Positive Duties and Gender Equality

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 91-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colm O'cinneide
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
Positive Duty ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
Positive Duties ◽  
And Gender ◽  
First Time

The imposition since 1998 of a variety of positive equality duties upon public authorities has attracted comparatively little academic attention. However, these duties are a central part of current government equality initiatives, increasingly constitute a major part of the work of the UK's equality commissions, and have been described as an essential part of a new ‘fourth generation’ of equality legislation. It now appears likely that a positive duty to promote gender equality will soon be imposed upon public authorities, which will complement similar race and disability duties. Will the introduction of this positive gender equality duty add to, detract or complement existing statutory provisions? Given the danger that ‘soft law’ initiatives may undermine existing anti-discrimination controls, will the duty provide a clear steer to public authorities, or will it lack teeth, substance and direction, and possibly even prove counter-productive? Such positive duties are designed to compensate for the limitations of existing anti-discrimination law, by requiring the taking of positive steps to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, rather than just compelling a reactive compliance with the letter of the (equality) law. The justifications in principle for the introduction of such duties are strong: for the first time, the introduction of a positive gender duty will impose a clear legislative obligation upon public authorities to adopt a substantive equality approach and to take proactive action to redress patterns of disadvantage linked to gender discrimination. Serious concerns do however exist as to the extent to which such duties can be enforced, and the danger that they will simply encourage greater bureaucratic activity at the expense of real change. The proposed gender duty, as with the other duties that have been introduced, is no panacea. Nevertheless, it does constitute a good start, can serve a useful function by empowering public authorities to take positive action, and if effectively used will be a very valuable point of pressure to push for better things.

No Shortcut to Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara Ellerby
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
First Century ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Informal Practices ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Policies And Practices

Gender equality has become a central aspect of global governance and development in the twenty-first century. States increasingly promote women in government, ensure women’s economic rights, and protect women from violence, all in the name of creating a more gender-equitable world. This book, however, challenges the idea that such efforts to include more women can actually promote gender equality. Arguing instead that there is a global “add gender and stir” campaign, in which women and gender have become synonymous, this book interrogates why this campaign has not had a greater global impact. Introducing women’s inclusion as an alternative framing to gender equality, this book delves into the data and research on policies and practices promoting women in public over the last forty years. What emerges is a liberal feminist movement to add women to male-dominated institutions that has done little to challenge binary gender—understood as patterns of masculinities and femininities—and often reinforces it instead. Chapters focus on policies and practices in three areas, including promoting women’s participation in government, increasing women’s economic rights, and protecting women from violence. The book uses “analytical gender” to explain why women’s inclusion is not more emancipatory—exploring how poor implementation, informal practices, gender binaries, and intersectionality remain key issues across all efforts of women’s inclusion. Ultimately all of these efforts have been co-opted by global neoliberal institutions in troubling ways, often reinforcing gender differences rather than challenging them.

Women in sport management: advancing the representation through HRM structures

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Moore ◽  
Bonnie L. Parkhouse ◽  
Alison M. Konrad
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Sport Management ◽  
Sport Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hrm Practices ◽  
Top Managers ◽  
Women In Sport ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
The Usa

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the effects of organizational characteristics, philosophical support, and substantive human resource management (HRM) programs on promoting gender equality within sport management.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire is developed to collect data on philosophical support and HRM practices within sport organizations and sent to 500 collegiate and professional sport organizations in the USA; 196 respondents (39 percent) returned their completed survey forms.FindingsFindings indicate significant confirmatory paths between experiencing a gender discrimination lawsuit and philosophical support (t=−3.14, p<0.05), philosophical support and substantive HRM programs (t=9.56, p<0.05) and philosophical support and representation of female managers (t=2.36, p<0.05). The paper concludes that philosophical support of top managers leads to the development of substantive HRM programs to promote gender equality in sport management and greater female manager representation.Originality/valueThe paper provides useful insights into the effect of philosophical support from top managers on HRM programs that promote gender equality in sport management.

scholarly journals Workplace violence and gender discrimination in Rwanda's health workforce: Increasing safety and gender equality

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance J Newman ◽  
Daniel H de Vries ◽  
Jeanne d'Arc Kanakuze ◽  
Gerard Ngendahimana
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Workplace Violence ◽  
And Gender

The Beijing World Conference on Women, ICT Policy, and Gender

2008 ◽  
pp. 480-487
Author(s):  
J. Ann Dumas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Global Network ◽  
World Conference ◽  
Strategic Objectives ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
The Media ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
And Gender

