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Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Finally, land reform may be seen as an opportunity to strengthen access to land for women, particularly single women and widows. Article 14, paragraph 2 (g), of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women guarantees the right of women to equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes. However, there remain laws and social customs such as those ensuring that the land of a deceased husband belongs to his sons, not to his widow, despite the flagrant violation of women's rights to which this leads. As a result, women still represent a significant minority of the total number of title-holders, as illustrated by the statistics set out in figure II.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Human rights criteria for making contract farming and other business models inclusive of small-scale farmers 2011, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Women have less access to contract farming than men. A study found that in the Kenyan horticulture export industry, women comprised fewer than 10 per cent of contracted farmers, and in a sample of 59 contract farmers for French beans exported from Senegal, only one was a woman. The ability of women to benefit from contract farming is determined by their rights over land and by the power relationships both within households or, when the contract is negotiated through representatives of the community or the farmers' organizations, within those groups. Indeed, even where most of the work is in fact performed by the wife and other family members, it is not unusual for the contract to be signed by the husband, as head of the household, as is seen in sugar contract farming in South Africa or in vegetable contract farming in the Indian Punjab. In addition, studies suggest that women lose control over decision-making when crops are produced for cash rather than for local consumption. While women decide about the use of food produced for self-consumption, they do not decide how the income of the household is spent. Therefore, unless the framework for contract farming respects women's rights and is gender sensitive, it will undermine gender equality. Research done on bean contract farming in Kenya shows, for instance, that while women performed most of the work, they received a limited portion of the revenues from the contract. In addition, where they did receive cash, they were expected to contribute to household expenditures even when this would have been the husband's responsibility. Strengthening the position of women is not only a matter of guaranteeing the right to equality of treatment, but also a means of improving productivity, since women receiving a greater proportion of the crop income will have a greater incentive to increase production. Moreover, household food security and children's health, nutrition and education all gain from improved income for women, in comparison to the gains that result from improved income for men. The more women decide on how to spend household income, the more it is usually spent on children's needs; a child's chance of survival increases by 20 per cent when the mother controls the household budget (see A/HRC/13/32, para. 58).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Specific, targeted schemes should ensure that women are empowered and encouraged to participate in this construction of knowledge. Culturally-sensitive participatory initiatives with female project staff and all-female working groups, and an increase in locally-recruited female agricultural extension staff and village motivators facing fewer cultural and language barriers, should counterbalance the greater access that men have to formal sources of agricultural knowledge. It is a source of concern to the Special Rapporteur that, while women face a number of specific obstacles (poor access to capital and land, the double burden of work in their productive and family roles, and low participation in decision-making), gender issues are incorporated into less than 10 per cent of development assistance in agriculture, and women farmers receive only 5 per cent of agricultural extension services worldwide. In principle, agroecology can benefit women most, because it is they who encounter most difficulties in accessing external inputs or subsidies. But their ability to benefit should not be treated as automatic; it requires that affirmative action directed specifically towards women be taken.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus 2012, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The requirement of non-discrimination ensures that interventions are targeted, with a focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, and that they are gender sensitive. Finally, the adoption of national strategies for the realization of the right to food by Governments through participatory means should ensure that the needs of all groups are identified, including those of pregnant and lactating women and infants, and actions planned to address those needs. Such strategies should also link efforts to improve nutrition during early childhood with later life, adopting a life-course perspective as recommended by WHO, in order to take into account, for instance, that in contrast to breastfeeding, formula feeding may be a cause of obesity; they should facilitate inter-departmental coordination, recognizing that the right to adequate diets requires a collaborative effort across all government; and they should create a stable, multi-year framework, providing the necessary conditions both for private investment and for a continued effort of government.