women's rights are human rights essay

Essay On Women Rights

500 words essay on women rights.

Women rights are basic human rights claimed for women and girls all over the world. It was enshrined by the United Nations around 70 years ago for every human on the earth. It includes many things which range from equal pay to the right to education. The essay on women rights will take us through this in detail for a better understanding.

Importance of Women Rights

Women rights are very important for everyone all over the world. It does not just benefit her but every member of society. When women get equal rights, the world can progress together with everyone playing an essential role.

If there weren’t any women rights, women wouldn’t have been allowed to do something as basic as a vote. Further, it is a game-changer for those women who suffer from gender discrimination .

Women rights are important as it gives women the opportunity to get an education and earn in life. It makes them independent which is essential for every woman on earth. Thus, we must all make sure women rights are implemented everywhere.

How to Fight for Women Rights

All of us can participate in the fight for women rights. Even though the world has evolved and women have more freedom than before, we still have a long way to go. In other words, the fight is far from over.

First of all, it is essential to raise our voices. We must make some noise about the issues that women face on a daily basis. Spark up conversations through your social media or make people aware if they are misinformed.

Don’t be a mute spectator to violence against women, take a stand. Further, a volunteer with women rights organisations to learn more about it. Moreover, it also allows you to contribute to change through it.

Similarly, indulge in research and event planning to make events a success. One can also start fundraisers to bring like-minded people together for a common cause. It is also important to attend marches and protests to show actual support.

History has been proof of the revolution which women’s marches have brought about. Thus, public demonstrations are essential for demanding action for change and impacting the world on a large level.

Further, if you can, make sure to donate to women’s movements and organisations. Many women of the world are deprived of basic funds, try donating to organizations that help in uplifting women and changing their future.

You can also shop smartly by making sure your money is going for a great cause. In other words, invest in companies which support women’s right or which give equal pay to them. It can make a big difference to women all over the world.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Women Rights

To sum it up, only when women and girls get full access to their rights will they be able to enjoy a life of freedom . It includes everything from equal pay to land ownerships rights and more. Further, a country can only transform when its women get an equal say in everything and are treated equally.

FAQ of Essay on Women Rights

Question 1: Why are having equal rights important?

Answer 1: It is essential to have equal rights as it guarantees people the means necessary for satisfying their basic needs, such as food, housing, and education. This allows them to take full advantage of all opportunities. Lastly, when we guarantee life, liberty, equality, and security, it protects people against abuse by those who are more powerful.

Question 2: What is the purpose of women’s rights?

Answer 2: Women’s rights are the essential human rights that the United Nations enshrined for every human being on the earth nearly 70 years ago. These rights include a lot of rights including the rights to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination. In addition to the right to education, own property; vote and to earn a fair and equal wage.

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A demonstrator raises a sign that says, "Human rights are women's rights" at the Women's March in Los Angeles in 2018. Though the concept had long been controversial, the United Nations declared that women's rights are human rights in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.

• HISTORY & CULTURE

'Women's Rights are Human Rights,' 25 years on

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech at a UN conference propelled this idea into the mainstream after centuries of society sidelining gender equality as “women’s issues.”

When Hillary Rodham Clinton approached the podium at a United Nations conference on women in September 1995 in Beijing, she faced an uncertain audience. Only a few people had read the speech, which was a well-guarded secret even to high-ranking members of the president’s cabinet. “Nobody knew what to expect,” recalls Melanne Verveer , the then first lady’s chief of staff, who later served as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues when Clinton became secretary of state.

Twenty-five years later, a single phrase from Clinton’s speech has entered mainstream parlance: “Women’s rights are human rights.” The concept wasn’t new. But the excitement and energy that Clinton’s speech generated at the Fourth World Conference on Women helped elevate the idea to one that fuels modern feminism and international efforts to achieve gender parity.

Women’s rights advocates have long argued that gender equality should be a human right—but were thwarted for years by those who claimed their rights were subordinate to those of men. During the infancy of the American feminist movement of the 1830s, abolitionists and women’s rights advocates tussled over whether it was more important to seek freedom for enslaved people or equality for women. As women pushed for their rights to vote, access educational opportunities, and own property, male abolitionists like Theodore Weld urged them to wait, arguing that they should first fight for the abolition of slavery as a matter of human rights.

Some women, such as educator Catharine Beecher , argued that women deserved rights because of their morality—as they were uniquely positioned to edify and enlighten men—not their humanity. She cautioned that their roles in public life should not extend into equality in the home. In response, abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Angelina Grimké wrote , “I recognize no rights but human rights,” noting that a society that didn’t give women power or a political voice violated their innate human rights. She was just one of a group of women who invoked the idea throughout the 19 th century. (Grimké later went on to marry Weld, who was her mentor.)

In the 1970s, the idea resurfaced as so-called second-wave feminists, who believed women should have access to full societal and legal rights, attempted to put women’s rights on the international agenda. In many countries, there was no consensus that women had a right to equal partnership in marriage, power over their finances, an equal education, or a life free of sexual assault or harassment. Between 1975 and 1995, the United Nations convened four landmark Conferences on Women that made gender parity a global priority. ( Here are the best and worst countries to be a woman. )

The first conference, held in Mexico City in 1975, recognized women’s equality. Eighty-nine of the 133 nations that participated adopted a framework to help women gain equal access to all facets of society; several western nations abstained , and the United States opposed the framework. In 1980, a follow-up conference in Copenhagen called for stronger protections for women, with an emphasis on property ownership, child custody, and a restructuring of inheritance laws. A third in Nairobi in 1985 called attention to violence against women. But though these conferences brought women’s issues to the international stage, each one fell short because of a lack of consensus and failure to implement the adopted platforms. By 1995, global women’s leaders had agreed it was time to create an action plan to guarantee equality for women.

Slated for Beijing in September 1995, the Fourth World Conference on Women took place in an atmosphere of intense international condemnation of the host nation’s treatment of its own citizens. Human rights groups and governments criticized China’s history of political imprisonment, torture, detention, and denial of religious freedom. The nation’s one-child policy , which put family planning decisions under state control, came under particular fire.

Women watch Hillary Rodham Clinton speak to the abuse against women at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Her call for women's rights to be considered human rights has since become mainstream.

News that Clinton would attend and speak at the meeting prompted an American outcry. “There were serious efforts not to make [the speech] happen,” Verveer recalls. “You had a cacophony of voices that were trying to keep this from being meaningful or successful.” The first lady faced outrage from human rights advocates who objected to the China visit on principle, conservative politicians who disapproved of her outspoken feminism, and people who worried the speech could threaten the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China.

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“I wanted to push the envelope as far as I could for girls and women,” Clinton said in a virtual public event hosted on September 10 by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security , of which Verveer is the executive director. ( A century after women’s suffrage in the U.S., the fight for equality isn’t over. )

On September 5, 1995, the second day of the conference, Clinton took the podium in front of representatives from all over the world. As Clinton spoke, Verveer watched the delegates’ faces closely. The speech cited a “litany of violations against women,” including rape, female genital mutilation, dowry burnings, and domestic violence—which Clinton labeled as human rights violations. She excoriated those who forcibly sterilized women and condemned those who restricted civil liberties, a jab at China, which restricted news coverage of the event.

The room was “filled with women who were in the trenches of those issues,” says Verveer. “The audience was completely pulled into their struggle.” The mostly female delegation applauded and cheered during the 20-minute speech, sometimes even pounding their fists on the tables to underscore their approval.

“The reaction was extraordinary,” Verveer says. On September 15, the phrase “women’s rights are human rights” was unanimously adopted as part of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action , which defined 12 areas—including education, health, economic participation, and the environment—in need of urgent international action. The document still governs the global agenda for women’s issues and is credited with helping narrow the education gap, improve maternal health, and reduce violence against women. ( Around the world, women are taking charge of their futures. )

Fourth World Conference on Women participants (from left) Benedita Da Silva of Brazil, Vuyiswa Bongile Keyi of Canada, and Silvia Salley of the United States cheer at the conclusion of the "Women of Color" press briefing where they stated that racism was not adequately addressed in the declaration.

Today, the idea that human rights and women’s rights are synonymous is considered mainstream. “I have rarely seen a single message carry such [an] important meaning and have such a durable life,” former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security event commemorating the anniversary.

But the work of gender equality is not yet done—and 25 years after Beijing, women still face systemic inequities and gaps in terms of safety, economic and political mobility, and more. “Girls need to know that they stand on the shoulders of other people who struggled to gain the rights they enjoy today,” says Verveer. “They need to play a role in ensuring the work goes on. There has been progress, but there is a long journey ahead.”

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Are Women’s Rights Human Rights?

Are Women’s Rights Human Rights?  Critically Evaluate the Tensions Between Feminist and Non-Feminist Approaches to Contemporary Human Rights Issues and Debates.

Introduction

For many feminist scholars, in spite of a concerted effort by the international community towards international legislation on women’s rights as human rights, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women of 1979 (Women’s Convention), the only matter for contention surrounding human rights is not whether they are gender equal, but rather, whether the entire concept of human rights is “gender-biased and/or gender-blind” (Guerrina & Zalewski, 2007: 9).  Drawing on the work of feminist lawyers and analysts, as well as human rights groups, this essay will argue that a non-feminist approach to women’s human rights all too often sees them as separate or in some way secondary to other human rights concerns, does not take women’s lives and daily experiences into account, and sees women’s human rights as conflicting with other rights such as religious practices, the rights of men or the (perceived) rights of the unborn child from the moment of conception.  While there are overwhelming numbers of examples of violations of all aspects of women’s human rights – including their political, social and economic rights – this essay will focus on women’s reproductive rights as a prime example of how the law’s male-centeredness, lack of consideration for women’s experiences and woolly language, jeopardises women’s most fundamental right: their right to life.  By examining the concept of and legal backing for women’s reproductive rights, then considering the cases of three countries that have signed and ratified the Women’s Convention, this essay will show that a lack of clarity, resources and power of enforcement mean that human rights law actually undermines the feminist approach to women’s human rights by giving legitimacy to states who have no intention of removing discriminatory and life-threatening practices and legislation against women.

Human Rights or the Rights of Man?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states that “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as […] sex” (United Nations, date unknown(a)).  However, feminist lawyers and scholars have convincingly shown that this is not the case and the very treaties and principles upon which the human rights framework was created defend the rights of man and, in particular, male household heads (Moller Okin, 1998: 18).  Not only does the declaration refer repeatedly to “man” and “his” rights, but it also deals only with the public realm, protecting the rights of the family from outside intrusion.  In particular, Article 12 declares: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour or reputation” (United Nations, date unknown(a), emphasis added).   For feminists, this is the ultimate example of the public/private dichotomy in which domestic matters, and those which most often concern the lives of women, are seen as private and of no concern to the state.  Human rights law has evolved since 1948 and there have been three so-called “generations” of human rights treaties (civil and political rights; social and cultural rights; the rights of groups or peoples), yet for Hilary Charlesworth they all share the same flaw: “they are built on typically male life experiences and in their current form do not respond to the most pressing risks women face” (1994: 58 – 59).  For the many women around the world whose greatest risk is the one they face at home, a list of political, economic and above all public rights will mean very little.  Whereas, the very real dangers faced by women inside or outside of the home are often seen as “too specific to women to be seen as human or too generic to human beings to be seen as specific to women” (MacKinnon, 1994: 10): in other words, the law shows gender-bias or gender-blindness.  Women have distinctive rights, which are also human rights, and which require seeing the human as not only male (Maya, 2007: 97).

