[From Local Action/ Global Change: Learning About the Human Rights of Women and Girls (by Julie Mertus, with Mallika Dutt and Nancy Flowers); New York: Center for Womens Global Leadership and UNIFEM, 1997]
WOMENS HUMAN RIGHT TO
EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
OBJECTIVES
The exercises and background information contained in this chapter will enable participants to work towards the following objectives:
Understand that all human beings are entitled to dignity and respect which underlies the concept of universal human rights
Understand that all human beings are entitled to human rights without discrimination
Examine the complex way in which human rights are interconnected and interrelated
Discuss how women and girls can experience discrimination in different ways based on such factors as race, class, ethnicity, religion, culture, sexuality, and age
Acknowledge that these differences can become the basis for discrimination against or prejudice by some women against others
Construct an understanding of human rights that attempts to take into account all groups in a society and oppresses none of them
GETTING STARTED: THINKING ABOUT DISCRIMINATION
Guiding principles for dealing with discrimination and human rights can be found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which came into force soon after World War II in 1948. The UDHR is not a treaty and was adopted by the UN General Assembly as a resolution having no force of law. It has, however, undergone a transformation to the extent that it is now considered a normative instrument that creates legal obligations for the Member States of the UN. The UDHR contain fundamental principles of human rights which have over the past half century attained great moral force. Moreover, many, if not all, of the rights it proclaims have attained the status of customary international law and its principles may regarded as an authoritative interpretation of the human rights provisions contained in the UN Charter.
RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF THE UDHR
Universality
The first principle of the UDHR proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" (ARTICLE 1) . This means that all human rights are universal and belong to each and every person regardless of sex, race, colour, religion, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status. Universality also means that governments and communities should uphold certain moral and ethical values that cut across all regions of the world. One example of a universally held moral belief is that slavery and genocide, killing vast numbers of people because they are of a particular ethnic or religious community, is wrong everywhere and in all cases.
While many of us understand our common lack of power as women in relation to men, we are often insensitive to the different kinds of power we have as women as members of a particular class, ethnic group, religion, geographic location, race, or sexual orientation. These kinds of differences can often result in our oppressing or discriminating against some communities of women and men. Such imbalance of power does not occur simply at the individual level; it is maintained by society, government, religious institutions, and other forces in a systematic and organized manner and directed against particular groups. Our access to resources, work, housing, education, protection by the government, and many other advantages can be determined by the power we have in society. Thus, our recognition that human rights are universal must always acknowledge how differences in power among and between groups can result in discrimination and inequality even in the exercise of universal human rights.
The principle of the universality of human rights is contentious, as discussed later in this chapter, and is further complicated by the uneven application of human rights standards. For instance, some industrialized governments have tended to denounce violations of human rights in countries of the South while ignoring human rights abuses within their own borders. Donor countries sometimes link economic, political, and military aid to the human rights record of a particular country. On the other hand, governments of the South may attempt to justify violating their citizen's human rights by challenging the notion that human rights belong to all people, and claiming, for example, that their cultures, moral codes or level of economic development allow them to deny peoples rights to life, political opinion, assembly or education. While these debates on the universal nature of human rights are important for women to understand and engage in, women in countries of both the North and South share many common experiences of violations of their rights.
Equality
The notion that human rights are universal and belong to all people is centrally connected to principles of equality and non-discrimination. Article 2 of the UDHR states that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Thus, everyone everywhere is born with the same human rights, although they may not have the same ability to enjoy those rights.
Equality, as used in the human rights context, does not necessarily mean treating everyone in the same manner. Instead, women may seek different treatment than men in order to enjoy the same rights. For example, in order to enjoy the right to work, women may require help with child care and/or recognition of the work women traditionally do in the home. Equality means taking steps to alter the power imbalance between men and women in a community and to promote fairness.
Non-Discrimination
The UDHR also states, in Article 7, that "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. " In other words no one should be denied the protection of their human rights simply because of their sex, the colour of their skin, their political opinion or other factors. The fundamental principle of non-discrimination means that all individuals have the right to live with dignity and freedom. Thus, discrimination on the grounds of disability, sexual orientation, geographic location or any other status also violates human rights.
Some of the areas of non-discrimination identified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been further elaborated in human rights treaties. For example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) elaborates on discrimination based on sex. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination addresses the discrimination experienced by many communities on the basis of colour or race.
Despite these fundamental principles of universality, equality and non-discrimination, our ability to enjoy human rights is often defined by our particular circumstances. Thus one's race, sexual orientation, class, sex, geographic location, or culture often determines not only how one understands human rights, but also how one's human rights are violated.
Interrelation and Interconnection of Rights
Other important principles of the UDHR are that human rights are interrelated and interconnected. Human rights interact in a dynamic interchange, reinforcing each other. They are not a "zero sum" game in which gaining human rights in one area means losing human rights in another. One person does not gain the ability to enjoy her human rights at the expense of another person. Similarly, there are no hierarchies between different kinds of human rights. The right to religious freedom is just as important as the right to food and shelter as long as the exercise of ones rights does not prevent others from exercising their rights.
This interrelation and interconnection has important implications for the implementation and interpretation of human rights law and documents. Just as human rights do not exist in isolation from one another, human rights documents should not be interpreted in isolation from one another either. Through an ongoing process, they reinforce each other. Although this book refers primarily to the Women's Convention (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action, which was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995, the full range of rights are found in the entirety of human rights treaties and practice.
