CEDAW: Article 14(1)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/07/29
Article 14 1. States Parties shall take into account the particular problems faced by rural women and the significant roles which rural women play in the economic survival of their families, including their work in the non-monetized sectors of the economy, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the application of the provisions of the present Convention to women in rural areas.
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)
The fourteenth article of the CEDAW or the Convention, or the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), provides a basis from which to look at the need for equality of women, especially those in the less economically advantaged areas of the world, i.e., the rural portions of countries.
Indeed, the urban centers tend to be the places of the high technology and culture with the better paying jobs and access points to the higher incomes and prestige positions within a society. This puts burdens by implication on the women in the rural areas because of the increasingly star differential between farmers and industrial centers, cities.
As noted, the emphasis remains the governments of the world with this particular article. The particular problems stated are the numerous unique situations faced by women in rural contexts not faced by women in the urban centres. Also, there is a recognition of the vital role many rural women play in the economic life of a family in those rural areas.
Also, their work in the home with childcare and housecare have simply been taken for granted for centuries upon centuries. It amounts to a significant and distinct form of discrimination against women, where, for a very, very long time, women have and continue to live in many nations around the world essentially slave lives in servitude to the men, the family, and the community – often bound together through a religious faith.
It becomes an incredibly hard situation in an urban setting where the context for the women can become so dire. However, if they can have some knowledge about their fundamental human rights as women, they can begin to extricate themselves from these essentially subordinate positions almost always set about for them, for the rest of their lives.
It is important that the stipulation notes both the essential role that women play in the economic survivability of the family via the women but also the import of the non-monetary activities of the mothers in these situations. Because, as has been the case for a long time, the women of the world have been kept back and burdened in innumerable ways.
One of the main ones is to force them on divine mandate into servile roles where they cannot get paid for the contributions to both the family and the community in the raising of the children and the upkeep of the home. As has been stated in prior stipulations within the Convention, the appropriate measures shall be taken by the governments bound to the CEDAW to provide for the needs of the women in terms of their rights.
One of these areas is the application for provisions of the unique needs of rural women around the world.–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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