Gender Equality : A Fundamental Principle Of International Human Rights

In the article “Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equality’’ i read about how Women’s rights are the fundamental human rights that were enshrined by the United Nations for every human being on the planet nearly 70 years ago. These rights include to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination; to be educated ; to vote and to earn a fair and equal wage. A famous saying goes “Women’s rights are human rights” meaning, women all around the world are entitled to all of these rights, but yet there are women and girls who are still denied these rights, often simply because of their gender. Winning these rights for women isn’t all, it’s also about changing how countries and communities works and their perspectives on gender equality. Global Fund for Women exists to support the tireless and courageous efforts of women’s groups who work every day to win rights for women and girls. These groups are working to ensure women can own property, vote, run for office, get paid fair wages, and live free from violence – including domestic violence, sexual assault. The Global Fund for Women also stand for other rights that are vital for women’s equality. They stand for a woman’s right to decide if and when she has children, and to have high-quality health

Although the issue of women’s rights has attracted international recognition and support, women still face many inequalities and barriers. Gender-based violence and economic discrimination are problems in many parts of the world.

Women. This word creates an image- an image of a mother, a sister, a daughter. Women are of the basics part of life, they are essential not only to society, but to the human species. Therefore, women should be treated with equal importance and given the same rights regardless of gender. Society has come a long way since 1920 and giving women the right to vote. However, there a parts of the world where women are treated unequally in respect of men and are fighting for that equality- a basic human right. Women especially in the developing world struggle with unjust inequalities. Common abuses that claim women are sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence, including honor killings and mass rape; and maternal mortality. Reportage and storytelling of these horrible abuses are combined in the nonfiction book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, where Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn argue that the oppression of women is the worst current global issue that calls for change.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

Gender discrimination and violence against women were not part of the Human Rights Agenda until the 1990s when feminists began to push for this change (p84/book). One of the slogans of their campaign was that “Women’s Rights

According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, gender equality means “women and men, and girls and boys, enjoy the same rights, resources, opportunities and protections. It does not require that girls and boys, or women and men, be the same, or that they be treated exactly alike.” To eliminate these biases, the first step would be stopping harmful acts against females like sex trafficking, rape, sexual harassment, etc.

In most communities, women are viewed as the threads that knight the society together. They are the source of life and are treated with respect and highly valued. However, this was not the case in ancient empires. The rights for women have been a constant struggle that has come to be standardized in the twenty first century. Despite this, some societies especially in the less developed countries continue to deny women their basic human rights.

Women are not helpless creatures in a world full of challenges. They are considered role models of families, businesses, and social movements. They are the pillars of feminism. Women are now holders and decision makers of recognized networks, strong figures in the senate and political institutions. However, women are not decision makers in all nations. In specific societies where women empowerment is overruled, there is no major feminist movement prevalent. The theory of an existing hope of unity between women is minimal, but as the idea of “empowerment” unfolds, it inspires women to support their gender. Females have started to fight as one against social misconceptions, labor inequality, and political limitations. It is the concept of women

First, women must come together to push for our rights. The rallies that happened on International Women’s Day showed that there is still gender inequality. Women and men should be represented equally in the work force. The rallies stirred some officials to look in the perspective of woman. Next, women should be encouraged to pursue occupations that most men control. Women shouldn’t feel like their limited to nannies or maid occupations.

Throughout history, countless groups of people have unfortunately been victims of subjugation, disenfranchisement and persecution. But perhaps one group of people that have continued to be subjugated the most are the same group of people that makeup the majority of people on earth; women. Despite of all the progress made in recent decades, there are still tens of millions of women a year who are repeatedly victims of infanticide and the deprivation of healthcare. Now although there are no universal panaceas for female inequality, the consensus among academics and researchers is that educating women, investing in female businesses and fostering female participation in the work force are ways to shrink the gap. Finally, it is legitimate for the United States and other countries to export feminism regardless of cultural differences because the lives of millions of women are at stake if they fail to do so.

Discrimination and violence against women takes place daily, not only in the U.S., but all over the world. ”In the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, 66% of the murders of women are by the husbands, boyfriends, or other male relatives.” In Africa, “...3.5 millions girls are at risk of genital mutilation.” Sexism against women is not just a local or national issue. It is a global issue that occurs everyday to millions of girls and women.Not only does discrimination against women happen physically or verbally, but it also happens financially. “In Mississippi, the average male earns $41,092 annually, but the average women earns $31,110 annually.” Age also plays a big part in the gender wage gaps. “If a women is between the ages of 35-65 years old, the

Women and men have had certain roles in society that were understood amongst them to be specified for their particular gender. Males were known to have the leading role as head of the house hold and the bread winner while the woman’s duty was to stay at home and take care of the house and children. While many people years ago deemed this way of life and practice to be the right and ethical thing to do, times have changed and so this kind of treatment towards a woman’s equality must be questioned. Even though times have changed, this mindset of a woman’s ability to be as good as a man has not completely gone away. In today’s society a woman contributes to the economy and her family as equally as that of a man. Therefore, women should share equal rights and opportunities as their gender counterparts.

Although they have been given more rights and equality, women still lack fairness in areas such as education, domestic abuse, crime, and lower class value. Cassandra Clifford states in her article “Are Girls still marginalized? Discrimination and Gender Inequality in Today’s Society”, “Woman and girls are abused by their husbands and fathers, young girls are exploited by sex tourism and trafficking, girls in many countries are forced into arranged marriages at early ages. Twice as many women are illiterate as men, due to the large gap in education, and girls are still less likely to get jobs and excel in the work place than boys.” She describes some of the issues that women face today around the world. These issues are what keep society from coming together to form a better world.

No country in the world has achieved complete gender equality just yet. Though some places are further along than others, some are still so far from the finish line that it’s not even in sight. For years, women around the world have been fighting for a stronger voice, and to be respected just as much as the man standing next to them. Despite increased awareness and mobilization at the local and international levels, women and girls in conflict continue to face multiple challenges. Women 's rights movements have worked in support of these aims for more than two centuries. Since the 1980s the women 's movement has focused on very diverse issues.

Both international law and human rights law work towards establishing some grounding to maintain a sense of peace within and between nations. However, they also have differences between them such as what their regulations apply to, and how they are applied. The main differences between international law and human rights law is that one is intended to govern the relations between independent states, whereas human rights law are intended to maintain the standards without which people cannot live with respect to themselves. As written by scholar Celina Romany in her text called “Women as Aliens: A Feminist Critique of the Public/Private Distinction in International Human Rights Law,” neither international law nor human rights law are likely to recognize, secure or actualize human rights for all humans. In her text, she particularly addresses women and how they are the “paradigmatic alien subjects of international law”. This statement can be reinforced by various aspects of systemic inequalities that women face, thus proving the insufficiency of human rights law in recognizing, securing and actualizing all human rights for all.