Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Individual Rights (including property) Freedom of choice; freedom from confining embraces of other persons or institutions. Critique of religion Values science/reason over religion Commitment to social progress/change Science/reason as a basis for social change Embraces achievement over ascription Social position should be based on merit not birth (critiques idea of biological superiority)
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LIBERTY
EQUALITY
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Enlightenment
Enlightenment thought was rooted in thinking of white propertied men (a reaction of growing merchant class/middle class to nobility) Not extended to women or racial minorities.
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Olympe De Gouges
Olympe De Gouges (1748-1793):
A proponent of democracy, she demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. She was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror for attacking the regime of Maximilien Robespierre.
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Female subordination
Womens inferiority to men legitimated historically by:
Enlightenment writers such as Rousseau and Jefferson Some religious traditions Aristotle (classical Greece) Western democracies in the 19th & early 20th centuries
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PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM
EQUALS
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History
Three Waves of Feminism
19th through early 20th centuries 1960s-1980s 1990s-Present
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Suffrage movement Extend rights (voting, property) to women Focus also on social reform overturning legal (de jure) obstacles to equality (i.e. voting rights, property rights),
Oikeus-tieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkiln nimi / Esityksen nimi www.helsinki.fi/yliopisto 1.10.2013 11
Wollstonecraft
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Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft in the late 18th century used classical liberal arguments in favor of womens rights: Women are human beings, rational and capable of self-determination and liberty. Patriarchy distorts womens personalities so that they seem to be the worst stereotypes (vain & shallow).
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Equality
Use law to redress oppression and inequality Law has used a difference model of men and women (will continue separate, unequal treatment and gender pigeon-holing)
Separate spheres- private/public Stereotypical dichotomies Breadwinner/homemaker Sexual aggressor/passive Offender/victim
Liberal feminism
Shared with liberalism these ideas:
Human equality Human rationality Importance of individual rights
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Liberal Feminism
In line with classical liberalism, liberal feminism sees social positions (gender, class, status) not as biologically determined but as originating through social learning/custom.
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LIBERAL FEMINISM Formal equality Enlightemnt vindication Equal acces to the public spheres Reform of the law- destroy legal barriers what do women want ? what men want Private life as a limit to public life
CRITICS
Structures are patriarchal and women becomes men
Problem
Gender stereotypes Division of work into mens and womens Lack of affordable child care Limitations on reproductive choice
BETTY FRIEDAN
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Gender-neutral child-rearing and education. Bringing women into occupations and professions dominated by men and breaking through the glass ceiling to positions of authority (affirmative action). Bringing more women into politics through equalrepresentation rules and financial support. Promoting gender mainstreaming in policies ensuring attention to womens needs. Sharing parenting and subsidizing child care. Legal, accessible, and affordable reproductive services.
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Making language, childrens books, and education more genderneutral. Making formal and informal gender discrimination visible Working with civil rights organizations to frame affirmative action guidelines and to bring lawsuits for women and disadvantaged men. Getting more women elected and appointed to government positions. Encouraging employers and governments to provide workplace child care and paid parental leave.
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INTERNATIONAL
REGIONALS (EU)
NATIONAL
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INTERNATIONAL
UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS UN COVENANTS 1966 ECHRs 1951 RACE CONVENTION 1960 CEDAW CONVENTION 1979 DISABILITIES CONVENTION 2006
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Adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1979 Entered into force on 3 September 1981 As of November 2012, 187 countries are parties to the Convention
CEDAW
International Bill of Rights of women Equality - equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life, as well as education health and employment.
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CEDAW Convention
Part III (articles 10 14) Elimination of discrimination against women in the fields of education, employment, health, economic and social rights
Part IV (articles 15 16) Women equality before the law and in marriage and family law
DEFINITION OF DISCRIMINATION
STATE INVOLVEMENT
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distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field
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States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, agree to pursue, by all appropriate means and without delay, a policy of eliminating discrimination against women and, to this end, undertake:
a) to embody the principle of the equality of men and women in their national constitutions or other appropriate legislation and to ensure, through law and other appropriate means the practical realisation of this principle; b) to adopt appropriate legislative and other measures, including sanctions where appropriate, prohibiting all discrimination against women;
c) to establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public institutions the effective protection of women against any act of discrimination;
d) to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions shall act in conformity with this obligation; e) to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organisation or enterprise; f) to take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women; g) to repeal all national penal provisions which constitute discrimination against women
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AFIRMATIVE ACTIONS
the only human rights treaty which reaffirms the reproductive rights of women and targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations
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Articles 5 & 6
Article 5: sex roles and stereotyping
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures: a) to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women; b) to ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of maternity as a social function and the recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children, it being understood that the interest of the children is the primordial consideration in all cases.
WHY IS IMPORTANT ?
Reconoce el papel de la cultura y las tradiciones en la discriminacin. Obliga al Estado a eliminar estereotipos en los roles de genero
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WHO
187 - The number of countries, out of 194 countries, that have ratified the treaty. 7 - The number of countries that have NOT ratified CEDAW, including the United States, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and two small Pacific island nations (Palau, and Tonga). 67 - The number of votes needed for the U.S. Senate to ratify CEDAW.
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In arguments against CEDAW, the conservative organization Concerned Women for America cite that ratification of the treaty will: negate family law and undermine traditional family values by redefining the family force the U.S. to pay men and women the same for "work of equal value" thus going against our free-market system ensure access to abortion services and contraception allow same-sex marriage legalize prostitution promote gender re-education negate parental rights undermine the sovereignty of the U.S.
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1. Oktober 2013
IPES 2009