WOMEN IN
BUSINESS AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
A MAPPING OF TOPICS FOR STATEATTENTION IN UNITED NATIONSGUIDING PRINCIPLES ON
BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTSIMPLEMENTATION PROCESSESThe Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) is an independent
national human rights institution modelled in accordance with theUnited Nations Paris Principles with ‘A’ status. The Institute, which
was established by statute in 2002, carries on the mandate vested
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The chief objective of the Institute is to promote and develop
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Institute believes that societies must be based on the rule of law,where the state protects and confers obligations on the individual
while safeguarding the most disadvantaged and marginalised
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The Institute cooperates with organisations and public authorities inDenmark, with academic institutions and humanitarian organisationsin other countries, as well as with the Council of Europe, theEuropean Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operationin Europe, the United Nations, the World Bank and a range ofinternational donors. As part of its legal mandate the Institute canengage directly with private actors. The purpose of this engagement
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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
A mapping of topics for state attention in United Nations Guiding Principles
on Business and Human Rights implementation processes
Authors: Nora Götzmann (Senior Adviser, DIHR), Elin Wrzoncki (Programme Manager, DIHR),
Linnea Kristiansson (Independent Consultant) and Evina Heydari (Intern, DIHR)
Acknowledgments: We would like to sincerely thank the following reviewers for their helpfulcomments and feedback on earlier drafts: Sanyu Awori, Tatiana Berden, Joanna BourkeMartignoni, Sylvi Bratten, Louise Chappell, Adrienne Cruz, Kate Grosser, Josua Loots, Gillian
MacNaughton, Gunhild Ørstavik, Kauwel Qazi, Andrea Cecilia Repetto Vargas, Rohini Thomas,
Elizabeth Umlas, David Wofford and Sarah Zoen. The contribution of reviewers does not
represent their endorsement of the content. We would also like to thank our DIHR colleagues
Birgitte Feiring and Rose Wangui Kimotho for their input, Julia Hillenbrand and Lison Daubigeon
for their research assistance, and Clara Grunnet for managing the review process.
Graphic design: Hedda Bank
Photos: Colourbox ans Shutterstock
ISBN: 978-87-93605-57-2
e-ISBN: 978-87-93605-58-9© 2018 The Danish Institute for Human Rights · Denmark’s National Human Rights Institution
Wilders Plads 8K · DK-1403 Copenhagen K · Phone +45 3269 8888 · www.humanrights.dk
Provided such reproduction is for non-commercial use, this publication, or parts of it, may be
reproduced if author and source are quoted.
At DIHR we aim to make our publications as accessible as possible. We use large font size, short(hyphen-free) lines, left-aligned text and strong contrast for maximum legibility. For further
information about accessibility please click www.humanrights.dk/accessibility

C

CONTENTS

LIST OF BOXESABBREVIATIONSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

567

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 OBJECTIVES
1.2 OVERVIEW
1.3 METHODOLOGY

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2 TOPICS FOR STATE ATTENTION IN UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION PROCESSES
2.1 EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR RIGHTS – ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.1.1 Female participation in the global workforce
2.1.2 Segregation, over-representation or absence of women in different industries
2.1.3 The gender pay gap
2.1.4 Participation of women in senior management
2.1.5 Women workers in informal sectors and formalisation of the labour market
2.1.6 Sexual harassment and violence against women in the workforce
2.1.7 Pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination at work
2.1.8 Women migrant workers, including domestic workers
2.2 	EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR RIGHTS – POINTS FOR STATECONSIDERATION IN UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION
2.3 LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES – ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.3.1 Women’s land and property rights
2.3.2 Meaningful engagement of women in land-related consultation andagreement-making processes
2.3.3 Women in resettlement and compensation arrangements
2.4 	LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES – POINTS FOR STATE CONSIDERATIONIN UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION
2.5 ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND PRIVATISATION – ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.5.1 Privatisation of essential services and state obligations
2.5.2 Educational services
2.5.3 Healthcare services
2.5.4 Water services
2.6 	ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND PRIVATISATION – POINTS FOR STATECONSIDERATION IN UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION

