Session 6
What Strategies Are We Using To Promote Women’s Economic Equality?
Strategies used by the Legal Resources Centre
- Sharita Samuel (South Africa)
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is a non-governmental organization that uses law as an instrument of justice; more particularly LRC uses the South African constitutional framework. The LRC’s work is premised on the belief that the constitution should do what it promises: it should contribute to social and economic equality in South Africa, and as such address the biggest problem in South Africa today which is poverty. The LRC’s work can be classified according to the following categories:
Increasing the allocation of resources. The LRC undertakes research and litigation that will actually reduce poverty rather than allowing one poor community to benefit at the expense of another poor community. This is complicated in practice, but what is needed is a net increase of resources, not a shifting of resources from one community to another.
Changing Power Relations: The LRC undertakes work aimed at changing power relations. This will only come about if effective legal representation is available to poor communities and if their participation in decision-making processes is ensured.
Increasing the Skills of Poor People: The LRC also focuses its efforts on work, which will increase or improve the skills of poor people. This has medium to long-term benefits. Lack of education is a real problem in South Africa, especially for poor girls. Legal work that effects positive change to the education system will have a real impact on poverty.
Courts need to be encouraged to engage the question of poverty and the myth of non-justiciability of economic and social rights claims must be dispelled. However, even if courts are open to social and economic rights claims, they are uncomfortable making decisions that have major implications for budget allocation. Which cases are most strategic to encourage the re-allocation of resources to the benefit of poor communities? The South African courts are unlikely to flinch at the consequences of enforcing equality. Because poverty is disproportionately a condition of black people and women, poverty issues are also equality issues. At the same time, it is important to continue pressing for the enactment of legislation that gives specific form and content to social and economic rights, as this makes it easier to enforce them. This also raises the question of developing effective remedies.
Under apartheid, most litigation was targeted at stopping the government from doing something, such as forced removals. This depended on particular interpretations of the law to ensure relief. This is still an important aspect of LRC’s work, but public interest lawyers are seeking something more ambitious than interdicts - we are trying to compel the government to do something. There is a gap between policy and implementation in South Africa. The Constitution’s good intentions are mirrored in many laws and policies, but these have not been effectively implemented yet.
In particular, the government is either inattentive, incompetent, or intransigent. An inattentive government is the easiest to address. A court order can point out the government’s oversight and compel the government to act. Incompetence and intransigence, however, usually require ongoing legal action against the agency concerned. This normally requires obtaining a contempt of court order against an individual or department where the legislation is not being upheld. This is resource-intensive, but can be effective.
Structural Adjustment Programmes, Challenging the World Bank in Argentina
- Julieta Rossi (Argentina)
CELS (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales) in Argentina undertook a case to address the suspension of a food relief programme, “Pro-Huerto”, designed to provide nutritional support to communities living in poverty. The programme was eliminated as a result of a structural adjustment policy implemented by the World Bank through a loan agreement entered into with Argentina. CELS was approached for assistance by a group of women who suffered because of the suspension of the programme. Because of the disparate impact of structural adjustment policies on women, CELS believes it is important to address the discriminatory effects arising out of such policies and to file appropriate claims to protect and promote women’s rights. After much discussion as to the most effective avenue to pursue to address the women’s situation (court or the inspection panel), CELS decided to respond by taking the case to the World Bank Inspection Panel.
The World Bank Inspection Panel, established in 1993, is an independent mechanism created by the World Bank to hear complaints by those who believe they have been adversely affected by World Bank projects in a manner not in keeping with World Bank guidelines and policies. The Panel is comprised of three members. Two or more people can request that the Panel investigates a claim if they can show that they believe the Bank has violated its own guidelines, that they have been affected by those violations and their efforts to have their concerns addressed have not been satisfied.
Once those affected present the claim, the Panel analyzes whether it satisfies the admissibility requirements. If it does, the Panel registers the claim and transmits it to the Bank’s President who then refers it to the Administrative Management. The Administrative Management recommends whether an investigation should go forward. If an investigation is ordered it is undertaken by one or more members of the Panel. They can review the Bank’s files, visit the site and speak with affected parties.
CELS, representing the community affected by the suspension of the Pro-Huerto programme, passed through all of the stages of the Inspection Panel process. An investigation was undertaken and a final report and recommendations were released. It was concluded that both the Bank and the Argentine government had violated loan conditions. As a result of the Inspection Panel’s investigation, the government of Argentina re-instated the funding required to sustain the Pro-Huerto programme.
Despite this success, CELS faced a dilemma in this case. CELS was concerned that while a victory would result in the enforcement of economic and social rights, on the other hand it would be done in the context of a structural adjustment programme and World Bank mechanisms, and would legitimate both the economic policy and the institution.