The interconnection and interrelation of rights also has important implications for strategies we devise to make our rights real. As complex beings with many components to our identities, we can experience a multitude of human rights violations; thus the solutions and remedies to our problems must be sought in many arenas.
The exercises that follow are meant to help us understand the way in which discrimination operates in the denial of human rights in a variety of ways. While women can be discriminated against for many reasons, these exercises address areas that are often overlooked in a discussion of human rights. The objective of these exercises is to further appreciate not only how women can experience discrimination but also how they themselves can discriminate against others. To realize human rights for all women, we must all live our own lives in ways that respects the human rights of all peoples.
Exercise 1: Examining Connections
Objective: To elicit discussion about aspects of shared identity and differences among participants
Time: 90 minutes (total)
Materials: Paper and pens
Blackboard and chalk or chart paper and markers
Method: Drawing, discussion, case study
Activity A: Circles of Connectedness [30 minutes]
Guide the participants through the steps of the exercise, providing instructions step by step.
1. Draw:
Ask each participant to work draw a circle writing and write her name inside. Draw 5-10 petals around the circle as if drawing a flower. In each petal write a group with which she identifies. Was race included? Class? Religion? Sexual orientation? Nationality? Family or refugee status?
2. Discuss:
Pair off the participants and ask them to identify the petals they have in common and initial these. Combine with another pair and identify and initial the shared petals within this group of four. Discuss all the common features that listed.
3. Draw:
As a whole group, construct a web. Write us in the central circle, and include
all of the groups named. Place those groups to which many people belong close in the centre. Place those to which few belong or only one belongs further away. What are the major areas of commonality? Of difference? The circles to which only one person belongs? What does this web show us about our commonalities? Our differences?
Activity B: The Complex Nature of Discrimination [30 minutes]
1. Read/Imagine:
Read the following story to the group:
Elena is a disabled woman who is part of the X national minority group in Borfilia. Borfilia has no laws protecting disabled people, and although it does have laws that protect national minorities, these laws are rarely enforced. On the contrary, jobs are routinely given first to the dominant national majority, and in areas in which national minorities outnumber the dominant majority, Borfilia sends in members of the majority group to fill top posts in nearly all workplaces. Borfilia is also a very patriarchal country; although women work, they hold the lowest paid positions. Elena applies for a job at Factrex for which she is superbly qualified for the job but a less qualified male is hired. He is a member of the majority nation and is not disabled.
2. Discuss:
Lead the group through a discussion based on the following points:
On what grounds did Factrex discriminate against Elena? Because of her gender? Disability? National group? All three added together? Or the complex interaction of all three factors?
Some people think of discrimination as additive. According to this thinking, Elena was discriminated against because she is a woman, plus a disabled person, plus a member of a national minority. However, other people argue that discrimination is much more complex. It is not simply a matter of adding up all discriminatory factors or even of multiplying them together. On the contrary, discriminatory factors work together in a manner that makes them inseparable. Elena can't separate out the disabled part of herself from the woman part and national part of herself. And people who discriminate against her can't separate out these parts as well, either consciously or subconsciously.
Could this story have taken place in your community? Explain. If such a case of discrimination occurred in your community, would women respond? Why or why not?
Activity C: Picturing The Relationship of Discriminatory Factors [30 minute]
1. Draw:
Look back at the flower you drew for yourself in Activity A . Put a x across any of the groups that could cause someone to discriminate against you. Represent in a drawing how these different discriminatory factors interact with each other in your life.
Does your drawing look like a road intersection? Linked circles? A web? A tangled ball of string? Explain.
2. Discuss:
Make a list of all the ways you could discriminate against someone or treat someone as inferior.
What factors enable you to discriminate against others?
To what extent are these factors embedded in society? To what extent are these within your control?
What would you have to do to change society and/or yourself in order to change discriminatory behaviour?
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RACE, ETHNICITY AND NATIONALITY
On Using the Term "Minority"
When the international community uses the term minority," it is usually referring to numerical minorities. In contrast, human rights advocates use the term minority to describe groups that may need protection from the dominant majority and groups that have unequal power compared with the dominant majority. The words " majority" and "minority" thus refer not only to numerical proportions in numbers, but to a group with more political, military, or economic power. In other words, when one group systematically mistreats another, the oppressed group may be called a minority. This is a misnomer because so-called minority groups actually include a majority of the population. In some regions of the world, ethnic, racial or national minorities outnumber the supposed majority group.
The Convention on Racial Discrimination
The Convention on Racial Discrimination defines racial discrimination broadly as " any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of
nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life."
Notice the following important features of this definition:
Racial discrimination also applies to discrimination on grounds of national or ethnic origin, although not to discrimination on grounds of religion or nationality. Nationality is different from national origin. National origin concerns a person's ancestors place of birth, not her current nationality.
The Convention explicitly allows states to make distinction between those with citizen status and non-citizens (Article 1(3)).
The definition of discrimination is broad. Intentional discrimination is covered as well as government policies that have the effect of discriminating, regardless of the intent.
The range of issues covered is extensive. They include social and economic rights, such as access to housing, health care and employment.
The Convention requires states to take action when either public or private persons discriminate. This clause means that states have responsibility to prevent discrimination by police, state employees, and any other state actors that discriminate. States are also obligated to take administrative and/or court actions against any private person who discriminates. Many states have signed this Convention, but in practice it is rarely completely and consistently applied.
