98-03445 (E)
020398
* E/CN.4/1998/1 and Add.1.
** E/CN.6/1998/1.
United Nations
E/CN.4/1998/22 – E/CN.6/1998/11
Distr.: General
12 February 1998
Economic and Social Council
Original: English
Commission on Human Rights
Fifty-fourth session
Forty-second session
Geneva, 16 March-24 April 1998
2-13 March 1998
Item 5 of the provisional agenda
Item 3 (a) of the provisional agenda
*
Question of the realization in all countries of
Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on
the economic, social and cultural rights
Women: review of mainstreaming in
contained in the Universal Declaration of
organizations of the United Nations system
Human Rights and in the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, and study of special problems which
the developing countries face in their efforts
to achieve these human rights
Commission on the Status of Women
**
Women’s real enjoyment of their human rights, in particular
those relating to the elimination of poverty, economic
development and economic resources
Report of the Secretary-General
Contents
Paragraphs
Page
I.
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1–5
3
II.
Ensuring women’s real enjoyment of their human rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6–23
3
A.
The context for women’s enjoyment of human rights: consequences of the
denial of rights to women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11–18
4
B.
Factors and obstacles affecting women’s real enjoyment of their human rights
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19–23
5
E/CN.4/1998/22
E/CN.6/1998/11
2
III.
Progress achieved in ensuring women’s real enjoyment of their human rights . . . . .
24–59
6
A.
International human rights instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25–29
6
B.
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30–31
7
C.
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
32–45
7
1.
Gender equality in the Platform for Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
32–33
7
2.
The human rights of women as a critical area of concern and as an
integral component of the Platform for Action as a whole . . . . . . . . . . . .
34–39
7
3.
Actors responsible for implementing actions in the Platform for Action
concerning women’s enjoyment of their economic and social rights . . .
40–45
8
D.
Commission on Human Rights and related bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
46–51
9
E.
Commission on the Status of Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
52–54
10
F.
Economic and Social Council . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
55–56
10
G.
Recent global United Nations conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
57
10
H.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights . . . . . . .
58
11
I.
Division for the Advancement of Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
59
11
IV.
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
60
11
E/CN.4/1998/22
E/CN.6/1998/11
3
I. Introduction
1.
At its substantive session of 1996, the Economic and
Social Council adopted agreed conclusions 1996/1 on poverty
eradication. In the agreed conclusions, the Council, inter1
alia, stressed the need for gender analysis and for the
mainstreaming of a gender perspective in United Nations
activities for poverty eradication (paras. 13 and 27-33). The
Council also invited the Commission on Human Rights, in the
context of its work on poverty, to focus on the relationship
between all human rights, including the right to development,
and poverty, notably extreme poverty. The Council suggested
that the Commission on Human Rights consider providing an
input to the Commission on the Status of Women on ensuring
women’s equal enjoyment of their human rights, in particular
those related to economic resources (para. 45).
2.
The Commission on the Status of Women, at its forty-
first session, in 1997, followed up the Council’s agreed
conclusions on poverty eradication. It noted that, in 1998, the
Commission on Human Rights could consider providing, in
accordance with paragraph 45 of the Council’s agreed
conclusions 1996/1, an input to the Commission on the Status
of Women on ensuring women’s real enjoyment of their
human rights, in particular those relating to the alleviation of
women’s poverty, economic development and economic
resources. With a view to facilitating interaction between the
two Commissions, the Secretariat was invited to submit a
report on that subject to both the Commission on the Status
of Women and the Commission on Human Rights. The report
was to be prepared in cooperation with the Centre for Human
Rights and the Division for the Advancement of Women of
the United Nations Secretariat.2
3.
In resolution 1997/11, the Commission on Human
Rights requested the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights to submit to the Commission on Human Rights
at its fifty-fourth session, in accordance with Economic and
Social Council agreed conclusions 1996/1, a report, to be
prepared by the Centre for Human Rights and the Division
for the Advancement of Women, on the obstacles encountered
and progress achieved in the field of women’s rights relating
to economic resources, the elimination of poverty and
economic development, in particular for women living in
extreme poverty.3
4.
Based on the mandates provided by the Economic and
Social Council, the Commission on the Status of Women and
the Commission on Human Rights, the present report first
examines the impact of women’s unequal enjoyment of rights
on their socio-economic status. To that end, it assesses how
the denial of rights, particularly those relating to economic
development and economic resources, creates obstacles to
women’s equality and thus their enjoyment of human rights.
