Equality Now Advocacy Report: Reviewing sex discrimination in the law
In the advocacy reports “Words and Deeds — Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing Review Process”, published in 1999, 2004, 2010 and 2015, Equality Now highlights a sampling of explicitly discriminatory laws relating to: marital status, and economic status and in addressing violence against women. Such laws demonstrate the clear disrespect of governments for the fundamental right of women and girls to equality.
Equality Now is pleased to report that more than half of the laws highlighted in it previous reports have been fully or partially repealed or amended (see Annex). However, many other discriminatory laws previously highlighted remain in force. And, new ones continue to be adopted, such as Kenya’s Marriage Act No. 4 of 2014. Other countries had the opportunity to fulfil their pledge while revising their laws recently but failed to remove the discrimination (e.g. the United Kingdom, Mali and Iran). These examples are included in this new report.
Interesting article about the report: http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/02/sexist-laws-still-thrive-worldwide/?utm_source=CSW+2015&utm_campaign=CSW+2015&utm_medium=email
Report: http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/B+20_Report_EN.pdf
CARE Report: Tackling the double injustice of climate change and gender inequality
This report explains why we cannot deliver sustainable development without tackling climate change and why we cannot tackle climate change without tackling the root causes of poverty – one of which is gender inequality.
The report focuses on these issues in the context of food and nutrition security, women’s economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive rights, and disasters and emergencies. The report includes a range of case studies from CARE’s climate change work in Niger, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Womankind report: Women’s rights at the crossroads in 2015
In the context of current global agenda’s around development, this report lays out recommendations from women’s rights organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, for the international community to re-commit to and act upon to secure women’s full and equal rights.
http://www.womankind.org.uk/policy-and-resources/resources/
Article “Why Women Are More at Risk than Men in Earthquake-Ravaged Nepal”
It turns out disasters affect women much more than men. A 2007 study by researchers at the London School of Economics and the University of Essex found that between 1981 and 2002, natural disasters in 141 countries killed significantly more women than men, and that the worse the disaster, the bigger the gender disparity.
The latest figures from Nepal show that among the 1.3 million affected by the earthquake, about 53% are female—a small but not yet statistically significant bias. That might soon change. According to the Women Resilience Index, a metric developed to assess a country’s capacity to reduce risk in disaster and recovery for women, Nepal scores a paltry 45.2 out of 100. Japan scores 80.6, by comparison, and Pakistan 27.8. And lessons from previous disasters show that the bias affecting women can worsen in post-disaster relief.
http://qz.com/392867/why-women-are-more-at-risk-than-men-in-earthquake-ravaged-nepal/
Article “Governments priority for civil and political rights over other rights constraints addressing gender justice”
The preferential treatment of civil and political rights (ICCPR) over economic, social and cultural rights (ICESCR), stands as a major constraint to transforming the conditions that underlie gender inequality and violence against women (VAW). States in responding to VAW have tended to focus more on reforming juridical and legal structures, and less on altering economic and social structures. In the context of global restructuring and financial crises, economic and social rights are particularly crucial – not only to women’s enjoyment of their rights, but also for preventing the deepening of gender disparities.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/yakin-erturk/missing-link-in-women%27s-human-rights
Article “survey concludes that nearly 2 billion women worldwide are struggling”
For International Women’s Day, Gallup looked at how women around the world rate their lives and their daily experiences. The survey suggests that more than one in four women worldwide — or about 620 million women — rate their lives positively enough to be considered “thriving.” The life ratings of the rest — or about 2 billion women — place them in a category of “struggling” or “suffering.” These ratings have been remarkably stable for the past several years.
Since 2005, Gallup has conducted nationally representative surveys in more than 160 countries asking women (and men) to evaluate their current and future lives on a ladder scale with steps numbered from 0 to 10, based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale.
At least 70% of women worldwide say they were treated with a great deal of respect, smiled or laughed a lot, experienced enjoyment or felt well-rested the day before the survey. How women view their lives varies a great deal by the relative wealth, development and stability of the countries they live in. But the two largest areas where all women’s lives can improve are jobs and personal safety.
UNRISD Classics, Volume II: Gendered Dimensions of Development
UNRISD Classics is a set of three volumes—Social Policy and Inclusive Development, Gendered Dimensions of Development and Revisiting Sustainable Development—that bring together 50 selected essays from 50 years of UNRISD research. The contributions both highlight some of the Institute’s most influential and ground-breaking research and, through new introductions, demonstrate its relevance to today’s development debates.
The second volume on gender and development provides important insights for those who believe that it is necessary to push the boundaries of political discourse beyond its current focus on economic growth and poverty reduction toward a broader understanding of development that includes human well-being, equity, sustainability, democratic governance and social justice.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpPublicationsHome)/$First?OpenDocument