The Convention specifically permits affirmative discrimination (such as hiring a member of one traditionally discriminated against group over a member of a group in power) under two conditions: (1) any special measures shall not be continued after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved" and (2) as long as such measures do not lead to the maintenance of separate rights for different racial groups. This second condition means that special measures should not be used as an excuse to give a separate set of inferior rights to one group.
Exercise 2: Rights Of Racial, Ethnic And National Minorities
Objective: To identify the community and states responsibility towards the rights of the groups in a community
Time: 30 minutes
1. Discuss:
Ask the participants to identify the racial, ethnic and national groups in their community and list the most pressing human rights/needs/concerns of these groups.
What is the states responsibility in connection with these needs?
What is the majority community s responsibility in ensuring the human rights of minority groups?
Human Rights of Racial, Ethnic and Religious Groups
Some of the demands, needs and concerns of racial, ethnic and national groups include:
The right to equal treatment before all courts
The right to security of person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm
Political rights in particular the right to vote and stand for election
The right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of the state
The right to leave any country, including one s own, and to return to one's country
The right to marriage and choice of spouse
The right to own property alone as well as in association with others
The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
The right to freedom of opinion and expression
The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
The right to work
The right to join and form trade unions
The right to housing
The right to public health, medical care, social security and social services
The right to education and training
The right to equal participation in cultural activities
The right to freedom from state-sponsored racial segregation and apartheid
All of these rights are drawn from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and can also be found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Social and Economic Rights (ICSER), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each provision of these documents applies "without discrimination of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."
Other common concerns of racial, ethnic and national groups that may or may not be considered to be connected to or part of the rights listed above, include:
The right to speak and be educated in ones own language
The right to one's own culture
The right to wear traditional dress and the right to hold
traditional ceremonies
The right to freedom from violence based on race, ethnic or
national identity
The right to bring up one s children according to tradition
Exercise 3: Thinking about Racial, Ethnic, Religious and National Minorities
Objective: To enable a discussion of human rights and racism at a more personal level by showing the ways in which women can both perpetuate as well as fight against oppression of minority groups.
Time: 2 hours (approximate)
Method: Full group/pairing
NOTE: Women of majority and minority groups often have difficulty communicating with each other about these forms of discrimination. Also, many women might be in a majority context in some instances and in a minority context
in others. Therefore, this exercise needs an experienced facilitator who can guide the group through a possibly difficult discussion. Adapt the statements below to address the particular forms of racism or ethnic or religious discrimination that are relevant to your community. Pay attention to the mix of majority and minority women in the room to ensure that there is a feeling of safety among participants. The time allocated is approximate. Allow enough time to process the emotions that might arise.
1. Act:
Ask participants to sit in a circle. As a statement is read, they are to stand up silently if it applies to them. At any time anyone can opt out of participation by not standing. Blend statements about dominant and minority groups. Read without inflection and ask those standing to sit before reading the next statement.
STATEMENTS ABOUT MINORITY GROUPS:
Your parents or grandparents were forced to relocate from where they were living or could not live in certain areas because of their religion, race or ethnicity.
You have heard people say that you or your people should go back to where you came from.
You were refused employment because of your racial, ethnic, or religious background.
Violence was directed at you or your family because of your racial, ethnic, or religious background.
You were denied certain forms of employment or a specific job because of your racial, ethnic, or religious background.
You have received less than full respect, attention, or response from a doctor, police officer, court official or government official because of your religion, race or ethnicity.
STATEMENTS ABOUT MAJORITY GROUPS:
You grew up in a household where you heard demeaning jokes about minority groups. [You might name the groups relevant to your context.]
You were told not to play with children of a minority group when you were a child.
You grew up in a household with domestic worker, gardeners, maids or baby-sitters from minority groups.
You have eaten in a public place where all the customers were from a majority group and all the service workers where from minority groups.
You have seen minority group members being mistreated by majority group members.
You have never had a close friendship with anybody from a minority group. [Alternative: You have never invited anyone from a minority group to be a guest in your home.]
Your friendship or relationship with someone has ended or changed because of discrimination against members of minority groups.
2. Discuss:
Have the group break into pairs to discuss the feelings generated by this exercise. Give enough time. As much as a half hour might be needed. Then bring the group together to discuss the issues raised by the exercise.
NOTE: If the group includes women or girls from both majority and minority groups, the facilitator should establish certain ground rules at the beginning to ensure that --
Members of minority groups are not expected to become spokes people for their entire race, ethnic identity or religious group.
Members of the majority group are able to bring up doubts, confusion, anger and other emotions and are not dismissed for being part of the "oppressor".
Members of the majority group can support and challenge one another to continue working on this issue.
3. List:
In the full group, ask the participants to identify all of the societal and political factors that discriminate against people on the basis of their minority identity. The list might include discriminatory laws, separate schools, official languages, the nature of the political system, colonial history and social customs. Also identify the ways in which gender intersects with minority or other identities in denial of specific human rights.
4. "Speak Out"
Bring the session to closure with a discussion about what individuals can do to change societal discrimination in the various areas described above. After some general discussion, encourage each participant to identify specific actions that she will take.
What are the actions that individuals will take at a personal, group or broader level to prevent discrimination based on minority status?
What are the actions that the majority groups will take? What are the actions that the minority groups will take?
