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Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 32
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Levels of access to water and sanitation services affect men and women unequally. Because of their domestic roles and responsibilities, women are in greatest physical contact with contaminated water and human waste. Women and girls who hold their urine for long periods of time have a higher risk of bladder and kidney infections. In addition, they tend to avoid consuming liquids to prevent having to use the toilet, as a result of which many become dehydrated.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- 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. 26
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Gender-based violence can be defined as acts that "inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty". It is a widespread issue rooted in power differences and structural inequality between men and women, although men and boys can also suffer gender-based violence. As the Secretary-General has pointed out: "Violence against women and girls makes its hideous imprint on every continent, country and culture".
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- 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. 11
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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 Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- 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. 77c
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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 Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- 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. 27
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Women fear violence by men in public toilets and open defecation sites, and along the routes leading to both. Some women and girls looking for a place to defecate have reportedly been exposed to rude remarks, brick-throwing, stabbing and rape. Gender-based violence also occurs at places to collect water, bathe and wash clothes. Abuse of boys is reportedly a common and underrecognized phenomenon, and one that receives even less attention, as shame and cultural restrictions or taboos concerning homosexuality deters boys from reporting such abuse.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- 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
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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 Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 21
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In many cultures, girls are considered adults after their first menstruation and may drop out of school, marry and start having children. Increased knowledge of menstruation by both men and women, combined with strategies to lift social taboos on menstruation, may prevent girls from being considered as adults ready for marriage but, rather, as young adolescents going through a normal phase of their development.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 70
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The participation of women on an equal footing with men and the inclusion of disadvantaged groups is an important aspect. One project aiming to provide rural dwellers with water, sanitation and hygiene services prioritized the participation of women in committees, establishing a minimum of 50 per cent women members in those forums. It is important to highlight that active and meaningful participation cannot be reduced to such quantitative requirements, but also has to do with women’s power to influence decisions, to voice their needs, to make individual choices and to control their own lives. Counting the number of heads at meetings may be accompanied by an assessment of the actual influence of women’s participation in decision-making processes (see A/HRC/33/49).
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Development cooperation and the human rights to water and sanitation 2017, para. 50
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- All six funders possess instruments that aim to underscore their cross-sectional development efforts to advance the interlinkage between water and sanitation and gender equality. Those efforts include taking steps to achieve greater equality by considering gender-differentiated needs and responsibility in households and communities; providing questions to be asked by operational teams throughout the stages of strategic planning, project implementation, assessment and monitoring; identifying and providing guidance on how to address gender-based challenges; using indicators throughout the project design and implementation stages to assess the integration of gender-related concerns; guaranteeing that projects will benefit a minimum proportion of female-headed households; and establishing monitoring, financial tracking and accountability systems to assess how equally women and men benefit from projects.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 47
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Human rights law requires that a sufficient number of sanitation facilities be available with associated services to ensure that waiting times are not unreasonably long. Many public facilities have an identical number of stalls for men and women, although in practice women and girls often have to wait in long lines to use the toilet, while men have much quicker access. The clothes women tend to wear and have to take off using the toilet require more time than for men, and women spend time assisting children using the toilet. Some States have adopted legislation in which equality requires a ratio of two women's cubicles for every cubicle provided for men.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- 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. 46
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Worldwide, there are more possibilities for men than for women to relieve themselves outside the house. Examples include the plenty free-to-use urinals for men in the capital of the Netherlands. In India, public facilities for men outnumber those for women by up to 42 per cent. The construction of public urinals to tackle open urination by men is relatively easy, as such urinals do not need to have doors and locks, have no seat to turn up, generally use less water and are therefore a relatively cheaper solution. States must set targets to scale up adequate public sanitation facilities for women and girls.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- 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. 37
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Affordability is of special concern to women and girls, who often have less access to financial resources than men. Women and girls need toilets for urination, defecation and menstrual hygiene management as well as for assisting younger children. Combined with women's lower access to financial resources, pay-per-use toilets with the same user fee for men and women are in practice often more expensive for women. Besides, public urinals are often free for men but not for women. To tackle this, the municipal government of Mumbai is currently constructing several toilet blocks the maintenance of which is financed through family passes instead of by charging a fee for each use. Some public toilets can be used free of charge by women and other groups that often lack access to economic resources, such as children and older people.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Older persons
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 29
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The fact that in many instances women and girls risk being harassed when they relieve themselves in the open or in public facilities is partly due to the structural and systematic use of stereotypes and stigma. The promotion of awareness-raising campaigns, targeted education programmes and discussion groups, among other measures, to transform both men's and women's perceptions of gender roles is therefore encouraged. Gender-based violence must be prevented and investigated, and those responsible must be prosecuted, in order to break patterns of societal acceptance of exclusion and violence based on gender norms. Recognizing that young people may grow up to be change makers, curricula in all schools should challenge gender stereotypes and encourage critical thinking.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 28
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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 Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- 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. 25
