THE WOMEN'S WATCH
Volume 10, No. 2
December 1996
THE IMPOSSIBLE TAKES A LITTLE LONGER
An American joke goes: "the possible we do immediately.
The impossible takes a little longer." Editing Women's Watch
is always a journey through the difficult to the possible,
and on to what seemed, not too long ago, impossible. This
issue includes a significant number of items that can be characterized
as having moved from the difficult to the possible-because
they are about the interplay of culture and law, which is
always difficult but full of possibility. Generations of women
and men have worked to change laws to improve women's lives,
usually challenging culture and the expectations of both sexes.
They consistently find that, at the end of the day, law is
not enough, but it makes everything possible.
It is easy to discount the power of the law and to become
discouraged at the slow pace of change. Countless cases of
violence against women are documented despite comprehensive
laws in many countries. Sex discrimination in employment-from
wage inequity to brutal harassment-continues despite laws
against it. Constitutions guarantee equality before the law
but inequality persists.
But the laws against domestic violence provide a vehicle
for at least some women to confront their partners and change
or escape the situation, and the issues are being stated with
a clarity that was unknown twenty years ago, before domestic
violence laws existed anywhere in the world. Laws against
female genital mutilation, where enforced, give pause to those
who would claim that FGM is culturally inescapable, and can
result in fewer girls being mutilated.
An employment discrimination case recently decided in Japan-the
first it its history-could not have been brought if there
were no law to support it. While the victory seemingly took
forever (the case was brought in 1987), it establishes an
acknowledgment of discrimination from which there is no going
back. In fact, the government has recognized that the current
discrimination law is inadequate and suggested improvements
that could not have been proposed ten years ago when the law
was enacted.
The constitutional right to equal protection of the law
is the foundation of countless successful cases, including
Unity Dow's nationality case in Botswana and Sara Longwe's
case on women's access to public spaces in Zambia. In both
places the culture remains conservative and every bit of progress
must be fought for-even to the point of suing again, as may
happen in Zambia-but without the legally stated right, no
case could be made at all, and women would remain trapped
by culture.
Law sometimes is ahead of culture and can be extremely difficult
to enforce when that is so. But culture can be dragged into
the present when people use the law. The International Women's
Rights Action Watch is currently undertaking a study of affirmative
action to eliminate the effects of sex discrimination. Affirmative
action-referred to in CEDAW Convention Article 4 as "temporary
special measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between
women and men"-can only be established in a context in which
law and policy provide for elimination of discrimination.
It is the logical, practical next step after enactment of
law. It is a legally sanctioned method of dragging culture
into the present. And it was impossible until the law, in
the hands of a few creative judges and legislators, made it
possible.
Affirmative action programs have been developed in a number
of countries in the areas of employment, education, and political
participation. In many places they are so new that no reasonable
attempt can be made to measure results. Where affirmative
action has been in place for many years, as in the US, useful
measures of results are rare but reactions and opinions are
all too easy to come by. Indeed, the vehemence of the reaction
may be the best measure of affirmative action's success in
making possible what seemed impossible less than a generation
ago.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION - Convention Articles 2
and 3
Thirteen women
employed at the US Army base at Fort Bliss, Texas have brought
a class-action sex discrimination suit against the Army, claiming
they were passed over for promotions, fondled and subjected
to crude sexual remarks. The women-all of them current
or former civilian employees-complained of years of sexual
harassment and discrimination by military and civilian officials.
They had complained individually in the past to supervisors,
military officials and the Army's Equal Employment Opportunity
Office. The complaints precede recent charges of sexual harassment
and rape at the Aberdeen, Maryland, Army training base. The
US Army is currently undergoing massive scrutiny, with charges
of sexual harassment and rape surfacing at a number of bases
throughout the US.
