How to ensure gender equality and women’s rights

Transcript:How to ensure gender equality and women’s rights:
How to ensure gender equality and women’s rights are constitutionally enshrined? Botswana Constitutional Review: from a gender perspective By Vanilde Furtado, 10th February 2022 How to build a political momentum to ensure gender equality and women’s rights are constitutionally enshrined? Constitutions and their effective implementation are one of many factors that ultimately lead to substantive gender equality; A well-designed, gender responsive constitution may enable women to assert their rights, enjoy full and equal citizenship, and participate in political decision-making and public life on an equal footing with men; Continued negotiation and advocacy is needed to promote both women’s participation in constitutional review process as well as constitutional outcomes that support gender equality and women’s rights. Constitutional Review Processes A constitutional moment: political decision, trigged by a national need Setting the agenda: parties involved have to negotiate and agree on the guiding principles, structure, membership and procedures of the constitutional review body. Consulting, negotiation, designing and adopting a constitution: while drafting and negotiation of the constitutional content takes place within a constitutional review body, this process is often influenced and supported by actors outside of the formal process, such as civil society, legal experts, international NGOs and UN agencies. Many constitutional processes also include one or more rounds of public consultation. Implementing the constitution: after a constitution is promulgated, the work of realizing hard-won rights and protections begins. HOW advocates from feminist movements, gender machineries, constitutional review bodies, parliamentary caucuses, law reform commissions, the UN System and others can advance and advocate for women’s rights ? A shared gender agenda for constitutional review; A strong inclusive and diverse coalition around gender agenda and strong alliance with different stakeholders, including decision makers, at national and local levels and work closely with the constitutional commission Continuous negotiation and advocacy for women’s participation and gender outcomes Participation, civic education & social mobilization, coordination, strong alliances, advocacy and lobbying, support Advancing gender equality begins with women’s PARTICIPATION in constitutional review processes Women’s representation in constitutional review bodies (where are women?) https://www.mmegi.bw/news/masisi-appoints-commission-of-inquiry-on-constitutional-review/news (only 5 out of 19 members are women; both chair person and vice-chair person are males; a secretariat of 5 people, being 4 women) How to maximize the equal participation of women in all stages of constitutional review? Making the case for women’s participation (a matter of principle, but also anchored in normative frameworks, such as CEDAW (art 7); Beijing Platform of Action… Women