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2.7 TRADE AND INVESTMENT – ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.7.1 Gender equality implications of trade and investment arrangements
2.7.2 Trade agreements on agriculture, including trade liberalisation
2.7.3 Intellectual property provisions, including access to medicines
2.8 	TRADE AND INVESTMENT – POINTS FOR STATE CONSIDERATION IN UNGPSIMPLEMENTATION
2.9 ACCESS TO EFFECTIVE REMEDY – ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.9.1 Gender considerations for access to effective remedy
2.9.2 Barriers to judicial remedy and access to justice2.9.3 Women human rights defenders
2.9.4 Gender and non-judicial remedies
2.10	ACCESS TO EFFECTIVE REMEDY – POINTS FOR STATE CONSIDERATION IN
UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION

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ANNEX I: OVERVIEW OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS LAW AND THE 2030 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
KEY CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONSWOMEN’S RIGHTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS AND THE 2030 AGENDA

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NOTES		

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LIST OF BOXES

Box 1: Country examples – women’s participation in the formalised workforce
Box 2: Country examples – sex segregation in different industries
Box 3: Country examples – addressing the gender pay gap
Box 4: Country examples – women’s participation in senior management
Box 5: Country examples – protection in the informal economy
Box 6: Country examples – sexual harassment and violence in the world of work
Box 7: Country examples – pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination
Box 8: Country examples – women migrant workers’ rights
Box 9: Country examples – ensuring equality in land and property rights
Box 10: Country examples – land policies and land-related decision-making
Box 11: Country examples – resettlement and compensation arrangements
Box 12: Country examples – privatisation and education services
Box 13: Country examples – privatisation and healthcare services
Box 14: Country examples – privatisation and water services
Box 15: Country examples – agricultural trade and investment arrangements
Box 16: Country examples – intellectual property provisions in tradeBox 17: Country examples­– gender and judicial remedies
Box 18: Country examples – women human rights defenders
Box 19: Country examples – gender and non-judicial remedies

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTSABBREVIATIONS

2030 Agenda 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
AoA
Agreement on Agriculture
BHR
Business and Human Rights
CEDAW
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
CESCR
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
CSW
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
DIHR
Danish Institute for Human Rights
DWU
Domestic Workers United
EPZs
Export Processing Zones
EU
European Union
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FPIC
Free, Prior and Informed Consent
FTAs
Free Trade Agreements
ICCPR
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCRInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
IFC
International Finance Corporation
ILO
International Labour Organization
NAPs
National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights
NGOs
Non-Governmental Organisations
OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OHCHR
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
PPPs
Public-Private Partnerships
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
TRIPS
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
UK
United Kingdom
UN
United Nations
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNGPs
United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
UNWG
United Nations Woking Group on Business and Human Rights
US
United States
VGGT	
Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries andForests in the Context of National Food Security
WHRDs
Women Human Rights Defenders
WTO
World Trade Organization

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This mapping provides an overview of selecttopics for attention for states in strengthening
their gender focus in United Nations Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights(UNGPs) implementation processes, including,but not limited to, National Action Plans on
Business and Human Rights (NAPs).
While there is a need to strengthen all aspectsof gender analysis in the implementation of
the UNGPs, this mapping focuses in particularon the rights of women and girls. Although
it is generally acknowledged that womenare disproportionately affected by adverse
business-related human rights impacts, there
has arguably been too little attention on therights of women and girls in processes toimplement the UNGPs to date, including in
NAPs. In this context, the objective of thismapping is to identify gaps in gender analysis
of business and human rights (BHR), as well as
country examples of how such gaps might be
addressed.
The topics which this mapping focuses on are:(1) employment and labour rights; (2) landand natural resources; (3) essential services
and privatisation; (4) trade and investment;and (5) access to effective remedy. For each
topic, the mapping provides an overview of key
gender issues, country examples from existing
NAPs and other relevant sources on how theseissues might be addressed, and key points forconsideration for states on how to strengthen
attention to the rights of women and girls in
UNGPs implementation processes.

In the area of labour and employment, themapping examines issues such as women’s
participation in the global workforce,
representation of women in different industries,
sexual harassment and violence against womenin the workplace, and the particular challenges
faced by women migrant workers, including
domestic workers. On a positive note, of thefive topics addressed, labour and employment
is explicitly addressed in several NAPs to date.
Nevertheless, overall, sources consulted for the
mapping indicate that considerable obstacles
to achieving women’s equality in the world ofwork continue to persist. As such, states havea key opportunity to more proactively address
women’s rights in the context of businessactivities, including through specific actions andtargets in NAPs that address women’s rights inthe world of work.
While many NAPs address the topic of landand natural resources, none to date address
how the rights of women in particular may
be impacted by businesses’ use of land andinteraction with land rights. As the mapping
demonstrates, however, in many country
contexts women’s land rights – both individualand collective – are not recognised or are
undermined in practice. Often, this also has
negative flow-on effects where land-related
processes such as consultation, agreementmaking, resettlement and compensation
payments take place, as women are explicitly
or de facto excluded from, or marginalised, insuch processes. This is particularly significant
considering that women frequently play a
key role in terms of managing land and water