[Adapted from Creighton, Allan with Paul Kiver. Helping Teens
Stop Violence: A Practical Guide for Educators, Counsellors, and
Parents. Hunter House, 1992.]
THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
1992 marked the 500th anniversary of the "discovery" of the Americas by Christopher Columbus. For indigenous peoples throughout the Americas and the world, however, the anniversary was a commemoration of hundreds of years of violations of rights most often referred to as collective, or solidarity rights, such as struggles over land, environmental degradation, cultural genocide, and self-determination.
Indigenous communities have been organizing to claim their human rights and these struggles have achieved increased international attention, including the formation of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations which meets annually to review developments and standards of indigenous peoples' rights, and an Organization of American States (OAS) draft juridical instrument on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Although they came away from the conference without all of the provisions they had sought, indigenous people mobilized at the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights. A collaborative group of NGOs fought strongly against the attempts by some governments to curtail collective rights for indigenous peoples, Indigenous women's NGOs also presented a "Beijing Declaration on Indigenous Women," during the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, which emphasizes indigenous women's responsibilities as well as rights, in the context of collective rights (Trask, Milelani B. "1st Global Human Rights Conference...Vienna." Indigenous Woman. Vol. 1, No. 4, Indigenous Woman's Network, 1993, p.23.).
Indigenous women experience many interrelated violations of their human rights. For example, they are often imprisoned or abused because of their political involvement, or that of family members. For their resistance to land, political, social or cultural oppression, they have been raped and sexually assaulted.
Amnesty International reports that these violations also occur in prison and militarized zones in which indigenous peoples live.
BOX ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Beijing Declaration on Indigenous Women
The Declaration calls for:
The political and social rights of colonized Indigenous Peoples, rights which are ignored in world trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and in other "national" trade forums;
The economic, spiritual and cultural rights associated with hunting and fishing, which are threatened by regulations against "traditional" forms of hunting[;] and threats to Indigenous spiritual practices enforced by dominant religious groups wherever indigenous peoples reside (e.g., by governmental holdings of sacred land;
The right to be free from violence by excessive use of military and police force in communities of indigenous people. "Up to 60-70% of women in some prisons systems are native" ["Summary of Issue Affecting Indigenous Women: Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China." Indigenous Woman. v.2:3 1995. p. 33].
The rights to health, including reproductive health through years of medical experimentation, introduction of viruses, forced removal of children, sterilization and, in particular, the introduction of alcohol into indigenous communities, which has resulted in dominant cultural blaming of indigenous mothers who give birth to children with defects associated with alcohol use; and
The rights to political participation by inadequate representation on "regulatory entities" (Ibid.).
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON DISABILITIES
Women make up a disproportionate number of the people throughout the world who have disabilities. In rural areas in particular, women with disabilities outnumber disabled men. Like most international documents, those dealing with disabled people tend to ignore the needs of women and documents on women tend to ignore the disabled. Like other groups of women discussed in this chapter, women with disabilities tend to be invisible, and their very disabilities often prevent them from attending the meetings at which their voices should be heard.
What Do We Mean By Women With Disabilities?
As it is used in the international community, the term disabilities" is a broad one. Encompassed within this term are women who have both genetic and acquired physical, mental and psychological conditions that may require accommodation in order for them to participate fully and equally in society. The term "disability" or "differently abled" is preferred by many to the term "handicapped" because of the historic association of that word in English with begging, i.e. "cap in hand." The kind of prejudice that disabled women experience "is often a reaction to physical difference rather than a reaction to physical limitation." As with other groups of women who face a complex interaction of discriminatory factors, disabled women often cannot separate discrimination directed at their disability and discrimination due to their gender. The two factors gender and disability -- usually reinforce each other and compound prejudices. [Jenny Morris, Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability. London: The Women's Press, 1993].
Negative attitudes toward women with disabilities often have a gender factor. For example, some of the most common insults relate to disabled womens reproductive capacity and mothering role, such as: "That woman shouldn't be having children!" But disabled women, like all women, have a right to make independent decisions about reproduction. Unfortunately, most disabled women lack access to adequate health care, including reproductive health care, and even when health care is available, it is often offered in a coercive manner that denies women with disabilities lives of dignity, decision-making and autonomy.
Exercise 4: Exploring Attitudes toward Disabled Women
Objective: To explore discrimination and limitations of human rights experienced by disabled women.
Time: 45 minutes
Method: Role play/Discussion
Materials: Copies of Scenarios
1. Imagine/ Role Play/ Discuss:
Read the following situation paragraph to the whole group. Then divide into two groups, each of which takes one of the two scenarios to read, discuss, and then plans the role play. Participants may add roles to the scenarios and role play more than one outcome.
SITUATION: Since early childhood you have had a condition that can lead to
the deterioration of the muscular and nervous systems over time. When you were a girl, you walked by yourself; as a teenager, you walked with the help of crutches, and now, as a woman, you move about with the aid of a wheelchair. While you can still write with a pen and pencil, your doctor has warned you that you may soon no longer be able to hold a pencil.
Scenario A: You are an editor for a large city newspaper and a free-lance journalist. Will you have to quit your job if you can no longer hold a pencil? If you can still perform your job with a specially equipped computer, should your employer be required to provide one? Can he fire you as soon as you can no longer perform in the same manner as other employees? Can he fire you now because you take too much time off for medical appointments, which you sometimes must attend during working hours? Can he fire you because the image of you in a wheelchair does not fit the image of our newspaper? Can a magazine refuse to give you a story as a free-lance journalist because the editor feels that it is too difficult/ dangerous/ risky for you? These are
some of the reasons that employers have given for firing disabled employees. Very few places have laws protecting disabled people, and even fewer require the employer to accommodate disabilities. Should laws be adopted to protected disabled people in employment?
