6.10 Global Human Rights Gender Issues

6.10 Global Human Rights Gender Issues

Cartoon caption: Father of the Family. "Come Dear; we so seldom go out together. Can't you take us all to the play tonight?" Mistress of the House and M.P.; "How you talk Charles! Don't you see that I am too busy. I have a committee tomorrow morning and I have my speech on The Great Crochet question to prepare for the evening.

Women's Rights

In recent history, women have had few rights. Women were seen as the weaker but virtuous sex who would be incapable of fulfilling their wifely duties if they were allowed to take part in the harsh realities of politics.

Women's rights have been steadily improving in most of the world over the past several years. As the nations of the world become more connected to each other, women are demanding rights equal to those of women in other countries.

However, in many parts of the world, women are still discriminated against. In most nations, the average woman still does not earn as much as the average man. In many nations, women do not have the same rights in marriage as men do. In some countries, they still cannot vote. In others, they cannot dress according to their own judgment. While in others, women cannot even leave their homes without being accompanied by a male relative. Some of these "rules" are based on cultural norms and religious beliefs. Sometimes they are based on the perspective that women need to be protected from men.

The fight for women's rights in Canada

In 1929, five Alberta women had to go to court just to have themselves declared persons! 

Initially, women were specifically excluded from the British North America Act, 1867 (now called the Constitution Act). The following is an excerpt from this act.

Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, all Laws in force in the several Provinces at the Union ... shall ... apply to Elections of Members to serve in the House of Commons ... [and] every male British Subject, aged Twenty-one Years or upwards, being a householder, Shall have a vote.

In the Dominion Elections Act, women could not vote or hold a political position because they were not listed as "persons"! The matter of who could vote was left up to individual provinces. As a matter of fact, for a very long time in some provinces, women were denied the right to participate in the democratic process due to a clause that included them with insane and criminal persons. Eventually after many struggles that first saw some provincial restrictions being removed, the efforts of the movement to give women the right to vote regardless of provincial law was won by five women from Alberta who challenged the law in the courts. The federal election of 1921 was the first election where women were eligible to vote and hold office under the new law of universal suffrage. Of just the four women candidates who ran in the election, Agnes MacPhail was elected to office.

Interestingly, although men make the decisions in politics and business in most of the world, women are often the most important factor in the economic success of the family unit. In fact, women do most of the world's unpaid work. Economists believe that if women did more paid work, the world could be much richer. Lack of education of women and limited job opportunities are important factors in the developing world, but the problem also exists in the developed world where women who are the "second income" earners in most families usually earn less than men but are taxed at a higher rate. When women cannot earn the same wages as men, they often have to choose between having children or having a job, and most choose family. However, in countries where women have low tax rates and good earning power, they can have both jobs and families. (Source: The Economist: April 21, 2007)

Gro Harlem Brundtland, 2006

A Human Rights Perspective

From a human rights perspective, many people believe that if women do not have equal rights with men, a just society does not exist. As the world becomes more of a global village, women and men around the world are standing up for the rights of all women. Women's rights are human rights.

• rights within marriage

• the right to vote and hold office

• the right to work for fair wages

• the right to own property

• the right to an education

• rights as a parent

• religious rights

• the right to serve in the army

• the right to participate in legal contracts