Search Tips
sorted by
30 shown of 49 entities
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The regulatory framework must provide a contextual meaning of the social and cultural acceptability of water and sanitation facilities. This cannot be done in a meaningful way without the genuine participation of those who use the services. While water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste for each personal or domestic use, these are highly subjective parameters, and perceptions of these characteristics depend on local culture, education and experience. Personal sanitation is a highly sensitive issue across regions and cultures, and differing perspectives about which sanitation solutions are acceptable must be taken into account when designing, positioning, and setting conditions for the use of sanitation facilities (see A/70/203, para. 13). Regulations should stipulate that facilities need to allow for acceptable hygiene practices in specific cultures, such as anal and genital cleansing, and menstrual hygiene (see A/HRC/12/24, para. 80). Acceptability often requires separate facilities for women and men in public spaces, and for girls and boys in schools, which should be reflected in regulatory frameworks. Regulation should play an essential role in ensuring that toilets are constructed in a way that safeguards privacy and dignity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Adequate water and sanitation services, including menstrual hygiene facilities, must be accessible in the workplace, without hindrance, for all employees, in a manner that corresponds with their gender identity. The Special Rapporteur has noted that there is an urgent need to recognize and address the currently neglected lack of facilities that allow for adequate sanitation and menstrual hygiene management for women and girls in the workplace. Women and girls risk their health or miss out on workdays when such facilities are lacking. For example, 60 per cent of all women working in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia work in the agriculture sector and their workplace often does not include facilities that would allow them to manage their sanitation and menstruation, or those facilities are located far away from the place of work. Regulations often do not apply to women working in the informal sector, and women working in public spaces such as markets often have no access to facilities altogether. In the manufacturing industry and in dense urban areas, women and girls sometimes work in overcrowded spaces where privacy is limited and sanitation facilities and spaces are inadequate to manage their menstruation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Participation is not only a right in itself, but also imperative for fulfilling other rights. Participation encompasses women's power to influence decisions, to voice their needs, to make individual choices and to control their own lives. The lack of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities that meet women's and girls' needs can be largely attributed to the absence of women's participation in decision-making and planning.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The sanitation and menstrual hygiene needs of homeless women and girls are almost universally unmet and the needs of that group are rarely reflected in water and sanitation policies. Human rights law demands that States place a particular focus on the needs of the most marginalized; hence, States should ensure that homeless women and girls have access to facilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Although women - at every economic level, all over the world - may suffer disproportionate disadvantages and discrimination, they cannot be seen as a homogenous group. Different women are situated differently and face different challenges and barriers in relationship to water, sanitation and hygiene. Gender-based inequalities are exacerbated when they are coupled with other grounds for discrimination and disadvantages. Examples include when women and girls lack adequate access to water and sanitation and at the same time suffer from poverty, live with a disability, suffer from incontinence, live in remote areas, lack security of tenure, are imprisoned or are homeless. In these cases, they will be more likely to lack access to adequate facilities, to face exclusion or to experience vulnerability and additional health risks. The effects of social factors such as caste, age, marital status, profession, sexual orientation and gender identity are compounded when they intersect with other grounds for discrimination. In some States, women sanitation workers are particularly vulnerable, as they are exposed to an extremely dirty environment and contamination, which have a far greater impact during pregnancy and menstruation. Women belonging to certain minorities, including indigenous peoples and ethnic and religious groups, may face exclusion and disadvantages on multiple grounds. Those factors are not exhaustive and may change over time.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Laws, policies and strategies should not inadvertently reinforce gender stereotypes but should seek to transform them. It is important that policies and strategies explicitly mention the different experiences of men and women and marginalized groups, otherwise documents that may seem gender-neutral will hide important differences between genders and will in practice benefit some persons more than others with regard to water and sanitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Many legal constituencies, however, have laws in place that hinder the equal enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation. In many countries, land ownership, which is a precondition for gaining access to water, is often denied to women by family laws that also make it difficult for women to inherit land. Some countries criminalize open defecation while at the same time closing down public sanitation facilities. Public urination and defecation is often criminalized and laws that aim to keep cities clean may discriminate against homeless persons who have no other option but to relieve themselves in the open. Among them are many women and girls in desperate need of an adequate facility that offers privacy. Some States allow individuals to use toilets in a manner consistent with that person's chosen gender identity while other States oblige persons to use only those toilets that correspond with the biological sex listed on their birth certificate. Restrictive gender recognition laws not only severely undermine transgender peoples' ability to enjoy their rights to basic services, it also prevents them from living safely, free from violence and discrimination. Water and sanitation facilities must be safe, available, accessible, affordable, socially and culturally acceptable, provide privacy and ensure dignity for all individuals, including those who are transgender and gender non-conforming.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 77c
