Gender Gap

2013
McInturff K. The Gap in the Gender Gap: Violence Against Women in Canada. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/gap-gender-gap

This study finds that progress on ending violence against women in Canada is stalled by the absence of a coherent national policy and consistent information about the levels of that violence. The study estimates the combined cost of adult sexual assault and intimate partner violence in Canada, and also makes several recommendations on how to improve the situation. 

Rullo M, Varia N. Claiming Rights: Domestic Workers’ Movements and Global Advances for Labor Reform. Human Rights Watch, The International Trade Union Confederation, and The International Domestic Workers' Network; 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/10/27/claiming-rights/domestic-workers-m...

On September 5, 2013, the ILO Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers (Domestic Workers Convention or C189) entered into legal force. This groundbreaking new treaty and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 201) establish the first global standards for the more than 50 million domestic workers worldwide—the majority of whom are women and girls, and many of whom are migrants—who clean, cook, and care for children and elderly in private households.

The Domestic Workers Convention provides desperately needed and long overdue protections for domestic workers and represents a significant breakthrough in human rights, including labor rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights. Despite the critical role that domestic workers play in providing key care services to households— including cooking, cleaning, child care, and elder care—they have been routinely excluded from standard labor protections. According to the ILO, almost 30 percent of the world’s domestic workers are employed in countries where they are completely excluded from national labor laws.

A Revolution for All: Women’s Rights in the New Libya. Human Rights Watch; 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/05/27/revolution-all

This 40-page report highlights key steps that Libya should take to meet its international obligations by firmly rejecting gender-based discrimination in both law and practice. The report calls on Libya’s parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), to ensure that women are involved on equal terms with men in the entire constitution drafting process, including active participation in the Constituent Assembly tasked with preparing the draft.

McBride M. India: A heartless nation for women. Asian Human Rights Commission; 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-PAP-001-2013?searchterm=...

Violence towards women prevents equality and hinders the personal security and dignity of individuals, contradicting Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A governments' inability to protect the rights of half its citizens also hinders the state's economic growth. This issue has come to the forefront of international discussion as current events, namely the brutal attack on Ms. Y, a young physiotherapy student on a New Delhi bus, have focused the world's gaze to the severe issue of gender violence in India.

de Alwis R. Draft Curriculum: Institute at China Women's University, in Institue at China Women's University. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars ; 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://womeninpublicservice.wilsoncenter.org/institutes-and-programs/ins...

Institute Handbook

The China Women’s University Institute is supported by a three year grant by the Ford Foundation and addresses the challenges and barriers to women’s public service in China. The Institute will provide a toolbox to address those challenges. The first Institute will take place July 23-29, 2013 with subsequent Institutes planned for the summer of 2014 and 2015. According to the China Women’s University, “This Project will provide a high profile training which would genuinely engage women from China Women’s University and other universities.” The China Women’s University is the sole institution for higher learning accredited by the Ministry of Education that is for women only. The training in  2014 and 2015 will also bring together 20 students from outside of Beijing including students from Hunan University and Shandong University. The curriculum was developed by the WPSP Director in close consultation with faculty from China Women’s University, as well as gender and law experts in China.

Fulu E, Warner X, Miedema S, Jewkes R, Roselli T, Lang J. Why Do Some Men Use Violence Against Women and How Can We Prevent It? Quantitative Findings from the United Nations Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific. Partners for Prevention; 2013. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.partners4prevention.org/about-prevention/research/men-and-vio...

From 2010 to 2013, over 10,000 men in six countries across Asia and the Pacific were interviewed using the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence household survey on men’s perpetration and experiences of violence, as well as men's other life experiences. The countries included were Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. The study was a collaborative effort involving partners from academia, research institutes, civil society, the United Nations family and governments around the globe.  

The regional analysis found that overall nearly half of those men interviewed reported using physical and/or sexual violence against a female partner, ranging from 26 percent to 80 percent across the sites.  Nearly a quarter of men interviewed reported perpetrating rape against a woman or girl, ranging from 10 percent to 62 percent across the sites. 

