GENEVA, Switzerland, June 28, 2019 — Ms. Marion Bethel, Member of. the Committee of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), currently in Geneva participating in the 41st session of the Human Rights Council being held from 24 June 24 to July 12, 2019.
She was of the panel that addressed the issue of “The Rights of Older Women and their economic empowerment” on Friday, June 28, 2019 at the Palais des Nations, Room XX, Geneva.
Discussion centered around a 2014 Report by CEDAW to the Human Rights Council, the Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice with a focus on economic crisis, which stated:
“No country has succeeded in closing the gender gap in all aspects of economic and social life. From her first days to her last, a woman’s experiences will inevitably be marked by the expectations, beliefs, stereotypes, values, opportunities, roles and responsibilities associated with being female in her culture. While every girl is unique and every woman’s life is different, in all societies they share certain aspects of quality of life as a result of living in a gendered and patriarchal reality. Gender discrimination and inequality manifest themselves at all stages of women’s life cycle.”
Following up on that statement, the CEDAW website noted, “Economic empowerment and the quality of life of older women is dependent on the earlier phases and stages of their life cycle. We know that stereotyping as a girl child in the home and at school, lack of decent work or precarious work, participation in the informal labour market, unpaid care work throughout girls’ and women’s lives, interrupted work or career patterns and maternity all play a significant role in determining women’s opportunities for economic empowerment throughout their life cycle and especially at an older age.”
Continuing, the website added, “Economic and social rights have a particular significance for women, especially older women, because they profoundly impact issues of poverty, inequality and economic empowerment. Throughout women’s life cycle and lived daily experiences, they know the significance of ensuring enough food, clean water, housing, health services and education for their families. They know firsthand their interrupted work life due to child rearing, care-giving during illness for family members and the insecurity of participation in the informal economy.
“Further, women know they are affected disproportionately by the availability of social programs and policies that ensure health care, education, child care, housing, food and water. When the State fails to provide these services, women and girls become the principal unpaid providers for these family needs. In these ways, their life opportunities and quality of life are limited and further, access to adequate social security benefits when they are older may be severely diminished.”
The website said the CEDAW General Recommendation No. 27 of 2010 “acknowledges that the full development and advancement of women cannot be achieved without taking a life cycle approach, recognizing and addressing the different stages of women’s lives — childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age — and their impact on enjoyment of human rights by older women.”
“States Parties have an obligation to ensure that the principles of gender equality and non-discrimination apply throughout the life cycle in their laws, policies and programmes,” the website states. “This GR addresses the key issues of enacting laws and policies that prohibit age and gender-based discrimination in the work place, in access to all social and health services inclusive of continuing life-long education and social security in older age. Further, it addresses feminization of poverty and the economic empowerment of older women and their rights to a productive, healthy life. Older women who are members of minority, ethnic or indigenous groups, or who are widowed or divorced, internally displaced or stateless and refugee women often experience a higher degree of discrimination as do older women in armed conflict and those affected by climate change or natural disaster.”
Continuing, the website adds, “Substantive equality, non-discrimination and State obligations are the pillars of advocacy on the economic and social rights of older women and, therefore, their economic empowerment. The right to substantive equality means that women and men must be treated equally, both in law and in fact. Thus, the State must repeal discriminatory laws, enact laws that protect the rights of older women on a basis of equality with men and also ensure that other laws do not result in indirect discrimination.
“In other words, the State must bring about an actual and lived experience of equality by older women. Substantive equality means that older women have equal access and opportunities that result in equality in actual fact. In this way, the State must remove obstacles to equality by proactively providing enabling conditions for older women in the form of affirmative action policies and programmes that take into account historical discrimination.
“For example, maternity leave, social security and childcare should be available to both formal and informal workers. As emphasized by the Beijing Platform for Action, economic structures and policies that advance women’s equality including access to land and credit must be targeted. The State must also address social and cultural norms, including stereotypes and patriarchal values that prevent older women from enjoying their rights. State obligations mean that the State is the primary actor responsible for ensuring respect, protection and fulfillment of the rights for older women as set out in CEDAW and GR 28 on States obligations.”
The website stressed that in order for older women “to experience economic empowerment, States Parties must provide a support system and collateral free microcredit to older women and affordable transportation to enable older women to participate in economic and social life, including community activities.”
It adds, “States must recognize their right to social security, including social insurance that provides them with a social protection floor of the minimum goods and services required for a dignified life. States must also ensure equalization of the compulsory retirement age for both men and women and ensure that women receive equal benefits in both public and private pension schemes and guarantee adequate maternity leave for women, paternity leave for men, and parental leave for both women and men as required.
“In conclusion, CEDAW and GR 27 recognise that economic independence empowers women at all stages of their lives to make decisions in their personal lives in regard to maternity, marriage and participation in public life. Further, it is vital that States put in place programmes promoting women’s economic independence and that women are Equal participants and actors in designing social and economic policies, not merely beneficiaries of these measures. This also calls on States to carry out gender-impact analyses of their laws, both before and after enactment, in developing strategies in economic and social policies for women and, in particular, older women.”