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the above, the Special Rapporteur recommends that States:] Make a legitimate effort to prevent and combat the root causes of gender inequalities, including the impacts of social norms, stereotypes, roles and taboos with regard to both women and men, through public campaigns, education and the media, among other measures;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Marginalized women and girls (including those with disabilities, those who are elderly, uneducated or impoverished, and sex workers) face additional barriers to participation. It is therefore important to consider who participates, since participation is often extended only to certain women, in other words the wealthiest, more educated and those who are relatively privileged owing to their caste or religion.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Affordability of water and sanitation services 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- In addition to material costs of service provision, the time spent on collecting water and accessing sanitation facilities outside the home must also be valued. As women and girls are largely responsible for collecting water, maintaining and cleaning sanitation facilities, and for ensuring the hygienic management of the household, these time costs have an important gender equality dimension.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Soap and clean water for personal hygiene is of particular importance during menstruation. Women and girls must be able to use clean materials to absorb or collect menstrual fluid, and change them regularly and in privacy. They must have access to water and soap to wash their hands and body and facilities to dispose safely and hygienically of menstrual materials like pads, cups, cloths and tampons. Facilities must be easy to maintain and to clean. Women and girls with disabilities face unique challenges in accessing sanitation facilities. Their ability to properly manage their hygiene may be particularly compromised and, when facilities do not provide for the space and materials they need, they are especially prone to diseases. Service providers must ensure that facilities are designed with the participation of women and girls in order to adapt them to their biological and sociocultural needs. The specific needs of women and girls must be incorporated into the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of sanitation facilities. Approaches must go beyond advocacy to address policies, infrastructure, maintenance systems and monitoring in order to ensure that services are adapted to the specific needs of users by, for example, taking into account their bodies, including their physical abilities, and their age. Formal independent regulators, as well as locally based participatory water and sanitation committees, should monitor whether regulations are well interpreted, implemented and effective.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2012, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The right to be free from discrimination in the exercise of human rights, including the rights to water and sanitation, is paramount and cross-cutting under international human rights law. Non-discrimination and equality are central to all core international human rights treaties. They include extensive provisions to protect against discrimination and ensure equality, covering in particular racial discrimination, as well as the situation of children, women, and persons with disabilities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Because menstrual hygiene management has such a strong impact on gender equality, it could be used as a proxy for information about discrimination against women and girls in sanitation and hygiene. Targets and indicators should be crafted to capture the ability of all women and adolescent girls to manage menstruation hygienically and with dignity, supported by amending the relevant household surveys explicitly asking about adequate menstrual hygiene management.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Many of the challenges to achieving gender equality in access to water, sanitation and hygiene are well documented: where water is not available in the home, women and girls are primarily responsible for water and hygiene at the household level and bear the greatest burden for collecting water. Other challenges related to inequality include access to sanitation, menstrual hygiene and toilets for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming people and an increased risk of gender-based violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Different levels and types of services and the human rights to water and sanitation 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Sanitation facilities and services must be culturally acceptable. Personal sanitation is a highly sensitive issue across regions and cultures and differing perspectives about which sanitation solutions are acceptable must be taken into account regarding the design, positioning and conditions for use of sanitation facilities. In most cultures, toilets must be constructed so as to ensure privacy and dignity. Acceptability often requires separate facilities for women and men in public places, and for girls and boys in schools.