The report further explores prevalence of different types of violence and the factors that drive men's use of violence. It makes important recommendations on how to use the data to more effectively prevent violence against women in Asia and the Pacific.

2012
Komsan NA. The Year 2012:The Massive “Going Out” of the Egyptian Women. Egyptian Center for Women's Rights; 2012. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://ecwronline.org/?p=4575

When President Mohammed Morsi stood before the United Nations this year, he was asked about the status of women in his country and confronted with international concern regarding their status and the challenges they face. He responded to these concerns, saying that “Egyptian women have the same rights as men. There even are some men who ask to be guaranteed the same rights as women!”

Of course the President was joking. However, recent data shows the severity of the situation for women in Egypt and reveals Egypt to be first in the world as far as the deterioration of women’s rights. Those in attendance were not receptive to Morsi’s joke, finding this humor an inappropriate response to a very serious issue. The delegation hoped that President Morsi could present a plan outlining the methods and procedures intended to advance the position of women in Egypt as the first elected president after a revolution that demanded justice and equality.

The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights compiled this year’s status report on the status of Egyptian women but faced a number of challenges during the research process. The most notable of these challenges was the scarcity of information and statistics portraying the situation of women. Most writings expressed admiration for Egyptian women and their presence in society and astonishment at their participation in public work, from which they were absent for decades.

As for the approved research institutions, they are, like Egypt as a whole, facing many problems that made the intellectual production and monitoring so modest compared with the previous years. Therefore, there are neither statistics nor sufficient analytical writings available to help us. The center, like many human rights and women’s organizations in Egypt, was also under intense pressure from the Ministry of Social Affairs. The approval of many of the center’s programs was delayed by disagreements and attempts to limit the NGO’s activities or paralyze them. This situation made the report dependent upon a limited number of researchers who exerted tremendous efforts in research and documentation. The center hopes to introduce a useful report on Egyptian Women in 2012 despite these challenges.

Unveiling Justice: Women’s Access to Justice in the Philippines. Women's Legal and Human Rights Bureau; 2012. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.genderit.org/resources/submission-upr-women-s-access-justice-...

The submission to the UPR process elaborated by the Women´s Legal and Human Rights Bureau, Inc from the Philippines addresses the issue of women’s access to justice in the country, which highlights technology-related violence against women (VAW) as an emerging form of VAW. The submission also looks at the gaps and challenges in available domestic remedies to survivors of violence and abuse against women online, criticizing that existing laws on VAW do not guarantee the prosecution of technology-related VAW. It further highlights the importance of women’s access to the internet and their representation in policy processes as integral to their right to access to justice.

Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women; 2012. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2012/12/handbook-...

The Handbook serves as a useful tool in supporting efforts to provide justice, support, protection and remedies to victims and to hold perpetrators accountable.

The Handbook first outlines the international and regional legal and policy frameworks which mandate States to enact and implement comprehensive and effective laws to address violence against women. It then presents a model framework for legislation on violence against women, divided into fourteen chapters. Finally, the Handbook provides users with a checklist of considerations to be kept in mind when drafting legislation on violence against women.

This Handbook intends to provide all stakeholders with detailed guidance to support the adoption and effective implementation of legislation which prevents violence against women, punishes perpetrators, and ensures the rights of survivors everywhere.

2010
Women, Peace and Security: Canada Moves Forward to Increase Women's Engagement. Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights; 2010. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/403/huma/rep/rep05nov10-e.htm

From September 2009 to April 2010, the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights conducted a study of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, which was adopted unanimously by the Council in October 2000. The Committee focused its study on the implementation of the resolution by the UN and, in particular, Canada. Resolution 1325 was the first adopted by the Security Council to explicitly address the impact of armed conflict on women. It introduced a set of international standards for all UN member states, conflict belligerents, the UN system and its peacekeeping forces, and other stakeholders. Under the resolution, these actors must take varying steps to ensure that efforts to prevent resolve and rebuild from armed conflict incorporate the perspectives of women. They must facilitate women‘s full involvement in relevant decision-making. The resolution also calls for full implementation of international law relevant to armed conflict, condemning any violations of the rights and security of women.