Scenario B: You are planning to get married and start a family. You go to your gynecologist for reproductive health care. He/she tells you to get sterilized. You insist on asking more questions about your chances of having a healthy child. He/she tells you that the risk of transmitting your condition to your child is 25/75 in favour of having a healthy child. A sonagram would have a 50% chance of detecting the disease within the first three months of gestation. Your gynecologist tells you again that you should be sterilized. Should you be able to freely decide whether to have a child? What would be the attitude of your colleagues/ family/ neighbours if you decide to get married and have a child?
A Multi-Abled Society
One of the arguments used against accommodating people with disabilities is the immediate high cost associated with making the transition to a multi-abled society. However, studies have shown that in the long run, accommodation of people with disabilities pays off. When the community fails to use any human resource, such as the talents of disabled people, it loses the contribution that those people could make to productive society. If given the chance, disabled people, instead of being a burden, can be an asset. Studies have also shown that disabled people are among the most hardworking, productive employees.
The main international conventions on discrimination do not mention disabled people but they can seek protection through the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and other instruments. In 1993 the UN General Assembly adopted the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.
Exercise 5: Imagining a Multi-Abled Society
Objective: To plan a responsive society in which different physical and mental capabilities are viewed as an enrichment
Time: 30 Minutes
Method: Drawing/ Discussion
1. Imagine/Draw:
Ask the participants to imagine a society that was designed on the premise that people have different physical and mental capabilities. In this society, there is no vision of a perfectly abled person. Instead, disabilities are accommodated as a matter of course. Ask them to explain what this society looks like. How does it differ from their own? Give concrete examples of things that might exist in this society that do not exist in theirs. Alternatively, they could draw pictures of a multi-abled world.
2. Discuss/Analyze
Discuss the accommodation of disability in the society designed above. Consider that although many countries are economically unable to provide most of these amenities, a society that was genuinely structured to accommodate disabilities would include some of the following things:
Ramps on every curb and leading up to every doorway.
Hallways and sidewalks wide enough for wheelchairs.
Bathrooms in all public places, including schools, government offices, theatres and restaurants that can accommodate wheelchairs.
Lifts for public transportation and in every public building.
Buses, trains, and subways that can accommodate people in wheelchairs and people on crutches.
When possible, assembly lines in factories made low enough for workers to sit while performing their tasks.
Public and private telephones for people with hearing or visual disabilities at no extra charge.
Signing or captioning for people with hearing disabilities on all television programs, videos, movies, plays and at all public events, including political meetings and educational forums.
Newspapers, magazines, books and other printed material available at low cost in Braille, or large type, and/or available on audio tape.
Buzzers in buildings that include a lighted signal along with the sound.
Accommodation of disabled children in regular public education classes, through use of whatever means are reasonably possible.
Public education about the positive contributions of disabled persons to society.
Use of computer technology in schools, the workplace and all government buildings to ease communication for disabled people.
DISCRIMINATION FACED BY SINGLE WOMEN, WOMEN LIVING APART FROM MEN AND LESBIANS
Women face discrimination, violence and other violations of their human rights because they are single, live apart from men and/or are lesbians. Just because they are not with men - for whatever reason - women may be harassed on the street, at home, and in the workplace. These women often have a hard time finding housing and employment. Single mothers in particular can be isolated by their communities and are often denied opportunities for participation in public life. Women living apart from men face additional discrimination should they form intimate relationships with women. (See Chapter 2, Womens Human Rights in the Family for more on women who are not in marriage.)
Women in intimate relationships with other women frequently face hostility and violence not only from society at large, but also from other women. Same-sex love or lesbianism is often viewed as "abnormal," "strange" or "threatening." Many women around the world hide their love for other women for fear of physical violence, of losing their homes, their jobs, their families, or their children. A common way for mainstream society to undermine feminists or women's groups is to label them as "lesbian." Women who are not lesbians will often not associate with lesbians and greatly fear being called lesbians. A woman who loves another woman can face severe consequences if she is "found out":
She can be thrown out of her job
She can lose her family and children
She can lose her house
She can become isolated from her friends and her community
She can be put in jail
She can be assaulted by family members, the community and the state
She can be forcibly separated from her lover
She can be forced into a marriage with a man
She can be thrown out of organizations, even women's groups
She can be "punished" by religious authorities
She can be thrown out of her temple, church or mosque
She can be killed
International norms include a right to sexuality. Womens human rights advocates are increasingly adopting the position that in order to realize their human rights, they cannot exclude any women, including lesbians and women who otherwise identify themselves but who are similarly discriminated against for not being with men. Some of the human rights connected with discrimination on this issue include the right to life, freedom from violence, freedom of association, privacy and what has become known as a developing "right to sexuality" recognized in the Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women. The Platform for Action reaffirms that "the human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters relating to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence"(The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action. (DPI/1766/WOM) New York: United Nations, 1996, paragraph 97). Moreover, national laws can include non-discrimination clauses such as the one in South Africa's new constitution, where the Bill of Rights states that "the state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including...gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status [and] sexual orientation" [South Africas Bill of Rights, Article 9(3)].
