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Article 3: The equality of rights between men and women - replaces GC No. 4 2000, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Inequality in the enjoyment of rights by women throughout the world is deeply embedded in tradition, history and culture, including religious attitudes. The subordinate role of women in some countries is illustrated by the high incidence of prenatal sex selection and abortion of female foetuses. States parties should ensure that traditional, historical, religious or cultural attitudes are not used to justify violations of women's right to equality before the law and to equal enjoyment of all Covenant rights. States parties should furnish appropriate information on those aspects of tradition, history, cultural practices and religious attitudes which jeopardize, or may jeopardize, compliance with article 3, and indicate what measures they have taken or intend to take to overcome such factors.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- [Various international law instruments point to particular principles and measures that States should adopt in order to achieve non-discrimination and equality. For example, States should:] Eliminate gender-based violence, affirm women's right to reproductive choice and modify social or cultural patterns so as to eliminate the idea of stereotyped roles for men and women;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Closing the gap in international human rights law: lessons from three regional human rights systems on legal standards and practices regarding violence against women 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Article 2 of the Protocol requires States to take positive action to address inequalities between women and men in State efforts to ensure that women enjoy their rights. Other articles set out obligations with respect to, among other things, the right to dignity; the right to life, integrity and security of the person; protection from harmful practices; rights in marriage, which include entitlement to property and the custody and guardianship of children; protection from early and forced marriages; the right of access to justice and equal protection of the law; the right to participate in political and decision-making processes; the right to peace; the rights to adequate housing, food security, education and equality in access to employment; reproductive and health rights, including control of one's fertility; and the right to be protected against HIV infection. The Protocol also includes specific provisions on the protection of rights of women with disabilities. All promotional and protective provisions in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other human rights instruments are equally applicable in the interpretation of the Protocol.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- That civil society organization navigated the challenging context by building strategic partnerships with experts and Government. Together with educational experts, they developed a theoretical and practical educational guidebook entitled “Women and Men: Different but Equal”, which was subsequently approved for use by the Ministry of Education and Science. It supported the incorporation of gender curricula into mandatory courses, such as social studies, and included discussion of gender, reproductive rights and violence prevention.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Corruption and the right to health 2017, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- There are several intersecting groups in society that suffer from corruption on other grounds. There is, for example, evidence that corruption does not affect rural areas in the same way as it affects urban areas. Women can often be particularly affected by health sector corruption. In many countries, they are more likely to use health care than men, a pattern partly explained by their increased use of services during their reproductive years. They may thus be disproportionately affected by the effects of health sector corruption, for example when they lack the money to afford informal payments necessary for assistance around childbirth. Women may also be more vulnerable to informal payments where they lack economic means, for example where they do not participate equally in the paid labour force or do not have equal access to or control of financial resources within the household. Furthermore, women constitute a large proportion of health-care personnel, and can thus be disproportionately affected when health sector corruption negatively affects the timely payment of proper wages.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of the right to health of young persons under the age of 18. Article 24 of the Convention affirms the right to health as established in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is especially relevant given the importance of sexual and reproductive health to the lives of young women and men. The Convention urges States to ensure prenatal and post-natal care for mothers, develop family planning education and services and ensure the elimination of traditional practices that are "prejudicial to the health of children".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- General Comment No. 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights elaborates the concept of reproductive health, stating that women and men have the freedom to decide if and when to reproduce and the right to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice and appropriate health-care services that will, for example, enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth (E/C.12/2000/4, footnote 12). Sexual health is a "state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being related to sexuality, not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity". The Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development states that sexual health includes the right to a satisfying and safe sex life as well as the freedom to decide when and how often to reproduce (A/CONF.171/13, para. 7.2). It also states that sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In chapter II, principle 8, of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development confirms that States should take all appropriate measures to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, universal access to health-care services, including those related to reproductive health care, which includes family planning and sexual health. It also stresses the need for participation and notes that family planning programmes are most successful when women are fully involved in the design, provision, management and evaluation of services. It further adds that Governments should remove all unnecessary legal, medical, clinical and regulatory barriers to information and to access to family-planning services and methods. In paragraph 96, the Beijing Platform for Action declares that the human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- However, in many States access to family planning goods and services is severely curtailed by criminal laws and other legal restrictions. In these jurisdictions, women and men (especially the poor) lack access to safe and effective contraception and are denied the freedom to decide whether or not to reproduce.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- The provision of comprehensive education and information on sexual and reproductive health is an essential component of the right to health and to the realization of other rights, such as the right to education and access to information. Criminal and other laws restricting access to comprehensive education and information on sexual and reproductive health are thus incompatible with the full realization of the right to health and should be removed by States (see E/C.12/2000/4, para. 11). Both women and men are adversely affected by these barriers. Women, however, are disproportionately impacted.