The UN and
its specialized agencies offer mixed response to blatant abuses
of women's human rights in Afghanistan. After Taliban
turned Kabul into the world's largest prison for women, UN
Secretary General Boutros-Ghali issued a statement in October,
1996, threatening withdrawal of UN aid unless the government
abides by the guarantees of equality stated in the UN Charter
and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The statement
was underscored in a UN document issued October 31. This is
the first time the UN had so unequivocally conditioned aid
on observance of human rights, and particularly the human
rights of women. A Monitoring Committee consisting of UN,
NGO and donor representatives was established, empowered to
review international assistance negotiations to ensure the
rights of female staff and aid beneficiaries. However, in
the annual consolidated appeal for international aid to Afghanistan
issued by UNOCHA and UNDP in late 1996, no reference is made
to the monitoring of women's rights in the aid process. It
is essential that all donors insist that aid distribution
and program implementation in Afghanistan include reference
to the UN's own gender equality mandate. Citizens of donor
countries may contact their own international aid agency to
inquire about this. For information and notes of concern directly
to the UN: Secretary General Kofi Annan, fax (212) 963-4879;
Assistant Secretary General Rosario Green, fax (212) 963-5964;
Elizabeth Langdon, UNOCHA, fax (212) 963-9489.
In direct contravention
of a court ruling, a major hotel in Lusaka, Zambia, prevents
unaccompanied women from entering the hotel's public spaces.
In November 1996 Elizabeth Mwanza was told by a security guard
at the Holiday Inn that she could not enter the hotel because
she was unaccompanied by a man. In 1992 Sara Longwe won a
suit against the Lusaka Inter-Continental Hotel, invalidating
the same policy at that hotel on grounds of sex discrimination
as prohibited by the Constitution and the CEDAW Convention.
Mwanza plans to sue the Holiday Inn. Meanwhile, since Zambia
became a multiparty state, the Constitution has been amended
to narrow protection against sex discrimination and, although
more women than in the past ran for election to Parliament,
only eleven won (out of 150 seats) in the November 18 elections.
VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN - Convention Articles 3, 5, 6, 12, 15 and 16
A new US immigration
law criminalizes female genital mutilation (FGM) practiced
in the United States. The 1996 amendment to the US Immigration
and Naturalization Act outlaws the performance of FGM on girls
under 18. The law notes that "such mutilation infringes upon
the guarantees of rights secured by Federal and State law,
both statutory and constitutional." Penalties are fines and/or
imprisonment of up to five years. Exceptions are made for
cases in which genital surgery, performed by a physician,
is necessary to protect a young woman's health and for surgical
procedures related to childbirth. The measure also orders
the Immigration and Naturalization Service to provide information
to any visa-holder arriving from a country where FGM is widely
practiced detailing both the harmful physical and psychological
effects of FGM and the penalties for performing FGM or allowing
a child under one's care to undergo mutilation. The new policies
take effect in April 1997.
According to news
reports, immigrant and refugee families from countries in
which FGM is practiced are struggling with the new law. Some
parents interviewed by journalists have indicated that they
will take their daughters out of the country to have them
mutilated according to custom. Others indicate that it is
time the practice ends so their daughters do not suffer as
they have. Caseworkers, doctors, and government lawyers are
still coming to grips with FGM as a violation of federal law,
reluctant to take action that may have a harsh impact on families
already under stress. But the law does not provide any exception
for persons who did not know of it or for a defense based
on cultural practice. The only way the tradition of mutilating
girls will be altered is by consistent efforts at education
and, when necessary, legal intervention.
Scholars and
social workers say wife-beating remains an integral part of
life in many Korean homes. In one recent survey, forty-two
percent of South Korean women said they had been beaten by
their husbands at least once. "Women should be beaten at least
once every three days," declares an old saying in loose translation.
Eleven shelters for battered wives have been set up around
South Korea, and reports of wife-beating are on the increase.
Though wife-beating is clearly a crime in law, it is still
regarded as purely a family matter and the police are reluctant
to get involved.
Winnie Wan-ru
Pong, a leading feminist activist in Taiwan, died as a result
of a sexual assault on November 30, 1996. A taxi driver
is sought as the alleged killer. Ms. Pong was the director
of Department for Women Development in the Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP). The attack occurred on her way back to her hotel
after her meeting with leaders of the DPP local machine in
Gaoxiong City to discuss a bill for promotion of women's political
empowerment.
