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HUMAN RIGHTS
Violence against women: a human rights violation
Until recently, one of the biggest human rights abuses was accepted and kept quiet: violence against women. Violence against women cuts across class, culture and regional differences. Violence against women not only takes a direct physical form, but it is also psychological and includes the deprivation of basic needs. We live in a society where all these forms of violence against women are accepted as the norm: domestic violence, rape, incest, pornography, forced prostitution, sex tourism, the feminization of poverty are all manifestations of the same problem.
The sexual exploitation of women, and even rape are still not considered a human rights violation. Women are battered or abused by their partners as an everyday occurrence in "developed" countries. What does this say for the rights of women? How are their rights being protected? Can we say that a country is a developed country with this type of human rights violations existing? When women need to survive and insure the survival of others in their family, they will use the only thing which is available to them as a source of income: the selling of their bodies. The majority of women who are forced into prostitution are young women, who have little formal schooling and who have been sent to the cities from the rural areas to earn a livelihood for the family. Sex tourism has emerged as a development alternative for countries, a situation which is tolerated, if not encouraged by the local governments since it brings in foreign currency. The sexual exploitation of women remains one of the most tolerated human rights abuses.
The Charter of Human Rights also deals with the right of freedom of opinion and expression. It is necessary to really examine what this may imply for women who are continuously being silenced through cultural and societal pressure. One needs not to throw someone in jail to take their freedom away. It is enough to create a situation where there are many forces limiting that freedom. Young women are being taught the limits of what they can do and say from the day they are born, strictly because of their gender, and when these young women step out of these set parameters they are shut out by their peers and communities. How do we create a society where freedom of expression means the same thing for men as it does for women? The right of freedom of opinion and expression, for women, and for other marginalized groups is also about the conditions existing which will allow for this to happen.
Another right outlined in the Charter is the right to take part in the government of your country. For women, this means nothing unless there is an effort made to assist women in overcoming all the roadblocks which have been placed before them. They are often excluded from community and political decisions. When illiteracy rates in most countries are higher for women than men, when women own one hundredth of the world's property, the right to form part of government has a different meaning in the context of the realities women face. Governments seldom represent the concerns and issues of women, yet women face immense barriers when becoming politically involved because of their gender. Women while being the majority of the population in some countries, are a minority in the global political leadership.
Sustainable development is about the improvement of the quality of life for people, of which the right to social services is a cornerstone, and an area where women are also at a disadvantage. Women perform most of the work in the world, yet they neither benefit from their labor socially or economically. Poor women throughout the world, particularly those who head households, struggle from day to day for food, housing, education and health services. All of these things are recognized as fundamental human rights.
The right to health is another human right, and women are still not getting appropriate access to basic health care. Worldwide, there are women who have no access to quality family planning and thus have little control over their fertility. Without the ability to control their bodies, women, particularily young women are limited in all aspects of their lives, education, employment, or participation in public life. Each year, millions of women die from pregnancy related causes. Health services for women, like food and shelter, should be not seen as a privilege, but a right, and a right for which governments are responsible for providing.