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Criminalisation of sexual and reproductive health 2011, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- General Comment No. 14 places emphasis on access to information because it is a critical component of the right to health (ibid; footnote 8), and particularly guarantees access to sexual and reproductive health information. States are additionally required to provide adequate resources and refrain "from censoring, withholding or intentionally misrepresenting health-related information, including sexual education and information (see E/C.12/2000/14, para. 14)". The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended that a comprehensive understanding of the content of sexual and reproductive education encompass the topics of reproductive rights, responsible sexual behaviour, sexual and reproductive health, prevention of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, prevention of teenage pregnancies, and family planning, and stressed that education campaigns are urgently needed to combat harmful practices such as female genital mutilation. Comprehensive education and information on sexual and reproductive health is also useful in reducing knowledge gaps between men and women on these issues.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Effective and full implementation of the right to health framework, including justiciability of ESCR and the right to health; the progressive realisation of the right to health; the accountability deficit of transnational corporations; and the current ... 2014, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action stresses the indivisible, interdependent and interrelated nature of the two sets of rights. This is reinforced by the necessity of the realization of one to fulfil the other. For example, ensuring equal treatment of men and women in all spheres of their lives, such as the right to found a family, contained in article 23 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, cannot be achieved unless the right to sexual and reproductive health of women is realized by ensuring their right to access health facilities, goods and services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- All legal definitions of the family should include the right to equality, de jure and de facto, of women and girls within the family. Full equality between women and men, and girls and boys, is a requirement of international human rights law and constitutes a right of women that is vital for the well-being of the family and for society as a whole.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in economic and social life with a focus on economic crisis 2014, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Barriers to women's economic opportunities resulting from reproduction and care functions must be removed in order to permit choice by women and men as to how they allocate economic and caring duties. Three possible patterns of allocation have been identified: both parents as full-time workers; one full-time and one part-time worker, where the part-time worker is usually the woman; or the male breadwinner model. There is also the single parent pattern, which is usually a woman.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in economic and social life with a focus on economic crisis 2014, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Unlike women's reproductive function, care functions do not necessarily have to fall on women. All forms of care, including childcare, are amenable to social reconstruction, and indeed in the Nordic countries, which have long pursued a policy of gender equality in the division of work and childcare functions, the distribution of care work comes close to parity. Good practice regarding the allocation of care responsibilities, pioneered in the Nordic countries, encourages men to enter traditionally women's worlds, both in the family and in the workplace, thus allowing women to participate and advance in the labour market.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in economic and social life with a focus on economic crisis 2014, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- Redistributing care work involves restructuring the design, funding and delivery of care by households, markets, the State and civil society so that a disproportionate burden of unpaid care does not fall on women. The equal sharing of care amongst different actors requires, on one hand, the sharing of care responsibilities by men as well as women in households and, on the other, the provision by the State of affordable and accessible care facilities, including childcare, adequate hospital care and recuperation periods, and facilities for the care of the disabled and the elderly.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in economic and social life with a focus on economic crisis 2014, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- Sharing of care responsibilities within the household should remain a matter of choice for women and men. For any real choice to be possible, paid care leave must be available to both parents. The Nordic countries were the first to introduce an independent paternity leave in order to overcome stereotypes and barriers to men sharing childcare functions. Such provisions are becoming more common around the world, with increased awareness of men's parenting roles and their need to reconcile work and family life. Paternity leave is usually much shorter than maternity leave and more often unpaid. Some countries have introduced more gender-neutral parental leave options, and recent best practice in one Nordic country provides symmetry in childcare leave, with five months for each parent individually and two months that can be allocated according to parental choice.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in economic and social life with a focus on economic crisis 2014, para. 100
- Paragraph text
- Discriminatory laws and practice prevail in most countries. Some such laws are self-evident, such as mandatory early retirement for women. Some are what has been called "statistical discrimination", such as separate annuity tables for women and men based on women's greater longevity. Others are the result of the sociology of the family and of legislative policy endorsing and perpetuating the economic dependence of women on a husband's income and pension entitlement.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Substantive equality in the area of health and safety requires differential treatment. Throughout their life cycle from childhood to old age, women have health needs and vulnerabilities that are distinctively different from those of men. Women have specific biological functions, are exposed to health problems that affect only women, are victims of pervasive gender-based violence and, statistically speaking, live longer than men, resulting in their greater need to access health services frequently and into older age. Hence, women and girls experience the negative effects of insufficiencies in health-care services more intensively than men.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- In the area of health, the distinctly different biological and reproductive functions of women and men necessitate differential treatment and proper algorithms are required to make sure that women have equal access to and enjoy the highest achievable level of health treatment. An identical approach to treatment, medication, budgeting and accessibility would in fact constitute discrimination.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination against women is also manifest in the unequal provision of health services required by both women and men. This has been especially severe in countries where women have been excluded from receiving medical treatment by male doctors on the grounds of "modesty".