This landmark resolution has since been strengthened by three additional Security Council resolutions. Resolution 1820 on sexual violence in armed conflict (2008) has as its sole objective the improvement of efforts to protect women and girls in conflict situations and to prosecute cases of human rights abuses against women therein – particularly sexual violence. Resolution 1888 (2009) institutes more robust implementing commitments. Resolution 1889 (2009) targets post-conflict peacebuilding.

The World's Women 2010: Trends and Statistics. United Nations Statistics Division; 2010. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/Worldswomen/WW2010pub.htm

The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics is the fifth issue of The World’s Women and is being produced to coincide with the first-ever World’s Statistics Day, 20.10.2010. The current issue highlights the differences in the status of women and men in eight areas – population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty. Analyses are based mainly on statistics from international and national statistical sources.
The World’s Women 2010 shows that progress towards gender equality has been made in some areas, such as school enrolment, health and economic participation. At the same time the report shows that much more needs to be done to close the gender gap in critical areas such as power and decision-making and violence against women.

2009
Basu A. Harmful practices against women in India: An examination of selected legislative responses. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; 2009. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/v-egms-gplahpaw.htm#expert

"Harmful practices against women in India: An examination of selected legislative responses"

Violence against women, of which harmful practices against women is a part, has been acknowledged as “one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men” equality rights. Women face violence due to their position of inequality; their vulnerability to violence being exacerbated due to their positions of dependency as well as prevailing patriarchal attitudes. The Indian Constitution guarantees women equality before the law and the equal protection of laws under Article 14 and prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex under Article 15. A unique feature of the Indian Constitution is Article 15(3), which empowers the State to take special measures for women and children. Despite these guarantees, the position of women in India remains unequal.

G.D. and S.F. v. France.; 2009. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/jurisprudence.htm

The authors are two French women who are unmarried and have no children. Both authors were automatically given their father’s last name pursuant to a customary rule in force at the time of their birth.

Although the authors were abandoned by their fathers by an early age, raised exclusively by their mothers, and used their mother’s family name unofficially, they continue to be officially registered under their father’s family name. On 26 May 2006, after unsuccessfully pursuing a number of administrative procedures at the domestic level, the authors appealed to the Committee under Article 16(1), which requires non-discrimination between the rights of husband and wife, including the right to choose a family name and to transmit the family name to children.

The Committee, while acknowledging the hardship encountered by the authors, held the communication inadmissible because the authors did not qualify as victims under the meaning of Article 2 of the Optional Protocol. Since both women were unmarried, did not live in husband-and-wife relationships, and did not have children, they could not assert their rights under Article 16 of the Convention, whose beneficiaries are only married women, women living in de facto union, or mothers.

2007
Gender Indicators: What, Why and How?. OECD; 2007. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/43041409.pdf

This brief focuses on the use of gender indicators as a way of measuring change. It asks: what are indicators, and why should we develop gender indicators? It also addresses the often political issue of what we should be measuring, providing some broad principles that can be considered in making these decisions, as well as some questions donors can ask themselves when they are developing gender indicators. The brief also offers examples of existing indicators noting that they always need to be adapted to specific contexts. 

Ruijun D. Promoting Domestic Implementation of CEDAW in China. Worldwide Constitutional Law Studies; 2007. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.iolaw.org.cn/global/en/shownews.asp?id=18172

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted unanimously by UN General Assembly in 1979, taken as one of the core human rights treaties of the United Nations, is the milestone of the movement for gender equality. To achieve the aim of gender equality, CEDAW endows women with comprehensive rights in civil, political, economic, social, cultural and domestic aspects, and imposes state parties to take all appropriate measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.

People’s Republic of China ratified CEDAW in December 1980, and made a reservation on Article 29(1) of the Convention. China has not ratified the optional protocol. According to Article 18 of the convention, till now, China has handed in 6 periodical reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.