PHA-Exch> Food for a not so decadent thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 174

* *

*GENDER EQUALITY IS NOT JUST A WOMEN'S ISSUE, BUT A DEVELOPMENT AND A HUMAN
RIGHTS ISSUE.   *

* *

In many poor countries, gender equality and women's  rights are considered a
mere whim of rich countries or, worse, an expression of Western decadence.
(H. Dembowski)



*A quick introductory glimpse at just a small sample of what the 'decadent'
denounce: *

   - Of  the nearly 137 million illiterate youths in the world, 63% are
   female.
   - In no region of the world do women have a presence in national
   parliaments that exceeds 20%.
   - Women account for 70% of the world's poor.
   - Worldwide, only about 1% of all credits are granted to women. (World
   Bank, 2006)
   - Forty three million school age girls are not enrolled in school
   --most of them from socially excluded groups.
   - A greater volume of goods in Sub-Saharan Africa is transported on
   the heads of women than on the back of trucks.
   - The so-called missing women phenomenon, where there are fewer women
   than would be expected on the basis of biological norms is also indicative
   of the continuing discrimination against women.

1. In many poor countries, the sharp differences between men and women in
access to assets and to opportunities restrict women from their freedom to
choose and, at the same time, have negative implications for the well-being
of their families and their communities… and this is a flagrant
discrimination.



2. Discrimination against women and girls is not only a flagrant violation
of human rights  and a negation of democracy, but it is also crippling in
terms of economics. This is doubly important, because sustained   gender
discrimination shackles any economy. In other words, upholding women's
rights helps an economy to thrive. Therefore, gender equality is a sensible
goal also in business terms. Poor countries in particular cannot afford not
to tap this potential.



3. Non-discrimination is an *immediate* obligation as considered in the UN
Charter of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ECOSOC, General Comment
No.3, paragraph 2.2).  The progressive realization of women's rights does,
therefore, *not* apply to discrimination against women. Action is needed *
now*!



4. Due to the traditional position of women in most societies, women face
barriers in their access to assets and to opportunities not only for
economic, but also, most importantly, for cultural reasons.



5. If traditional ideas, customs and mores that denigrate the status of
women --and that have been handed down for generations-- do not match human
rights standards and violate people's rights (…and openly or indirectly
discriminate against women), they simply have to be done away with; that may
sound controversial, but there is no alternative. In that sense, separating
church and state is fundamental for the universal upholding of human rights.


[Note: Countries that furthermore try to make people outside their culture
or faith observe such discrimination, violate international human rights law
twice over --and it is the state's duty to protect the rights of those
minorities).



6. It is said that in the European and North American culture gender
equality has achieved a lot. But has it? Not really as much as is to be
expected. Still today, women in the North need to be given equal economic,
senior management and political chances.



7. At the global level, despite the fact that the heads of state at the
Millennium Summit made gender equality and the empowerment of women a top
priority worldwide (MDG 3), nothing much has happened since in this domain.
[It is perhaps a case of what somebody facetiously, and with an improper
sense of humor, said: "Yet another set of presidents screwing the rights of
women"].



8. The key elements to tackle in gender inequality are:

·        disparities in educational and health outcomes (the latter of
particular concern to the People's Health Movement), and

·        disparities in the access to productive resources, to credit, to
capital, to new technologies and to other social and legal services.



9. Therefore, to promote gender equality, policies need to address
inequalities as they pertain to rights, to the access to resources and to
the voice of women as claim-holders:

·        in terms of rights, gender equality primarily (but not only) refers
to equality under the law (whether customary or statutory);

·        in terms of resources, gender equality refers to equal access to
human capital investments and to equal chances to own property, control
productive resources and markets;

·        in terms of voice, gender equality refers to the ability of men and
women to equally influence and contribute to the political discourse and the
development process.



10. In short, gender equality is to be understood as equal access to the
opportunities that ultimately avoid deprivations in development outcomes. As
a corollary, the promotion of women must not be confined to health and
education alone. For instance, as much as literacy effectively empowers men
and especially women, it is just one step of many in the right direction.



11. It is well known that most development projects do not contribute to
empower women; at best, they create a few earning opportunities for them.
Gender equality cannot be achieved merely using financial credit. As a
matter of fact, in addition, women that successfully borrow are often at
risk of increased domestic violence if projects do not include measures to
change male attitudes.



12. Unfortunately, 'women's projects' often only benefit small elite groups
of women (a handful of the more entrepreneurial ones). The gap thus widens
with a growing number of  poor widows and teenage mothers being left behind.
Credit and related support programs for women thus do not guarantee that the
people most in need will be those to actually benefit. Furthermore, what is
too often overlooked is that economic support targeted solely to women can
and does exacerbate the trend of men reducing their financial contributions
to household budgets. Therefore, this gender-targeted support does not
contribute meaningfully to improve the situation of women and their
families.



*Normative considerations*

13. Reducing gender inequalities indeed creates a fairer society. [The
active participation of women has been proven to impact positively on the
lives and the self-determination of women].



14. Looking at where governments put their money is indeed a good way to
judge the importance they attribute to gender equality.



15. Since there is no such a thing as gender-neutral government budgets, one
way to pinpoint policies needed to reduce gender disparities is to embark in
*gender budgeting* which involves the systematic examination of budgets and
policies for their potential impact on women and girls. Because we need a
more gender-responsive public financial management, this technique can
influence the budgeting process to make sure it focuses on public policies
that can truly help reduce gender disparities and thus can improve overall
economic outcomes.



16. Basically, we need to support the advancement of women; yes. But only if
other gender aspects are considered as well, i.e., men also becoming
systematically involved. For example, at the domestic level, as long as
child care and housework remain a female preserve, i.e., are entirely
considered women's tasks, the chances of women living-up to their potential
are limited. Hence, whoever fails to consider power relations in marriage in
any given culture, automatically fails to reckon with the critical men's
issues in gender streamlining.



17. Moreover, gender-specific barriers must be removed to ensure a more
level playing field for males and females. For example, women must simply be
given viable economic chances. Also, extra incentives are needed for more
investments in girls' human capital formation and for aggressive
gender-balanced education policies. Gender-informed investments in human
capital formation are central (but not sufficient) to promoting gender
equality.



18. Additionally, women need equal access to land, to the full range of
social and financial services, as well as to infrastructural services, at
the same time that they need a more enabling legal environment.



19. To benefit the entire family, programs for women can and will only
succeed if and when they address power relations. This implies that we need
to really get involved in gender mainstreaming rather than in exclusively
empowering women. [Note that the use of the concept of 'gender
mainstreaming' is on its way out; it is being replaced by 'full integration
of women and men (and boys and girls)'].



20. Ultimately, the most effective way to achieve all the above is to,
without further delay, start advancing women so they are quickly promoted to
positions where more of them are put in charge of planning and executing
development projects and programs.



Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

cschuftan at phmovement.org  NEW ADDRESS

[All Readers can be found in www.humaninfo.org/aviva under No.69]
Adapted from D+C (Development  and Cooperation), Intl. J., Inwent, Bonn,
Vol.34, Nos.5 and 7/8 May, June/July 2007, and F+D (Finance and
Development), IMF, Washington DC, Vol.44, No.2 , June 2007.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20071022/0401b9be/attachment-0001.html>