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- In addition, it is not unusual for the remuneration in this "periphery" segment to be calculated on a piece-rate basis, based on how much of the task has been accomplished. This mode of calculation of the wage is advantageous to the employer; it generally means that the employer does not provide benefits or social security in addition to the wage earned, and it is a method of calculating wages that is self-enforcing and requires much less supervision. Yet, though the most efficient women sometimes benefit, this mode of calculation of wages may be unfavourable to women in the heavier tasks, where the pay is calculated on the basis of male productivity standards. In addition, it encourages workers, especially women, to have their children work with them as "helpers", in order to perform the task faster. The result is that about 70 per cent of child labour in the world is in agriculture, representing approximately 132 million girls and boys aged 5-14 (A/HRC/13/33, para. 10).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Finally, women may face specific difficulties in reconciling their responsibilities in the care economy, particularly as regards the minding and educating of children of pre-school age, and their work on farms. The lack of access to child-care services in rural areas, combined with poor transportation services, sometimes leads women to bring the children with them on the plantation, as has been documented in the horticultural sector in Punjab, Pakistan, or in the informal settlements established near the plantations during the working season, as in South Africa.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- A number of the issues that in practice are of particular concern to women could be addressed in principle through effective policies and laws, and collective bargaining. These include equality of opportunity policies, equal pay for work of equal value, maternity leave and benefits, child care issues, reproductive health services. However, apart from the general problems related to unionization on farms, male-dominated unions do not always pay sufficient attention to issues that matter especially to women. Male union representatives may fail to consider the gender implications of apparently neutral issues for collective bargaining, including how wages are determined, leave, overtime, or bonus systems since these often in reality impact on women and men differently. To address this problem, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF) has for example produced a gender-equality guide and aims at a 40 per cent representation of women on all its committees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In addition to expanding their economic opportunities in later life, higher enrolment rates for girls delay marriage and can thus lower the number of children a woman has, therefore enabling more women to seek employment with higher incomes. Low levels of education and early marriage create a vicious cycle in which women have many children and thus reduced opportunities for improving their education and seeking employment outside the home. Higher levels of education means women can take control over their fertility and be able to make informed decisions in terms of their sexual health and family planning, resulting in fewer children and improved economic opportunities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- While improved access to education is essential to creating such economic opportunities for women, such efforts will only be effective in combination with other measures. These include active labour policies that gradually improve the representation of women in all sectors and break down the vertical and horizontal segmentation of the labour market where it exists, through positive action; measures aimed at reconciling family and professional life, and access to employment for workers with family responsibilities, as stipulated in ILO Convention No. 156 (1981) on Workers with family responsibilities. Both of these measures should be combined with efforts to break down gender stereotypes, not only as regards the type of employment performed by women, but also as regard the allocation of responsibilities between women and men in the discharging of family responsibilities. Indeed, although more women than ever are gainfully employed, their share of family responsibilities has not diminished.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Insofar as conditionalities can improve the educational attainments of girls, they should be welcomed. CCT benefits are usually given to women, as the "caregivers" of households - in Brazil, 94 per cent of the recipients of the Bolsa Familia transfers are women. This is expected to strengthen their negotiating role within the family, although such an outcome is far from automatic. The Right to Food Guidelines recommend that States "give priority to channelling food assistance via women as a means of enhancing their decision-making role and ensuring that the food is used to meet the household's food requirements." (guideline 13.4). Beyond these aspects however, too little attention has been paid to the gender impacts of CCTs, when such programmes are put in place. [...]