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

sources for food, and in land-based industries,
such as agriculture. Accounting for women’s
rights in the area of land and natural resources
more explicitly in the implementation of
the UNGPs could be an important step thatstates can take to not only re-enforce theircommitment to gender equality in the context
of international human rights law, but also the2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development(2030 Agenda).
On the topic of essential services, themapping focuses in particular on the issue
of privatisation, with specific reference toeducational, healthcare and water services.
While privatisation is neither encouraged
nor prohibited by international human rights
law, sources consulted highlight notablereservations towards privatisation of essential
services from a human rights perspective,on the basis that privatisation may resultin changes in the accessibility of essential
services that are particularly detrimental for
women and girls. However, it is also noted that
where privatisation decisions are underpinnedby human rights and gender perspectives,in addition to economic and other relevant
considerations, positive impacts for womenand girls can result. In the implementationof the UNGPs, including the development
and implementation of NAPs, the role ofbusinesses as service providers and users could
therefore benefit from more explicit genderanalysis, including the role of appropriately
structured Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
On the topic of trade and investment, themapping focuses on trade provisions in theareas of agriculture and intellectual property.
The UNGPs call for attention to policy
coherence in the area of trade and investment
to ensure that states’ agreements, policies andobjectives are aligned with their international
human rights obligations. While some NAPs set
goals to work towards such alignment, again,
explicit consideration of gender and potential

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differential impacts on women and men is notaddressed. As the mapping illustrates, thisis a significant gap considering, for example,
women’s role in the agricultural sector, as
well as women’s particular needs in terms ofaccess to medicines. As such, strengthening
the gender analysis and corresponding action
planning to proactively include the rights ofwomen and girls in trade and investment policy
and decision-making could be a milestone
in terms of moving towards more gendersensitive UNGPs implementation. The factthat the 2030 Agenda highlights trade as oneof the key ‘means of implementation’ for the2030 Agenda further elevates the importanceof future NAP measures in this area to take agender perspective.
In the area of access to effective remedy, themapping considers women’s access to judicial
and non-judicial remedy for business-related
human rights abuses, as well as the role ofwomen human rights defenders (WHRDs).
While women and men face many of the samewell-documented barriers to access to remedy,
such as prohibitive legal fees, physical andlanguage accessibility constraints, challenges
in seeking remedy for cross-border cases,
to name but a few, sources consulted for the
mapping also clearly demonstrate that womenand girls may be particularly marginalised inseeking access to effective remedy, for instancedue to underlying structural discrimination thatplaces additional burdens on women unionisingor defending their land rights. In the area of
non-judicial remedies specifically, operationallevel grievance mechanisms have been called
into question for failing to respond adequately
to instances of sexual and gender-based
violence. The gendered implications, both
positive and negative, of the use of alternative
dispute resolution could be further explored.
As has been noted in several evaluations of
NAPs to date, access to effective remedy
has been an area that has been consistently
poorly addressed, including from a genderWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

perspective. On a positive note, however,attention to developing practical measures
to enhance access to effective remedy inthe business and human rights context has
included recent work by the Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) andthe United Nations Working Group on Businessand Human Rights (UNWG). As such, states
have a key opportunity to strengthen theirattention to access to remedy in NAPs throughthe integration of such proposed practicalmeasures, including by addressing the genderdimensions of access to remedy.
In conclusion, the mapping provides only an
initial overview of five select topics, many more
topics are relevant and need to be taken into
consideration to fully address the rights ofwomen and girls in UNGPs implementation.
Nevertheless, a key observation from themapping is the absence of a comprehensive
gender approach in NAPs and national
implementation of UNGPs to date. As NAPs
are key tools for the implementation of the
UNGPs, which also increasingly seek alignment
with the 2030 Agenda, it is suggested that
it is essential to significantly strengthen thefocus on the rights of women and girls in NAP
development processes and their subsequent
implementation going forward. We hope thatthe information in this mapping can make acontribution to achieving this goal.