Exercise 6: The Pronoun Game
Objective: To explore the silencing same-sex relationships.
Time: 20 minutes
1. Act:
Ask three women who are currently living with male partners to come to the front of the group. Ask each of them to recount how they said good-bye to their partner when they left home that morning. Give them 2 minutes each. (For example, a story might be something like this: "When I left my husband was sleeping and I didn't want to wake him up so I left a note"; or "When I left, my lover had already gone to work. Before he left, he gave me a hug and kiss good-bye and took our children to school," etc.).
After each woman has each told her story, ask her to repeat it without using any words that can identify the sex of the partner. The story might now sound like this: "When I left my partner this morning, my partner was sleeping and I didn't want to wake my partner up so I left that person a note." Notice how much more difficult it will be for the women to tell their stories.
2. Discuss:
Discuss with the whole group what it must feel like for a woman to love another woman and always describe her relationship with guarded or neutral language.
What are the consequences for that person if she slips and starts referring to her partner as "she" and "her"? What will be the effect in her workplace? In her community? In her family? In her childs school?
Make list of all the human rights violations she may experience as a result of people finding out about her relationship with a woman
Should same-sex love should have such extreme effects on women?
Why is it so threatening to society? Whom does it threaten?
3. List/Discuss:
List other ways in which women asserting their sexuality can experience negative consequences. For example, sex outside of marriage, choosing when to have a child, making decisions about who to have sex with, choose to stay single, making decisions about what kinds of contraceptives to use, refusing to marry a man chosen by your family - These are all acts involving women's exercise of their human right to sexuality that can result in violence and oppression.
What are the differences and similarities between these acts and same-sex love?
Why would one set of acts deserve human rights protection and others not?
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON CLASS
Discrimination based on class or economic status is a pervasive problem for women all over the world. Poor women often bear the most severe consequences of population control programs, welfare cuts, government austerity programs and cuts in government subsidies. Poverty can make women more vulnerable to economic and sexual exploitation, trafficking in women and other forms of human rights violations. (See Chapter 9 and 10 on the economy and work for further discussion of these issues).
Women often find it difficult to address class differences amongst themselves. After all, a professional woman who works as a lawyer will probably have different concerns as well as power over a woman she hires as a domestic worker. As part of the landowning or professional class, some women benefit from human rights abuses of poor women in their areas. The growing disparity between rich and poor all over the world only adds to the power differences that exist between women. Such economic inequalities impair the ability of advocates to create a holistic human rights movement.
Exercise 7: Acknowledging Class
Objective: To address the differences in point of view between privileged and under-privileged peoples.
Time: 45 minutes
Method: Self-expression/ Discussion
1. Act:
Put four chairs in the centre of the room. Ask four participants who identify themselves as coming from privileged backgrounds to come and sit in the centre. Ask them to list what it has meant for them to have class privilege. Examples might include "I had a nanny," "I knew when I was a child that I would go to college," "I never have to worry about paying the rent," or "I always had nice clothes to wear.
After the group has finished, ask four participants who identify themselves as coming from under-privileged backgrounds to sit in the chairs. Have them list what it has meant for them to not have class privilege. Examples might include "I never knew if would be able to keep going to school because my parents weren't sure they could pay the fees," "I had to use an outside toilet," or "My mother migrated to Europe in search of work."
2. Discuss/List:
Discuss the feelings and issues raised in the listing by the two groups and compare. Note if those who have class benefits have a harder time describing their experience than those who come from poor or working class families.
List the ways institutions and resources in society benefit or discriminate against different classes of people. How is this discrimination perpetuated?
Examine how different classes of people might be segregated in schools, hospitals and other public places.
Is there a pattern of groups of certain ethnic or racial groups belonging to one class or another? Are there similarities or differences in the ways in which men and women have access to class benefits?
Discuss how class may intersect with race, ethnicity or sex to define how power is exercised in your society. How might the principles of equality and non-discrimination be applied in the context of class differences to ensure that everyone can exercise their human rights?
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON AGE
In all parts of the world, women constitute the vast majority of older people, yet older women are perhaps the most overlooked group of women. Older women include women of all races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientation and national status and the problems they face may be compounded by such factors.
While in some societies older people enjoy great status and respect, in many communities older people are among those most likely to be poor, excluded from decision making and deprived of food and health care. The Beijing Platform for Action explicitly recognized that women have human rights throughout their life
cycle. This has given new impetus to recognizing older women's human rights.
Older women may face such problems as:
The inability to obtain full or part-time work and inadequate pension
A pension scheme that does not give older women credit for years spent as care givers to family members
Difficulty finding affordable housing in a safe environment
Problems with using public transportation
Lack of a voice in decision-making bodies that make plans for older people's housing, health and other care
Lack of representation in government and in governmental and
non-governmental organizations
Inadequate health care
Violence on the street and home
Abuse in institutional settings.
Exercise 8: Responding to Concerns Of Older Women
Objective: To explore the discrimination and problems experienced by older
women.
Time: 45 minutes
Method: Listing/ Discussion/ Case Study
Materials: Blackboard and chalk or chart paper/ newsprint and pens
1. List/Discuss:
Ask the participants to list words and phrases commonly used in your community for older women
What qualities do these phrases stress? Which are positive qualities? Which negative?
Which of these terms would you not want to be called if you were an older woman.
What prejudices against older women do these words reveal?