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Women prisoners show high rates of mental health problems owing to violence and trauma to which they had been exposed and which are exacerbated by imprisonment. Concerns about their children also have a significant impact on the mental health of women prisoners, especially when they are breastfeeding; separation from their children creates anxiety and guilt, resulting in great suffering. Women are more likely to harm themselves or attempt suicide while in detention than men. Extensive reliance on preventive use of psychotropic medication for "safety" reasons in such situations is an example of overmedicalization.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- In patriarchal cultures, the preference for sons leads to the prioritization of boys' and men's health before that of women and girls, resulting in discriminatory practices such as female infanticide. This is evident in cultural customs relating to food which cause girls and women, including pregnant and nursing women, to suffer disproportionately from malnutrition.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Food & Nutrition
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- Health care is often unaffordable owing to discriminatory health insurance coverage. Some health insurance policies and programmes exclude various aspects of reproductive health care, including modern forms of contraception, termination of pregnancy and maternal care. Alternatively, some private health insurance schemes insure women's reproductive health needs but add a surcharge to the premiums paid by women. Good practice includes measures that discourage insurance companies from charging women more for health insurance than men because of perceived higher costs associated with women's reproductive health needs.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- A growing number of States worldwide have confirmed their commitment to comprehensive sexuality education as an essential priority for achieving national development, health and education goals. In its resolution 70/137, the General Assembly called upon all States to develop and implement educational programmes and teaching materials, as well as teacher education and training programmes for both formal and non-formal education, including comprehensive evidence-based education on human sexuality, based on full and accurate information, for all adolescents and youth; to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women of all ages; to eliminate prejudices; and to promote and build decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills for the development of respectful relationships based on gender equality and human rights.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Article 15 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women provides for women's legal capacity on an equal basis with men, thereby acknowledging that recognition of legal capacity is integral to equal recognition before the law: "States parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals" (para. 2). This provision applies to all women, including women with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes that women with disabilities may be subject to multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination based on gender and disability. For example, women with disabilities are subjected to high rates of forced sterilization, and are often denied control of their reproductive health and decision-making, the assumption being that they are not capable of consenting to sex. Certain jurisdictions also have higher rates of imposing substitute decision-makers on women than on men. Therefore, it is particularly important to reaffirm that the legal capacity of women with disabilities should be recognized on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Some countries provide for different ages for marriage for men and women. As such provisions assume incorrectly that women have a different rate of intellectual development from men, or that their stage of physical and intellectual development at marriage is immaterial, these provisions should be abolished. In other countries, the betrothal of girls or undertakings by family members on their behalf is permitted. Such measures contravene not only the Convention, but also a woman's right freely to choose her partner.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. Article 16.1e
- Paragraph text
- [Article 16] [States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:] The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Existing legal standards and practices regarding violence against women in three regional human rights systems and activities being undertaken by civil society regarding the normative gap in international human rights law 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Article 2 of the Protocol requires States to take positive action to address inequalities between women and men in State efforts to ensure that women enjoy their rights. Other articles set out obligations with respect to, among other things, the right to dignity; the right to life, integrity and security of the person; protection from harmful practices; rights in marriage, which include entitlement to property and the custody and guardianship of children; protection from early and forced marriages; the right of access to justice and equal protection of the law; the right to participate in political and decision-making processes; the right to peace; the rights to adequate housing, food security, education and equality in access to employment; reproductive and health rights, including control of one's fertility; and the right to be protected against HIV infection. The Protocol also includes specific provisions on the protection of rights of women with disabilities. All promotional and protective provisions in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other human rights instruments are equally applicable in the interpretation of the Protocol.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Practices and beliefs are different in every culture, but generally menstruation is considered to be something unclean or impure and contact between men and women during menstruation is viewed as something that should be avoided. Girls and women are sometimes not allowed to use the same toilets as men or are barred from certain locations. Girls all over the world grow up with the idea that menstruation is something they should hide and not speak about - an embarrassing event associated with shame. This powerful stigma and taboo surrounding menstruation translates into fear of leaking or staining clothes. Worldwide, women and girls prefer to hide the fact that they are menstruating. Data collected in Senegal shows that, owing to shame, menstrual material, once washed, is mainly dried in secluded, private and dark locations, such as tiled rooms or even under pillows, instead of in direct sunlight, which would reduce the risk of infection by ensuring that pathogens do not grow.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph