Encore Course - International Human Rights
The Human Rights of Women
February 21, 2011
I. Historical Background on Women Rights
International Women's Suffrage Movement (19th and early 20th centuries)
UN Commission on the Status of Women (established 1946)
45 member countries elected to four year terms
International Women’s Year (1975)
World Conference held in Mexico City
UN Decade for Women (1976-1985)
Major conferences Copenhagen (1980), and Nairobi (1985)
International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994)
Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995)
II. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) (Text)
Ratifications – 186 as of May 2009, entered into force in 1981
US signed in 1980, but has not ratified
Major provisions
Article 7 - Equal rights to participate in political and public life, including
right to vote
participate in formulation of government policy
hold public office
participate innongovernmental organizations
Article 9 - Equal rights to acquire, change, or retain nationality and to determine nationality of their children
Article 10 - Equal rights in field of education
Article 11 - Equal rights in field of employment, including
right to work,
free choice of profession or employment
equal remuneration
right to social security
protection during pregnancy
Article 12 - Equal rights in field of health care and apprpriate services in connection with pregnancy and child birth
Article 14 - Addresses particular problems of rural women
Article 15 - Equality before the law
Article 16 - Equality in matters related to marriage and family relations, including
right to choose spouse and enter into marriage with their free will and consent
equal rights and responsibilities during marriage and upon its dissolution
equal right regarding ownership and management of property
same right to freely decide on number and spacing of children
III. The United States and the CEDAW Treaty
IV. Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa ( Maputo Protocol) (text)
Adopted by the African Union in 2003
guarantees comprehensive rights to women including the right to take part in the political process, to social and political equality with men, to control of their reproductive health, and an end to female genital mutilation.
V. Selected International Woman's Issues
Reproductive Rights
FGM (Female Circumcision)
Rape in Context of War
Status of Women in Islamic Countries (including Afghanistan)
VI. UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women)
(will be established in 2011)