Women’s Rights – A Bill of Rights For Women

In the early 20th century, women began agitating for the right to vote at a national level. By the end of that decade New Zealand had made it a constitutional right and, in 1979, the United Nations adopted an international treaty called CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women).

That treaty is often described as an international bill of rights for women. It includes a set of 30 articles that define discrimination against women, including discrimination based on gender.

Despite these important gains, there is still much work to be done. Around the world, women face inequality in areas such as education, employment and earnings, health, violence, land ownership, a lack of access to justice, and more. Gender equality is essential to ensure a safe and decent life for all, and to unlock the full potential of humankind.

Many of these gaps can be traced to the fact that women are excluded from the decision-making processes at all levels. Women are not fully represented in parliaments, and have few seats in the executive or judiciary. They are often disproportionately affected by laws that exclude them from certain professions and activities, such as the law on female genital mutilation (FGM), or by laws prohibiting women from having abortions. In addition, they are more likely to be subjected to sexual violence and poverty.

The good news is that change is possible, and it is happening. Women’s rights groups around the world continue to push for progress, and the international community has responded by establishing Goal 5, known as the stand-alone gender goal, which calls for a commitment to women’s empowerment that is grounded in concrete actions and results.

Those concrete actions include ensuring that women have equal access to land, finance and technology, as well as equal opportunities for education and employment. But despite these successes, deep legal and political changes are needed to guarantee women’s rights, including in economic realms. Globally, women earn 20 per cent less than men and 178 countries maintain barriers to full economic participation for women.

One key example of this is Title IX, the US federal law that made it legal for women to have equal access to higher education programs, including professional schools. This one piece of legislation has had a huge impact on the number of women doctors, lawyers and other professionals. It has also helped to reduce the gap between men’s and women’s pay and to eliminate quotas that actually limit the number of women in specific fields.

Another issue is that people should have the right to make decisions about their bodies, and that means having the freedom to choose if, when and with whom to have children. Women with equal reproductive rights are better able to care for their children, which in turn leads to stronger economies. In countries with more women in parliaments, for example, there is a greater focus on children’s rights. This is why Amnesty International has campaigned for decades alongside grassroots human rights defenders to change laws that restrict people’s rights to abortion.