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2012, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- While the focus in combating stigma must be on bringing about societal change and changes in attitude, technical measures are still crucial to ensure accessibility, for instance for persons with disabilities or older persons, as are public health measures to prevent and cure neglected tropical diseases. Sanitation systems should be adjusted to avoid manual sanitation work. The provision of adequate facilities is crucial for menstrual hygiene management, since it is often the lack of a safe and clean space that prevents women and girls from exercising proper hygiene.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Integrating non-discrimination and equality into the post-2015 development agenda for water, sanitation and hygiene 2012, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Currently, household surveys do not collect information about intrahousehold differences in access such as by sex, age, or disability. However, they could be amended to capture this dimension by focusing on the actual use of water, sanitation and hygiene by all individuals within a household which would allow for such monitoring. The Special Rapporteur's experience notes that interviewing women, children or persons with disabilities often draws a different picture of actual use of existing facilities, as well as of the existing barriers that explain lack of use.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The MDGs and the human rights to water and sanitation 2010, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The human rights criteria are required to ensure that access is factually guaranteed. For instance, physical "access" alone is not sufficient, when people cannot afford expensive water and sanitation services. The existence of toilets is not sufficient when women cannot use them because they are not sex-separated or do not guarantee privacy. In this way, human rights criteria offer a guide for the development of more specific and contextually appropriate indicators to ensure that human development objectives are achieved and sustained in practice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Human rights law requires that sanitation facilities be reliably accessible to satisfy all needs throughout the day and the night, and meet the needs of their users. A lack of adequate facilities in public spaces often leads women and girls to avoid the public and both work and school life, particularly during menstruation, when they live with disabilities or suffer from incontinence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- One approach to monitoring in informal settlements that has shown positive results is the use of participatory geographic information systems, which merge technical spatial information with a local community’s location-specific knowledge, often producing rich data including on land use, water sources, differentiated access to resources and sites of actual or potential environmental hazards. For instance, OpenStreetMap initiatives in informal settlements in Nairobi have generated detailed data indicating how many households share a toilet, whether there are gender-specific toilets, whether the toilets have disability access and whether the toilets provide sanitary bins for women (see A/69/213, para. 82).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- A regulatory framework should contain positive measures or affirmative action that ensure the progressive realization of the human rights to water and sanitation for all, in a non-discriminatory manner, while eliminating inequalities in access, including for individuals belonging to groups at risk and groups that are marginalized on the grounds of race, gender, age, disability, ethnicity, culture, religion, national or social origin or any other grounds. Such measures should target specific challenges, including: (a) prioritization of the extension of coverage of water and sanitation services to rural and deprived urban areas, while taking into account the specific needs of women and children; (b) the denial of the rights to water and sanitation to people living in informal settlements, on the grounds of their housing or land status; and (c) the lack of affordability of services for the poorest.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- A regulatory interpretation of physical accessibility of water and sanitation facilities should provide as minimum standards that these facilities are within safe physical reach or in the immediate vicinity of each household at all times of day and night. In its proposed indicators for monitoring Sustainable Development Goal 6, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation suggests that a round trip to access an improved drinking water source should not take longer than 30 minutes, including queuing (basic level), and that a basic level of sanitation should provide access to an improved sanitation facility not shared with other households. Furthermore, regulation should specifically address the situation of those with special needs in terms of accessibility, such as children, persons with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women, and people with special health conditions, and advise that the design of sanitation facilities accommodates their specific needs, while being technically safe to use. Places such as schools, preschools, care homes and detention centres require specific regulations to ensure physical accessibility.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Regulatory standards should prioritize access to both water and sanitation facilities in public places in sufficient numbers; in institutional facilities, including hospitals, schools, public transport hubs, prisons, and places of detention, at the workplace and in rented housing, taking into consideration the special needs of, inter alia, women and girls; and in relation to those without a permanent dwelling, including homeless people and nomadic communities. Regulation should separate access to water and sanitation services from land tenure, often an obstacle to accessing these services in informal settlements.