2. Read/Discuss:
Read the following extract the group:
A member of the Association of Greater London Older Women writes:
"Sixty-five percent of older women over the age of 60 are on or below the poverty line;...a majority of older women are depressed, but they are rarely given therapy -- they are put on tranquillizers; older women are having to wait long periods for hip operations; women over age 64 are not called to have cancer-screening; older lesbians are discriminated against in not being allowed to have their partners with them in sheltered housing or residential homes; ...adult education institutes are cutting back on the courses enjoyed by older women; rape of older women is increasing and isolation is an increasing problem as well" [ Zelda Curtis, letter to Julie Mertus, April 18, 1995].
Discuss the statement above.
Are these problems present in your community?
Do older women in your community face additional problems?
How do these problems relate to the human rights of older women?
What is being done in your community to address the problems of older women?
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON CULTURE
The universal nature of human rights implies that all human beings are entitled to basic rights which cannot be abused by governments or other actors. However, many argue that human rights can never be universal because they must be understood in a specific cultural and religious context. Thus the context itself defines the nature and content of the human right in question.
Challenges to Universality
The universal nature of human rights is usually questioned in the following
three contexts:
By oppressed communities to assert their own identity against the domination of a more powerful group. Often, dominant communities assume that their definitions of human rights are the only valid ones and impose these values on the religious and cultural practices of minority communities. As discussed in the earlier section, the practices and belief-systems of various groups around the world differ greatly. Human rights therefore, must be understood in the particular context within which these communities exist.
By governments to justify political and/or economic repression against the general population or particular groups of people. Some governments argue that human rights cannot be universally applied because of the differing histories, cultures, and religions of their particular regions. While it is true that human rights should be understood in the context of people's lives, governments that contest the universal nature of human rights in the name of culture or religion almost always use such arguments to limit people's fundamental rights, not expand them.
By governments and other authorities to justify acts of discrimination and violence against women. When women assert their human rights, governments often try to argue against the universality of human rights. Women demanding equal inheritance laws, changes in family law, access to political arenas and a range of other rights often face opposition in the name of culture and religion.
Women and Culture
Culture is not an unchanging norm but a feature of societies that is constantly renegotiated by all of the people that make up a social unit. Women are an integral part of the definition, maintenance and creation of culture. Indeed, women are often perceived as the guardians and transmitters of culture. However, because women usually lack power in society, aspects of culture often oppress women. Many calls for human rights norms to be sensitive
to culture mask the interests of those who benefit from women's oppression, especially state and religious forces. For women, the challenge is to maintain the integrity and beauty of their own culture in the face of increasing assaults by
consumerism, media and globalization while simultaneously changing those aspects of culture that treat women or any oppressed communities as less than human.
In many parts of the world, women from marginalised communities have often used culture as a means of resistance to dominant groups by insisting on the recognition of diversity. Yet while the use of culture has been an important process of empowerment for such marginalised groups, women in these constituencies have often found themselves in a double bind. The assertion of culture or religion has often been made in such a way as to consolidate the patterns of patriarchy and oppression within that particular community. For example, women who raise their voices against domestic violence and rape within their communities are often silenced because their struggle is perceived as threatening to the men of the community or the entire community itself.
The issue of culture is further complicated in the context of women's organizing. The failure of many women from a dominant culture to explicitly recognize the patterns of oppression fostered by their own culture sometimes creates barriers to solidarity with women from minority cultures. For example, women from dominant cultures sometimes do not recognize the systemic forms of violence against women within their own culture. However, they are quick to point out the forms of violence experienced by women in minority communities. This difficulty is exacerbated when women members of dominant groups perceive the oppression of women in minority communities as an inevitable aspect of that culture, and then label them it inferior to their own.
Those who argue that culture should have precedence over human rights call universality "western" or "Christian." From this point of view, they would assert, for example, that universal human rights standards cannot and should not be applied to Muslim or Hindu women. However, when one examines Western/Christian culture in the same manner as non-Christian cultures, one finds that all religions have some cultural features that oppress women. Therefore, if cultural relativist arguments dominate, one could assert that only men can have universal human rights. Thus, as Mahnaz Afkhami observes, it is important for women to separate the notion of "universal" from "Western" by insisting that all governments must treat and promote women's human rights as a global responsibility. (Afkhami, Mahnaz. "Universality and Relativism in the Beijing Platform for Action." AWID News. Vol.10, No.1, March 1996). In this way, women can build a definition of universality that takes into account the experiences of all women.
Universal human rights should not be understood as the imposition of one cultural standard. The importance of universality lies in its establishing a legal and moral standard of minimum protection for maintaining human dignity. Thus human rights must respect cultural diversity and integrity while ensuring that the assertion of cultural rights does not mean the denial of the rights of anyone or any communities. No human right can be exercised in a way that undermines the human rights of others. Therefore, the right to cultural expression cannot be an excuse for the denial of fundamental human rights for women.
The Case of Female Genital Mutilation
The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) affects an estimated 130 million girls and women and is mostly prevalent in Africa. The operation falls into three categories:
Clitoridectomy: partial or total removal of the clitoris
Excision: removal of the clitoris and the labia minora
(vaginal lips)
Infibulation: removal of all external genitals and the
stitching together of the lips with a small opening for the
passage of menstrual blood and urine. The stitches are removed
when the girl is married.