Particular attention is paid to gender factors that perpetuate
women’s unequal access and treatment with regard to
economic and social rights and opportunities. The report then
assesses the progress made in intergovernmental and expert
bodies in addressing women’s enjoyment of their human
rights, particularly those related to economic development,
economic resources and the elimination of poverty.
5.
As part of the preparations for the forty-second session
of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Division for
the Advancement of Women of the United Nations Secretariat
convened, jointly with the Institute for Human Rights at the
Åbo Akademi University (Finland), an expert group meeting
on promoting women’s enjoyment of their economic and
social rights (1-4 December 1997). For that meeting, a4
background paper was prepared by the Division for the
Advancement of Women, which incorporated a contribution
from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights. The present report, submitted in accordance
with the mandates provided by the Commission on the Status
of Women and the Commission on Human Rights, draws on
this background paper.
II. Ensuring women’s real enjoyment of
their human rights
6.
Over the past several years, a consensus has emerged
that poverty, especially situations of extreme poverty, inhibit
the full and effective enjoyment of human rights.
Commitments have been made at global United Nations
conferences to put in place policies, strategies and concrete
action aimed at the eradication of poverty. The Fourth World5
Conference on Women noted that women’s poverty was
directly related to the absence of economic opportunities and
autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, including
credit, land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to
education and support services and women’s minimal
participation in the decision-making process. The Platform6
for Action emphasized that releasing women’s productive
potential was pivotal to breaking the cycle of poverty so that
women could share fully in the benefits of development and
in the products of their own labour.7
7.
The Special Rapporteur on human rights and extreme
poverty
of
the
Subcommission
on
Prevention
of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, in his final
report, reiterated the Platform for Action’s finding that while8
poverty affected households as a whole, because of the gender
division of labour and responsibilities, women bore a
E/CN.4/1998/22
E/CN.6/1998/11
4
disproportionate burden and had to manage household
consumption and production under conditions of increasing
scarcity. The situation was most difficult for women in rural
areas.9
8.
The Special Rapporteur elaborated criteria for a
juridical definition of extreme poverty. He noted, inter alia,
that extreme poverty involved the denial, not of a single right
or a given category of rights, but of human rights as a whole.
According to the Special Rapporteur, the issue at stake was
not the “recognition” of human rights, but the real and
effective “exercise” of all human rights and fundamental
freedoms by the extremely poor. The indivisibility and
interdependence of human rights showed that denial or
deprivation of one right could have repercussions on the
exercise of other rights. Thus, a holistic approach to the
realization of human rights was necessary.10
9.
In the light of women’s socio-economic disadvantages
reflected in many indicators (see paras. 11-18 below), the
relationship between women’s unequal access to economic
resources and their persistent poverty is receiving growing
attention.
Increasingly, the advantages of a rights-based
11
approach to addressing such poverty are being explored.
First, human rights require that States accord priority
consideration to their fulfilment.
Rights are not simply a
12
matter of policy choices for Governments, but impose legal
obligations to respect and ensure the rights in question. The
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has
noted that the raison d’être of the Covenant is to “establish
clear obligations for States parties in respect of the full
realization of the rights” contained in the Covenant.13
Moreover, the full recognition of rights requires the creation
of effective channels of redress to hold the State accountable
for violations of rights.14
10.
Notwithstanding efforts at the non-discriminatory
application of human rights to all without distinction, it has
been increasingly recognized that the vision of human rights
and the mechanisms that exist to concretize this vision,
although supposedly available to women and men on an equal
basis, have profited women less than men. As a result,
significant efforts have been applied to redefine the meaning
of human rights to encompass the specific experiences of
women at all stages of their lives.
A. The context for women’s enjoyment of
rights: consequences of the denial of rights
to women
11.
Access to economic resources is essential for people’s
well-being. Denial of equal rights to women in the access to
such resources is reflected in their overall unequal economic
and social situation. Ensuring women’s full enjoyment of their
human rights is a crucial strategy for women’s empowerment
and for overcoming the disadvantages women continue to face
in economic, political and social terms.
12.
