Attiya Ammar
A fairly large part of global population is subject to discrimination such as political repression, denial of right to vote, right of abortion, education and unequal pay based on gender. World community has discussed about the different explanations of human rights but still fairly less focus has been placed on issues related to gender. Discrimination is the major cause of women suffering in the developing countries. The article delves into various such issues because of discrimination faced by women along with the efforts made by the domestic and international bodies to ensure justice. Charlotte Bunch very clearly mentions that significant portion of population goes through anguish, pain, humiliation, just because they are female. More precisely, in the underdeveloped countries, the male domination is root cause of women suppression, this is not cultural or personal rather it is political. This is from the structural relationship at home, work and public domains. The girl child is always fed less as compared to boy child. So the discrimination starts from home. The male dominating society believes that controlling women is from nature, however, in reality it’s just a negative approach. The importance of control over women’s bodies can be seen by the fact that they don’t have freedom of sexuality and reproductive rights. The UN has a history of addressing the issues related to human rights for the women and it has made relative progress in past decades. Still, there are issues related to women discrimination that keep emerging. In 1948, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved it included a lot about human rights but less attention was paid to women’s rights.
In 1979, a Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the UN General Assembly. The Convention defines discrimination against women as “…any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.” The convention addresses sex discrimination but it failed to highlight issue of violence against women. A few of states that signed the convention also tend to follow it such as in Banjul, Article18 of the Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 1981 “ensure the elimination of every discrimination against women and also ensure the protection of the rights of the woman and the child as stipulated in international declarations and conventions”. The Charter’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa named as Maputo Protocol was adopted in 2003. In December 2004, directive for equal treatment of men and women was implemented for access to supply of goods and services. Earlier, there was a gap in the European Union law. This directive is based on article 13 of European community treaty. This directive was implemented in the wake of the discussion that efforts were needed to promote gender justice.
Despite all the aforementioned laws and efforts, women are still discriminated. In the Vatican City, women don’t have right to vote. The sole election that is held in the city is the selection of the pope. Only 10% of women in Saudi Arabia voted in 2015. This was the year when voting for women became legal. It is considered to be the country where women were not even able to drive or work. In Pakistan, the voting rights were given in 1956; unfortunately, the participation has been lowest globally. The deep rooted discrimination against women can be evident in many areas such as peasants and human rights defenders. They are given unstable jobs in the informal economy without the social, labour and legal protections. Women farmers play vital role in agriculture and cultivate, plough and harvest half of world’s food but they are kept out of decision-making that pertains to the economic, trade and financial policies. The women working for human rights face many hurdles in the society. It is important that the ways in which women are discriminated are understood well so that a proper strategy is formulated to deal with these issues. The women in the developed countries should have majority in the judicial system and police so that they can deal with issues related to women in a better way.
Moreover, a woman is discriminated and is also vulnerable because of lack of economic independence. When it comes to financial independence in a developing country, women participation is clearly less. Pakistan is no exception. In order to achieve human freedom, social progress and economic uplift of women, education is essential. The literacy rate of women in Pakistan is 45% which is extremely alarming, especially in the rural areas. On the contrary, the literacy rate of men is 69%. All the governments considered the national development of women a major policy attribute but still the educational level is low. Pakistan’s Government has accepted to maintain gender equality by “gender mainstreaming” that nurtures the incorporation of gender sensitive policy into the national development policies in every sector as envisaged in the UN Convention on Rights of Children, Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and 4th Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995 and the UN Millennium Declaration 2000. Despite the commitments for sustaining gender equity in education, the targets are unachieved with 76% of female adults being illiterate.
Despite various steps and reforms in place winning the rights of women is still a challenge, which can be done by giving equal rights to women. Regardless of developed or developing nations, women should be treated equally as men like equal pay, education, health, marital status, land ownership rights. The women should no longer be a vulnerable creature. A number of steps have been taken internationally for women to live a life of dignity and freedom from domination and aggression. Still, a lot more is to be done with more focus on judicial enforcement of cultural, social and economic rights of women. Recognition of women rights as human rights can play a vital role in improving their life.
—The writer is a Civil Servant and a Chevening Scholar.