Women, Human Rights and Budget Analysis
- Helena Hofbauer (Mexico)
Budgets are one of the main policy instruments of any government. Despite this, budgets are often inaccessible to the public. They are very technical, but they encompass the government’s priorities very clearly. It is important to give the budget back to the people. It is equally important to relate the budget back to specific government policies, demographics, and statistical information and international commitments in order to give meaning to the series of numbers that appear in a budget. Budget analysis is a thorough and detailed review of the budget. It involves the collection, study and interpretation of budget data, as well as the correlation of budget data with other relevant information. Budget analysis seeks to give ordinary people the means to engage with the government in a crucial decision-making process that affects their lives directly.
Macro-economic policies are not gender-neutral. Budget as a macro-economic instrument within each country reproduces the discrimination women experience in every area of life. Budgets are formulated in a way that blatantly ignores the different roles undertaken by different members of society, especially gendered roles. Sex disaggregated information is essential if we are to see and understand the inequalities women experience in social and economic realms. However, most countries do not have disaggregated information.
A large campaign has been launched in Mexico to address the absence of detailed information regarding budgetary resources allocated to women. This project is a conscious effort to draw the government into practicing gender mainstreaming within budgets. It is not just the allocation of more money to women that is being encouraged it is also more transparency on behalf of government as to precisely where and how much money is being allocated to women. For example, in 1999 the project managed to secure a commitment from government that 50% of poverty relief funds would go to women. While this appeared to be a victory, the lack of disaggregated information meant it was impossible to monitor whether in fact this 50% target was being met. In response, FUNDAR, Centro de Analisis e Investigacion, has used different methodological frameworks to try to measure whether there was any change.
There are 4 main features, which underlie the Mexican government’s poverty relief programme (a programme which is derived from international financial organizations). These features are major structural impediments to women receiving 50% of the poverty reduction funds. The features are:
Focalization: This means that anti-poverty programmes should focus on the poorest in society. This would imply a focus on women living in poverty, as women constitute the poorest in most societies. In the Mexican programme this is not happening because the programme makes a distinction between transitional poverty and structural poverty. The latter is seen as poverty that is beyond reform and therefore not worth putting money into. Not surprisingly, only three programmes are actually targeting women, comprising only 4.8% of the total allocation to anti-poverty programmes.
Participation of beneficiaries: This mean that potential beneficiaries should be consulted. However, potential beneficiaries are not being consulted to define the problem or to find solutions. Participation has been translated into co-responsibility and therefore a sharing of cost. Participation is restricted to the operational level. As a result, the programmes are quite cost-efficient because the burden of the programmes is being born by the women through their unpaid work.
Efficiency and equity: Efficiency is only understood in financial terms. Output is evaluated, but not outcome. No real sense of the quality of the programme can be developed this way. The effects on lives of women and the poor in general are disregarded. The way the programmes are framed makes it impossible for most women to access them. Gender issues are not taken into account.
Decentralisation: Decentralisation has been welcomed in Mexico by municipal governments because of the concentration of resources within the federal government. Municipal and State-level structures have decided within a legal framework what will be done with this decentralized money. However, no attempt has been made to include women in the decision-making processes regarding the selection of infrastructure projects.
In light of these four features of the anti-poverty programme, it is unlikely that women will receive 50% of the poverty reduction funds promised them by the government. It has been impossible to determine the concrete amount of money being spent on women in each of the programmes because of the lack of disaggregated data. This lack of disaggregated data illustrates the disregard for gender as an important aspect of the poverty alleviation strategy.
International examples from South Africa, Australia and Tanzania indicate that there is no easy way to mainstream gender into budgets or to access gender implications of budgets. This is a long-term process, and one that requires broad national and international partnerships and collaborative work. Nonetheless, it is a major step forward to simply demystify the budget for citizens.
Popular Education and Grassroots Organizing
- Joy Butts (U.S.A.)
Popular education is essential to develop the capacity of poor women to work for the realization of their own human rights. The Kensington Welfare Union, founded by three women who were welfare recipients, is an organization of poor people, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that advocates for the economic human rights of its members and other poor residents of the U.S.A. One of the Union’s effective means of providing popular education is a program broadcast on local cable television called “Marching On.” Each segment of the program focuses on one of the rights in the ICESCR and gives that right concrete meaning. A goal of the program is to ensure that people can relate to rights and connect them to their lives and struggles.
The Union has developed a video project that documents violations of people’s human rights in the U.S.A., and the poor people’s economic human rights campaign. This is also a popular education tool.
Poor people in the U.S.A. are in a particularly contradictory situation, living in poverty in the wealthiest country in the world, a country that endorses human rights, but has signed no international human rights treaties. Women and men living in poverty in the U.S. can, however, petition the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, a body of the Organization of American States, of which the U.S.A. is a member. The Union filed a petition in 1999 and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission is in the process of dealing with it. The petition claims that the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act “violates the obligation of the United States under binding regional and international instruments and norms, progressively to improve the enjoyment of economic and social rights and to eliminate discrimination… based on sex, race, economic status, property, marital status and age.” This petition is highly significant for poor women in the Western hemisphere, since it will reveal whether the Commission is an effective forum for complaints related to poverty and economic inequality.
