Source: TrustLaw
More countries have gender equality legislation on their books than ever before but many laws are inadequate and rarely if ever enforced, the first major report by the new U.N. women's agency showed on Wednesday.

While equality between women and men is guaranteed in the constitutions of 139 countries and territories, the report titled Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice paints a picture of a world in which statutes have little impact on women's lives.

"In rich and poor countries alike, the infrastructure of justice – the police, the courts and the judiciary – is failing women, which manifests itself in poor services and hostile attitudes from the very people whose duty it is to meet women's rights," the report said.

"All too often women are denied control over their bodies, denied a voice in decision-making and denied protection from violence."

Two years of research went into the report, which is packed with statistics, charts and case studies and comes a year after the launch of U.N. Women, the United Nations' body for gender equality and women empowerment.

Despite enormous strides in promoting and achieving women's rights – in 1911 women could vote in only two countries, a right that is nearly universal today – that work remains far from finished, lead author Laura Turquet told TrustLaw.

"In key ways the rule of law still rules women out, whether it is discriminatory laws or the kind of implementation gaps with laws or that the infrastructure of justice simply doesn't meet women's needs," she said. "So, I do think we do see that paradox."

Discrimination with regard to inheritance and citizenship, access to health care, education and economic resources and vulnerability to sexual and domestic violence are dangers women face when their legal rights are ignored, the report said.

"Without justice, women are disenfranchised, disempowered and denied their rightful place," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in his forward to the report.

"But with sound legal and justice systems, women can flourish and contribute to the advancement of society as a whole, including by helping to improve those very same systems for future generations – daughters and sons alike."

TEN-POINT PLAN

To that end, the report offers a 10-point prescription of what it calls "proven and achievable" steps for countries to take to make justice systems more accessible and effective for women.

1. Support women's legal organizations. "Where government-funded legal aid is limited, women's organisations step in to provide the advice and support that women need to pursue a legal case, to put a stop to violence, to seek a divorce or to claim land that is rightfully theirs."

The report cites such examples as PEKKA, a local non-governmental organisation in Indonesia that has trained community-based paralegals to help women use the religious courts to legally register marriages and divorces, enabling them to access public services and benefits.

2. Implement gender-sensitive law reform. "Without a solid legal foundation, attempts to make courts more accessible to women, police less hostile to their complaints and other necessary reforms to the administration of justice are likely to founder."

The report lists areas of progress including the fact that 173 countries guarantee paid maternity leave; 125 outlaw domestic violence; 117 have equal pay laws and 115 guarantee women's equal property rights.

On the other hand, 127 countries do not explicitly criminalize rape within marriage; 61 severely restrict women's rights to abortion and 50 have a lower legal age of marriage for women than for men.

3. Support one-stop shops to reduce the likelihood of cases being dropped as they progress through the legal system. One-stop shops would bring together vital services under one roof to collect forensic evidence and provide legal advice, health care and other support for women.

The report cites the success of South Africa's Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCCs), located in public hospitals and staffed 24/7 by specialized medical personnel, social workers and police. Conviction rates for rape cases handled by the Soweto TCC, for example, have reached 89 percent compared with a national average of 7 percent.

4. Put women on the front line of law enforcement. "Employing women on the front line of justice service delivery can help to increase women's access to justice."

In post-conflict Liberia, for example, the deployment of an all-women police brigade has boosted reporting of sexual assault and recruitment of women into the force. However, investment in training and resources is essential, as is a broader strategy to incentivize all police to adequately respond to women's needs.

5. Invest in women's access to justice. "Recognizing the importance of strengthening the rule of law, governments spend a significant amount on justice aid. However, targeted funding for gender equality remains low."

The report notes that in 2009, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development allocated $4.2 billion to justice, of which $206 million, or 5 percent, was allocated to programmes in which gender equality was a primary aim. The EU allocated no funds to justice programmes primarily aimed at gender equality in 2009.

6. Train judges and monitor decisions. "...Even where laws are in place to guarantee women's rights, they are not always properly or fairly applied by judges."

In 1996, Indian NGO Sakshi developed a programme to change deeply entrenched myths and gender stereotypes among judges. One of the participants, former Chief Justice Jagdish Sharan Verma, later used what he learned in a case involving a social worker gang-raped while doing her job.

Recognising the constitutional right to gender equality and to a safe working environment, Verma's court used the case to produce the first comprehensive legally enforceable guidelines on sexual harassment in both public and private employment.

7. Increase women's access to courts and truth commissions during and after conflict. This is particularly important in the recognition and prosecution of sexual violence committed during conflicts, including rape as a weapon of war.

8. Implement gender-responsive reparations programmes: "I think reparations are about recognising the rights of victims because often justice systems focus on punishing perpetrators," said Turquet.

Many women say reparations are needed not only to help them recover losses through practical measures such as training, micro-grants and land restitution, but also symbolically, as recognition of their suffering.

9. Use quotas to boost the number of women legislators. "In countries where women's representation in parliament increases substantially, new laws that advance women's rights often follow." This has happened, for example, in Nepal, Costa Rica, Rwanda and Spain, the report said.

10. Put gender equality at the heart of the Millennium Development Goals, the benchmarks that the international community has set to eradicate extreme poverty by 2015.

Practical steps include abolishing user fees for health care; using stipends to encourage girls to complete secondary school and delay marriage; and amplifying women's roles in decision-making at the domestic, local and national levels.

One thing all of the report's recommendations share is the need for increased investment in the targeted areas. And, when it comes to investing in women, despite the widely acknowledged return on that investment, money remains hard to find.

"It's quite remarkable when you think that UNICEF works for children and their annual budget is $3 billion a year," said Turquet, noting that first-year funding for UN Women was just $500 million.

That $500 million represents less than 1 percent of the $5 billion United Nations budget for 2010-2011, which does not include peacekeeping or the budgets of several large agencies including UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme, funded by voluntary contributions from member states and other donors.

"I think that's going to be the key challenge for UN Women," she said.

Access the interactive report site here.