Statistical profiles provide an entry point for
documenting differences and for identifying factors and
aspects that cause unequal outcomes for women in the
enjoyment of rights, including those relating to economic
resources. The existence of unequal outcomes suggests that15
women’s as well as men’s experiences require explicit
attention in terms of the protection and promotion of human
rights. While great progress has been made in recent years in
collecting data disaggregated by sex,
such data are not yet
16
consistently used as a basis for legal and policy measures in
promoting enjoyment of rights.17
13.
Countries’ achievements in human development – that
is, whether people lead long and healthy lives, are educated
and knowledgeable and enjoy a decent standard of living –
change noticeably when inequality in achievement between
women and men is taken into account.
The majority of the
18
world’s 1.3 billion people living in poverty are women, a
situation that results from a number of factors. Their unequal
situation in the formal and informal labour market, including
access to land, property, credit and other economic resources,
is one aspect. Another aspect is their treatment under social
welfare systems and their status and power in the family.
An
19
important conclusion in the Human Development Report,
1997 is that gender inequality is strongly associated with
human poverty, but it is not always associated with income
poverty.
In other words, even when a country is very poor
20
in terms of income poverty, it can still achieve a relative level
of gender equality in basic indicators for human development.
Progress in gender equality can be achieved at different
income levels and stages of development. And it can be found
across a range of cultures and political ideologies.21
14.
Access to, and control of, productive resources,
particularly land, are key to addressing women’s poverty,
which in rural areas has particular consequences for women.22
E/CN.4/1998/22
E/CN.6/1998/11
5
Although women’s right to own land is often legally
countries, there were no women ministers at all at the end of
established, gender asymmetry in access to and control over
1996.
land is one of the main obstacles to the full participation of
women in rural development.
Because of continuing
23
exclusion of women from, and discrimination against women
in, acquiring land, security of tenure and inheritance rights
to land and property, women also face particular constraints
in securing and maintaining their right to housing. In fact, the
continued discrimination faced by women in all matters
relating to land and property has been called the single most
critical factor in the perpetuation of gender inequality and
poverty.24
15.
Education is also a prerequisite for effective economic
women were prevented from fully participating in
and
participation.
Education and training for women and girls
contributing to the development of society.
25
yields high social and economic returns, and is a precondition
for the empowerment of women. While the enrolment ratios26
for boys and girls at the primary level is approaching equality
everywhere, differences persist at the regional level and for
different age groups and levels of schooling, especially at
higher levels. Two thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are
women, with illiteracy highest among older women who never
had the opportunity to go to school.
16.
Women’s participation in various aspects of economic
and community life has increased, but remains lower than that
of men. The female economic activity rate is now nearly 70
per cent of the male rate in developing countries, ranging
from 86 per cent in East Asia to 50 per cent in Latin America
and the Caribbean. A large part of women’s work is in low-27
paid or unpaid occupations. In agriculture, family enterprises
and the informal sector, women have little possibility for
savings, credit or investment, and limited security. While of
tremendous importance for the well-being of families,
communities and countries, women’s work is poorly
measured in official statistics. Women work in different jobs
and occupations than men, almost always with lower status
and pay.
In industrial countries unemployment is higher
28
among women than men, and women constitute three fourths
of the unpaid family workers.
Poor women in many parts of
29
the world remain unable to exercise their right to loans and
credit, although this right is established under the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women
and is considered to be a powerful tool in
30
overcoming poverty and economic dependence.31
17.
Women’s participation in decision-making at all levels
and in all areas – in the political, economic and social realms
– is a prerequisite for justifying claims of the legitimacy of
governance. It is also a strategic need in achieving women’s
equality and empowerment. Yet the level of women’s
participation in decision-making remains well below a critical
mass in many legislative and executive bodies. In fact, in 48
32
18.
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women has
examined the link between denial of women’s rights in the
economic realm and violence against women. She noted that
denying women economic power and economic independence
was a major cause of violence against women because it
prolonged their vulnerability and dependence. She also noted
that unless economic relations in a society were more
equitable towards women, the problem of violence against
women would continue.
The consequences of such denial
33
of women’s rights in the economic realm included the fact that
34
B. Factors and obstacles affecting women’s
real enjoyment of their human rights
19.
