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UN Reports Widespread Discrimination Against Women

Women still have a long way to go, a United Nations committee reports. Despite the enactment of more laws and programs to eliminate discrimination, women have yet to achieve full legal, economic, and cultural equality with men even in some of the world’s more advanced societies.

This is the conclusion of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, a body of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Its most recent round of ongoing international reports examined the progress – or lack of it – of eight countries in their efforts toward meeting the obligations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The countries studied were Bolivia, Burundi, Saudi Arabia, France, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Morocco, and Sweden.

The enactment of equality-promoting laws and programs, such as the Family and Domestic Violence Act, is an indicator of progress in Bolivia, but there remains a gap between increased legal protections for women and their ability to access those protections, according to the Committee. Women’s access to justice is impeded by their high rates of illiteracy and their lack of information on rights and available legal assistance, particularly in rural areas.

In Burundi and Saudi Arabia, patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities of the sexes are reflected in family laws that continue to perpetuate women’s subordination and disadvantage them economically.

The Committee describes as “distinctive” Saudi Arabia’s understanding of the principle of equality, “which implied similar rights of women and men as well as complementarities and harmony between women and men, rather than equal rights of women and men.” The Committee notes that “there was no contradiction in substance between the Convention and Islamic Sharia and thus calls on Saudi Arabia to confirm that international treaties had precedence over domestic laws.”

But traditionally male-dominated societies are not the only ones where stereotypes impede women’s progress toward equality. In France, for instance, persistent stereotypes are blamed for directing girls and women toward academic specialties that translate into a narrow range of employment options.

The Committee challenges the governments of Sweden, France, and Luxembourg to initiate campaigns encouraging women to bring up complaints of discriminatory treatment. And the mass media could do more to promote more diverse portrayals of women’s roles, such as women as breadwinners and not just mothers, caregivers, or-notably in Sweden’s case-sexual objects.

“Eliminating stereotypes may not eliminate violence or discrimination, but proactive measures by governments to provide equal opportunities for women in the economy and a greater role in decision making would remove the principal obstacles to women’s enjoyment of their fundamental rights,” the Committee concludes.

© 2008, Yellowbrix.

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