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Many public works schemes set aside a quota for women. India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), introduced in 2005 and which benefited 52.5 million households in 2009-2010, provides for one third of the employment to be allocated to women. The Rural Maintenance Programme in Bangladesh goes even further; it is an all-women programme, successfully employing over 50,000 rural women to maintain 60,000 miles of earthen roads. While access to employment in such programmes can favour the empowerment of women, paying greater attention to the gender impacts could significantly increase their benefits to women:
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 27b
- Paragraph text
- Similar self-exclusion may occur where the work proposed under the public works programmes is considered too demanding physically (more suitable for men) or violates certain cultural norms as to which tasks are suitable for women. The challenge in this case would be to ensure that the division of tasks on the programme takes into account the specific constraints faced by women, without reinforcing gender stereotypes. This may be done by adopting a phased approach. During a first phase, some work may be designated as "light" or "moderate" with priority for women, and some work as "heavy" and assigned to men; and certain tasks that are traditionally performed by women could be included in public works programmes, for instance preparing food in community kitchens or maintaining community vegetable gardens. At the same time, it should be ensured that women are paid the same wages as men. During a second phase, in order to reduce the risk that such an approach might reinforce gender stereotypes, women could gradually be encouraged to learn how to perform tasks traditionally assigned to men, so that in time "role-shifting" will occur.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 27c
- Paragraph text
- The assets created by the programme could serve to ease the situation of rural women in the areas concerned, consistent with the aim of reducing the burden that they shoulder. For instance, digging boreholes or planting trees can reduce the time women spend fetching water or fuelwood in the community where such work is performed. As illustrated by Ethiopia's cash-for-work Productive Safety Net Programme, public works programmes could serve to support agricultural work on the private land of female-headed households which generally suffer from chronic labour shortage. Public works could serve to improve physical infrastructure in rural areas and establish food-processing technologies, in order to reduce the drudgery of cooking and laundry. Public works programmes also could include health extension work, adult literacy or HIV/AIDS prevention, all of which could be immediately attractive for women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Due to prevalent societal norms and gender roles, their higher average levels of education, and the fact that they are less constrained, men are often better placed to seize opportunities arising from employment creation in the industry and services sectors. The result is that, with some exceptions (e.g. women migration for household work), men tend to migrate first from rural areas, for longer periods and to further destinations. Women stay behind in the village - especially relatively older women, beyond 35 years of age, who are poorly educated and less independent - to take care of the children and the elderly, and increasingly, also to tend the family plot of land. Data in this area are often imprecise and difficult to interpret, partly because of the lack of gender-disaggregated data, as much of women's contribution to "subsistence" agriculture goes unreported in official statistics, and because the share of women's employment in agriculture varies from crop to crop and from activity to activity - ploughing, for instance, remains predominantly a task performed by men. Nonetheless, overall, this feminization of agriculture is well documented.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- Concerns have been expressed about the impact that the feminization of agriculture may have on local food security, given the obstacles women face which negatively affect their productivity. Indeed, women often have little legal protection or rights to property ownership, and they face cultural and social norms that hinder their ability to improve productivity. How can these challenges be met? In the longer term, improving education for women and expanding opportunities for them in off-farm employment are key. But for the large number of women who depend on agriculture, including, increasingly, urban and peri-urban agriculture (see A/HRC/19/59, para. 44), it is equally important - and urgent - to improve women's opportunities to thrive as producers. Gender-sensitive agricultural policies are required, consistent with guideline 8.6 of the Right to Food Guidelines concerning women's full and equal participation in the economy and the right of women to inherit and possess land and other property, and access to productive resources, including credit, land, water and appropriate technologies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Access to land is key in this regard. In an earlier report (A/65/281), the Special Rapporteur discussed the vital role of access to land for small-scale agricultural producers, and the importance of addressing the discrimination women face in that regard. The right of women to have equal access to land is explicitly addressed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and in numerous Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions on the right to food. At the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals, Heads of State and Government also committed to promoting and protecting women's equal access to property and to land, as well as to productive resources. Indeed, land is more than an economic asset that women should be allowed to use productively. It is also a means of empowerment, as the greater economic independence that results from land ownership enhances the woman's role in decision-making and allows her to garner more social, family and community support.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Women also face discrimination in accessing extension services. First, women are underrepresented among extension services agents. Yet, in some contexts, social or cultural rules may prohibit contacts between a woman farmer and a male agricultural agent, especially when the woman is single, widowed or abandoned. Moreover, male agents may have less understanding for the specific constraints faced by women. Second, extension services tend to presume that any knowledge transmitted to the men will automatically trickle down to the women and so that they benefit equally, and meetings may be organized without taking into account the specific time and mobility constraints of women. This reinforces the pre-existing imbalances in decision-making within the household and neglects the fact that the needs of women may be different from those of men.