The child sex
trade is becoming rampant in Cambodia. Cambodia is fast becoming
Asia's favorite destination for sex tourists and pedophiles,
many of whom arrive on organized tours from Europe and other
Asian countries. According to WIN News (No. 3, 1996),
tour operators appeal to Chinese clients from Taiwan, Hong
Kong and mainland China with promises of female virgins, which
are highly prized in Chinese culture because they are reputed
to have a rejuvenating effect on men who sleep with them.
Some tour operators offer "AIDS-free" sex with children. Two
decades of civil war have left children in Cambodia especially
vulnerable. Few children have birth certificates so they are
harder to trace when they vanish. The trade in young boys
is less overt but also on the increase.
POLITICAL AND
PUBLIC LIFE - Convention Articles 7 & 8
Women in Namibia
have an opportunity to make traditional authority more woman-oriented,
but it has not happened yet. The Traditional Authorities
Act, dealing with the role of traditional authorities in independent
Namibia, was passed in September 1995. Under the Act, traditional
leaders have a duty to promote affirmative action, in particular
by appointing women to leadership positions (two women currently
are traditional leaders). However, the law has no enforcement
mechanisms. Sister Namibia (July-Aug 1996) reports that events
at the first national conference of traditional authorities,
held in 1996 in Windhoek, indicated that it is not enough
to demand more power for women without offering them support
in taking new challenges. Although 27 women were part of the
official delegations and therefore had the right to participate
in the discussions, only a few did so. A planned session on
affirmative action which would have dealt with promoting women
as leaders was effectively removed from the conference agenda.
The city of
Khartoum, Sudan, has ordered the separation of sexes in public
to conform with strict Muslim law. According to the New
York Times, the "public order law," issued by the Khartoum
Council, dictates that the barriers be used at weddings, parties
and picnics and prohibits certain other practices perceived
as inappropriate in an Islamic society. It also requires buses
to display a verse from the Qu'ran asking Muslims to avoid
looking at members of the opposite sex, and women are not
permitted to sit near the driver. The new law does not require
wearing of the veil, but it orders women working in restaurants
not to wear jewelry or perfume. Women who do late-night shopping
must be accompanied by a male relative. Women's sporting events
must be held in private, and the athletes will not be permitted
to wear tight-fitting clothes. Men were ordered to cover their
bodies well. Male students will be separated from females
in private schools, as they already are in public schools.
The Government has exempted the Sudan's southern Christians
from Islamic laws.
A network of
women in decision-making positions in the Eastern African
Sub-region has been formed. The Forum for Women in Democracy
(FOWODE), a Women's NGO based in Uganda, has been chosen to
coordinate the network activities in its initial stage. For
more information contact: Ms. Winnie Byanyima MP, FOWODE,
8th Floor, Embassy House, Parliament Avenue, PO Box 7176,
Kampala, Uganda. Tel.: (256) 41 242130; Fax: (256) 41 242123,
(256) 41 257824; e-mail: [email protected].
HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS - Convention Articles 10, 12, 14 and 16
South Africa
has replaced one of the world's most stringent abortion laws
with one of the most liberal. The Choice On Termination
of Pregnancy Bill was passed by the Senate on November 5,
1996. The bill will eliminate an existing law allowing abortion
only in the case of rape, incest or immediate danger to the
mother's mental or physical health. Under the new law, women
and girls will be entitled to a state-financed abortion on
request during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy if they
have no private medical insurance, and, subject to widely
defined conditions, for a further eight weeks. Despite strong
protest by opposition parties and interest groups, the law
does not require parental notification or consent for minors
to have an abortion. Doctors and midwives must advise a minor
to consult her parents, but the law specifically states that
the abortion will not be denied if the minor refuses to inform
her parents. Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma said that it could
take several months before the Health Department would be
able to put the new law into effect.
The Polish
Parliament has passed a liberalized abortion law. On October
24, 1996, the lower house overturned a Senate veto to establish
a legal right to abortion before the twelfth week of pregnancy
if a woman faces financial or personal problems, but only
after counseling and a three-day waiting period. The existing
law, passed in 1993 by a pro-Catholic government, permits
abortion only if a pregnancy threatens a woman's life or health
or results from incest or rape, or when the fetus is hopelessly
damaged. The bill also provides for sex education in schools
and less expensive birth control. The Catholic church had
organized a huge campaign against the bill. Polls suggest
that Poles are almost equally divided on the question.
Brazil's women's
health movement successfully undermined a constitutional amendment
that would criminalize abortion under any circumstances.
The National Feminist Health and Reproductive Rights Network
began the struggle in 1995 when the amendment was presented
to Brazil's national Congress. It attempted to overrule Article
129 of the country's Penal Code, which permits abortion in
the case of rape and when the mother's life is in danger.
After a prolonged campaign mobilized by Brazilian women that
included public actions, denunciations, leafletting, and raising
the consciousness of the legislature and the mass media, the
proposal was rejected by the Special Commission and permanently
shelved in a following plenary session of the Congress. Information:
Secretaria Executiva da Rede Saude, Rua Bartolomeu Zunega
44, CEP 05426-020, Sao Paulo/SP, Brazil. Tel.: (55-81) 813-9767;
Fax: (55-81) 813-8578; e-mail: [email protected].
Bavaria, Germany's
most Catholic state, has passed a restrictive abortion law
in conflict with federal guarantees of abortion rights.
The new state law requires women to give a reason for seeking
to terminate pregnancy (the federal law contains no such restriction),
and it sets a limit of 25 percent on the proportion of their
income doctors may earn from abortions. The law was approved
after a long fierce debate in Munich in which legislator Thomas
Zimmermann called a gynecologist in the public galleries a
"mass murder of unborn life." "The debate is certainly not
over," said Renate Schmidt, the Social Democratic leader in
Bavaria, as quoted in the New York Times. "This pressure on
women to give reasons for abortion is against the spirit of
Constitutional Court ruling and the federal law."
EMPLOYMENT - Convention
Article 11
Twelve women
have won a landmark sex discrimination suit in Japan.
The women, employees of the Shiba Credit Association, sued
in 1987, claiming that the company promoted men according
to seniority while excluding women from promotion. In the
first-ever decision to address wage discrimination, the court
held that the company's policy of selecting only men for promotion
is contrary to Japanese law. The women won 100 million Yen
(approx. US$1,000,000) in back wages. In another encouraging
development, a Labor Ministry panel has recommended that the
enforcement provisions of the ten-year-old equal opportunity
law be enhanced by requiring that sexual harassment be specifically
stated to constitute sex discrimination, that women-only job
advertisements be eliminated, and that names of companies
that violate the law be publicized.
On June 20,
1996, the 83rd Conference of the International Labor Organization
(ILO) adopted a Convention and accompanying Recommendation
on home work. The Convention is important for home workers-the
majority of whom are women-because it brings them recognition
at an international level. It sets minimum standards for pay
and conditions which can be translated into national policies
and laws. Together with the Recommendation, it has many provisions
which go beyond legal protection and act as a starting point
for the organization of millions of previously unorganized
home workers.
The European
Commission has proposed a new directive to make it easier
to prove discrimination cases. Currently in many European
Union countries, women or men claiming employment discrimination
must carry the burden of proof of discrimination. This, the
Commission said, may deprive workers of any effective means
of enforcing their equality claims in the courts. Based on
European Court of Justice decisions, the proposed Directive
is expected to become binding legislation providing for the
burden of proof. As a compromise between the positions on
the issue held by employers and trade unions, the proposed
Directive states that member states must provide for a system
in which a plaintiff must establish only a prima facie case
of discrimination (establishing facts from which a finding
of discrimination could be made), and the defendant employer
must then prove that there is adequate, objective justification
for the apparent discrimination. Member states may go further
and place a greater burden of proof on the defendant employer.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
LAW - Convention Articles 10, 12, 14 and 16
A decision
by Egypt's Court of Urgent Cases has prevented the forced
dissolution of a marriage between two Muslims whose views
displeased Egyptian Islamicists. The husband, Professor
Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, specializes in Quranic studies, applying
modern tools of linguistics and discourse analysis to the
Quran and early Islamic texts, and particularly to the subsequent
interpretations (ijtihad) of these texts. His wife, Dr. Ibtihal
Yunis, is a professor of French at Cairo university. Prof.
Abu Zeid was sued by Islamic fundamentalists who succeeded
in obtaining a ruling that his scholarly writing and teaching
make him an apostate who "refused to acquiesce to God's legislation"
and that, as an apostate, he is prohibited from being married
to a Muslim woman. In August 1996 the Court of Cassation,
Egypt's highest court, found in favor of the Islamicists and
stated that the couple could not legally be married. The ruling
essentially violated the fundamental right to marry and to
remain married as long as both parties wish. By disregarding
Dr. Yunis's desire to uphold her marriage contract and her
confidence in the compatibility of her religious beliefs with
those of her husband, this ruling also placed Egypt in violation
of its obligations as a State party to CEDAW.
As a result
of considerable international and national pressure after
the case was begun, the Egyptian Parliament, which is effectively
controlled by President Mubarak, passed a law in May 1996
denying third parties such as the Islamicists the standing
to initiate cases against defendants whom they view as violators
of religious law. The Court of Cassation in its August
decision did not apply the new law to the Abu Zeid case. The
Court of Urgent Appeals issued a temporary stay of the order
nullifying the marriage and in December 1996 made the stay
permanent. However, the original finding of apostasy based
on scholarly writing and teaching remains in place-and the
Abu Zeid family remains in exile in the Netherlands, to which
they fled after the Egyptian branch of Islamic Jihad issued
a call to kill Prof. Abu Zeid. The Abu Zeids have appealed
the apostasy ruling again. And Egypt's commitment to fundamental
freedoms of both women and men remains in question.
Zambia has
drafted a new Intestate Succession Bill to replace the 1989
Intestate Succession Act for which the women's movement worked
for so long. The bill increases the percentage of the
estate inherited by the surviving spouse from 20 percent to
25 percent, which is an improvement, though many women feel
the percentage should be higher. Under the Bill, any party
may go to court and challenge the paternity of the unborn
child if a woman is pregnant at the time of the husband's
death. Thus the onus will really be on the woman to prove
that the deceased is the father of the child she is carrying.
While the 1989 Act provided that the house should be inherited
by the surviving spouse and children, the new bill contains
clauses that threaten the surviving spouse's possession of
the family house if it was registered in the name of the deceased
and if the deceased had children with other partners.
An arranged
marriage has resulted in rape charges in the US. An Iraqi
refugee father in Lincoln, Nebraska, was charged under state
law with two counts of child abuse and faces up to one year
in jail because he married his 13- and 14-year-old daughters
to two countrymen more than twice their age. The charges were
brought after the older girl ran away with a boyfriend a few
days after the arranged marriage and the father and the girl's
"husband" went to the police and said they wanted the girl
back. In the US, state law prohibits any sexual contact with
children, declaring it a crime regardless of any presumed
"consent." Parents who place young girls in a position in
which such sexual contact takes place can be-as was this father-charged
with child abuse. The grooms have been charged with rape.
The boyfriend of the eldest daughter, a 20-year-old Hispanic
man, has also been charged with statutory rape. As of early
December, all were free on bail and a hearing was set for
December 30. According to both prosecutors and legal scholars,
cultural practice and ignorance of the law cannot be defenses
to crimes under federal and state law, although they may have
some effect on sentencing.
