Gender Equality and the International Frameworks

The definition of ‘gender equality’, ways of attaining it and courses of redressal may differ from one country’s legislation to another. Therefore, it is often helpful to look at international agreements, whether engaging at a global or local scale. These are broad frameworks which have been created as a result of deliberations and advocacy by various stakeholders, negotiated to a common understanding. While no international legislation encapsulates all the relevant definitions and targets for gender equality, there have been several landmark frameworks on gender equality.

Broadly, there are two types of policy frameworks: human rights laws and international agreements. Human rights laws are those that are signed and/or ratified by nation states. The 1979 Convention on the Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is such an example. These legislation include institutions and bodies that promote and monitor the fulfilment of these rights by Nation-States as well as have redressal mechanisms. Policy frameworks are principles that nation states wrote together but there are less accountability mechanisms like the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).

Frameworks

BpFA: One of the most influential frameworks on gender equality is the Beijing Declaration. It was adopted in 1995 unanimously by 189 countries, demonstrating real political will about addressing the issue of gender equality. The Declaration was created after extensive deliberations and input from civil society, building on previous agreements at global conferences on women. There are 12 areas of focus: environment, decision-making, economy, poverty, health, focus on the girl child and many more. Every five years, stakeholders come together to assess the progress and reaffirm their commitment to the goal of gender equality.

SDG: Another pivotal framework, especially when looking at a Nation-State's international commitment towards overall development, is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Among the 17 goals, SDG 5 explicitly talks about gender equality, calling for the elimination of discrimination, increasing participation, ensuring access to reproductive care, combatting violence against women and looking at the right to work. While demonstrating international intent, outlining clear goals and defining various development issues, similar to BPfA and other frameworks, the accountability and redressal mechanisms are limited in SDGs.

Therefore, it is helpful to look at international human rights legislation when advocating for the rights of women and girls. Signing onto a human rights convention and more importantly ratifying means that countries are legally bound to put into practice the provisions in those conventions. It can also assist with organisations and activists within a country advocating their case for national legislation in-line with the conventions. Organisations can present their cases to the monitoring committees which are international bodies that can hold nation-states accountable.

International Human Rights Law

CEDAW: While there are different legislations relevant to different issues related to gender like health, violence, work and political participation, one of the core human rights instruments advancing women’s rights is the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of the Discrimination against Women. It is a legally binding document, ratified by 187 countries. It is a comprehensive rights-based framework, recognition that gender inequality is based on the discrimination of women and outlines specific outcomes. It is a tool for advancing women’s rights in one’s country and often used as a basis for judicial decisions and legal and policy reforms. CEDAW has three core principles:

Non-discrimination: CEDAW outlines provisions to eliminate discrimination against all women in all fields (social, political, economic, cultural, civil or any other) and both the law, and reality.
State Obligation: Countries who have ratified CEDAW have to actively respect, protection, promote, and fulfil the provisions through its legislation, executive and judiciary organs. Furthermore, every four years, as part of accountability, provide a compliance report to the CEDAW committee.
Substantive Equality: Acknowledging the institutional and systemic discrimination, which leads to gender inequality, CEDAW calls on States to enable corrective measures in law, policies and systems to improve the status of women.

There are several regional frameworks that are of significance, namely:

The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, also known as the Convention of Belém do Pará is a key piece of legislation in the Americas. Agreed upon by the Organisation of American States, it was the first legally binding document that criminalised VAW and recognised that it impediment women’s full rights and therefore, called upon Nation-States to take steps to counter that.
The Protocol to the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Right on the Rights of Women in Africa, also known as the ‘Maputo Protocol’ is a key regional legislation in Africa. It reaffirms the importance of gender equality as a goal for African development. It also speaks the importance of women’s rights in the context of peace and security and advances the agenda around women, peace and security (WPS). Lastly, it is a crucial piece of legislation with regards to violence against women (VAW) as it explicitly requires state parties to prevent VAW and ensure punishment.
Lastly, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence or the Istanbul Convention went a step further than other legislation on VAW by including domestic violence, sexual harassment and the threat of violence as well as highlighting the importance of combatting gender-based violence (GBV) in times of war but also peace.

Lastly, there are several other human rights frameworks that are useful to look at:

In 1993, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women became the first international rights-based framework to speak explicitly to the issue of violence of women and connect it to an impediment to women’s rights.
The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) is the most influential international framework related to women’s reproductive health and rights. In 1994, 179 adopted the Programme of Action, committing to advancing women’s reproductive health and acknowledging its importance for women’s empowerment.
The Dakar Framework, created at the World Education Forum in 2004, called for the importance of education for all with specific goals for universal primary education, improving early childhood education programs and improving education quality. It also highlighted the urgency of gender equality within gender.

And many more…

This is of course just a very brief introduction to the types and range of international policy frameworks that exist. There are several others like the core human rights instruments like the Convention on the Rights of the Child which would be important when working with girls, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for advocating for indigenous women’s rights, and UN Security Council Resolutions like 1325 for any women related to women, peace and security. It is important to familiarise oneself with the various international frameworks, with more in-depth research on the most relevant ones for your advocacy.

Resources:

Reading on the situating of women’s rights within the larger human rights framework
List of the various human rights instruments
A training on introducing gender equality and international frameworks within the UN system
Part of UNDP’s Gender Equality Strategy 2014-2017, they summarised the key global and regional commitments relating to SDG
Read more on CEDAW’s core principles
For understanding how to work on Goal 5 of the SDGs using a human rights perspective, here’s UN Women’s summary on the interlinkage of Gender-equality across SDGs, an excellent graphic looking at SDGs from a feminist perspective and a tool that gives the example of linking SDG and human rights specifically related to sexual and reproductive health and rights
Another resource looking at the various international agreements specifically relating to gender-based violence upto the SDGs.
A comprehensive review on the progress of ICPD from 2014
To understand the progress in implementation of the Maputo Protocol