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The third area is finance. Microcredit schemes often target rural women specifically, who, even more than men, face obstacles in accessing credit. However, far more could be done. First, improved access to loans for rural women does not necessarily imply that women will control the use of the loans. Some microfinance programmes directed at women have been assessed to be successful in increasing the participation of women in decision-making within the household, particularly as regards family planning and the children's education, and other members of the household have sometimes assumed a greater share of the housework since women who benefit from a microcredit programme tend to spend more time on their businesses and contribute more to the household income. The Small Farmers Development Program (SFDP) launched by the Indonesian government in the early 1990s is one example. But, overall evidence is mixed. Because the creditworthiness of women (as measured by loan repayment rates) is higher than that of men, women in practice may be used as convenient "middlemen" by the lending institutions' field workers and by the male members of households. This runs the risk of creating increased tensions within the household when the husband or other male relative does not give the woman the money to allow her to repay the loan on time or when the woman cannot access the loans she has obtained. Women benefiting from microcredit in rural Bangladesh, for instance through the Grameen Bank, only seldom use the loans to run their own businesses, Instead of becoming entrepreneurs themselves, they often use the loans to support the capital of existing businesses that are usually managed by male members in the household or to support their husbands in launching micro-enterprises. Similar results were found in Andra Pradesh, India.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Finally, in order to make a stronger contribution to poverty alleviation and to women's empowerment, agricultural research and development could take into account the specific constraints faced by women and their preferences. For instance, women may prefer crop varieties that can be more easily prepared for the family or that are easier to cultivate, for instance, those that are less threatened by weeds or can be easily husked. Because of the obstacles women face in accessing credit, they may prefer to grow crops following agro-ecological, low-external-input techniques, which also avoid the need to transport bags of fertilizers, which could be difficult in the absence of adequate means of transportation. Rural women possess traditional farming knowledge and skills that, in many cases, represent a huge, largely untapped potential.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The recognition that women may have different priorities to those of men leads to fundamental questions about the type of support they should be provided. For instance, titling schemes as a means to increase security of tenure may be considered with scepticism if the schemes are captured by men or elites or if it implies encouraging the development of a market for land rights, when land is more than an economic asset for many rural households, particularly women who depend on land for a non-cash type of production to feed their families. Similarly, if microcredit schemes crowd out other forms of support provided to small-scale food producers, it may result in forcing beneficiaries, women in particular, to move towards production for the market, rather than for self-consumption, something which may not correspond to the priorities of women in specific contexts. Developing agricultural research in ways that are more responsive to women's needs may result in greater attention being paid to the preservation of the resource base on which they rely, not only for agricultural production but also for domestic needs (medicinal plants, fuelwood, wild fruit). It may also result in more attention being paid to the more nutritious food crops, rather than to only staple crops, particularly cereals; and in choices in agricultural research that focus more on the post-harvesting phase - not simply on the prospects of selling the produce in high-value markets, but also on the possibility of preserving food from losses, the nutritional value of the food that is produced for consumption within the household, or the impact a particular variety may have on the time constraints of women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Involving women in the design, implementation and assessment of all these policies, could therefore have deeply transformative effects on how we conceive of the role of small-scale farming itself. This is why participation matters: it is to ensure that women have real choices. The strengthening of women's cooperatives or encouraging group farming by women's collectives are also important for that reason. Not only should women be able to overcome the obstacles that obstruct their ability to be as productive as men, they should also be able to redefine the priorities of the small-scale farming system, of which they are becoming the main actors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Certain investments can significantly reduce the burden that household chores impose on women. In rural areas, such measures include the provision of water services and afforestation projects to reduce the time spent fetching water and fuelwood. In both rural and urban areas, measures would include the establishment or strengthening of child-care services and care for the elderly or persons with illness/disability. By reducing the time poverty of women, their economic opportunities would expand, since it would be easier for them to seek employment outside the household; access incomes and increase their economic independence, which, in turn, would strengthen their bargaining position within the household. In order for such opportunities to be seized, access to education for girls and life-long training must be improved and societal perceptions of gender roles which discriminate against women must be changed. Improved education and employment prospects are mutually reinforcing, as the demand for education (investment in human capital) will increase in proportion to increase in the demand for a qualified female workforce.