Article 10 (b) Through (d) of the CEDAW
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/07/19
Article 10 States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education and in particular to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women: (b) Access to the same curricula, the same examinations, teaching staff with qualifications of the same standard and school premises and equipment of the same quality;(c) The elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging coeducation and other types of education which will help to achieve this aim and, in particular, by the revision of textbooks and school programmes and the adaptation of teaching methods;(d) The same opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other study grants;
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)
The CEDAW or the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women pertains to the equality of women with men. In particular, it deals with the appropriate measures that nations can take towards achieving that desired gender equality. Some of the many articles in the convention, the CEDAW, are large and require segmentation.
Article 10 is one such section of the CEDAW. Insofar as this is being split into more manageable pieces for this series on women’s rights to freedom from violence and discrimination, the tenth article provides series of statements relevant to the protection of women’s equality with men in the areas of education, stereotyping in education, and in the access to and provision of financial assistance.
Article 10(b), it states:
(b) Access to the same curricula, the same examinations, teaching staff with qualifications of the same standard and school premises and equipment of the same quality;
The identical curricula for the men and the women in the societies of the world. Not only in the access to the curricula, but also in the examinations given to men, the assertion if this was not done is that women would not be qualified in some manner to be given the same educational challenges as the men, which amounts to a cognitive assertion about adult women differing in cognitive capacity from the men in the country. Research show men and women, on average, have the same level of intelligence.
Then with the teaching staff, the educators and such, of the nation. Wome around the world deserve, and reserve the right to, the same educational provisions as those given to the men. They may be denied them on a number of fronts. They may have to work hard to acquire and retain those rights within their own nations.
Nonetheless, the fundamental axiomatic ethical claim is given within numerous documents in the world, and probably within their own nations as well, is the right to equal educational access and teaching staff quality. Those staff who would be educated on a grounds and in a classroom with textbooks and educational materials of the same quality as those given to the men.
This amounts to the basic claim of equality in the educational realm for women to be able to enjoy equality with the men of the world. If there is any discrepancy between the quality of education a woman receives with a man or a man receives with a woman, then this Article 10(b) has been violated, which, if enforceable due to the ratification by one’s nations, becomes something needing rectifying.
Article 10(c) states:
(c) The elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging coeducation and other types of education which will help to achieve this aim and, in particular, by the revision of textbooks and school programmes and the adaptation of teaching methods;
This particular subsection of Article 10 pertains to the ideas in people’s minds and enacted in behavior to create social and cultural trends over time. They can be passed on via culture, parents, media, religious holy texts, educational curricula and institutions themselves, and the beliefs formed about one’s own role in the society – men or women, boys or girls who become men or women more properly as the belief formation probably occurs very, very early in life.
The stereotyped concepts of the roles of men and women are seen throughout the world and all areas of education. It is more complicated and seen as a more highly individualized form of statistical setup now. As in some areas of the world, girls and women have surpassed men as all areas of education, but only for a short period and often with only mid-level professional attainment as the result – based on a number of other barriers.
However, in most of the world’s population, and for most of the history of the known human civilizations, women had only a subordinate role. They were less than, an afterthought, and not to be taken too seriously for their intellects. As we now know, this was an utter fallacy that led to the degradation of and potential flourishing of dozens of civilizations because they did not permit women to be on an equal footing with the men, educationally.
With these alterations to the historical norm in education for boys and girls, and women and men, in terms of their educational achievement, we can see the general differential between them. But in this difference, we should note the stereotypes about education and in education. In the case of the women performing better, we see boys and men seeing education as a girl or woman thing.
Then in the other cases, we see the complete restriction in the access to the educational world for women, where only the men can enter into this highly important arena. It becomes an evacuation of boys and men from education when women enter into it; it also becomes one where men and boys can be the only ones to enter into it.
That is, boys and men have this idea taught to them: either all men, or if women then no men. Also, as a caveat, if all men, this should be enforced by the religion or the state. In the case of if women then no men, you can see the declines in the men entering into education at the same time as women are working to be seen as equal partners in the fight for higher education – hell, even primary education for boys and girls – and the future world of work with advanced technology.
The sexism is prevalent and apparent, not in every case or completely ubiquitous and indeed improving; however, the general principle or primary mode of operation is boys and men seeing themselves as the owners of education and not in need of any challenge in education with the girls and women in their lives.
There do appear to be biological, psychological bases for developmental differences for the boys and the young men with the girls and the young men. But this should not excuse the attitudinal stances that are against the general idea of equality between the sexes.
With the school programmes and the teaching methods, insofar as there are stereotyped presentations of curricula and testing, or of teaching, these should be changed, based on this subsection stipulation, to better accommodate the rights-based arguments and stances of the CEDAW.
Then we come to Article 10(d), it states:
(d) The same opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other study grants;
Inasmuch as one may want an education, the acquisition of aid education can be difficult without the requisite financial resources, which creates a number of problems for the people who continue to have policies and globalization schemes preventing their equal access to participation in the society.
In fact, one major blockade for women, and men for that matter, is increasing tuitions and decreases in decent wages to be able to pay for a formal education. This creates a number of problems for the lower classes and even the disappearing middle classes. Education costs a lot. It probably should not cost as much as it does, but it simply prevents people from entering education who, otherwise, have the talent and ability to pursue higher education.
The loss of talent is one thing, but the loss of talent based on the lack of economic resources for women based on their being women – or girls – is a travesty needing fixing. The same chances for educations may not churn out the same outcomes, but the same opportunities to compete for scholarships and other grants remain an integral part of the overall rights arguments for the ability to pursue and access formal education regardless of financial status.–One can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on, with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Preamble, Article 16, and Article 25(2).
- Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) in Article 1.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) in Article 3 and Article 13.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979).
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984).
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1993).
- Beijing Declaration(1995).
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000).
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).
- The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo Protocol” (2003).
- Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence or the Istanbul Convention (2011) Article 38 and Article 39.
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