A/HRC/26/39
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
1 April 2014
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Twenty-sixth session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Report of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination
against women in law and in practice
Thematic report
Summary
This report addresses discrimination against women in economic and social life,
with a focus on economic crisis.
Discriminatory legislation in a number of States continues to obstruct women’s
enjoyment of equal rights and access to economic opportunity and resources. The roles and
responsibilities assigned to women and men on the basis of stereotypes relegate women to a
subordinate status and limit their economic opportunities. A significant number of countries
have adopted anti-discrimination measures, but these have not resulted in equality of
opportunity in women’s economic and social lives. Women are disproportionately
concentrated in informal and precarious employment; they are exposed to multiple forms of
discrimination; the wage gap persists; maternity protections have not been fully and
effectively implemented; and in many countries women do not have equal rights and access
to resources. There has been little attention the negative impacts of the business sector on
women’s enjoyment of human rights. Care functions are disproportionately allocated to
women and create a major barrier to women’s full participation in economic market
activity. Violence against women is another obstacle to women’s equal opportunity.
Austerity measures taken by some States in response to economic crisis have had a
disparate impact on women, increasing the precarity of their employment and their burden
of unpaid care work. The Working Group calls for the establishment of gender-responsive
and effective accountability systems at the international, regional and national levels to
eliminate all forms of de facto discrimination against women.
GE.14-12834
*1412834*