Gender-based considerations need to inform the
analysis of the content and nature of human rights, as well as
of measures to ensure their enjoyment. There are many
processes at the domestic and international levels through
which the content of human rights is clarified and their
implementation occurs. The systematic integration of gender
factors into these processes, into measures for implementation
and into domestic and international monitoring remains to be
achieved.
20.
Women are entitled to the enjoyment of all human
rights, including those relating to economic development and
resources, as part of their equal entitlement to all human
rights. At the same time, women’s gender roles have an
impact on their ability to access rights, resources and
opportunities, and treatment on an equal basis. Not only is
equal access to these rights an end in itself, these rights are
essential components of women’s empowerment, of social
justice and overall social and economic development.
Women’s equal access to resources and opportunities and
equal treatment in economic and social life are cornerstones
for the full realization of these rights. Lack of equal access
represents a denial of rights, which results in the perpetuation
of women’s poverty.
21.
In the enjoyment of rights, women face constraints and
vulnerabilities which differ from those that affect men and
which are of significant relevance in the enjoyment of these
rights. At the same time, these variables mean that women
may be affected by violations of rights in ways that are
different from men. Women are disproportionately affected
by poverty and social marginalization. Women suffer systemic
E/CN.4/1998/22
E/CN.6/1998/11
6
and systematic discrimination, which results in deep patterns35
of inequality and disadvantage. The overall level of
development and of resources available to countries, women’s
literacy levels and women’s access to information and to legal
remedies also have an impact on women’s enjoyment of their
rights. The gender-based division of labour, with women
being primarily responsible for reproductive work and work
related to the family, and men for productive work, also
contributes to the perpetuation of gender-based inequalities.
22.
Many women experience multiple barriers in gaining
access to rights such as employment, housing, land, food and
social security. These barriers include the disproportionate
burden of reproductive and care-giving work performed by
women; the sexual division of labour and segregated
employment practices; discriminatory traditional and cultural
laws and practices; unequal representation by women in
political and other decision-making structures at all levels;
and the widespread violence perpetrated against women.
Women’s social position, marital status, class, or membership
in particularly vulnerable groups, such as refugee or migrant
women, rural or urban poor women, are often linked to de
facto, and sometimes also to de jure, discrimination.
23.
When laws, customs, traditional roles, family
responsibilities or attitudes and stereotypes provide people
– women – with fewer opportunities or place them at a
disadvantage as they seek to access opportunities, remedial
measures are needed to eliminate such disadvantages, and to
prevent them from recurring. When policies are designed in
the context of respect for, and promotion and protection of,
human rights, then unequal outcomes for women in the
economic and social spheres oblige Governments to design
policies and other measures in a way that reduces inequalities.
III. Progress achieved in ensuring
women’s real enjoyment of their
human rights
24.
Governments have expressed and reiterated their firm
commitment to the indivisibility and interrelatedness of all
human rights, including in the Vienna Declaration and
Programme of Action, and the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action. The following section focuses on
women’s enjoyment of economic and social rights as a
strategy to ensure that women do not experience poverty
disproportionately. Denial of these rights not only perpetuates
women’s poverty, but also constitutes a major obstacle to
women’s empowerment and advancement in general.
A. International human rights instruments
25.
Economic and social rights are contained in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and have been further
elaborated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights,
with States parties to the Covenant
36
undertaking to ensure the equal right of men and women to
the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.37
26.
Standards of the International Labour Organization
(ILO) define rights and obligations to improve conditions of
life and work worldwide. Although most of these standards
apply equally to women and men workers, specific standards
for women workers have also been adopted.38
27.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women elaborates the meaning of
discrimination on the basis of sex and addresses women’s
equal rights with men in the political, economic and private
spheres.
The Convention encompasses rights in the fields
39
of education (art. 10) and employment, including social
security (art. 11), and in other areas of economic and social
life. It establishes women’s right to equality with men before
the law and provides for equal legal capacity in civil matters,
including contracts and property administration (art. 15). It
also establishes the same rights for spouses in respect of
ownership,
acquisition,
management,
administration,
enjoyment and disposition of property (art. 16).
28.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights has, through its monitoring of the implementation of
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, contributed to the better understanding of these rights
and the obligations resulting therefrom for States parties to
ensure realization of rights. The Committee increasingly
highlights gender issues in its general comments on specific
articles of the Covenant
in an effort to encourage States
40
parties to take active steps to overcome women’s inequality
and disadvantage in the enjoyment of rights. It also requests
information about the situation of women in the consideration
of States parties reports, in such areas as remuneration,
women’s position in the labour market, the situation of
women migrant workers and women’s inheritance rights so
as to highlight situations of continuous unequal enjoyment of
rights by women.
