ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS COMMITTEE BRIEFED ON GENDER ISSUES
Press Release
HR/4244
ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS COMMITTEE BRIEFED ON GENDER ISSUES
19951124 GENEVA, 23 November (UN Information Service) -- The marginalization of women's human rights at the international level is a reflection of the subordinate position held by women at the country, society and community level, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was told this afternoon by one of its experts. The statement was made during a briefing for the Committee on an expert group's report concerning the integration of gender perspectives into United Nations human rights activities and programmes.Virginia Bonoan-Dandan, expert from the Philippines, who participated in the group meeting on the development of integration guidelines organized by the Centre for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Fund for Women, said improvement at all levels would require a change in attitudes and behaviour by both women and men.
She said the development of gender perspectives in the human rights context facilitated an understanding of how the exercise and enjoyment of human rights was adversely influenced by social construction of the female and male roles. Without such gender perspectives, it was impossible to eliminate all but the most obvious of the multiple ways in which women experienced discrimination on the basis of sex.
In another statement, Maria de los Angeles Jimenez Butragueno, expert from Spain, who represented the Committee at the fourth World Conference on Women, said violence against women could only be avoided through education within the family. Concerted international action was necessary to change the mentality and attitudes which biased the equal rights of women.
Some experts also urged adoption of effective measures to eliminate discrimination against women and change perceptions limiting the role of women within and around the family and workplace. One expert said the inculcation of concepts, such as the "bread-winner", which were attributed to men, should be reverted.
Also this afternoon, the representative of the Secretary-General, Helga Klein, of the International Instruments Branch, Centre for Human Rights, briefed the Committee on the outcomes of the various human rights bodies held since the last session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. She stated that the 1996 session of the Commission on Human Rights would be held from March 18 to the end of April and the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) would be held in June 1996 in Istanbul.
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