FGM is performed primarily on girls between the ages of 4 and 12 years. This practice of Muslim, Christian and other traditions has emerged as a contentious issue in the world arena because it raises complex questions of the intersection between gender and human rights as well as issues of universality, culture and religion. FGM is a cultural practice harmful to women that violates women's human rights to life, bodily integrity, health and sexuality. Many girls and women die or develop severe health complications because of the operation. Because it is practised mostly on young girls, female genital mutilation also raises serious questions about informed consent and the human rights of girl children.
However, at the same time, the rite of FGM has important cultural and symbolic significance for some women. The practice, like plastic surgery to increase breast size, is understood to enhance women's femininity, and make them more attractive to men. It is also seen as a ritual in the process toward womanhood.
Although there have been groups working against the practice of FGM in African countries for many years, the increased visibility of the issue has partly been a result of the growth of women's movements around the world as well as attention from the international human rights community to issues related to gender.
To build a global human rights movement, women from different parts of the world need to understand that cultural practices that deny women's human rights exist in every part of the world, North, South, East and West. In targeting any cultural practice, whether it be domestic violence, dowry deaths, rape in conflict, plastic surgery, arranged marriage or FGM, the leadership should come from women in the regions affected and assumptions about the superiority or inferiority of any culture should be avoided. All cultures have both liberating and oppressive aspects. In the words of Nahid Toubia, a leading advocate against the practice of FGM, "Eradication efforts must be empathic, not alienating. They must recognize all forms of cultural manipulation and mutilation of women's bodies, whether physical or psychological. Both the message and the facts about FGM will be lost if they use the language of superiority - the language of colonizer and slave holder." (Toubia, Nahid. "Female Genital Mutilation: A Call for Global Action." New York: RAINBO,1995; see also "Intersections between Health and Human Rights: The Case for Female Genital Mutilation." RAINBO, 1995.)
Exercise 9: Analysing Culture
Objective: To examine the negative and positive aspects of culture
Time: 30 minutes
Method: Full group discussion
1. List/Discuss:
Ask the group to list some cultural and religious practices in their community that are different for women and men. (For example, women must wear a veil, women can't divorce, women are allowed to perform certain rituals that men can't, women must be married when they are very young, men can beat their wives, etc.) Pick a few examples and ask the following questions:
Who is imposing the practice (e.g., family, father, mother, government, religious authority, dominant ethnic or religious group)?
Why is the practice being imposed (e.g., to protect women, to protect the economic interests of someone, to prevent a group from competing for jobs, housing, etc.)?
Who is benefiting from the practice (e.g., even if the practice is being imposed by the mother, as for example, in an arranged marriage, there may be someone else who is benefiting from the practice)?
Who is losing from the practice? (Some practices may be to the detriment of women but others may be to the detriment of other communities. For example the institution of caste in India is to the detriment of both men and women of lower castes)
If someone is losing from the practice, what are the reasons that she or he continues the practice (fear, violence, retaliation, loss of job, ostracism, because one doesn't know what else to do)?
What human rights are being violated by the practice? (e.g., FGM can violate rights to bodily integrity, health, and sexuality; inability to work can violate rights to livelihood; inability to go to school can violate rights to education, work, freedom of expression; domestic violence can violate rights to life, health and security)
2. List:
Ask the participants to identify positive aspects of their culture with respect to women. Examine the list and discuss if these aspects support or promote women's human rights.
Identify interpretations of culture and religion that are not oppressive to any group of people. How would women go about promoting those interpretations? List some strategies. These could include reinterpreting religious texts, increased political participation, direct action, creating alternative rituals, etc.
Identify your human rights as a woman which might conflict with religious or cultural practices. Should your human rights be given more importance?
Should there should there be universal standards of human rights that protect and promote the rights of all peoples?
3. Discuss:
Based on the lists they have made, (decide in the case of conflicts between women's human rights and cultural practices) who should intervene in these matters?
The community?
The government?
The United Nations or international organizations?
What happens when the government responsible for protecting your human rights is itself discriminatory against your community?
Exercise 10: Making Your Own Law
Objective: To develop a law that protects the human right to equality and nondiscrimination.
Time: 60 minutes
Material: Chart paper and markers
Copies of Articles 1, 2 and 7 of the UDHR
(Optional: Other human rights provisions on nondiscrimination, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination)
Write, Read and Discuss:
Step 1: Divide participants into small groups to write their own law that would protect the general human rights to equality and nondiscrimination., Should the law apply to men and women together or women specifically? How can you draft a law that applies to as many types of discrimination as possible?
Step 2: Distribute and read the general articles on nondiscrimination and equality (Article 1, 2 and 7 UDHR)>
Step 3: Ask the group to compare their new law with the provisions of the UDHR.
How are they the same? How do they differ?
Would they now change their law? If so, how?
Other specific conventions apply to nondiscirmination and equality. You may wish to compare your new law with these as well.
Step 4: They should now decide what it would take for the new law to become a reality in their community and strategize actions that might be taken by individuals and by communities to make this happen.
Write the following questions on chart paper ahead of time and present them as a guide to the participants:
In what ways does the government currently limit the rights contained in your law? In what ways would the government need to change? How can you influence this change?
In what ways could the government support and enforce your law?
In what ways do religion, culture, tradition, custom, and habit currently limit the rights contained in your law? In what way would these things need to change? How can you influence that change?
In what ways do religion, culture, tradition, custom, and habit support and enforce your law?