Guiding Question:

How do the changes wrought in development processes change gender roles?

Gender Equality and the Tension Between Human Rights, Cultural Diversity and Long-Held Traditions

For the students of English that have worked through the materials presented in Chapter 8, it has become clear that the United Nations has focused tremendous effort towards gender equality and the empowerment of women. The third goal of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is the goal that specifically names gender equality as a goal, but throughout their literature Gender Equality is named as key to building strong societies and is a component to the success to all the other MDGs.

“The benefits of gender equality go beyond their direct impact on children. The State of the World’s Children shows how promoting gender equality and empowering women – Millennium Development Goal number 3 – will propel all of the other goals, from reducing poverty and hunger to saving children’s lives, improving maternal health, ensuring universal education, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and ensuring environmental sustainability.”

It goes on to say: “Gender equality produces the “double dividend” of benefiting both women and children and is pivotal to the health and development of families, communities and nations, according to The State of the World’s Children 2007.”

(full press release can be found below in the Taking It Further Section)

Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women

article 5(a), adopted by General Assembly resolution 34/180 of 18 December 1979.

“States Parties shall take all appropriate measures ... to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”

(Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Fact Sheet No.23, Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs23.htm)

Cultural Rights according to the United Nations:

Every human being has the right to culture, including the right to enjoy and develop cultural life and identity. Cultural rights, however, are not unlimited. The right to culture is limited at the point at which it infringes on another human right. No right can be used at the expense or destruction of another, in accordance with international law.

This means that cultural rights cannot be invoked or interpreted in such a way as to justify any act leading to the denial or violation of other human rights and fundamental freedoms. As such, claiming cultural relativism as an excuse to violate or deny human rights is an abuse of the right to culture.

(Cultural Rights continued) There are legitimate, substantive limitations on cultural practices, even on well-entrenched traditions. For example, no culture today can legitimately claim a right to practice slavery. Despite its practice in many cultures throughout history, slavery today cannot be considered legitimate, legal, or part of a cultural legacy entitled to protection in any way. To the contrary, all forms of slavery, including contemporary slavery-like practices, are a gross violation of human rights under international law.

Similarly, cultural rights do not justify torture, murder, genocide, discrimination on grounds of sex, race, language or religion, or violation of any of the other universal human rights and fundamental freedoms established in international law. Any attempts to justify such violations on the basis of culture have no validity under international law. ( Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information DPI/1627/HR--March 1995) http://www.un.org/rights/dpi1627e.htm

U.N. Body Calls for Saudis to End Male Guardianship

By Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020101159_pf.html

Friday, February 1, 2008; 8:41 AM

GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights body called on Saudi Arabia on Friday to immediately end its system of male guardianship which it said severely limits the basic freedoms of women in the kingdom.

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, in its first scrutiny of Saudi Arabia's gender equality record, said Islamic Sharia law should not trump an international women's rights treaty that Riyadh signed in 2000.

The committee's 23 independent experts urged Saudi Arabia to "amend its legislation to confirm that international treaties have precedence over domestic laws," and "enact a comprehensive gender equality law."

They also said that Riyadh should "take immediate steps to end the practice of male guardianship over women" and work to eliminate "negative cultural practices and stereotypes" which discriminate against women.

Saudi Arabia 's system of male guardianship severely curtails the rights afforded in the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the committee said.

The rules restrict women's legal rights in marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance, property ownership and decision-making in the family, as well as choice of residency, education and jobs, the committee said.

It "contributes to the prevalence of a patriarchal ideology with stereotypes and the persistence of deep-rooted cultural norms, customs and traditions that discriminate against women," the committee said. A de facto ban on Saudi women driving further reinforces such stereotypes, the U.N. body concluded.

Although the body has no legal power to enforce its recommendations, it is regarded as a moral authority on women's rights.

SAUDIS SAY NO DISCRIMINATION

A report submitted by Riyadh on its compliance with the treaty said that generally there was "no discrimination against women in the laws of the kingdom."

A Saudi delegation led by Zeid Bin Abdul Mushin Al Hussein, vice president of the Saudi Human Rights Commission, told the committee during a recent debate: "Human rights in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia are based on Sharia law."

Saudi clerics, who rule according to the strict religious tenets, have wide powers in Saudi Arabia under a traditional pact with the royal family.

The country drew international criticism after its Supreme Judicial Council ordered a 19-year-old to 200 lashes and six months in jail for having been with a man she was not related to when she was attacked and raped by seven other men in 2006.

King Abdullah pardoned the gang-rape victim in December.

The U.N. committee urged Riyadh to withdraw its proviso that Islamic law take precedence over the women's rights treaty, particularly as Saudi authorities have given assurances that there is "no contradiction in substance" between the two.

The committee's conclusions were issued at the end of a three-week meeting during which it also reviewed other states.

Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

http://www.un-documents.net/udcd.htm

The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity was adopted unanimously in a most unusual context. It came in the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, and the UNESCO General Conference, which was meeting for its 31st session, was the first ministerial-level meeting to be held after those terrible events. It was an opportunity for States to reaffirm their conviction that intercultural dialogue is the best guarantee of peace and to reject outright the theory of the inevitable clash of cultures and civilizations.