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 OBJECTIVESThis mapping provides an overview of selecttopics for attention for states in strengthening
their gender focus in United Nations Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights(UNGPs)1 implementation processes, including,but not limited to, National Action Plans on
Business and Human Rights (NAPs).2
While it is generally acknowledged that womenare disproportionately and differently affectedby adverse business-related human rights
impacts, there has arguably been too little
attention to gender in UNGPs implementation
processes to date.
This gap has been re-iterated most recently
by the United Nations Working Group on
Business and Human Rights (UNWG), which
launched a gender workstream in 2017 withthe aim of producing guidance for states andbusinesses in 2019 on addressing gender in
UNGPs implementation.3 Also worth noting is
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, whichcalls for the need to ‘achieve gender equality
and empower all women and girls’; recognisingthat businesses are key actors in realising the2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development(2030 Agenda).
In this context, the objectives of this mapping
are to:• Contribute to understanding the rights ofwomen and girls in relation to business andhuman rights (BHR) dialogue and UNPGs
implementation processes, including, but notlimited to, NAPs;

10• Demonstrate the linkages between the
UNGPs and the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs
with regard to women’s rights;• Identify gaps in gender analysis of BHR, as
well as good practices, regarding select topics
of concern (employment and labour rights;
land and natural resources; essential services
and privatisation; trade and investment; andaccess to effective remedy); and• Contribute to the work of the UNWG ongender by serving as background information
for the 2018 regional consultations and the2019 guidance to states and businesses ontaking a gender-sensitive approach in theimplementation of the UNGPs.
The primary target audience for the mapping
is stakeholders working on national UNGPs
implementation, including state institutions,
national human rights institutions, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and others.
Therefore, the mapping focuses in particular on
actions that states may take to further strengthen
attention to gender in UNGPs implementation
processes, i.e. rather than on how businesses
may implement gender-sensitive human rights
due diligence. However, of course business goodpractice, civil society recommendations, United
Nations (UN) guidance and other relevant
sources should inform such state action (andvice versa). Furthermore, while the mapping
focuses primarily on actions that states may
take in national implementation processes, thismay include actions that states may take at thenational or regional level with the purpose ofaddressing transnational business impacts on
the rights of women and girls.

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

While there is a need to focus on strengthening
all aspects of gender analysis in UNGPs
implementation, this mapping focuses inparticular on the rights of women and girls,
recognising that women are not a homogenous
group and acknowledging the importance ofintersectionality (for an explanation of terms
see further Annex I).
Comprehensively addressing the rights ofwomen and girls in BHR will require delving
into numerous topics in detail, including
consideration of regional, industry, culturaland other specificities. It is also important thatdiverse actors are involved in such research,documentation and analysis. As such, thismapping does not purport to constitute acomprehensive analysis of gender in BHR but
rather, seeks to make a contribution on five key
topics: (1) employment and labour rights; (2)land and natural resources management; (3)essential services and privatisation; (4) tradeand investment; and (5) access to effective
remedy. These five topics were selected basedon a number of factors, including: prevalenceof adverse impacts on women in these areas;
perceived urgency to elevate attention to theparticular topic; crosscutting importance (e.g.,
labour rights, land rights, access to remedy);
time and resources available for the research;and linkage to Danish Institute for Human
Rights (DIHR) focus areas in BHR. However,we acknowledge that this analysis is partial as
more themes related to each of the topics are
relevant (e.g., cultural heritage under land,
access to banking and finance under essential
services, goods and services provisions under
trade and investment, to name but a few) andadditional BHR topics are also relevant (e.g.,
women’s rights and public procurement).
To establish comprehensive and dynamic
understandings of how to better address therights of women and girls in BHR the mapping
should be viewed as only one piece in thecontext of the growing body of research andguidance contributed by diverse actors globally.