The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China, addressed gender equality issues in many areas of global society, including information, communication, and knowledge exchange and the associated technologies. The Beijing Declaration called for action to promote gender equality in human rights, economic autonomy, domestic responsibility sharing, participation in public life and decision making, access to health services and education, and the eradication of poverty and all forms of violence against women. The Beijing Platform for Action contained strategic objectives and actions for governments and others to implement to increase gender equality in 12 critical areas, including Section J, Women and the Media. Article 234 of the Beijing Platform Section J acknowledged the important need for gender equality in information and communication technology: advances in information technology have facilitated a global network of communications that transcends national boundaries and has an impact on public policy, private attitudes and behaviour, especially of children and young adults. Everywhere the potential exists for the media to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women. (United Nations [UN], 1995, p. 133) Section J defined two strategic objectives that address issues of access to and participation in ICT and media development. J.1. Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision making in and through the media and new technologies of communication. J.2. Promote a balanced and nonstereotyped portrayal of women in the media. (United Nations, 1995, pp. 133-136) Governments agreed to implement the Beijing Platform for Action and use gender-disaggregated data to report national progress on objectives during Beijing +5 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in 2000 and Beijing +10 in 2005. This article reviews progress reported on ICT-related Section J strategic initiatives and trends for ICT and gender between 1995 and 2005.

scholarly journals Systematic Study of Gender, Conflict, and Peace

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodora-Ismene Gizelis
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Gender Conflict ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Peace And Conflict ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
And Gender

AbstractThis article reviews the literature on gender, conflict, and peace. In traditional security studies there was not much room for gender or gender equality, while feminist theorists have claimed most of the research on war and peace. The empirical research on gender, conflict, and peace is a relatively new sub-field that brings together diverse traditions from sociology, feminist theory, international relations, and economic development. The common ground of all researchers included in this short review is the effort to systematically understand the role of gender in shaping outcomes of conflict and peace. Despite the increasing number of articles and new datasets, I identify four areas that scholars must address for the research agenda to further grow, deepen, and develop as part of the mainstream study of peace and conflict: women’s status and quality of peace, women’s participation, sexual violence, and gender mainstreaming to promote gender equality in development and peace.

From social welfare to human rights for girls – a path to achieving gender equality

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savitri Goonesekere
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
National Human ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
Social Biases

AbstractDespite international and national human rights norms and standards, gender equality remains a goal in most countries. The recent discourse on substantive equality as a strategy for addressing the gender discrimination, disadvantage and deep-rooted social biases has reinforced the importance of working towards indivisible human rights for girls and women under CRC and CEDAW. This paper uses international and comparative national experiences on law and policy to argue that the failure to adopt an indivisibility of rights approach in relation to girl children has made it more difficult to achieve a norm of substantive equality for women. It is argued that the adoption of an intergenerational and rights-based, rather than a social welfare approach, is a necessary step to achieving substantive equality for women.

scholarly journals IS OUR CHILD TOO YOUNG TO LEARN ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY? AN INTERPRETATION OF GENDER EDUCATION IN ACEH FAMILIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zawil Kiram
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
The Family ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
First Time

This study aims to reveal gender-based discrimination, forms of gender education, and the importance of gender education in Acehnese families. This study was conducted by using the method of descriptive qualitative with data collection techniques through observation and interview. The result showed that in Acehnese families, the forms of gender-based discrimination that often faced by women are inequality in housework distribution and childcare. In Aceh, most men still play fewer roles in taking care of children because domestic jobs are seen to be women’s’ responsibilities. Another form of gender-based discrimination in Aceh is domestic violence against women. The result also demonstrated that in Acehnese families there is no gender education because many people do not understand the term of gender equality and gender issues are considered as western culture and still taboo to discuss. Gender education in the family is important because children acquire gender stereotypes at an early age, and they learn about gender equality from their family for the first time. Teaching gender equality to children is never too early, and they never too young to learn about it, they would come out and bring the gender equality in the family and society in general as they will be the pioneer or gender equality when they reach adulthood.

scholarly journals Responsabilidad Social de Género y obligatoriedad moral = Gender Social Responsibility and moral obligatoriness

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Medina-Vicent
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
And Gender