IDENTITY, DIVERSITY AND PLURALISM

ARTICLE 1: Cultural Diversity: the Common Heritage of Humanity

Culture takes diverse forms across time and space. This diversity is embodied in the uniqueness and plurality of the identities of the groups and societies making up humankind. As a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. In this sense, it is the common heritage of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations.

ARTICLE 2: From Cultural Diversity to Cultural Pluralism

In our increasingly diverse societies, it is essential to ensure harmonious interaction among people and groups with plural, varied and dynamic cultural identities as well as their willingness to live together. Policies for the inclusion and participation of all citizens are guarantees of social cohesion, the vitality of civil society and peace. Thus defined, cultural pluralism gives policy expression to the reality of cultural diversity. Indissociable from a democratic framework, cultural pluralism is conducive to cultural exchange and to the flourishing of creative capacities that sustain public life.

ARTICLE 3: Cultural Diversity as a Factor in Development

Cultural diversity widens the range of options open to everyone; it is one of the roots of development, understood not simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

ARTICLE 4: Human Rights as Guarantees of Cultural Diversity

The defence of cultural diversity is an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human

dignity. It implies a commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular the rights of persons belonging to minorities and those of indigenous peoples. No one may invoke cultural diversity to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor to limit their scope.

ARTICLE 5: Cultural Rights as an Enabling Environment for Cultural Diversity

Cultural rights are an integral part of human rights, which are universal, indivisible and interdependent. The flourishing of creative diversity requires the full implementation of cultural rights as defined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Articles 13 and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. All persons have therefore the right to express themselves and to create and disseminate their work in the language of their choice, and particularly in their mother tongue; all persons are

entitled to quality education and training that fully respect their cultural identity; and all persons have the right to participate in the cultural life of their choice and conduct their own cultural practices, subject to respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

ARTICLE 6: Towards Access for All to Cultural Diversity

While ensuring the free flow of ideas by word and image care should be exercised that all cultures can express themselves and make themselves known. Freedom of expression, media pluralism, multilingualism, equal access to art and to scientific and technological knowledge, including in digital form, and the possibility for all cultures to have access to the means of expression and dissemination are the guarantees of cultural diversity.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND CREATIVITY

ARTICLE 7: Cultural Heritage as the Wellspring of Creativity

Creation draws on the roots of cultural tradition, but flourishes in contact with other cultures.

For this reason, heritage in all its forms must be preserved, enhanced and handed on to future

generations as a record of human experience and aspirations, so as to foster creativity in all its diversity and to inspire genuine dialogue among cultures.

ARTICLE 8 Cultural Goods and Services: Commodities of a Unique Kind

In the face of present-day economic and technological change, opening up vast prospects for

creation and innovation, particular attention must be paid to the diversity of the supply of creative work, to due recognition of the rights of authors and artists and to the specificity of cultural goods and services which, as vectors of identity, values and meaning, must not be treated as mere commodities or consumer goods.

ARTICLE 9: Cultural Policies as Catalysts of Creativity

While ensuring the free circulation of ideas and works, cultural policies must create conditions

conducive to the production and dissemination of diversified cultural goods and services through cultural industries that have the means to assert themselves at the local and global level. It is for each State, with due regard to its international obligations, to define its cultural policy and to implement it through the means it considers fit, whether by operational support or appropriate regulations.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

ARTICLE 10: Strengthening Capacities for Creation and Dissemination Worldwide

In the face of current imbalances in flows and exchanges of cultural goods and services at the global level, it is necessary to reinforce international cooperation and solidarity aimed at enabling all countries, especially developing countries and countries in transition, to establish cultural industries that are viable and competitive at national and international level.

ARTICLE 11: Building Partnerships Between the Public Sector, the Private Sector and Civil Society

Market forces alone cannot guarantee the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity, which is the key to sustainable human development. From this perspective, the pre-eminence of public policy, in partnership with the private sector and civil society, must be reaffirmed.

ARTICLE 12: The Role of UNESCO

UNESCO, by virtue of its mandate and functions, has the responsibility to:

a- Promote the incorporation of the principles set out in the present Declaration into the development strategies drawn up within the various intergovernmental bodies;

b- Serve as a reference point and a forum where States, international governmental and non-governmental organizations, civil society and the private sector may join together in elaborating concepts, objectives and policies in favor of cultural diversity;

c- Pursue its activities in standard-setting, awareness-raising and capacity-building in the areas related to the present Declaration within its fields of competence;

d- Facilitate the implementation of the Action Plan, the main lines of which are appended to the present Declaration.

The UN Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day

• Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

• Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

• Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

• Reduce by three quarters (3/4ths) the maternal mortality ratio

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources

• Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water

• Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

• Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory, includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction— nationally and internationally

• Address the least developed countries' special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction

• Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States

• Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term

• In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth

• In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries

• In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies— especially information and communications technologies

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Guiding Question:

How do the changes wrought in development processes change gender roles?