United Nations
Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women
CEDAW/C/GC/29
Distr.: General
30 October 2013
Original: English
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women
General recommendation on article 16 of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (Economic consequences of marriage, family
relations and their dissolution)
I.
Background
1.
As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the family is the basic unit
of society. a It is a social and legal construct and, in various countries, a religious construct.
It also is an economic construct. Family market research has established that family
structures, gendered labour division within the family and family laws affect women’s
economic well-being no less than labour market structures and labour laws. Indeed, women
often do not equally enjoy their family’s economic wealth and gains, they usually bear the
greater cost of the breakdown of the family than men and may be left destitute upon
widowhood, especially if they have children and particularly where the State provides little
or no economic safety net.
2.
Inequality in the family underlies all other aspects of discrimination against women
and is often justified in the name of ideology, tradition and culture. An examination of the
reports of States parties reveals that in many States, the rights and responsibilities of
married partners are governed by the principles of civil or common law, religious or
customary laws and practices, or some combination of such laws and practices that
discriminate against women and do not comply with the principles set out in the
Convention.
3.
Many of the States parties that maintain such legal arrangements have entered
reservations to all or parts of articles 2 and 16. The Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women has repeatedly noted with concern the extent of these
reservations, which it considers invalid because they are incompatible with the object and
purpose of the Convention. It has consistently called upon these States parties to withdraw
their reservations and ensure that their legal systems, whether civil, religious, customary, or
ethnic or some combination thereof, conform to the Convention in general and to article 16
in particular.
a
Resolution 217 A (III), article 16 (3).
13-54003 (E) 060114
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