Divorce law
survives court challenge in Ireland. Ireland's Supreme Court
has unanimously rejected a legal challenge the November 1995
referendum in which Irish voters narrowly approved a constitutional
amendment legalizing divorce. Anti-divorce activist and
former Irish senator Des Hanafin had challenged the legality
of using government funds-the equivalent of US$800,000-to
secure a Yes vote on the referendum. Legislation to implement
the referendum will now be introduced in parliament and is
expected to become law by the end of 1997. Once the new divorce
law is enacted, a couple that has lived apart for four of
the preceding five years will be able to obtain a divorce.
An estimated 15,000 Irish couples are expected to seek divorce
within the first year after the new law becomes effective.
RESOURCES
CLAIMING OUR
RIGHTS: A Manual for Women's Human Rights Education in
Muslim Societies, is now available in Bengali, Arabic, and
Persian, Uzbek and Malay from the Sisterhood Is Global Institute.
Using a "human rights model" specifically intended for Muslim
societies, this 154-page manual seeks to facilitate dialogue
among women about the various themes which derive from the
Platform for Action adopted at the United Nations Fourth World
Conference on Women. Appendices include Suras from the Quran
on women, Hadith related to women, Arabic proverbs, a list
of human rights organizations, and an annotated bibliography
of women's rights. Contact: Sisterhood is Global Institute,
4343 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 201, Bethesda, MD 20814 USA.
Tel.: 301-657-4355; Fax: 301-657-4381; e-mail: [email protected].
Women for Women
in Afghanistan is a newly formed solidarity group based
in Toronto, Canada. It is seeking cooperation with other organizations
working for the relief of women and children inside Afghanistan.
For more information contact: Deb Ellis, Women for Women in
Afghanistan, PO Box 204, Dunnville, Ontario, Canada, N1A 2X5.
Tel: (905) 774-8091.
SHATTERED LIVES:
Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its Aftermath,
a report by Human Rights Watch/Africa and Human Rights Watch
Women's Rights Project, documents and confirms the widespread
rape of women during the genocide, using materials from interviews
and research. The report also addresses ongoing problems facing
Rwandan women, the national and international responses to
the genocide, and recommendations of action on this issue.
Contact Human Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
10017-6104; e-mail: [email protected].
CONTRACEPTIVE
UPDATE: A Handbook for Health Workers is prepared by Program
for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) and International
Planned Parenthood Federation, African Region (IPPFAR). It
is intended to help health workers give their clients up-to-date
information about the various contraceptive methods and products
available to them. For more information contact: IPPFAR, PO
Box 30234, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: 254-2-720280/1/2/3; Fax: 254-2-726596.
WOMEN IN RUSSIA
AND UKRAINE, a book by leading Russian and Ukrainian feminists
and western specialists, contains the latest research in the
field of Russian women's studies. It traces the role of gender
in Russian and Ukrainian society from the 12th century to
the present day as well as analyzes the current backlash against
women's emancipation. Price: hardcover $69.95, paperback $24.95.
Contact: Cambridge University Press, 40 West 20th Street,
New York, NY 10011-4211.
WOMEN'S WATCH
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Medical Assn., BMA House, Trafalgar Square, London WC1H 9JP
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Centre for International and Public Law, ANU, Canberra ACT
0200, Australia. In Canada, Susan Bazilli, METRAC, 158 Spadina
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International Women's Rights, Bunkyo Women's College, 1196
Kamekubo, Ohi-machi, Iruma, Saitama 354 Japan.
WOMEN'S WATCH
is published by the IWRAW project, Humphrey Institute of Public
Affairs at the University of Minnesota, USA. Editors: Marsha
Freeman and Sharon Ladin. This issue was written with the
help of Liu Dongxiao, IWRAW Cram-Dalton Fellow. IWRAW is a
global network of individuals and organizations that monitors
implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international treaty
ratified by over 150 countries.
The University
of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
The Humphrey Institute is hospitable to a diversity of opinions
and aspirations. The Institute does not itself take positions
on public policy issues. The contents of this report are the
responsibility of the editors. IWRAW is grateful to the Ford
Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
the Carnegie Corporation, Shaler Adams Foundation, SIDA and
numerous other individuals and foundations for financial support.
Contributions to the project are welcome and are tax deductible
for US taxpayers.