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- A second requirement is achieving the right combination of measures that recognize the specific obstacles women face (particularly time poverty and restricted mobility resulting from their role in the "care" economy), and measures that seek to transform the existing gender division of roles by redistributing tasks both within the household and in other spheres. As long as we simply recognize the role of women in the "care" economy by accommodating their specific needs, the existing division of roles within the household and associated gender stereotypes will remain in place, and could even be reinforced. Redistributing roles and challenging the associated gender stereotypes require a transformative approach, whereby the support provided to women not only recognizes their specific needs, but seen provides the opportunity to question existing social and cultural norms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Such transformative approach is clearly required under human rights law. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women affirms that "a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between men and women" (preamble, 14th para). Accordingly, States Parties shall seek, inter alia, to "modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women", and to promote the "recognition of the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children" (art. 5 (a). In reference to this provision, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has urged States to combat patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities of women and men within the family and society at large (women being considered as having the primary responsibility for child-rearing and domestic tasks, and men being considered the main breadwinners) and to reject the concept that assigns the role of "head of the household" to men.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The transformative approach implies that as policies seek to accommodate the specific needs of women, they should also seek to subvert traditional gendered divisions of roles. The two objectives are not necessarily easy to reconcile, but they should be prioritized in the design and implementation of programmes and given careful, context-sensitive consideration. In public works programmes for instance, where a gender-blind approach may lead to the de facto exclusion of women, the specific contributions and needs of women should be acknowledged, such as access to nurseries or adapted schedules, in order to enable them to effectively benefit from the programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- For this reason also, interventions aimed at improving the situation of women should be empowering. Social protection programmes should define the beneficiaries as rights-holders who can make claims against the administrations in charge of delivery, and beneficiaries should be informed of their rights and access to claims mechanisms should eb ensured. In addition to ensuring decentralized monitoring of the implementation of social programmes and providing a safeguard against corruption or discrimination, this will contribute to empowering beneficiaries, in particular women, who are generally treated as passive recipients of programmes that are intended to help them without including them as active participants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Social audits can also be an effective means of empowering women within the local communities, if their views are sought expressly and if the community audit exercise is only considered valid if women are adequately represented. Social audits can take different forms: a public report to the village assembly by government officials on the use of funds allocated to certain programmes and on the allocations to the beneficiaries (whether they are individuals employed in cash-for-work schemes or schools supported in school-feeding schemes); publication of revenues and disbursements on the Internet, which would enable non-governmental organizations to track instances of misuse or diversion of funds; citizens' report cards, as in India or the Philippines; community score cards, as in Kenya and the Gambia; or budgetary audits as those conducted by Javanese farmers in Indonesia.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- A successful strategy for strengthening the rights of women in support of the realization of the right to food requires a whole-of-government approach, coordinated across various ministries, including those responsible for health, education, employment, social affairs and agriculture. For instance, for the multiplier effects of school-feeding programmes to be maximized, coordinated action between departments responsible for agriculture, education and employment is required. Such a strategy should include targets, defined through a participatory process, and independent monitoring of their achievement within specified time frames. The outcomes to be achieved should be defined through indicators based on the normative components of the right to food, and disaggregated by ethnicity, age and gender in order to ensure that a gender-sensitive approach will be adopted in all sectors, and that multiple forms of discrimination, such as that experienced by older women and indigenous women, is tracked and addressed effectively. The systematic collection of gender-disaggregated data is key to this objective.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s right and the right to food 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- International human rights law requires States to guarantee gender equality and the empowerment of women. While essential to the women's right to food, this would also contribute to the realization of the right to food for other members of society. The advancement of women's rights translates into improved physical and mental development of children, whose ability to learn and to lead healthy and productive lives will gain; it translates into better health and nutritional outcomes for the household, as the decision-making power within the family is rebalanced in favour of women; and it results in higher productivity for women as small-scale food producers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Vision of the mandate 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Although traditionally the role of women has been a part of the agenda on the right to food, the Special Rapporteur believes that the empowerment of women and the protection of their rights should be placed at the centre of the policymaking process on the right to food. Specific programmes and policies should be developed to empower women as agents of change. That means ensuring that they are granted equal access to resources, such as land ownership or tenure, water and seeds, and financial and technological assistance. The empowerment of women should not be limited to rural areas, but should also be extended to urban women, women from indigenous communities, those living in refugee camps and undocumented migrants. In the agricultural sector, policies tend to be "gender blind or gender sensitive in mild ways", failing to address some of the main obstacles women face. Moving towards gender transformative policies will require major additional efforts on the part of States.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph