56th session of the Human Rights Council: Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women

Posted in: Free our Family Laws July 18, 2024
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56th session of the Human Rights Council: Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women

Opening statement delivered by Hyshyama Hamin on behalf of the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law (GCEFL) as part of Panel 2: Human rights economy and women human rights (28th June 2024)

Good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity. It’s an honour to be here with you today. I am speaking on behalf of the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Laws – a coalition of women’s rights, human rights, and faith-based organizations to advocate for gender equality under the law in matters relating to families in all their diversity, regardless of religion and culture. 

No country worldwide has achieved full legal equality between women and men, according to the World Bank. And we know, inequality often starts in the family. 

Women and girls globally are affected by discriminatory family laws and practices, which consequently have multiple intersecting impacts in all other areas of their lives. Inequality in family law limits women and girls’ right to education, employment, economic independence, and full participation in society. It further increases their risk of gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices such as child and forced marriage. 

Gender discrimination in the family and impacts on women’s economic rights 

According to a recent report on progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, 1 in every 10 women globally lives in extreme poverty. Addressing discrimination in family laws offers one way to contribute to poverty elimination in many countries where the lack of economic rights and security of women is intrinsically linked to unequal family laws and practices. 

At the Global Campaign, we have noted from multiple contexts, especially in the Middle East, Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, that unequal family laws and practices impact the financial rights of women. These family laws can affect a majority of a country’s population or specific minority communities based on customs, traditions, ethnicity, or religion. 

At the household and family level, these family laws and practices impact everything from enter into marriage and unions, rights during marriage and unions, at the time of dissolution, and thereafter. According to the World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2024 report, of 190 economies,  76 countries restrict women’s property rights; 19 countries have laws that allow husbands to legally prevent their wives from working; 43 countries do not grant widows the same inheritance rights as widowers, and 41 countries prevent daughters from inheriting the same portion of assets as sons.

In my country, Sri Lanka – the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) of 1951 which applies to the minority Muslims does not require the bride to be present during the marriage ceremonies, nor sign the marriage documents – denying us full autonomy. An inequality I experienced myself. Child marriage continues to be legal under the MMDA, robbing Muslim girls’ of their right to childhood and denying them educational and economic opportunities; the divorce procedures are highly unequal for women; and there are no guidelines to calculate alimony nor the recognition of women’s rights to matrimonial property. The Ministry of Justice has just announced upcoming reform to the MMDA, which we welcome. We hope the government of Sri Lanka will soon enact comprehensive reforms on all these issues to ensure greater equality and fulfill its international legal obligations.

Many countries lack provisions for adequately calculating maintenance and alimony. In most Global South countries the division of marital property is not recognised or calculated equitably nor accounts for women’s unpaid care work and non-monetary contribution. 

Women perform 2.8X more unpaid care work than men, which is largely invisible and unaccounted for in national economies. Even when women do work, they may have limited control over their earnings. 

During critical emergencies, like pandemics, economic and climate crises, and conflict, women experience a sharp increase in informal care work in their families and communities, including child and elderly care and household and communal work. As a result, women and girls are especially vulnerable to multiple layers of discrimination because at the very root of the matter – their rights, including economic rights, are hindered in the basic unit of society, the family. 

Academics and researchers who have studied World Bank data found that  “women’s legal capacity – their ability to act and make choices independently…about money, travel, work, property, and children – by far is the strongest predictor of the share of women with bank accounts, the share of women who participate in firm ownership, and female labor force participation.” 

Simply put, as stated in the CEDAW General Recommendation 29 on Article 16  – Family market research has established that family structures and gendered labor division within the family and family laws affect women’s economic well-being no less than labor market structures and labor laws.

Positive impacts of equal family laws and practices 

The good news is that the positive impacts of equal family laws and practices on women’s economic rights are far-reaching. There is compelling multi-country evidence that shows that women with economic autonomy and access are more likely to spend on fulfilling the basic and essential needs of their families and communities, such as by prioritizing their children’s education, nutrition, and healthcare.

Women’s economic rights grant them greater access to loans, insurance, and social protection schemes like pensions, reducing the likelihood of old-age poverty and providing them and their families more resilience in crises.

This has a domino effect. Global data that analyses women’s labor force participation shows that accelerated progress toward gender equality can result in huge economic gains for a country.                                                                                                                                    

Despite numerous challenges and risk of repraisals, women’s rights groups worldwide have been mobilising and advocating for reforms to their family laws for generations. But progress on reforms has been painfully slow. 

We have the following key recommendations for all member states to accelerate progress: 

  1. The international community must prioritise and promote egalitarian family laws and practices; 
  2. All States must ensure their family laws and practices are aligned with CEDAW’s Article 16, and the core human rights treaties. Lifting of reservations and full implementation of Article 16 must be a priority; 
  3. Family laws for all citizens, regardless of tradition, ethnicity or religious belief must

ensure that child marriage is prohibited; women have full autonomy to enter into marriage; have full equality and rights within marriage and unions, including the right to pursue gainful employment and maintain control over assets and finances; and right to the fair dissolution of marriage and unions; 

  1. Family laws must recognise and promote equal inheritance rights for children and widowed spouses and equitable distribution of marital property, accounting for financial and non-financial contributions. 

It is all towards the goal that transforming gender and power relations, and the systemic structures, norms and values that underpin them, is critical to challenging inequality within families and will have a lasting and snowball effect towards achieving gender equality. 

So any and all actors who are invested in gender equality must recognise and support family law reform as a priority. 

Thank you.

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