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended using innovative measures targeting the media to enhance positive and non-stereotypical portrayals of women. Several attempts have been made to "break the silence" on menstruation through the use of various forms of social media. A recent Newsweek story highlighted the everyday struggle that women experience because of their menstrual cycle by showing a photograph of a tampon on the cover. A letter to the chief executive officer of Facebook from a student in New Delhi asking him to introduce a "on my period" button on the world's largest social network has received significant online attention. Awareness-raising campaigns to inform and change the mindsets and attitudes of both men and women should be designed using all available means, including the media, at the community level and in schools, with the participation of civil society.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- 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. 24
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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 Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- 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. 20
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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 Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- 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. 18
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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 Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- 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. 16
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Worldwide, women perform unpaid jobs - mostly domestic and caregiving responsibilities - three times more than men do. Therefore, as caregivers, women are also more affected when family members get ill as a result of inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene. Women's disproportionate share of unpaid work makes them financially dependent on others and leaves them less time for education and paid work. This again reinforces gender-assigned roles and women's financial dependence on men, including in terms of their ability to pay for water, sanitation and hygiene services. In addition, States do not value or reflect unpaid domestic and care work in economic indicators. Any governmental or civil society approach that seeks to address gender inequalities needs to question existing social norms and develop measures to encourage men to share responsibilities with women.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- 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. 8
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities between genders taking into consideration the different interests, needs and priorities and recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men. Gender equality means that everyone must be able to enjoy the rights to water and sanitation equally. In order to attain substantive equality, therefore, it is necessary to address the specific gendered circumstances that act as barriers to the realization of those rights for women and girls in practice. States must assess existing legislation, policies and strategies, and find out to what extent the enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation between men and women are equally guaranteed. On the basis of that review, remedies should be provided and gender-responsive strategies should be developed that guide policymaking and the corresponding allocation of budgets. Temporary affirmative measures will in many cases be necessary.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- 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. 1
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Inequalities based on gender exist in every country and in all aspects of social life, and are echoed in the vast divides between men and women in their ability to access, manage and benefit from water, sanitation and hygiene. A large and growing body of studies suggests that women and men often have differentiated access, use, experiences and knowledge of water, sanitation and hygiene. Cultural, social, economic and biological differences between women and men consistently lead to unequal opportunities for women in the enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation, with devastating consequences for the enjoyment of other human rights and gender equality more generally.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- 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. 73
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- A project on gender-sensitive water monitoring, assessment and reporting that included several toolkits was initiated in the context of the World Water Assessment Programme. The toolkits show the difficulties inherent in using quantitative methods to capture the nuances of gendered power relations and the socioeconomic processes that create or sustain gender inequalities in access to water and sanitation. They also underscore that some women may attend meetings because regulations on participation tell them to do so but that cultural norms may keep them from speaking up or being listened to. It may therefore be useful to integrate quantitative data with qualitative methods, for meaning and interpretation. On the basis of the findings of qualitative surveys, other quantitative indicators can be developed to fill the gap left by previous indicators. Counting the number of heads at meetings may then be accompanied with indicators that include the number of contributions made in meetings by women and men and the percentage of decisions on water and sanitation adopted on the basis of those contributions.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- 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. 66
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The ability to claim rights in front of the courts is important for changing social and cultural attitudes. The courts play a role in condemning practices that reinforce gender stereotypes and can require the State or third parties to adopt measures to address them. Recently, a group of students asked the Supreme Court of India whether menstruation could be a criterion for denying women of a certain age the right to enter a temple and worship in it. The Supreme Court addressed the following questions to the administration of the Sabarimala temple: "If men can go till a point (near the temple) without undertaking austere activities, why can't women go? … Are you associating menstruation with impurity? You are making a classification. Can a biological phenomenon be a reason for discrimination? All practices are acceptable till there is no distinction between genders."
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Participation in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2014, para. 45
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- An assessment of barriers must address all types of obstacles: physical, economic, institutional, attitudinal and social. Physical barriers affect persons with disabilities, but they also relate to decisions on meeting times and childcare. Social barriers include prejudices and stereotypes. Gender norms and stereotypes play a significant role in determining what degree of control men and women exercise. In many instances, social norms legitimize women's exclusion from decision-making. Social norms explain, for instance, why authorities fail to take seriously reports of women being subjected to indignities and risks of sexual violence when accessing sanitation facilities outside their home. As the Special Rapporteur has noted elsewhere, taboos around menstruation, combined with inadequate access to water and sanitation, explain why a significant number of girls consistently lose a week of schooling each month (A/HRC/21/42, para. 22). Without a deliberate effort to draw out their own analysis and ideas, solutions will often fail to address women's and girls' needs.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Stigma and the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2012, para. 67
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The attitudes, stereotypes and prejudices that make up stigma must be uncovered and challenged. In that context, article 5 (a) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women requires States parties to take all appropriate measures "to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women". Similar provisions requiring States to combat stereotypes and prejudices are included in article 8, paragraph 1 (b) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and article 7 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The rationale of these provisions can be transferred to stigmatized groups in general, since prejudices and ideas of inferiority and superiority are central to the formation of stigma.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
25 shown of 25 entities