An effort has been made more recently to redress these imbalances and inequalities and to assert the human rights of women, most noticeably through the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol, and through international conferences such as the Beijing Platform for Action.  These were no doubt born out of feminist activism; however their feminism has been tempered by non-feminist and oppressive states refusing to subscribe to principles that could greatly limit them (MacKinnon, 1994: 6), and their activism has been restricted by the enduring patriarchy of the United Nations.  The resulting Women’s Convention is largely one that protects women’s rights to the same rights stated for men in existing treaties, in other words an “approach of adding women and stirring them into existing first generation human rights categories” (Bunch, 1990: 494), rather than acknowledging women’s specific experiences and rights.  States were also allowed to sign and ratify the Women’s Convention whilst stating reservations, many of which are completely contrary to the aim of non-discrimination.  For example, in response to Article 16 on equal marriage rights, Algeria entered a reservation that these should not contradict the Algerian Family Code.  Several European countries exercised their right under article 29(1) to dispute this reservation, however Algeria had already entered a reservation declaring that it did not consider itself to be bound by article 29(1) and so little could be done (Neuwirth, 2005: 28).  As Jessica Neuwirth points out, “[i]n effect, Algeria stated its willingness to implement CEDAW so long as nothing needed to be done to implement CEDAW” (ibid: 29).

Feminist lawyers working in this field have been quick to point out the multiple other ways in which CEDAW and the process of incorporating a gender perspective in human rights processes have not been given the same priority or resources as other human rights treaties.  These include, but are not limited to: the fact that the Commission on the Status of Women has fewer staff, less budget and less effective mechanisms for implementation than the Human Rights Commission (Bunch, 1990: 492); while women make up 74% of membership of the committees on CEDAW and the Rights of the Child, they are just 15% of the members of the other human rights committees (Charlesworth, 2005: 7); the Human Rights Committee is able to reject reservations to treaties if they are deemed to be against the entire purpose of the law, yet the CEDAW Committee cannot do the same (Neuwirth, 2005: 26); states only report to the Committee every four years on their implementation of the Convention, and there is no mechanism to hold them accountable at any other time (Charlesworth & Chinkin, 2000: 220); and during the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, governments called for measures to assist the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its mandate, yet no such request was made for CEDAW (Sullivan, 1994: 160).  While there is clearly still an overwhelming gender-bias and/or gender-blindness in the field of human rights, the very existence of CEDAW and the policy of gender mainstreaming at the UN have been used to justify reducing the resources available to initiatives for women within UN agencies.  As Hilary Charlesworth puts it, “[g]ender has been defanged” (2005: 16).

Where are Women’s Reproductive Rights?

Perhaps one of the best examples of the lack of acknowledgement of women’s lives and experiences in international human rights law can be seen in the scant provision for women’s reproductive rights.  The Convention makes no reference at all to women’s sexual rights, such as freedom to choose whether or not to have sex, freedom to have consensual sex and sex not linked to reproduction (Amnesty International, 2010: 14), there is some limited mention of women’s reproductive rights.  They are entitled to access to information, advice and services for family planning, as well as the information, education and means to decide on the number and spacing of their children (United Nations, date unknown(b)).  This seems woefully inadequate when “[m]aternity is ranked as the primary health problem in young women (ages 15 – 44) in developing countries, accounting for 18 per cent of the total disease burden” (Cook, Dickens & Fathalla, 2003: 9-10), and “pregnancy related deaths are the leading cause of mortality for 15 to 19-year-old girls worldwide” (Amnesty International, 2009: 10).  The language of the Convention is too weak, the terms used too vague, and once again the greatest threats to women worldwide escape the boundaries of international law.

For the most part, those wishing to make a human rights claim on a violation of their reproductive rights, must use the terminology of other, “mainstream” rights to do so.  This in itself may be a very difficult thing for a woman to do; as Sally Engle Merry argues, “[h]uman rights are difficult for individuals to adopt as a self-definition in the absence of institutions that will take these rights seriously” (2003: 281).  Some lawyers have learned to interpret the law in favour of women, “[looking] at women’s lives first and [holding] human rights law accountable to what we need” (MacKinnon, 1994: 6), and Amnesty International has created a table of women’s sexual and reproductive rights based on the assertion that these require respect for rights such as the rights to life, freedom from torture and to physical and mental integrity (2010: 14).

However, just as the inexplicit language of the law can be interpreted in a feminist way, so too can it be interpreted by states in a non-feminist way, and the content of treaties can send out mixed messages.  Looking at a table of conventions and declarations related to reproductive rights (see Cook, Bernard & Fathalla, 2008: 438 – 443), the most startling observation is that the Women’s Convention does not mention the right to life.  This right is protected for all human beings, with no distinction according to sex, in the Declaration of Human Rights, however the international community still felt the need to reiterate it in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and not CEDAW.  During the drafting on the CRC, there was considerable disagreement among states on the stage at which a child has rights, with some states arguing for the rights of the unborn child from the moment of conception.  This was rejected, however no lower age limit was set, leaving the interpretation of the world “child” to individual states.  Eventually, to avoid a recurrence of the same debate, it was suggested by Italy and accepted by states that the “right to survival” should be augmented and linked to the “right to life” (Alston, 1990: 164).  And so, the right to life was included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child while it is absent from CEDAW, and was left sufficiently vague in terms of starting point, so that it could be interpreted by states to protect the right to life or the right to be born of an unborn child, even when to do so would endanger the right to life of an adult woman.

Much has been made of the tensions between feminists and non-feminists, and even within feminisms, in terms of advocacy, women’s rights and cultural relativity.  While cultural relativity is often cited as a reservation in human rights law and debates, this is done most of all when it comes to issues concerning women’s rights, sexuality and reproduction, even in contexts where the traditions or practices raised as objections are ignored in other aspects of society (Charlesworth & Chinkin, 2000: 222; Moller Okin, 1998: 36).  While not all claims to humanity are universal and no one context, culture or continent can truly represent all peoples, the following three examples from very different contexts, cultures and continents show that some violations of women’s human rights are universal.   In particular, it is still the case the world over that a woman’s reproductive rights, which impact on her right to life, are still seen as secondary or conflicting with men’s rights, religious freedoms, the rights of the unborn child, or even financial concerns and budgeting.

Marital Status Discrimination in Indonesia

Indonesia ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women on 9July 1993.  The only reservation it entered was to say that it does not consider itself bound by the provisions of article 29, paragraph 1: the dispute process by which another state may bring the application, or lack thereof, of the Convention of a state to the attention of the International Court of Justice (United Nations, date unknown(c)).  In other words, with this reservation the government of Indonesia has ensured that it does not need to apply the Convention in any future legislation nor indeed address the existing discriminatory legislation in Indonesia that defines a wife’s responsibility as “taking care of the household to the best of her ability” and has yet to criminalise marital rape (Amnesty International, 2010: 16 & 19).

In terms of reproductive rights, the government in Indonesia has shown a total disregard for what limited provisions are stated within the Convention to which it is party.  For example, while the Convention clearly states that women have a right to information, education and means to control the number of children they conceive, the Indonesian Criminal Code states that it is a criminal offence to provide information to anyone on means of preventing or interrupting pregnancy (ibid: 30).  While CEDAW states that women have a right to access this information, the Political Covenant does contain exceptions under which states may restrict people’s right to impart information.  Contained within Article 19(3)(b), one such exception is “for the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals” (Cook, Dickens & Fathalla, 2003: 209-210).  Until human rights law explicitly states which rights take priority, and what constitutes or does not constitute public morals, states will be able to interpret the rules in a way that is fitting to their pre-existing legislation and Conventions like CEDAW become almost meaningless to the women of Indonesia.

In spite of Article 1 of the Convention, which states that women must enjoy these rights “irrespective of their marital status” (United Nations, date unknown(b)), the Population and Family Development Law and the Health Law in Indonesia state that only married couples have a right to access sexual health and reproductive health services (Amnesty International 2010: 23).  Furthermore, some contraceptives require that a woman obtains permission from her husband to be able to access them (ibid: 27).  This explicitly denies the rights of all women, irrespective of their marital status, to decide the number and spacing of their children.  Within a marriage, it also completely denies bodily autonomy by giving priority to a husband’s right to decide whether to have children over a wife’s.

Finally, and perhaps most worryingly of all, is the fact that abortion is completely illegal unless in cases of rape or complications in the pregnancy that are particularly life-threatening to the woman.  In these cases, there are still strict criteria to apply that leave women’s fates very much in the hands of medical professionals, and in the case of life-threatening complications a woman still requires her husband’s consent to go ahead with an abortion (ibid: 33-34).  Not only does this mean that an unmarried woman or girl with life-threatening complications has no choice but to continue with a pregnancy, but it also means that a married woman’s health is entirely determined by whether her husband thinks it is worth risking.  Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the maternal mortality rate in Indonesia is 470 per 100,000 live births – 47 times that of the United Kingdom (Cook, Dickens  & Fathalla, 2003: 406-417) – and 11 per cent of those deaths are attributed to unsafe abortions (Amnesty International, 2010: 24).  In the case of countries like Indonesia, CEDAW clearly serves only to make them appear more legitimate to other states in the international arena.  There is little or no evidence to show that they subscribe to the principles of the Convention, or have any intention of implementing them in law or practice.

One in Eight: Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, a woman has a one in eight chance of dying as a result of pregnancy or childbirth in her lifetime (Amnesty International, 2009: 1), with one in 50 births resulting in death and an average of 6.5 births per woman (Cook, Dickens & Fathalla, 2003: 414).  There are currently no emergency obstetric facilities able to provide life-saving caesarean sections and blood transfusions in six of the country’s 13 districts, and while the World Health Organisation estimates that between five and 15 per cent of deliveries will need caesarean sections, they make up just one percent of births in Sierra Leone (Amnesty International, 2009: 2 & 20).

The civil war that devastated the country and the severe levels of poverty and deprivation are significant factors in a country where at the onset of war the government employed 300 doctors, and by mid-2009 this number had dropped to 78 (ibid: 8).  However, to attribute high levels of maternal mortality entirely to financial factors is to ignore the gender-bias and/or gender-blindness of the Sierra Leonean government, and its complicity in a situation in which maternal mortality is so frequent that it is perceived to be “‘normal’, or inevitable, rather than preventable” (ibid: 12).

An Amnesty International report in 2009 found that less than half of the money the government allocates to health services reaches its intended destination each year (ibid: 4).  One of the many results of this is that government health officers are not being paid and so decide to charge for the services and drugs they offer, many of which should be provided free to pregnant women by law (ibid: 18).  In a culture in which men are permitted to take as many wives as they feel they can afford to keep, and in which men control a household’s money, some 68 per cent of the mothers Amnesty interviewed stated that it was their husband’s decision where they gave birth and whether they had enough money to pay for emergency obstetric care (ibid: 11).

