Gender equality and human rights.

Abstract

This editorial introduces an issue of INSTRAW News that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This introduction notes that the lead article in the journal expresses optimism about potential progress towards achieving gender equity and human rights because 1) industrialized countries are undergoing a "powershift" to an information society that will offer more and better jobs for women and give women greater access to the power of information, 2) women's earnings have increased worldwide, 3) more and more women are organizing on their own behalf, and 4) a public discourse is being created that promotes the mainstreaming of women's rights and their equality. In addition, several of the UN's international treaties promote gender equality and women's human rights. Foremost among these are 1) the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; 2) the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights; 3) the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women; and 4) the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on women. Counteracting these positive steps is a trend towards defining identity and rights on the basis of community membership only, which ignores the fact that cultures, traditions, and religions are not gender neutral. Given the challenges ahead, the partnership model of society created by women when they have political power is more likely to result in sustainable solutions than the dominator model that men have forwarded for the past 6000 years.