Asserting Women’s Economic and Social Rights in Transitions

Summary

‘Post-conflict situations provide opportunities to recast social, political and economic bases of power, opportunities for including the excluded, healing fragmentation and erasing inequalities.’

‘Equity and social justice are two aspects of this transformation, but it would be incomplete without recognising the particularity of women's sexuality and the ways society has, in the past, shaped sexual mores to determine women's secondary status in society.’

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, the international community has made some important advances in promoting gender equality and women's rights in post-conflict reconstruction programmes and transitional justice initiatives. However, these interventions have rarely been able to generate a context conducive to the realisation of economic and social justice for women. It is true that international attention to human security as a framework for post-conflict international action has opened a window of opportunity for introducing human rights in post-conflict debates and policy; yet this has not automatically translated into benefits for the inclusion of gender equality objectives in post-conflict programmes. Previous to the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, women's advocates debated whether the concept of human security would advance or, on the contrary, limit the fulfilment of gender equality objectives. While acknowledging the theoretical and strategic importance of a human security approach for women, and the overlapping nature of key human security and gender equality objectives, these debates highlight some missing dimensions in human security discussions: a focus on violence against women, gender equality in control over resources, gender equality in power and decision making, women's human rights, and women (and men) as actors, not victims. Achieving security for women during and after violent conflicts also entails making a reality the interrelated and interdependent nature of human rights. Ms. Sadako Ogata, Chair of the Advisory Board on Human Security, underscores that ‘human security, through the protection-empowerment framework, gives better means to realize human rights. It gives equal importance to civil and political as well as to economic, cultural and social rights, and thereby addresses violations in integrated and comprehensive ways.’