal of a history of discrimination and repression.

When we look at the right to vote, an area in which women have made tremendous gains, we must not forget how long and hard fought the battle has been. Only now, some 150 years after the suffrage movement began, does the concept enjoy broad public acceptance.

I say this to suggest that as we celebrate clearing one hurdle, and we discuss where and how to focus our efforts next, we do not become deterred by the inevitable setbacks and we continue to avail ourselves of the legal instruments that have served us well in the past. Through important advances in legal theory, such as substantive equality and affirmative action, women in mature democracies have taken giant steps to overcome centuries of exclusion and discrimination. In many communities where women are still disproportionately afflicted by illiteracy, poverty and discriminatory practices, the influence of the international human rights framework offers the best hope for redress and change. Universal rights, enforced by law, will propel women fast into the 21st century. And with them many others who, in smaller numbers, are also asserting their equal rights.

I began by saying that there is no doubt that the law has a critical role to play in the implementation of the idea of equality and non-discrimination. Perhaps this becomes clearer still, if through a gender lens, you consider the following articulation of the Rule of Law by Henri-Dominique Lacordaire:

“Between the rich and the poor, between the master and the servant, between the strong and the weak, it is freedom that oppresses, and the law that sets free.” (52e Conférence de Notre-Dame, 1848)

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Protect women's rights and promote gender equality

Women make up more than half the world's people but only a fifth of the world's decision-makers. Women are under-represented in formal politics, and often have little voice in making decisions within important political spaces such as the household and the workplace. Their lack of access to education and resources puts them at a severe disadvantage in the economic sphere.

Everyday women around the world face discrimination, poverty, violence and abuse. This is especially true for women who are already marginalised: disabled, indigenous, those living with HIV, informal workers, Dalits, migrant women.

Women's political rights are vital to securing and retaining all other rights. Women who have a voice can transform their lives.

Case study 1

Star Chimaliro, woman living with HIV, Malawi Star Chimaliro is a woman living with HIV in the Mzimba district of Malawi. She has a one year-old baby daughter Mutisunge Jere, while her first born child is three years old. When Star was pregnant with Mutisunge, her husband began falling ill often. She became suspicious and decided to go for voluntary HIV testing and discovered that she was positive.

Star is a member of the Khaputa support group, an organisation involved in home-based care for people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the community. Members of the support group come from nearby villages and comprise different denominations and religions. All of them, like Star, are living with HIV.

"Women living with HIV and AIDS suffer from a lack of confidence, fear, stigma and intimidation from political parties. It is necessary to build their capacity and strengthen their confidence so they can participate effectively in politics." Daphne Gondwe, Chairwoman, Coalition of Women Living with HIV and AIDS, Malawi

Case study 2

Prem and Girija - construction workers, Delhi, India 94% of India's working women work in the informal sector, in low paid, difficult or dangerous jobs such as construction, street vending, brick making, agriculture or rag picking. Decent working conditions are essential to alleviate poverty but as in many other parts of the world, the labour laws that do exist are not applied or are easily evaded. Despite India's formal commitment to national and international legislation to protect women's rights, workers are increasingly vulnerable, exploited and oppressed

As Delhi prepares for the Commonwealth Games in 2010, thousands of women like Prem and Girija come to find work as labourers. They stand at crossroads each morning waiting to be selected by construction companies. The work is incredibly demanding – tiring, hot and unsafe. It is especially hard for women who are pregnant or have young children.

In 2008, a historic law granting social security to unorganised workers in India was passed by both Houses of Parliament. SEWA (the Self Employed Women's Association) played a major role in getting the law passed. The law gives millions of unorganised workers in India access to health and maternity benefits, pensions and disability cover and other benefits. Construction workers like Prem and Girija are among the over 40 million women workers who shall benefit from this law.

Case study 3

ACOBOL- the Association of Women Councillors of Bolivia ACOBOL (Asociacion de Concejalas de Bolivia or the Association of Women Councillors of Bolivia) was set up in 1999. ACOBOL's aim is to represent and defend the rights and interests of its members and to promote equitable political participation. It particularly works in the area of political and gender-based violence directed towards women councillors.

ACOBOL runs a programme to strengthen the capacities of women standing for, and already elected to, municipal posts in Potosí, Oruro and Beni, in particular in the area of legislation and equitable municipal administration. The programme is also a unique forum for women from all political parties to confront challenges that face them as women politicians.

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