Whatever the outcome, however, the petition has already shown itself to be a highly effective educational tool, since it has highlighted for U.S. citizens and residents the ongoing violations of economic and social rights that are occurring in their midst.
Discussion
Litigation as a strategy has an important role to play in claiming economic, social and cultural rights as discussed earlier in the Grootboom case. It is important to have post-litigation strategy as well. For example, how does one use a litigation loss in order to move forward in a positive direction?
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Litigation does work as a complement to other strategies, including education on human rights. Courts can be effective in bringing about structural change. The difficulty is in translating human rights law for communities at the grassroots level.
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In the case of South Africa, it will get progressively more difficult to get cases into court on grounds of socio-economic rights. What is needed is to work on alleviation of poverty on a large scale since poverty will get worse within the neo-liberal economic policies. The challenge is to compel the government to put in place poverty alleviation strategies.
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The drafting and finalizing of the budget is often a closed process. Defining the budget happens behind closed doors in most countries, and many parliaments cannot change budgets, only approve or not. Demystifying the budget is an essential first step. People on the ground need to understand the budget in order to communicate with policy makers.
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The South African Parliament is still transforming from the British system, and this includes the budget, which is inaccessible to the public. This lack of transparency is now being discussed at the parliamentary level. Parliament has an important role to play here.
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In the case of Australia, women have lost what they had gained in previous decades. Currently, the women’s statistics unit has been disbanded in addition to other units, which examined the budget from a gender perspective. One of the reasons for this failing was that the work of these units was never institutionalized. The rhetoric accompanying these losses is “mainstreaming”. This comes from the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as other sources. Also the Beijing Platform recommended that women work with men - the Office for the Status of Women has adopted this as a justification for disbanding women-focused agencies.
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Groups need to intervene in the first stage of the budgetary process. Gender can only be comprehensively introduced if it takes place in this first stage. For example, in Australia there was no ownership outside government.
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The World Bank is threatening the sovereignty of nations. Asking the World Bank to intervene gives legitimacy to its tendency to interfere, and to its power over governments. Their review procedures are unreliable. This is highlighted by the following example from a 1997 World Bank intervention in Lagos. Two communities were evicted and homes were demolished. There was no resettlement or compensation as a result. The communities were not consulted at any stage. A meeting between World Bank officials and affected members of the evicted communities did not happen because World Bank investigators refused to go into the rural area at the arranged time. While the World Bank officials agreed that there had been serious violations, the Investigation Panel eventually only agreed to compensate one community, and to date the awarded compensation has not been paid.
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Legal discourse gets better and conditions get worse. International groups and activists need to talk about ways of working with communities of women. What about implementing existing laws, working with existing structures, and strategising more at the grassroots level?
Session 7
Planning Next Steps
Participants offered these comments regarding ongoing work:
Making efforts to strengthen the instruments of the United Nations and its bodies and agencies is necessary to improve their capacity to respond to the increasing power of transnational corporations and multilateral organizations, such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund;
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Using instruments such as the revised OECD Guidelines for Multilateral Companies to hold transnational corporations accountable may assist. Although the complaints
mechanisms are weak, if effectively utilized by NGOs, they could prove to be useful. National contact points should be developed. Civil society organizations in the developed countries, which are vocal on holding TNCs based in the North
accountable must link up with NGOs in the South that are working towards similar goals. The OECD Revised Guidelines allow the following issues to be raised: environment; human rights; and labour rights;
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Empowering the poorest women is key. Women need to make effective use of media; affiliation with trade unions, and mass education of women at the grassroots level;
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Developing more opportunities for inter-disciplinary, representative fora where women can develop strategies to support the realization of substantive equality and women’s social and economic rights is essential;
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Raising issues of women’s poverty and material inequality, and violations of women’s social and economic rights before all UN Committees will be important. The CEDAW, CERD and Human Rights Committees should all be asked to deal with social and economic inequality as violations of guarantees of equality based on sex, race, disability, and other factors, as well as violations of liberty and security;
Lobbying for the adoption of an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which would permit the CESCR to adjudicate complaints regarding violations, will be a crucial strategy, given concerns about the
distinction made between civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, and assumptions regarding the unenforceability of social and economic rights;
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The adoption of a General Comment on Women by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be a central goal of the work on women’s social and economic equality. This will involve:
i) interaction with the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
ii) identifying interested UN agencies and departments to obtain their support and input;
iii) consulting with more women from different sectors and regions;
iv) publishing papers regarding women’s social and economic rights and the essential content of a Draft General Comment on Women.