For Cook, Dickens and Fathalla, there is no financial justification for such appalling levels of maternal mortality: “[t]here is no country that is so poor that it cannot do something to improve the reproductive health of its people” (2003: 55), and in fact services such as family planning and maternal health are “the most cost-effective health interventions” in terms of long-term benefits to communities (ibid: 191).  Education is perhaps one of the most cheap and effective ways to address the fact that 94 per cent of women in Sierra Leone undergo female genital mutilation practices that could increase the risks to them in childbirth (ibid: 10), or to address the commonly held belief that women have an obstructed labour because they have been unfaithful to their husband and must confess before they can be given emergency health care (ibid: 12).

The fact that a baby girl in Sierra Leone faces a one in eight chance of dying during her lifetime because of pregnancy or childbirth is not an inevitable consequence of severe economic deprivation: it is a violation of women’s reproductive rights and hence their right to life.  Until the government in Sierra Leone and the international community begin to see it as such however, it is difficult to see how the situation can improve.

“She Had a Heartbeat Too”: The Death of Savita Halappanavar

The Republic of Ireland ratified CEDAW on 23 December 1985 with no reservations, and it even disputed the reservations of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei and Qatar to certain articles of the Convention on the grounds that references to religious laws “may cast doubts on the commitment of the reserving State to fulfil its obligations under the Convention” (United Nations, date unknown(c)).  Nonetheless, due to the enduring influence of the Catholic Church in Ireland, the state has continually failed to clarify its position on abortion in cases where a mother’s life is in danger.  Tragically, in October 2012, this lack of clarity led to the death of Savita Halappanavar when she was refused an abortion by medical staff in a hospital.  Her husband claims that they were told that they would definitely lose the foetus, yet were repeatedly refused the abortion because doctors could still detect a foetal heartbeat and “this is a Catholic country” (McDonald, 2012b).

Article 40(3)(3) of the Irish Constitution protects the “right to life of the unborn”, although it does also recognise the “equal right to life of the mother” (Mullaly, 2005: 89-90).  The CEDAW Committee has in the past expressed concern over women’s reproductive rights in Ireland and the influence that the Catholic Church has over these (ibid: 79), the European Court of Human Rights ruled two years ago that Ireland was failing mothers whose lives were at risk during pregnancy by not providing abortion (Houstan, 2012), and in 1992 the Irish population voted in favour of legalising abortion in life-threatening cases in a referendum (Mullaly, 2005: 95).  In spite of all of this, no clarification has yet been given on the meaning of Article 40(3)(3), and the resulting uncertainty led the doctors in the case of Savita Halappanavar to refuse a medical procedure that would have saved her life, in favour of not ending the life of a foetus that they already knew she would lose.  As Cook, Bernard and Fathalla state,

“[l]aws that prohibit medical procedures but that do not have clearly stated or indeed any exceptions where women’s lives […] are at risk can be shown to violate human rights requirements” (2003: 51).

Savita’s mother’s reaction to her death sums up the way in which the Irish state views women: “In an attempt to save a 4-month-old foetus they killed my […] daughter.  How is that fair you tell me?” (McDonald, 2012a).  Similarly, one protestor in a vigil held after Savita’s death, held a picture of Savita with a caption reading “she had a heartbeat too” (McDonald, 2012b).  While the media coverage of the event refers regularly to women’s rights and human rights, there is no mention of Ireland’s commitments as a state party to CEDAW or other human rights instruments.  The government has now promised to bring in legislation in 2013 to legalise abortion in life-threatening cases (BBC, 2013), however only time will tell whether it succeeds in clarifying the issue.  Given its track record, it would seem that this limited and glacial progress is linked more to public protests and pressure than any sense of being bound by its commitment to CEDAW.  Whatever happens in the future, it is certain that the state’s inaction on an issue that has been brought to its attention over decades, violated Savita Halappanavar’s right to life.

Conclusions

Why is it so important that women’s reproductive rights be recognised and fully acknowledged as human rights, not because they touch on other aspects of human rights, but in their own right?  To do so would empower women around the world to challenge their own states’ oppressive and discriminatory laws, and would open up their rights to claim asylum in other countries, which in turn would be a considerable incentive for other states to take an interest in the treatment of women within the ‘privacy’ of their own states (Moller Okin, 1998: 39).  The non-feminist hijacking of CEDAW has resulted in a convention that does not reflect the lives of women and still seems to see some issues as too personal to be political, and some dangers as inevitable and inherent to the condition of being female.  Feminists must continue fighting to rescue women’s human rights and to gain international recognition for the fact that when a woman dies from a preventable situation, her government is complicit in that violation of her most basic right, the right to life.

References  

Alston, Philip (1990), “The Unborn Child and Abortion under the Draft Convention on the Rights of the Child”, Human Rights Quarterly , 12(1), pp. 156-178

Amnesty International (2009), Out of Reach: The Cost of Maternal Health in Sierra Leone , available at http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19708.pdf [accessed on 31st December 2012]

Amnesty International (2010), Left Without a Choice: Barriers to Reproductive Health in Indonesia , available at: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_21542.pdf [accessed on 31st December 2012]

BBC News (2013), “Irish government hears abortion submissions”, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20937342 [accessed on 8th January 2013]

Bunch, Charlotte (1990), “Women’s Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Re-Vision of Human Rights”, Human Rights Quarterly , 12 (4), pp. 486-498

Charlesworth, Hilary (1994), “What are ‘Women’s International Human Rights?’”, in Cook, Rebecca J. (ed.), Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives , University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, pp. 58-84

Charlesworth, Hilary and Chinkin, Christine (2000), The boundaries of international law: A feminist analysis , Manchester University Press: Manchester

Charlesworth, Hilary (2005), “Not Waving but Drowning: Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United Nations”, Harvard Human Rights Journal , 18, pp. 1-18

Cook, Rebecca J., Dickens, Bernard M., and Fathalla, Mahmoud F. (2003), Reproductive Health and Human Rights: Integrating Medicine, Ethics, and Law , Oxford University Press: Oxford

Engle Merry, Sally (2003), “Rights Talk and the Experience of Law: Implementing Women’s Human Rights to Protection from Violence”, Human Rights Quarterly , 25(2), pp. 343-381

Guerrina, Roberta and Zalewksi, Marysia (2007), “Negotiating differences/negotiating rights: the challenges and opportunities of women’s human rights”, Review of International Studies , 33(1), pp. 5-10

Houstan, Muiris (2012), “Investigations begin into death of woman who was refused an abortion”,  British Medical Journal , 345(e8161), available at http://211.144.68.84:9998/91keshi/Public/File/38/345-7884/pdf/bmj.e7824.full.pdf [accessed on 7th January 2013]

Lloyd, Maya (2007), “(Women’s) human rights: paradoxes and possibilities”,  Review of International Studies , 33(1), pp. 91-103

MacKinnon, Catharine A. (1994), “Rape, Genocide, and Women’s Human Rights”, Harvard Women’s Law Journal , 17, pp. 5-16

McDonald, Henry (2012a), “Irish abortion laws to blame for woman’s death, say parents”, The Guardian , available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/15/irish-abortion-law-blame-death [accessed on 8th January]

McDonald, Henry (2012b), “Ireland to legalise abortions where woman’s life is at risk”, The Guardian , available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/18/ireland-legalise-abortion-life-risk [accessed on 8th January 2013]

Moller Okin, Susan (1998), “Feminism, Women’s Human Rights and Cultural Differences”, Hypatia , 13(2), pp. 32-52

Mullaly, Siobhán (2005), “Debating Reproductive Rights in Ireland”, Human Rights Quarterly, 27(1), pp. 78-104

Neuwirth, Jessica (2005), “Inequality Before the Law: Holding States Accountable for Sex Discriminatory Laws Under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Through the Beijing Platform for Action”, Harvard Human Rights Journal , 18, pp. 19-54

Sullivan, Donna J. (1994), “Women’s Human Rights and the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights”, American Journal of International Law , 8(1), pp. 152-167

United Nations (date unknown(a)), “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, available at: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml [accessed on 8th January 2013]

United Nations (date unknown(b)), “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw.htm [accessed on 8th January 2013]

United Nations (date unknown(c)), “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Status of ratification, reservations and declarations”, available at: http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8&chapter=4&lang=en#EndDec [accessed on 8 th January 2013].

Written by: Rosie Walters Written at: University of Bristol Written for: Jutta Weldes Date written: January 2013

Further Reading on E-International Relations

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WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Women’s rights are human rights.

We are all entitled to human rights. These include the right to live free from violence and discrimination; to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn an equal wage.

But across the globe many women and girls still face discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. Gender inequality underpins many problems which disproportionately affect women and girls, such as domestic and sexual violence, lower pay, lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare.

For many years women’s rights movements have fought hard to address this inequality, campaigning to change laws or taking to the streets to demand their rights are respected. And new movements have flourished in the digital age, such as the #MeToo campaign which highlights the prevalence of gender-based violence and sexual harassment.

Through research, advocacy and campaigning, Amnesty International pressures the people in power to respect women’s rights. 

On this page we look at the history of women’s rights, what women’s rights actually are, and what Amnesty is doing.

WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

What do we mean when we talk about women’s rights? What are we fighting for? Here are just some examples of the rights which activists throughout the centuries and today have been fighting for:

Women’s Suffrage

During the 19th and early 20 th  centuries people began to agitate for the  right of women to vote . In 1893 New Zealand became the first country to give women the right to vote on a national level. This movement grew to spread all around the world, and thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in this struggle, today women’s suffrage is a right under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979).

However, despite these developments there are still many places around the world where it is very difficult for women to exercise this right.  Take  Syria  for example, where women have been effectively cut off from political engagement, including the ongoing peace process.

In Pakistan, although voting is a constitutional right, in some areas women have been effectively  prohibited from voting  due to powerful figures in their communities using patriarchal local customs to bar them from going to the polls.

And in Afghanistan, authorities recently decided to introduce  mandatory photo screening  at polling stations, making voting problematic for women in conservative areas, where most women cover their faces in public.

Amnesty International campaigns for all women to be able to effectively participate in the political process.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Everyone should be able to make decisions about their own body.

Every woman and girl has sexual and reproductive rights . This means they are entitled to equal access to health services like contraception and safe abortions, to choose if, when, and who they marry, and to decide if they want to have children and if so how many, when and with who.

Women should be able to live without fear of gender-based violence, including rape and other sexual violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), forced marriage, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, or forced sterilization.

But there’s a long way to go until all women can enjoy these rights.

For example, many women and girls around the world are still unable to access safe and legal abortions. In several countries, people who want or need to end pregnancies are often forced to make an impossible choice: put their lives at risk or go to jail.

In  Argentina , Amnesty International has campaigned alongside grassroots human rights defenders to change the country’s strict abortion laws. There have been some major steps forward, but women and girls are still being harmed by laws which mean they cannot make choices about their own bodies.

We have also campaigned successfully in  Ireland and Northern Ireland , where abortion was recently decriminalized after many decades of lobbying by Amnesty and other rights groups.

In  Poland  along with more than 200 human and women’s rights organisations from across the globe, Amnesty has co-signed a joint statement protesting the ‘Stop Abortion’ bill.

South Korea  has recently seen major advances in sexual and reproductive rights after many years of campaigning by Amnesty and other groups, culminating in a ruling by South Korea’s Constitutional Court that orders the government to decriminalize abortion in the country and reform the country’s highly restrictive abortion laws by the end of 2020.

In Burkina Faso, Amnesty International has supported women and girls in their fight against  forced marriage , which affects a huge number of girls especially in rural areas.

And in Sierra Leone, Amnesty International has been working with local communities as part of our Human Rights Education Programme, which focuses on a number of human rights issues, including  female genital mutilation .

In Zimbabwe, we found that women and girls were left vulnerable to unwanted pregnancies and a higher risk of HIV infection because of widespread confusion around sexual consent and access to sexual health services. This meant that girls would face discrimination, the risk of child marriage, economic hardship and barriers to education.

In  Jordan  Amnesty International has urged authorities to stop colluding with an abusive male “guardianship” system which controls women’s lives and limits their personal freedoms, including detaining women accused of leaving home without permission or having sex outside marriage and subjecting them to humiliating “virginity tests”.

Freedom of Movement

Freedom of movement is the right to move around freely as we please – not just within the country we live in, but also to visit others. But many women face real challenges when it comes to this. They may not be allowed to have their own passports, or they might have to seek permission from a male guardian in order to travel.

For example, recently in Saudi Arabia there has been a successful campaign to allow women to drive, which had previously been banned for many decades. But despite this landmark gain, the authorities continue to  persecute and detain  many women’s rights activists, simply for peacefully advocating for their rights.

FEMINISM AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS

When looking at women’s rights it’s helpful to have an understanding of feminism. At its core,  feminism  is the belief that women are entitled to political, economic, and social equality. Feminism is committed to ensuring women can fully enjoy their rights on an equal footing with men.

Intersectional Feminism

Intersectional feminism  is the idea that all of the reasons someone might be discriminated against, including race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic class, and disability, among others, overlap and intersect with each other. One way of understanding this would be to look at how this might apply in a real world setting, such as  Dominica , where our research has shown that women sex workers, who are often people of colour, or transgender, or both, suffer torture and persecution by the police.

HOW ARE WOMEN’S RIGHTS BEING VIOLATED?

Gender inequality.

Gender inequality could include:

Gender-Based Violence

Gender-based violence  is when violent acts are committed against women and LGBTI people on the basis of their orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics. Gender based violence happens to women and girls in disproportionate numbers.

Women and girls in conflict are especially at risk from violence, and throughout history sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war. For example, we have documented how many women who fled attacks from Boko Haram in Nigeria have been  subjected  to sexual violence and rape by the Nigerian military .

Globally, on average  30% of all women  who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence committed against them by their partner. Women are more likely to be victims of sexual assault including rape, and are more likely to be the victims of so-called  “honour crimes”.

Violence against women is a major human rights violation. It is the responsibility of a state to protect women from gender-based violence –  even domestic abuse behind closed doors.

Sexual Violence and Harassment

Sexual harassment means any unwelcome sexual behaviour. This could be physical conduct and advances, demanding or requesting sexual favours or using inappropriate sexual language.

Sexual violence is when someone is physically sexually assaulted. Although men and boys can also be victims of sexual violence, it is women and girls who are  overwhelmingly affected.

Workplace Discrimination

Often, women are the subject of gender based discrimination in the workplace. One way of illustrating this is to look at the  gender pay gap . Equal pay for the same work is a human right, but time and again women are denied access to a fair and equal wage. Recent figures show that women currently earn roughly 77% of what men earn for the same work. This leads to a lifetime of financial disparity for women, prevents them from fully exercising independence, and means an increased risk of poverty in later life.

Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity  

In many countries around the world, women are denied their rights on the basis of  sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics . Lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex women and gender non-confirming people face violence, exclusion, harassment, and discrimination Many are also subjected to extreme  violence , including sexual violence or so called “corrective rape” and “honour killings.” 

WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

The  Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1979)  is a key international treaty addressing gender-based discrimination and providing specific protections for women’s rights.

The  convention  sets out an international bill of rights for women and girls, and defines what obligations states have make sure women can enjoy those rights.

Over 180 states have ratified the convention.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STAND UP FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS?

Women’s rights are human rights.

It might seem like an obvious point, but we cannot have a free and equal society until everyone is free and equal. Until women enjoy the same rights as men, this inequality is everyone’s problem.

Protecting women’s rights makes the world a better place

According to the UN, “gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is not just a goal in itself, but a key to sustainable development, economic growth, and peace and security”. Research has shown this to be the case – society gets better for everyone when women’s rights are upheld and taken seriously.

We’re stronger when we work together

Although grassroots movements have done so much to effect change, when everyone comes together to support women’s rights we can be so much stronger. By working alongside individual activists and campaigners on the ground as well as running our own targeted campaigns, movements such as Amnesty International can form a formidable vanguard in the fight for women’s rights.

RELATED CONTENT

Iranti and amnesty international mark international transgender day of visibility, understanding the long roots of violence in the occupied palestinian territories and israel    , kyrgyzstan: amnesty international secretary general agnès callamard’s call to veto restrictive ngo law, tunisia: authorities’ targeting of lawyers undermines access to justice, nigeria: icc must not dash the hope of survivors of atrocities by the military.

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Comprehensive argumentative essay example on the rights of women, rachel r.n..

• February 20, 2024
• Essay Topics and Ideas

What You'll Learn

Women’s rights have been a significant focal point in the ongoing discourse on social justice and equality. The struggle for women’s rights is deeply rooted in history, marked by milestones and setbacks. While progress has undeniably been made, there remain persistent challenges that necessitate continued advocacy and action. This essay argues that the advancement of women’s rights is not only a matter of justice and equality but also a fundamental imperative for societal progress.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

The historical context of women’s rights is marked by a legacy of systemic discrimination, limited opportunities, and societal norms that perpetuated gender inequality. From the suffragette movement to the fight for reproductive rights, women have consistently challenged oppressive structures. The recognition of women’s rights as human rights, as articulated in international conventions, underscores the global commitment to address historical injustices and promote gender equality.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

One crucial aspect of women’s rights is economic empowerment . The gender pay gap and limited access to economic resources have persisted despite advancements in the workplace. Empowering women economically not only contributes to their individual well-being but also enhances overall societal prosperity. Research consistently demonstrates that economies thrive when women actively participate in the workforce and have equal opportunities for career advancement.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

Education is a powerful catalyst for social change, and ensuring equal access to education for girls and women is integral to advancing women’s rights. When women are educated, they become catalysts for positive change within their communities. Educated women are more likely to make informed decisions about their lives, contribute meaningfully to society, and break the cycle of poverty.

Rights Securing women’s rights includes safeguarding their reproductive health and rights. Access to comprehensive healthcare, including reproductive services, is essential for women to have control over their bodies and make autonomous choices about family planning. Policies that prioritize women’s health contribute to a healthier and more equitable society.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

Violence Against Women Addressing and preventing violence against women is a critical component of the women’s rights agenda. Gender-based violence not only inflicts harm on individual women but also perpetuates a culture of fear and inequality. Legal frameworks, awareness campaigns, and support services are essential tools in combating violence against women and ensuring their safety and well-being.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

In conclusion, the advancement of women’s rights is not only a moral imperative but also a crucial factor in fostering societal progress. A comprehensive approach that addresses historical injustices, economic disparities, educational opportunities, reproductive rights, and violence against women is essential. As we strive for a more equitable future, it is imperative that individuals, communities, and governments actively support and promote women’s rights, recognizing that the empowerment of women is synonymous with the advancement of society as a whole.(Comprehensive Argumentative essay example on the Rights of Women)

80 Topic Ideas for Your Argumentative Essay

• Universal Basic Income
• Climate Change and Environmental Policies
• Gun Control Laws
• Legalization of Marijuana
• Capital Punishment
• Immigration Policies
• Healthcare Reform
• Artificial Intelligence Ethics
• Cybersecurity and Privacy
• Online Education vs. Traditional Education
• Animal Testing
• Nuclear Energy
• Social Media Impact on Society
• Gender Pay Gap
• Affirmative Action
• Censorship in the Media
• Genetic Engineering and Designer Babies
• Mandatory Vaccinations
• Electoral College vs. Popular Vote
• Police Brutality and Reform
• School Uniforms
• Space Exploration Funding
• Internet Neutrality
• Autonomous Vehicles and Ethics
• Nuclear Weapons Proliferation
• Racial Profiling
• Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
• Cultural Appropriation
• Socialism vs. Capitalism
• Mental Health Stigma
• Income Inequality
• Renewable Energy Sources
• Legalization of Prostitution
• Affirmative Consent Laws
• Education Funding
• Prescription Drug Prices
• Parental Leave Policies
• Ageism in the Workplace
• Single-payer Healthcare System
• Bullying Prevention in Schools
• Government Surveillance
• LGBTQ+ Rights
• Nuclear Disarmament
• GMO Labeling
• Workplace Diversity
• Obesity and Public Health
• Immigration and Border Security
• Free Speech on College Campuses
• Alternative Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine
• Childhood Vaccination Requirements
• Mass Surveillance
• Renewable Energy Subsidies
• Cultural Diversity in Education
• Youth and Political Engagement
• School Vouchers
• Social Justice Warriors
• Internet Addiction
• Human Cloning
• Artistic Freedom vs. Cultural Sensitivity
• College Admissions Policies
• Cyberbullying
• Privacy in the Digital Age
• Nuclear Power Plants Safety
• Cultural Impact of Video Games
• Aging Population and Healthcare
• Animal Rights
• Obesity and Personal Responsibility
• Reproductive Rights
• Charter Schools
• Military Spending
• Immigration and Economic Impact
• Mandatory Military Service
• Workplace Harassment Policies
• Cultural Globalization
• Criminal Justice Reform
• Immigration Detention Centers
• Antibiotic Resistance
• Internet Censorship
• Discrimination in the Workplace
• Space Colonization

Brownlee, K. (2020). Being sure of each other: an essay on social rights and freedoms. Oxford University Press, USA. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kTjpDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Argumentative+essay+example+on+the+Rights+of+Women&ots=oysLrPE6ux&sig=ANTnu_5AH4_3PMfGG0XdMzxBpLA

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• HUMAN RIGHTS

Women’s Rights are Human Rights

Written as part of the global campaign for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, this article includes contributions from members of the United Nations University Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility ( UNU-GCM ) research team: Megha Amrith, Inés Crosas, Jane Freedman, Cecilia Gordano, Marta Guasp, Yu Kojima, Parvati Nair, Marija Obradovic, and Aishih Webhe-Herrera.

Women’s rights are human rights. It may seem obvious, but it bears repeating today on Human Rights Day .

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence is an international campaign symbolically linking 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day. The team at the UNU Institute for Globalization, Culture and Mobility ( UNU-GCM ), building on our current research program on female agency, mobility and socio-cultural change, has participated in the 16 Days of Activism with a campaign on our Facebook and Twitter highlighting issues including the importance of language, women with disabilities, migrant women and refugees, and art as activism.

We are using our research to raise awareness on these pressing concerns facing women today, and particularly applying our research to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality. SDG 5 seeks to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, with a particular focus on eliminating all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.

UN special meeting in observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Photo: © UN Photo /Cia Pak.

Language, hate speech and cyber violence

“Language is not neutral: it has an active role in our understanding of diverse realities, our practices and behaviours,” says Cecilia Gordano. She draws attention to a situation when local news reports referred to various “passion killings” that left several women “dead”, arguing that “it’s high time we improved the vocabulary to name gender-based crimes and leave behind the passive voice: women do not just ‘die’, they are ‘killed’, mostly by intimate partners, so they are victims of ‘intimate femicides’.” Media framing , which differs across contexts, plays a critical role in how we perceive gender-based violence.

While the internet provides new opportunities for women’s rights activism, it is also a space where new forms of violence are performed. Aishih Webhe-Herrera explains that “the terms ‘ Feminazi ’ and ‘Gal-Quaeda’ are gaining visibility in current lingo to refer to feminists who denounce everyday sexism, gender stereotyping, and gender discrimination. They are used to shun and silence feminists by delegitimizing their claims, harassing them verbally, publicly and privately. They also promote a misleading understanding of feminism(s) and the collective project of gender equality, which are viewed as an attack on the universalist and degendered ‘rights’ and ‘justice’ of what Michael Kimmel calls ‘Angry White Men’. With striking parallelisms with far right discourses, the popularisation of this terminology in the media and even everyday conversations are clear examples of hate speech against women, and more precisely, gender-based violence against women and girls.”

Nils Muižnieks , the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, points out that “hate speech against women is a long-standing, though underreported problem in Europe”. Not only are these words an attack on women’s right to freedom of expression, but they also violate women’s human rights to privacy, dignity, non-discrimination and life free from violence.

These virtual forms of violence have concrete consequences, as Webhe-Herrera explains that “the spread of this terminology also incites to discrimination, violence and gender hatred against feminist and women’s human rights campaigners, which has forced several feminist bloggers either to adopt a pseudonym to remain safe in the blogosphere or to abandon their virtual platforms and public activism altogether.”

Women with disabilities

Certain groups of women are more vulnerable to violence due to social marginalization. On 3 December for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities Inés Crosas drew attention to women with disabilities, who suffer from among the highest levels of gender-based violence. Nearly 80% of women with a disability are victims of violence , and they are three times more likely to experience abuse compared with “non-disabled women”.

Crosas argues that “this reality seems to be overlooked and these subjects totally misrepresented, since many institutions lack the necessary means to deal with this specific type of violence and data and statistics are often hard to find. As activist groups and scholars point out, the roots of this ‘normalization’ of violence come from prevailing stereotypes and prejudices against women with disabilities, which are sustained through persistent patriarchal and ableist [ableism is discrimination in favour of able-bodied people] notions. It is the hegemonic social construction of ‘woman’ and ‘disability’ which makes this collective particularly vulnerable and imposes deep communicational, attitudinal and structural barriers upon them in their daily life. Therefore, in order to change this situation, social cooperation and awareness is the first, and most important, step.”

The research book Gènere i Diversitat Funcional: una Violència Invisible (Functional Diversity and Gender: An Invisible Violence) provides an in-depth examination of the main causes and consequences of gender-based violence against women with disabilities and exposes good practices for dealing with it.

Migrant women and refugees

Migrant women are another group that is socially marginalized, rendering them even more vulnerable to gender-based violence.

Domestic violence poses a particular challenge for migrant women. As we explained in a previous article , any woman suffering from domestic abuse struggles with how to handle the situation. The problem is doubly difficult for immigrant women, who face additional barriers to reporting violence and accessing services. Migrant women must be empowered to denounce domestic violence and access appropriate support without fear of losing their legal residency status. Violence that takes place in the private sphere is a public issue: it is a violation of women’s human rights that the State has the responsibility to prevent.

Parvati Nair adds that “gender-based violence in domestic contexts is not a one-off event. Even if sporadic, it is the symptom of a power relation where intimacy becomes confused with violence. In the film Te doy mis ojos (Take My Eyes) (directed by Icíar Bollaín, 2003), we see how Pilar constantly scans her partner’s moods, trying to pre-empt the moment when his mood will turn. As such, gender-based violence turns the home into a place of fear and dread. It is, therefore, a form of violence that is as much psychological as it is physical.”

Sudanese refugees in Iridimi Camp in Chad. Photo: © UN Photo /Eskinder Debebe.

The gender-based violence that migrant women experience is not confined to the domestic sphere. “Migrant women are vulnerable to violence at all stages of their journey due to gendered inequalities and relations of domination,” explains Jane Freedman . “Current EU policies restricting migration exacerbate migrant women’s vulnerability. The only way to improve these women’s security is through a genuine commitment to providing safe and legal routes for migration and/or claiming asylum.”

Armed conflict puts women in a particularly vulnerable situation, and protecting female refugees against sexual and gender-based violence in camps remains a major challenge. “Staying in a refugee camp within the country of origin or seeking protection elsewhere brings serious threats to women’s security, freedom and health,” explains Marija Obradovic.

“The international community has long resolved to end this scourge. Yet, despite declarations and resolutions, current reports show that protecting female refugees from gender based violence remains a complex problem. This challenge is solvable, however, as it largely a matter of policy not adequately implemented, and world events prove that implementation should be prioritized.”

The precarity of female refugees often goes unnoticed, and this is especially true in the case of minority groups, such as the Rohingya in Myanmar. “Given their status as women, stateless and part of an ethno-religious minority, Rohingya women (and girls) are particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence that can affect not only their physical and psychological development but can restrict the socio-economic opportunities available to them both within Myanmar and in their new country of residence,” notes Yu Kojima.

She emphasizes that “it is clear that improved and more coordinated policy efforts are needed among key government agencies and between women’s rights and pro-migrants groups and international agencies in order to begin combating the wider scope of sexual and gender-based violence that Rohingya refugee and migrant women are at risk of during flight and in the country of asylum. Because of the magnitude and seriousness of this challenge, the issue of sexual and gender based violence involving Rohingya women deserves more serious international attention.”

Human trafficking frequently involves the forced movement of people across borders, and it is a form of violence that disproportionately targets women. The UN has made trafficking a focus of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery , which falls during the 16 Days Campaign on 2 December. Human trafficking should not be conflated with slavery, but action is needed in order to advance policies that prevent trafficking, rescue victims and provide for reintegration and prosecute traffickers. A holistic human rights approach is critical to respect the dignity of all victims of trafficking while working toward its eradication.

Art as activism

Across the world, activists are finding creative strategies to bring attention to women’s human rights. “Literature, music, performance, and the arts are powerful tools that reach wide sectors of society, appealing to their sensitivities, interests and worlds in languages far removed from the realm of international human rights law, but intimately connected to it,” argues Webhe-Herrera.

She discusses “writers, artists, musicians, performers: all of them are raising their voices to denounce femicides or feminicidios, the consistent and massive murder of women in Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua, México) and worldwide. With more than 400 women assassinated in this city since 1994, and thousands disappeared, writers and artists engage with this feminicidal reality in their works to render it visible, and to claim state accountability for this violation of women’s human right to life and to a life free from violence, as enshrined in the 1994 Convention Belém do Pará and the 2011 Istanbul Convention .”

Webhe-Herrera continues, “good examples of human rights ’artvocay’ can be found in the works of Chicana writer Ana Castillo , who has published several poems, a novel and a play about it, and London visual artist Tamsyn Challenger, whose art installation 400 Women consists of 175 portraits of different women killed as a result of gender-based violence in the Mexican-American borderland.”

Gordano gives another example of Mexican artist Elina Chauvet, who collected 33 pairs of women shoes painted red in Ciudad Juárez and arranged them on the public space in 2009. She called it ‘ Zapatos Rojos ’ [Red Shoes] and conceived it as “a meeting of art and collective memory” to rise awareness on feminicides, the most extreme materialization of gender-based violence. “It is through the ethics and aesthetics, through absence and visibility [that] red shoes show the void left by the daughters, sisters, mothers and wives.” Her artistic intervention has been replicated in various cities in Latin and North America and Europe.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the opening of “The Transformative Power of Art” Exhibition. Photo: © UN Photo /Evan Schneider.

Photography is another powerful medium for advocacy. Megha Amrith tells the story of Xyza Cruz Bacani, a Filipina domestic worker turned photographer. “Her photographs , documenting migrant domestic workers in a Hong Kong shelter who escaped physical and mental abuse, won her a photography scholarship for raising awareness about the grave situations that migrant domestic workers live through. In this new series of photographs, she demonstrates how gender-based violence and labour abuses are common experiences among migrant women across countries and continents,” explains Amrith.

Nair also suggests that “this is an apt time to reflect on the work of the Indian-American photographer Fazal Sheikh, who, in his photo-essays Ladli and Moksha , focuses on the social structures in contemporary India that relegate women to disempowerment within severely patriarchal structures. Through conversations and photographs, Sheikh portrays the untapped potential and the resilience of these women and girls.”

Webhe-Herrera says that “these works represent a global cry for gender and social justice in the face of personal, collective and state violence against women. They also open a creative and political space from which to raise awareness about global violations of women’s human rights, and compel (inter)national actors to take responsibility for the massacre of the female population across the globe.”

The way forward

The UN took a major step in recognizing women’s rights as human rights in the 1993 Vienna Declaration . Campaigns such as the 16 Days of Activism draw attention to the challenges that we still face so that we can continue making the necessary policies and changing attitudes to fulfill women’s human rights.

This year, the focus of the 16 Days Campaign is on the relationship between militarism and the right to education. As such, it is essential to consider the impact of ongoing conflicts across the world on education, particularly for young girls who are living in situations of conflict or who have been displaced.

In Syria , Marta Guasp explains that “[the] ongoing crisis has left almost 3 million Syrian children out of school and puts their future at risk”. Guasp argues that “given the mobility of families, active conflict and limited humanitarian access, the international community will need to look at ways to find more suitable and effective solutions to a long term education response to address the needs of out of school children, boys and girls, in Syria.”

Alongside all these stories of the violence women face, there is optimism to be found in stories of empowerment. UNU-GCM’s Women of the World project tells the stories of 16 immigrant women in Barcelona, and these are examples of agency and empowerment. While 16 Days of Activism alone cannot put an end to gender-based violence, it is a critical platform for raising awareness and demanding action.

Janina Pescinski

Janina Pescinski is a Junior Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility ( UNU-GCM ) contributing to the program on Female Agency, Mobility and Sociocultural Change. She holds a master’s degree in human rights and humanitarian action from the Institute d´études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Her research interests include migration, human rights, diaspora networks, and civil society, using an interdisciplinary approach.

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Home / End of the Twentieth Century, 1977-2001 / The Information Age, 1991-2001 / Women’s Rights are Human Rights

Women's Rights are Human Rights

Hillary Clinton’s speech about women’s rights.

Hillary Clinton at the United Nations Conference on Women

Sharon Farmer, Photograph of First Lady Hillary Clinton at the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing, China, September 5, 1995. National Archives.

Hillary Clinton speech at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women

Hillary Clinton, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton remarks for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995. Fourth World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Secretariat.

At the UN Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993, it became clear that there was much work to be done on women’s rights globally. While the conference wrote a declaration that confirmed the rights of women as human rights, it specifically excluded reproductive rights due to disagreement between nations. The UN organized another conference with a specific focus on women’s rights in Beijing in 1995. 

The Beijing conference was a major turning point for global women’s rights. The significant outcome was the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which laid out key areas of improvement for gender equality across the world. The declaration was adopted unanimously by the 189 countries represented at the conference. Over 17,000 representatives attended the conference. The Chinese government did not allow a separate conference for women’s nongovernmental organizations to be held in Beijing. Instead, the conference took place about 40 miles away in Huairou with limited facilities.

About the Document

The UN invited Hillary Clinton, First Lady of the United States, to speak at the conference. One of the members of the team that worked on the speech was Madeleine Albright, who was the United States representative to the UN. President Bill Clinton appointed her as the first female Secretary of State in 1997, a position Hillary Clinton would hold under President Barack Obama.

White House aides tried to persuade Hillary Clinton not to give the speech, arguing that the First Lady should avoid diplomatic issues. Because the conference was held in China, the State Department expressed concern that her speech would upset the Chinese government. Nevertheless, Hillary Clinton delivered her provocative speech in Beijing and indirectly called out the Chinese government over its treatment of women and girls.

Discussion Questions

• What is Hillary Clinton’s overarching argument in her speech? Which phrases stand out to you?
• How does Hillary Clinton address issues of women’s rights on a global level? 
• How did Hillary Clinton’s position as First Lady of the United States impact the reception of the speech?

Suggested Activities

• AP Government Connection: 5.7: Groups Influencing Policy Outcomes
• Have the students watch Hillary Clinton give the speech here . Which phrases did she emphasize? How does watching and listening to the speech impact your perception?
• Combine this resource with Maxine Waters on the Rodney King verdict . How do these two speeches compare in rhetoric and making arguments? How could a white woman speak differently on political issues from a Black woman?
• Pair this resource with the life story of Eleanor Roosevelt . How did both women change the role of the First Lady? Compare this speech to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and discuss the progress in women’s rights that had been made by 1995.
• For a larger lesson on women in American politics during this period, combine this resource with Anita Hill’s testimony , the Year of the Woman , Monica Lewinsky , Maxine Waters on the Rodney King verdict , and the life story of Barbara Lee .

AMERICA IN THE WORLD; POWER AND POLITICS

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Inspiring human rights essays everybody should know

Can Human Rights Bring Social Justice? 12 Essays

Technically this is a collection of 12 separate essays, but all of them address the same topic: the intersection of human rights and social justice.

Scholars from countries around the world discuss what human rights and social justice actually mean, the potential for human rights to lead to social justice (or not), and what the role of human rights organizations like Amnesty International is in the conversation and practice of human rights law and social justice. Each author offers a unique perspective, some positive and some critical, on the topic and covers a specific aspect of the topic to help create a whole picture.

Women’s Rights are Human Rights

In this publication from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the contributors explore one of the most fundamental and essential human rights: the rights of women. From the perspective of the United Nations, this publication is a comprehensive overview of the issue of human rights, including the international human rights laws and UN practices related to the topic. Additionally, it talks about specific issues relating to women’s rights, such as reproductive health, standard of living, conflict, violence against women, access to justice, and more. Through each of these specific areas, this report gives examples of the human rights framework in action through real-life cases.

Part 1: So Software Has Eaten the World: What Does It Mean for Human Rights, Security and Governance ; Part 2: Digital Disruption of Human Rights

This two-part article from Eileen Donahoe, Director of Global Affairs for Human Rights Watch, discusses the intersection of technology and human rights in an increasingly digital age. Donahoe’s experiences serving with UNHCR, Human Rights Watch, International Service for Human Rights, and Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation provide a unique and informed perspective on the challenges that technology brings the progression and implementation of human rights. The first article addresses issues related to governance and globalization, and the second article talks about the disparity in human rights that technology can cause and has caused already. For human rights professionals, her articles provide important insight to consider in the implementation and practice of human rights law.

The Perils of Indifference

Although this essay was originally a speech from Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, it is important reminder of where the world has been in terms of human rights violations, as well as where we should strive to be. While the tenants of the speech are ones that most human rights professionals know, they are also tenants that can be easy to forget in the day-to-day work and the seemingly endless fight for justice. Wiesel reminds human rights professionals, along with the rest of the world, why they shouldn’t give in to indifference when the struggle for human rights is long and difficult. Beyond being an inspiring piece, this speech, and Wiesel’s writings in general, have been key pieces to human rights theory and practice, shaping the ideas and ideals we have today.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Another important historical piece in the human and civil rights movements is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In addition to defending the practice of nonviolent protest, the letter also serves as a call to action for people to take direct action against unjust laws rather than to rely or wait on the courts to serve justice. King’s letter is a reminder for all human rights professionals that the road to human rights practice is not easy and is not always black and white. As an essay addressing one of the most fundamental and long-standing human rights issues, racial inequality, this letter is an inspiring and historical reminder for all human rights professionals.

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About the author, allison reefer.

Allison Reefer is a young professional living in Pittsburgh, PA. She works with a refugee resettlement agency to help refugees and immigrants in the city, and she volunteers with a local shelter for human trafficking victims. She obtained her Master in International Development from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in Writing from Geneva College, focusing most of her academic work on human trafficking and migration in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In her free time, she loves to write, read, sing and play bass guitar, practice Russian, and explore her city.

 Teaching Women’s Rights as Human Rights Linking Past to Present

Alarming accounts of abuses of women’s human rights appear regularly in today’s media. Accounts tell of families who sell daughters for sex or servitude, of honor killings, of forced or prevented abortions, of the growing problem of aids among women, of worldwide incidences of domestic violence - and these are only a few of the issues of concern. However distressful, the prevalence of such sensational reports offers a unique opening to explore historical attitudes about about women and their position in society. Integrating primary source readings and student awareness activities into commonly taught topics are two ways to do so. In this article I model these approaches by discussing two short internet available source readings, and provide follow-up discussion questions. I also direct teachers to links to internet sources on this topic from commonly taught world history periods, and a list of suggestions for their use. Women's human rights - a new concept: Only relatively recently has the fact that women’s rights need to be spelled out as a separate category been accepted and incorporated into the modern, expanding ideas about human rights. The effort to do so emerged as a distinct aspect of human rights during the international women's movements of the 1980s. Now, after immense efforts on the part of millions of women and men, there is recognition that beyond political and civic rights, there are social and economic arenas where women's’ rights have been ignored. Two important international women’s rights documents are now used as tools by women’s rights groups around the world. One is the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, entered into force in 1981). The Convention provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through ensuring women's equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life. It also is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights of women and targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations. As of November, 2006, 185 countries - over ninety percent of the members of the United Nations - are party to the Convention, making it the second most widely ratified international human rights treaty. The second treaty is the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (UN Resolution, 1993). It spells out wide forms of violence against women. Its wording includes the phrase, “Recognizing that violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men.” International recognition of women’s human rights does not mean implementation. An essential step toward respecting, promoting and defending those rights is learning about them. Projects that introduce students to not only these treaties, but to the wide range of international and local women’s rights organizations are needed if women’s progress toward parity with men is to continue. For history teachers, first steps can be taken by having students explore past examples of ways societies have institutionalized gender divisions, and the struggles of some women as well as men to overcome those which they deemed to be repressive and harmful. The multiple international and local women's rights organizations with Internet sites provide places to locate current concerns. For example, there is a discussion on the Human Rights Watch site on inheritance customs in Kenya where, in some areas, the equal rights of widows to their property are obstructed. Click to find links to women’s rights organizations , and excerpts from the treaties mentioned above. Primary Source Readings: I encourage using primary source readings when they correspond to a topic or period that is commonly taught. Introducing at least one early in the course gives a base with which to compare to others from later times or cultures. Those that allow a woman (or women) to speak for themselves are naturally the most engaging. Students connect easily to readings which provide intimate examples of women’s agency and actual life experiences. Others, however, can be used to demonstrate the deep and almost universal belief in gender difference. Early laws, codes, or influential teachings describe where males had rights and where women’s rights might have been restricted. They also demonstrate the extent to which social structure and gender attributes were culturally specific. Assumptions that men and women were essentially different creatures, not only biologically, but in their needs, capacities and functions, usually was felt to be a natural state, accepted without question. Learning of the existence of dualistic gender systems, which sometimes resulted in the subordination of women, helps explain the extent to which laws, work patterns, expectations, and societal attitudes shaped women’s lives. This is of key importance. Student awareness of the historical reality that gender mattered is essential to their understanding of the contemporary struggles for women’s human rights. Questions can be asked: To what extent have beliefs about gender differences in many societies changed? How have they remained the same? What obstacles have women around the world identified as the hardest to overcome? Click to find a list of suggested primary sources and their internet links. Two Examples: Caroline Norton (1808-1877 England) and Kishida Toshiko (1863-1891, Japan): Both Caroline Norton and Kishida Toshiko broke social norms by publicly advocating change not only in the legal status of women, but in the way society viewed their roles. Their concerns illustrate issues from reform periods in the nineteenth century where maneuvering for women's rights within the context of marriage often took precedent over others, including female suffrage. Debates about women’s expanded rights within marriage and women’s access to education were voiced in many nations which were dealing with new ideas about societal change. Caroline Norton’s emotional account describes her disastrous marriage. Another reading, her “Letter to the Queen” describes many of the restrictions on women’s rights in mid-century England. In 1824, at age sixteen, Caroline was pressured to marry an older politician. Her husband physically abused her; yet, given the laws of the time she was unable to secure neither a divorce nor access to her children when she fled from the marriage. Her husband, instead, had the legal right to desert his wife and hand over the children to his mistress. Caroline, a writer, went public, achieving immense notoriety. In her confessional first person accounts, she wrote a dramatic descriptions of her abusive marriage and of her attempts to get custody of her children. In 1855 she also wrote a letter to Queen Victoria in which she detailed not only the denial of her rights but those denied all English women. Partly as a result of Caroline’s lobbying efforts, Parliament passed the Custody of Children Act in 1839, which gave women some visitation rights, and in 1857 Parliament passed the Marriage and Divorce Act. Since domestic violence remains one of the most pervasive human rights abuses, Caroline’s experiences can be expanded by student research into the extent of such abuse in their own country. As the new U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, recently said, “Violence against women is a pandemic...[i]t makes its hideous imprint on every continent, country and culture.” Click for Caroline’s powerful accounts . During Japan’s Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), male reformers and nationalists argued that improving the status of women was essential if other technologically advanced nations were accept Japan on an equal status. The phrase “good wife, wise mother” was coined, meaning that in order to be good citizens, women had to become educated and take part in public affairs. This opened door for small group of women to try to raise women’s consciousness. In the 1880s Kishida (Toshiko ) was the first woman to travel throughout Japan making public speeches. She was a dynamic spokesperson on behalf of women and their rights, and attracted large audiences. Kishida and other champions of social change for women faced harsh resistance. Kishida was often harassed by the police, and once was jailed. By the end of the century, the government reinstated the most conservative and oppressive model of the family in the Civil Codes of 1898. Japanese women were lumped together with mental incompetents and minors. Among other restrictions, a wife could not enter into a legal contract without her husband's permission, nor share in his estate after his death. Adultery was a crime for a wife but not for a husband. In the event of a divorce, the wife had no custody rights over the children. Gender-specific curriculum and sex segregation also was instituted in the schools. Two years later, under Article 5 of the Police Security Regulations, women were prohibited from joining political organizations and holding or attending political meetings. Toshiko’s clarion call for “equality and equal rights,” plus excerpts from the Japanese Civil Codes of 1898, can be read as an example of the type of reaction women rights activists have had to face. Students can find out the situation for women in Japan today, discover other periods when the struggle for women’s rights suffered repression, or try to determine the situation of the global women's movements today. What successes have been made? What, in their opinion, are the greatest problems women still face? Click to find an excerpt from one Kishida Toshiko’s speeches plus pertinent sections of the reactionary Japanese Civil Code of 1898. Suggested Questions following the Readings The following questions move from information gathering ideas to those asking students to draw conclusions supported by primary evidence. 1) First read for information. Then, list problems that Caroline and Toshiba mention. (Or, the main points they are trying to get across). 2) What are some of arguments, or actions, which the reading suggests as ways to solve some of these problems? 3) Think about this woman. Who was she? Does the reading tell us anything about her personality? What circumstances might have encouraged her to go public with her complaints? 4) To whom is the woman directing her concerns? What institutions are being taking to task? 5) Discuss the social and political climate in England and Japan that offered these women the opportunity to express their concerns. 6) Research the historic context of either Norton or Toshika’s complaints. What in your mind were two of the most restrictive ideas about women’s roles in this period. (Or, what were some of the major attitudes about women that led to the restrictions the reading described?) 7) Both Toshiko and Norton were women whose position in society gave them a platform for making their opinions public. Explain this. Do you think they spoke for all women? ( Or, did such restrictions affected all women in their society?) If not, give one reason why this was so. 8) Select a quote, or quotes, from the reading(s) which might have relevance for women in the world today. (Are there any similarities between the historic issues they raised and ones facing women in your country today? If so, what?). 9) How have ideas of gender changed since then? Which ones? 10) What do you think might be the effects the denial of women’s human rights issues had on the society in which these women lived? On the future of their society? For an additional essay with annotated primary source women’s rights links find: “Her Marriage Bondage”: Useful Websites for Linking Women’s Marriage Rights Past to Present, by Lyn Reese. Click Here!

Lyn Reese is the author of all the information on this website Click for Author Information

Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Women's Rights — Women’s Rights are Human Rights: Global Problem of Oppression

Women's Rights Are Human Rights: Global Problem of Oppression

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Published: Apr 17, 2023

Words: 1386 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

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Introduction, perspectives.

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Essay on Women’s Rights

Students are often asked to write an essay on Women’s Rights in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Women’s Rights

Introduction.

Women’s rights are fundamental human rights that everyone should respect. They include the right to live free from violence, to be educated, to vote, and to earn a fair wage.

History of Women’s Rights

The fight for women’s rights began in the 1800s. Women protested for the right to vote, work, and receive equal pay. Their efforts led to significant changes.

Importance of Women’s Rights

Women’s rights are vital for equality. When women have the same rights as men, societies are fairer and more balanced.

There is still work to be done to ensure women’s rights worldwide. Everyone should strive to promote and protect these rights.

250 Words Essay on Women’s Rights

Women’s rights are the fundamental human rights that were enshrined by the United Nations for every human being on the planet nearly 70 years ago. These rights include the right to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn a fair and equal wage.

The Historical Context

The fight for women’s rights has been a long-standing struggle. From the suffragettes of the early 20th century who fought for women’s right to vote, to the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s which sought economic and social equality, women’s rights have been a contentious issue throughout history.

Current Status

Despite significant progress, gender inequality persists in many parts of the world. Women are still underrepresented in political and corporate leadership, they are more likely to live in poverty, and they face higher levels of violence and discrimination.

Challenges and Solutions

The path to gender equality is fraught with obstacles, including deeply entrenched societal norms and institutions. However, change is possible. Education, legislation, and societal shifts in attitudes towards gender can play a significant role in promoting women’s rights.

The fight for women’s rights is a fight for human rights. As society evolves, it is crucial to continue advocating for gender equality, not just for the benefit of women, but for the betterment of society as a whole.

500 Words Essay on Women’s Rights

Women’s rights, a subject that has been at the forefront of social and political discussions for centuries, is a complex and multifaceted issue. It encompasses a wide range of topics, from the right to vote and work to reproductive rights and gender equality. This essay aims to delve into the evolution of women’s rights, the current state of these rights, and the challenges that remain.

The Evolution of Women’s Rights

Historically, women were typically relegated to roles within the domestic sphere, with limited access to education, political participation, and economic independence. The first wave of feminism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries challenged these norms, with suffragettes fighting for women’s right to vote. The second wave in the 1960s and 70s broadened the debate to include issues such as workplace equality and reproductive rights. The third wave in the 1990s and beyond has continued to challenge traditional gender norms and has expanded the conversation to include intersectionality and the rights of women in marginalized communities.

Current State of Women’s Rights

The progress made in the past century is undeniable. Women have achieved significant strides in political representation, educational attainment, and economic participation. However, the fight for equality is far from over. Globally, women still earn less than men, are underrepresented in positions of power, and are more likely to experience violence and discrimination.

Challenges and the Way Forward

The struggle for women’s rights faces numerous challenges. These include deeply entrenched patriarchal norms, religious and cultural beliefs, and structural inequalities that disadvantage women. To overcome these obstacles, it is essential to continue advocating for policy changes that promote gender equality, such as equal pay legislation, paid parental leave, and laws to prevent and punish gender-based violence.

However, policy changes alone are not enough. There must also be a cultural shift towards recognizing and valifying women’s rights. This includes challenging harmful stereotypes, promoting positive representations of women in media, and fostering a culture of respect and equality.

In conclusion, while significant progress has been made in the fight for women’s rights, there is still much work to be done. The struggle for gender equality is not just a women’s issue; it is a human issue that affects us all. By continuing to advocate for policy changes and cultural shifts, we can create a world where all women have the opportunity to live free from discrimination and violence, and to realize their full potential.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Speech: Gender equality – just, prudent, and essential for everything we all aspire to

Closing remarks by un under-secretary-general and un women executive director sima bahous to the 68th session of the commission on the status of women, un headquarters, 27 march 2024..

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You have arrived at Agreed Conclusions for CSW68 [the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women] —congratulations! As the world was watching, you showed the very best of the multilateral system, and you came together to advance critical normative work for women and girls everywhere. You have recognized the inequalities that impact the lives of women and girls living in poverty and the solutions we have and we need to address them.

And you agreed that these inequalities do not define us, but that we are defined by wanting to urgently overcome them.

You adopted robust Agreed Conclusions [advance unedited version] , a blueprint that envisages a world with greater financial inclusion, increased spending on social protection, increased stability, equal opportunities, and great hope, rights, and freedoms for women and girls everywhere. A world that will no longer accept that one in ten women lives in poverty. A world that will accelerate the investment in women and girls and that urgently pursues the realization of the fundamental rights of all women and girls to live in peace and prosperity everywhere.

This is a special moment. I thank you all for your dedication and determination to bring this CSW68 to a successful close.

I thank His Excellency Ambassador Antonio Manuel Revilla Lagdameo of the Philippines for his able leadership as Chair of the Commission, together with the very able Vice Chairs, their Excellencies Ms. Yoka Brandt of the Netherlands, Ms. María Florencia González of Argentina, Mr. Māris Burbergs of Latvia, and Ms. Dúnia Eloisa Pires do Canto from Cabo Verde.

A special deep appreciation goes to Her Excellency Ms. Yoka Brandt of the Netherlands for her most skilful facilitation. Her Excellency, you would agree, shepherded you with grace and determination to reach the Agreed Conclusions. I also would like to thank her able team, in particular Robin De Vogel, for their support.

The Agreed Conclusions will only have value in as much as their implementation in countries makes a difference in the lives of women and girls, and in as much as they contribute to accelerating progress on the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] . We are a mere six years away from 2030. Gender equality remains our best chance to reach them.

I hope that you will use the Agreed Conclusions as you discuss the Pact for the Future , and that you will be bold and ambitious in advancing them, as we head to the Summit of the Future in September, to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025, and, of course, the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action next year.

This year’s CSW had two heads of state, three vice-presidents, and more than 100 ministers in attendance. Nearly 4,000 delegates in total contributed to the different deliberations.

We had a record number of close to 5,000 civil society representatives, the second highest number we have ever recorded. We saw more than 1,000 side events and parallel events. Partners came together to share experiences and dreams, and also to recommit.

And we benefitted from the creativity, energy, and substantive contributions from the youth delegates, including adolescent girls, who brought a fresh perspective to this year’s CSW . Upholding the Youth Forum and youth space is integral to our work here, which should be strengthened as part of the official Programme of Work of this Commission.

We also welcomed the adoption of the Resolution on women, the girl child, and HIV and AIDS , led by SADC [the Southern African Development Community], and commend Member States’ commitment to increase investment in gender equality and the empowerment of women in the HIV response.

It is not my wish to dampen this moment. Yet, in a world of cascading crises, de-democratization, gender equality backlash, and restricted civic spaces, women and girls will continue to be disproportionately impacted.

It makes the work you have done here all the more important.

I opened this CSW calling for a ceasefire in Gaza . I close it by reiterating this call and the call of the Security Council two days ago, for an immediate ceasefire, unhindered access to humanitarian assistance, the release of all hostages, and for peace. Sustainable, just peace for all women and girls everywhere must be our collective priority. In Gaza, in Sudan, in Haiti, in Ukraine, and elsewhere in the world.

UN Women stands with every woman and girl everywhere who is facing the scourge and the consequences of war and conflict.

We stand with all women peacebuilders, negotiators, human rights defenders who continue to pursue justice for women and girls—often at high personal cost.

As we close this session, we begin to turn our attention to next year when you will discuss 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action .

The scale of our ambitions, your ambitions for Beijing plus 30, must match the scale of our and your responsibility to achieve equality for every woman and girl, in all their diversity, not in 300 years, not in 100 years, not in 50 years, but urgently—now. There is much work to be done and much reward in doing it.

I look forward to working with the new CSW Bureau who will take this forward.

So, let us leave this room as collective champions for gender equality. Let us find new ways to do more, together, to accelerate progress and strengthen our partnerships.

And let us make the case, powerfully, for equality. Let the world hear what we have asserted over the past two weeks: that gender equality is just and prudent, and essential for everything we all aspire to.

I thank you.

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Guest Essay

The Supreme Court Got It Wrong: Abortion Is Not Settled Law

By Melissa Murray and Kate Shaw

Ms. Murray is a law professor at New York University. Ms. Shaw is a contributing Opinion writer.

In his majority opinion in the case overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel Alito insisted that the high court was finally settling the vexed abortion debate by returning the “authority to regulate abortion” to the “people and their elected representatives.”

Despite these assurances, less than two years after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, abortion is back at the Supreme Court. In the next month, the justices will hear arguments in two high-stakes cases that may shape the future of access to medication abortion and to lifesaving care for pregnancy emergencies. These cases make clear that Dobbs did not settle the question of abortion in America — instead, it generated a new slate of questions. One of those questions involves the interaction of existing legal rules with the concept of fetal personhood — the view, held by many in the anti-abortion movement, that a fetus is a person entitled to the same rights and protections as any other person.

The first case , scheduled for argument on Tuesday, F.D.A. v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, is a challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s protocols for approving and regulating mifepristone, one of the two drugs used for medication abortions. An anti-abortion physicians’ group argues that the F.D.A. acted unlawfully when it relaxed existing restrictions on the use and distribution of mifepristone in 2016 and 2021. In 2016, the agency implemented changes that allowed the use of mifepristone up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, rather than seven; reduced the number of required in-person visits for dispensing the drug from three to one; and allowed the drug to be prescribed by individuals like nurse practitioners. In 2021, it eliminated the in-person visit requirement, clearing the way for the drug to be dispensed by mail. The physicians’ group has urged the court to throw out those regulations and reinstate the previous, more restrictive regulations surrounding the drug — a ruling that could affect access to the drug in every state, regardless of the state’s abortion politics.

The second case, scheduled for argument on April 24, involves the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (known by doctors and health policymakers as EMTALA ), which requires federally funded hospitals to provide patients, including pregnant patients, with stabilizing care or transfer to a hospital that can provide such care. At issue is the law’s interaction with state laws that severely restrict abortion, like an Idaho law that bans abortion except in cases of rape or incest and circumstances where abortion is “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.”

Although the Idaho law limits the provision of abortion care to circumstances where death is imminent, the federal government argues that under EMTALA and basic principles of federal supremacy, pregnant patients experiencing emergencies at federally funded hospitals in Idaho are entitled to abortion care, even if they are not in danger of imminent death.

These cases may be framed in the technical jargon of administrative law and federal pre-emption doctrine, but both cases involve incredibly high-stakes issues for the lives and health of pregnant persons — and offer the court an opportunity to shape the landscape of abortion access in the post-Roe era.

These two cases may also give the court a chance to seed new ground for fetal personhood. Woven throughout both cases are arguments that gesture toward the view that a fetus is a person.

If that is the case, the legal rules that would typically hold sway in these cases might not apply. If these questions must account for the rights and entitlements of the fetus, the entire calculus is upended.

In this new scenario, the issue is not simply whether EMTALA’s protections for pregnant patients pre-empt Idaho’s abortion ban, but rather which set of interests — the patient’s or the fetus’s — should be prioritized in the contest between state and federal law. Likewise, the analysis of F.D.A. regulatory protocols is entirely different if one of the arguments is that the drug to be regulated may be used to end a life.

Neither case presents the justices with a clear opportunity to endorse the notion of fetal personhood — but such claims are lurking beneath the surface. The Idaho abortion ban is called the Defense of Life Act, and in its first bill introduced in 2024, the Idaho Legislature proposed replacing the term “fetus” with “preborn child” in existing Idaho law. In its briefs before the court, Idaho continues to beat the drum of fetal personhood, insisting that EMTALA protects the unborn — rather than pregnant women who need abortions during health emergencies.

According to the state, nothing in EMTALA imposes an obligation to provide stabilizing abortion care for pregnant women. Rather, the law “actually requires stabilizing treatment for the unborn children of pregnant women.” In the mifepristone case, advocates referred to fetuses as “unborn children,” while the district judge in Texas who invalidated F.D.A. approval of the drug described it as one that “starves the unborn human until death.”

Fetal personhood language is in ascent throughout the country. In a recent decision , the Alabama Supreme Court allowed a wrongful-death suit for the destruction of frozen embryos intended for in vitro fertilization, or I.V.F. — embryos that the court characterized as “extrauterine children.”

Less discussed but as worrisome is a recent oral argument at the Florida Supreme Court concerning a proposed ballot initiative intended to enshrine a right to reproductive freedom in the state’s Constitution. In considering the proposed initiative, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court repeatedly peppered Nathan Forrester, the senior deputy solicitor general who was representing the state, with questions about whether the state recognized the fetus as a person under the Florida Constitution. The point was plain: If the fetus was a person, then the proposed ballot initiative, and its protections for reproductive rights, would change the fetus’s rights under the law, raising constitutional questions.

As these cases make clear, the drive toward fetal personhood goes beyond simply recasting abortion as homicide. If the fetus is a person, any act that involves reproduction may implicate fetal rights. Fetal personhood thus has strong potential to raise questions about access to abortion, contraception and various forms of assisted reproductive technology, including I.V.F.

In response to the shifting landscape of reproductive rights, President Biden has pledged to “restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.” Roe and its successor, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, were far from perfect; they afforded states significant leeway to impose onerous restrictions on abortion, making meaningful access an empty promise for many women and families of limited means. But the two decisions reflected a constitutional vision that, at least in theory, protected the liberty to make certain intimate choices — including choices surrounding if, when and how to become a parent.

Under the logic of Roe and Casey, the enforceability of EMTALA, the F.D.A.’s power to regulate mifepristone and access to I.V.F. weren’t in question. But in the post-Dobbs landscape, all bets are off. We no longer live in a world in which a shared conception of constitutional liberty makes a ban on I.V.F. or certain forms of contraception beyond the pale.

Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University and a host of the Supreme Court podcast “ Strict Scrutiny ,” is a co-author of “ The Trump Indictments : The Historic Charging Documents With Commentary.”

Kate Shaw is a contributing Opinion writer, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a host of the Supreme Court podcast “Strict Scrutiny.” She served as a law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge Richard Posner.

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Trump selling Bibles may be desperation – but that shouldn’t cheer anyone up

Despite mockery, Trump has sold trading cards, sneakers, cologne and perfume – and manages to get the last laugh

Donald Trump is a Bible salesman now

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and, of course, Donald John Trump. The former US president, as we all know, and as he has repeatedly told us, is God’s gift to humanity. He’s basically Jesus … if Jesus were a blond sexual predator from Queens.

As if there were ever any doubt that Trump – who has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 25 women and is facing 34 criminal charges for paying hush money to an adult film star – is a pious man, he is now hawking Bibles. Earlier this week, the presumptive Republican nominee made headlines for endorsing a patriotic version of the Bible. “Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again,” Trump said as he announced his latest scheme. You can get your hands on the book – the only version endorsed by Trump – for just $59.99 through a website, GodBlessTheUSABible.com.

Where are all the proceeds going? Good question. An FAQ on the site clarifies that Trump is not selling the Bible directly but states that “GodBlessTheUSABible.com uses Donald J Trump’s name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Ventures LLC”. CIC Ventures is a company that Trump reported owning in his 2023 financial disclosure. In short: it looks like he is getting royalties from the arrangement.

Trump’s superpower is the fact he has absolutely no shame whatsoever; the cash-strapped candidate will do whatever it takes to make a buck. He’s capitalized on his legal troubles by selling merchandise with his mugshot on it , for example. A couple of years ago, he was peddling digital trading cards depicting him dressed up as a superhero. (“Only $99 each!”) Earlier this year, he launched his own sneaker brand , selling Never Surrender High-Tops for $399. While shopping for the shoes, you could also pick up Trump-branded Victory47 cologne and perfume for $99 a bottle. Then, of course, there’s Truth Social: the Twitter clone Trump launched in 2022 .

All of these recent business ventures have inspired much mockery. Despite the copious jokes, however, Trump has always somehow managed to get the last laugh. His digital trading card selection sold out in less than a day, netting $4.5m in sales . His sneakers also sold out hours after launch. As for loss-making Truth Social? That went public on Tuesday and quickly achieved a valuation of almost $8bn .

Selling Bibles, of course, is rather different from selling sneakers or trading cards. Might this be a bridge too far for Trump’s followers?

There has certainly been some criticism of the venture from conservatives. Commentator Charlie Sykes, for example, slammed him for “commodifying the Bible during Holy Week”. However, others on the right are singing the Trump Bible’s praises. “From a Christian perspective, this is one of the the greatest spiritual moments in US history,” Tulsa preacher Jackson Lahmeyer told Real America’s Voice , a rightwing news network.

All in all, it’s unlikely that the white evangelical Christians who are Trump’s most passionate followers care about the hypocrisy of Trump selling Bibles. These people don’t actually labour under the delusion that their hero is a man of God. They just know he’s a useful means to an end. A Pew Research Center report released earlier this month found: “Most people who view Trump positively don’t think he is especially religious himself. But many think he stands up for people with religious beliefs like theirs.” In other words: they don’t care if Trump personally practices what they preach; they just want him to legislate in a way that means others are forced to follow these practices.

This isn’t to say that the Bible venture is some sort of genius strategy by Trump. It is, as many people have pointed out , clearly something of a desperate move by a man who is having trouble fundraising and who knows that if he’s not headed to the White House he may be headed to jail. “Donald Trump is weak and desperate – both as a man and a candidate for president,” James Singer, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, crowed on Monday. Trump may well be desperate, but that shouldn’t cheer anyone up – least of all the Biden campaign. Few things are more dangerous than a desperate man with nothing to lose.

Former Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader Krystal Anderson, 40, dies after giving birth

Anderson had been diagnosed with sepsis during her pregnancy and, after delivering her stillborn daughter, she experienced organ failure. This is not some tragic one-off: it’s part of a growing national crisis. Maternal deaths in the US have more than doubled since 1999 ; the US has the highest maternal mortality rate among industrialized countries. Black women (Anderson was Black) have the highest maternal mortality rates – almost three times the rate for white women. Activists say this is partly because of institutionalized racism : Black women are not taken seriously by their healthcare professionals when they raise issues – not even if they’re a superstar like Serena Williams. “No one was really listening to what I was saying,” wrote Williams in a 2022 essay about her traumatic birth. “Being heard and appropriately treated was the difference between life or death for me.”

The US supreme court expresses skepticism in abortion pill hearing

On Tuesday, the supreme court heard oral arguments in US Food and Drug Administration v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the first abortion case to reach the supreme court since it overturned Roe v Wade . The anti-abortion doctors arguing the case may have gone a little too far in their efforts to ban access to a common abortion pill, mifepristone, as even conservative justices seemed skeptical of their arguments. However, the hearing did bring new attention to the Comstock Act, a 19th-century obscenity law , and its potential to be weaponized by anti-abortion extremists. “[I]f Republicans want to enforce the Comstock Act as a nationwide total abortion ban, they don’t need to win control of Congress,” writes Moira Donegan in the Guardian . “All they need is the White House.”

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People are drinking ‘sexy water’ now

What fresh hell is this? You don’t want to know. But if, actually, you do want to know, then Caitlin Dewey has a refreshing read on performative hydration and how water got entangled with “self-care” culture.

‘I had high breasts, most of my eggs … [and] a pep in my step that had yet to run out … ’

Behold one of the many eyebrow-raising lines in a the Cut essay titled The Case for Marrying an Older Man , which is a masterclass in internalized misogyny.

The Taliban will resume stoning women to death

“The international community has chosen to remain silent in the face of these violations of women’s rights,” one activist said .

A human rights official has resigned from the US state department over Gaza

Annelle Sheline said she was unable to serve as a representative of a government that “was directly enabling what the International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in Gaza”. Sheline’s resignation comes as Gaza is on the brink of famine . And, as children in Gaza starve to death, the US continues to blithely enable atrocities: in recent days , Biden authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs to Israel.

The week in pawtriarchy

A wildlife rescue in England took in a cute little baby hedgehog, fed it and tried to nurse it back to health. “Our hearts melted,” one volunteer said. Then they realised it was actually a pompom from a bobble hat .

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