29.
While the Covenant represents the most comprehensive
single global legal instrument on economic, social and
cultural rights, such rights are contained in many other
international, regional or national instruments. They can also
be found in other types of instruments of a global or regional
character and are reflected in consensus policy documents,
in addition to legal instruments stricto sensu.
E/CN.4/1998/22
E/CN.6/1998/11
7
B. Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action
30.
The World Conference on Human Rights clearly
acknowledged that women’s rights are human rights. The
Conference emphasized the need for Governments and the
United Nations to make the full and equal participation of
women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life,
at the national, regional and international levels, and the
eradication of all forms of discrimination on grounds of sex
a priority of their policies. It also underlined the importance
of the integration and full participation of women as both
agents and beneficiaries in the development process, and
reiterated the objectives established on global action for
women towards sustainable and equitable development set
forth in the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development and chapter 24 of Agenda 21, adopted by the
United
Nations
Conference
on
Environment
and
Development.41
31.
The World Conference on Human Rights reaffirmed the
right to development, as established in the Declaration on the
Right to Development, as a universal and inalienable right
and integral part of fundamental human rights.
C. Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action
1. Gender equality in the Platform for Action
32.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
provide a framework for translating the provisions and
positive forces of human rights law into concrete actions for
achieving gender equality through the real and effective
exercise by women, including women living in poverty, of
their human rights. In this endeavour, the significance of the
general prohibition of discrimination is paramount. It has two
aspects, both of which are reflected in the broad objectives
of the Platform for Action and the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women:
one, to ensure that gender does not impair women’s ability
to exercise their human rights; and two, to undertake specific
efforts to change – and transform – structures and processes
that perpetuate women’s inequality in all spheres of life.
33.
In its diagnosis of the situation with regard to the human
rights of women, the Platform for Action takes a
comprehensive view of these rights, in accordance with the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. Discrimination
against women and girls in the allocation of economic and
social resources is identified as a direct violation of women’s
and girls’ economic, social and cultural rights. The Platform42
for Action recognizes that gender directly creates a
disadvantage for women and girls in the enjoyment of their
human rights when it states: “If the goal of the full realization
of human rights for all is to be achieved, international human
rights instruments must be applied in such a way as to take
more clearly into consideration the systematic and systemic
nature of discrimination against women that gender analysis
has clearly indicated”.43
2. The human rights of women as a critical area of
concern and as an integral component of the
Platform for Action as a whole
34.
The human rights of women and women and poverty are
identified as critical areas of concern in the Platform for
Action. In these, as well as in other critical areas of concern,44
the Platform highlights measures to promote women’s
enjoyment of their economic and social rights as a means of
overcoming poverty and disadvantage. The human rights of
women are also addressed, directly or indirectly, in several
other critical areas of concern, with women’s enjoyment of
their economic and social rights being identified as
instrumental for the achievement of the goal of gender
equality in those areas. This is clearly established in such
strategic objectives as “Revise laws and administrative
practices to ensure women’s equal rights and access to
economic resources” (strategic objective A.2); “Ensure equal
access to education” (strategic objective B.1); “Promote
women’s economic rights and independence, including access
to employment, appropriate working conditions and control
over economic resources” (strategic objective F.1);
“Facilitate women’s equal access to resources, employment,
markets and trade” (strategic objective F.2); and “Eliminate
occupational segregation and all forms of employment
discrimination” (strategic objective F.5).44
35.
Many of the actions recommended under these strategic
objectives illustrate the nature and scope of economic and
social rights contained in international legal instruments.
Through the recommended actions, the Platform aims at the
elimination of discrimination on the one hand and at ensuring
the achievement of equality for women on the other. Women’s
full and equal enjoyment of economic and social rights as a
means for reducing and eliminating poverty and for realizing
sustainable development is addressed in several areas of the
Platform for Action, including poverty, the economy, the
environment and violence against women. The actions
indicate the continuing existence of obstacles to women’s de
facto enjoyment of human rights in the economic and social
realms. They are also indicative of the multifaceted actions