Resumen: La igualdad entre mujeres y hombres debe ser integrada en la gestión de las empresas. Y es que se trata de una exigencia social válida y vigente que afecta a todas las esferas sociales, desde la política a la economía. Desde nuestro punto de vista, una gestión basada en la ética dialógica habermasiana puede ser el modo más acertado para que las empresas se comprometan con esta tarea. Dicho modelo nos aporta las claves para una gestión empresarial que convierta la igualdad en un valor irrenunciable de la cultura corporativa. En esta línea, la demanda por la ética empresarial y la igualdad de género ha sido incorporada en la agenda política y económica de la Unión Europea, entendida centralmente como un recurso para aumentar la competitividad de los países miembros. Así pues, analizaremos el riesgo que conlleva este discurso de la rentabilidad, a la vez que abordamos la potencialidad de la ética empresarial dialógica y de la Responsabilidad Social de Género para impulsar la igualdad de género en la empresa. Palabras clave: igualdad de género, ética empresarial, responsabilidad social de género. Abstract: The equality between women and men need to be integrated into the business management. It is a valid and current social demand which involves all social fields, from politics to economy. From our point of view, business management based on the Discourse Ethics of Jürgen Habermas can be the most successful way for companies to achieve this aim. This model gives us the key to promote a business management where equality becomes an inalienable value of corporate culture. In this line, the demand for business ethics and gender equality has been incorporated into the political and economic agenda of the European Union, understood as a resource to enhance the competitiveness of member countries. Thus, we will analyze the risk associated with this profitability discourse, while we address the potential of the dialogic ethics for business and the Gender Social Responsibility concept to promote gender equality in companies. Keywords: gender equality, business ethics, gender social responsibility. doi: https://doi.org/10.20318/femeris.2017.3546

scholarly journals Influence of the European Court of Human Rights Practice on the Implementation of the Principle of Gender Equality in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Yurii Voloshyn ◽  
Nataliia Mushak
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
European Court ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
And Gender

The article analyses the modern court decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the formation and implementation of the principle of gender equality in Ukraine. The research defines that the importance of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men for Ukraine was because Ukraine is a member of all major international and European regional agreements in the field of human rights. The authors state that this is due both to Ukraine's general commitments to promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and their adherence, as well as the fact that its participation in European integration processes is important for Ukraine. The research stipulates that gender equality provides equal rights for women and men, as well as their same significance, opportunities, responsibilities and participation in all spheres of public and private life. The authors prove that the pioneering work of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights and gender equality contributed to the development of a comprehensive legal framework. Gender equality is one of the organization's priority areas of activity, and the Council of Europe continues to actively address current and emerging challenges and address barriers to achieving real and complete gender equality. The research investigates the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Protocol No12 in terms of prohibition of discrimination and ensuring gender equality. It also determines that the conceptual principles of these documents are the protection of human rights, support for democracy and ensuring the principle of the rule of law. The article states that, in particular, the modern legal instrument in the field of gender equality is the Council of Europe's Gender Equality Strategy 2018–2023. The document provides for the achievement of the main six goals. These include combating gender stereotypes and gender discrimination; preventing and combating violence against women; ensuring equal access of women to justice; ensuring equal participation of women and men in political and public decision-making; implementation of the strategy for achieving gender equality in politics and all activities; protection of the rights of migrants, refugees, women and girls seeking asylum. The authors prove that the establishment of the European value of gender equality should be ensured both in society as a whole and in its various institutions, in particular. This is primarily to prevent gender discrimination, ensure equal participation of women and men in making socially important decisions, ensuring equal opportunities for women and men to combine professional and family responsibilities, prevent gender violence, etc. Keywords: Gender Equality, European Standards, Legal Mechanism, European Court of Human Rights, Discrimination, Equal Rights.

scholarly journals Gender and the European Union

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
External Action ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Women's Representation ◽  
External Relations ◽  
Women’S Representation ◽  
The World ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Eu

Gender discrimination continues to be a reality in several parts of the world, also in Europe. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of both European Union’s (EU) gender policies and gender balance in EU institutions. It does so by looking at gender equality policies and the EU legal system concerning gender equality, women’s representation within diff erent institutions (and more particularly in the European External Action Service), gender rights as a type of human rights and the EU’s role in the external promotion of womens’ rights in third countries. The analysis shows that women’s representation in the EU institutions has increased in the last decades and that the EU has strengthened its att ention to gender rights in its external relations as well, however the results of both att empts are far from being fully satisfactory.

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