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Service regulation and human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- With respect to sanitation, regulatory frameworks should prescribe a sufficient number of sanitation facilities within, or in the immediate vicinity, of each household (see A/HRC/12/24, para. 70). The assessment of the sanitation requirements of any community must be informed by the context, as well as the characteristics of particular groups which may have different sanitation needs (e.g. women, persons with disabilities, children). Where a piped network is not available, regulation should consider the possibility of alternative solutions, such as the construction and maintenance of sanitation facilities, and the disposal and treatment of waste water. In cases where sanitation facilities are shared, regulation should envisage a sufficient number of facilities available.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In addition to risking physical violence, women and girls may also experience sanitation-related psychosocial stress, including fear of sexual violence. Women and girls who have limited access to sanitation facilities experience environmental barriers when they engage in water, sanitation and hygiene practices, including carrying water, managing menstruation, defecating and bathing, that contribute to that kind of stress. Examples include the fear of encountering snakes and mosquitos when walking to a defecation site, or the stress caused by social norms that view the fact of being seen by men while bathing as negative, among other issues. A better understanding of the range of causes of stress and adaptive behaviours is needed to inform context-specific, gender-sensitive water and sanitation interventions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Sociocultural norms, notions of "female modesty" and masculinity and stereotypes concerning gender-assigned roles, including of women as caretakers, translate into unequal opportunities, unequal power and control over finances and resources, as well as unequal household responsibilities. Where legislation and policies reflect stigmatizing attitudes, thereby institutionalizing and formalizing stigma, they must be repealed. States may design and implement, in collaboration with civil society, awareness-raising programmes to enhance positive and non-stereotypical portrayals of women. Initiatives should aim to reveal "invisible" social norms and power relations through a context-specific gender analysis. WaterAid, for example, has undertaken qualitative research to explore how the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services has led to positive changes in gender roles and social relations among men and women .
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- A gender stereotype is defined as "a generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics that are ought to be possessed by, or the roles that are or should be performed by women and men". A gender stereotype is harmful when it limits women's and men's capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their careers and make choices about their lives. Gender stereotyping is wrongful when it results in violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. States cannot dismiss stereotyping and stigma as a social phenomenon over which States have no influence; instead, they must actively combat practices that are based on harmful stereotypes of men and women, including in the private sphere.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Non-discrimination and equality are interlinked and are fundamental principles of international human rights law. Lack of access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene and the inability to participate in their management have in many instances, on a structural basis, left many rights out of women and girls' reach. Laws serve to give individuals a legal claim, may create social expectations and may spur public action. Legal guarantees on gender equality and non-discrimination can help to build political legitimacy to back the enforcement of women's and girls' rights to access to water, sanitation and hygiene.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur outlines several key points that require attention in order to achieve substantive gender equality. Gender equality and non-discrimination must be integrated in laws and policies and positive measures must be imposed to proactively remedy injustices. Progress towards gender equality in practice requires the identification of root causes of inequalities and the dismantling of structural barriers, taboos, stereotypes and social norms that prevent the equal enjoyment of rights on the basis of gender. Policies and special measures need to be adopted to tackle gender inequalities in practice and strengthen women's voice and participation. To ensure policies are implemented and progress is made, strong accountability and monitoring frameworks must be put in place. These will only be effective if women are systematically provided with opportunities for meaningful participation, decision-making and access to and control of resources.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Socioeconomic differences and sociocultural relationships, practices and stereotypes may exacerbate gendered differences and result in discrimination in terms of the enjoyment of rights. Since the root causes of those differences are complex and context-dependent, progress towards substantive equality in access to water and sanitation requires public action on different fronts. In tackling discrimination in the human rights to water and sanitation, structural inequalities that inhibit the enjoyment of other human rights must also be addressed. In the present report it is therefore suggested that concerted efforts in meeting women's material needs, such as access to affordable menstrual products, as well as their strategic needs, such as tackling harmful gender stereotypes and structural determinants of inequalities that affect access to water, sanitation and hygiene, may serve as entry points to address gender inequalities more broadly.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph