The OxHRH is delighted to be holding a panel event for the recently released UN Women’s Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016 Report ‘Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights’.
UN Women’s flagship report, ‘shows that, all too often, women’s economic and social rights are held back, because they are forced to fit into a ‘man’s world’. But, it is possible to move beyond the status quo, to picture a world where economies are built with women’s rights at their heart.’ The report draws together insights from humans rights, equality law and economics to provide crucial recommendations, such as investing in gender-responsive social, to ensure that the ‘economy works for women, for the benefit of all.’
The Panel Event will be discussing the substantive issues that are raised in the report and the challenges of ensuring that the report’s recommendations are implemented by governments, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders. We are delighted to be hosting:
- Justice Kate O’Regan (former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa)
- Shahrashoub Razavi (Chief, Data and Research Section, UN Women)
- Professor Sandra Fredman (Director of the OxHRH)
The report draws significantly on a background paper prepared by Professor Sandra Fredman and Associate Professor Beth Goldblatt, with the assistance of Meghan Campbell. In particular, chapter 1 of the report uses the multi-dimensional approach to substantive equality developed in Fredman’s previous work, and elaborated in the background paper by Fredman and Goldblatt, to establish a framework of substantive equality in human rights. The report emphasised that a key challenge around the world in the realisation of women’s rights is transforming formal rights into reality to enable women’s practical enjoyment of their human rights. The framework identifies three interconnected dimensions along which actions need to be taken in order to transform existing structures and institutions so that all women are able to enjoy their rights: redressing women’s socio-economic disadvantage; addressing stereotyping, stigma and violence; and strengthening women’s agency, voice and participation; resulting in a transformation of institutions and structures.
Fredman and Goldblatt’s background paper can be found here, and a full copy of the report here.
On July 15, UNSRID, OHCHR and UN Women convened a workshop Substantive Equality for Women: Connecting Human Rights and Public Policy. The first panel included presentations by Fredman, Farida Shaheed (Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights), Nicole Ameline (CEDAW Committee and Lucinda O’Hanion (OHCHR). The video for the panel can be found here and further information on the workshop can be found here.
This event is being co-hosted with the Oxford Martin School Human Rights for Future Generations Programme.
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