1.2 OVERVIEW
The mapping contains the following sections:
1.	Introduction: objectives, overview andmethodology.
2.	Topics for attention in UNGPs
implementation processes: discussion
on select topics (employment and labour
rights; land and natural resources; essential
services and privatisation; trade andinvestment; and access to effective remedy),for each providing:
2.1 An overview of key gender issues;
2.2 Selected country examples fromexisting NAPs, as well as from otherrelevant resources (e.g., national policies
and practices);
2.3 Key points for consideration for states
in UNGPs implementation processes,
including NAPs.
3.	Annex I: key terms and definitions, as well
as further information on the rationale
for strengthening attention to gender in
UNGPs implementation processes frominternational human rights law and 2030
Agenda perspectives.
1.3 METHODOLOGY
The mapping is based on desktop research aswell as conversations with key resource persons
to gather insights and country examples. The
country examples are drawn from current
NAPs, as well as public domain information
about actions taken by states in different
country contexts. While the examples included
appeared noteworthy to the authors, theirimplementation and effectiveness should befurther researched before accepting these as‘good practice’ examples.
Two consultation drafts of the mapping were
published in 2018. Through this process the
mapping has benefitted from the input of peer
reviewers from academia, civil society andmultilateral organisations, who generously
provided comments to earlier drafts on a pro
bono basis (for a full list of reviewers see the
Acknowledgments).
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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2
TOPICS FOR STATE ATTENTION IN UNGPSIMPLEMENTATION PROCESSES

2.1 EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR RIGHTS –ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.1.1 FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE GLOBALWORKFORCE

Businesses, both public and private, are a key
source of employment. The UNGPs and the2030 Agenda recognise the importance of theprivate sector in contributing to employment,
and related development and human rights
outcomes. As such, women’s participation in
the workforce should be a key area for attention
for states in UNGPs implementation processes.
Worldwide, although globalisation has brought
millions of women into paid labour, thenumber of women in the formalised workforce
is far behind that of men. According to theInternational Labour Organization (ILO), in 2017,
women’s participation in the global workforce
was at 49.4 per cent – 26.7 percentage points
lower than the rate for men.4 In terms ofregions, the gaps are the widest within the
Arab States, Northern Africa and Southern
Asia, where they exceed 50 percentage
points.5 While many countries have eliminateddiscriminatory legislation and adopted equal
employment opportunity laws, there is not fullequality of results in any labour market.6
Strategies to improve gender equality inoutcomes in the labour market can include‘temporary special measures’, as noted in theConvention on the Elimination of All Formsof Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).7
According General Recommendation No.
25 of the Committee on the Elimination of

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All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW Committee), the purpose of suchmeasures is to ‘accelerate the improvement of
the position of women to achieve their de facto
or substantive equality with men, and to effectthe structural, social and cultural changes
necessary to correct past and current forms
and effects of discrimination against women,
as well as provide them with compensation’.8
Furthermore, the term ‘measure’ includes avariety of legislative, executive, administrativeand other regulatory instruments, policies
and practices, such as: support programmes;
allocation and/or reallocation of resources;
preferential treatment; targeted recruitment,
hiring and promotion; numerical goals
connected with time; and quota systems.9
The European Institute for Gender Equality,
an autonomous body of the European Union(EU) established to promote gender equality,
explains that gender quotas establish a defined
proportion (percentage) or number of places/seats to be filled or allocated to women and/or men, generally under certain rules orcriteria.10 Gender quotas are sometimes used
to improve political representation of women ingovernment, as well as to improve participationof women on corporate boards.
Women’s employment options in many
countries are significantly limited by genderstereotyping and biased expectations about
women’s and men’s roles and responsibilities
that burden them with disproportionate
responsibilities for unpaid care and household
work. Without adequate support, women havelittle choice but to work part-time or in informal

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

work that can be combined with these unpaid
responsibilities. According to UN Women,because women typically earn less than men,household decisions tend to reinforce a genderdivision of labour where men ‘specialise’in paid work, while women ‘specialise’ inhomemaking.11 According to the ILO, womencarry out at least two and a half times more
unpaid household and care work than men.
Although this gender gap has decreased overtime, even when women are employed, they
still tend to carry out the larger share of unpaid
household and care work – which limits theircapacity to increase their hours in paid, formal
and wage work.12
According to UN Women, policy can make areal difference. For instance, EU countries
that provide comprehensive support toworking parents have higher rates of female
employment than countries without suchpolicies. In southern countries, on the other
hand, being married and having young children
are associated with lower employment
rates for women and higher rates for men.13
Countries can take a range of measures torecognise, reduce and redistribute women’s
unpaid care and household work. UN Womensuggests investments in basic social services
and infrastructure, particularly healthcare
and water and sanitation; and provision ofchildcare services, which can enable womento participate in paid work. UN Womenalso suggests the implementation of morecomprehensive systems for paid paternal leave
as part of facilitating women’s access to the job
market.14

BOX 1: COUNTRY EXAMPLES – WOMEN’SPARTICIPATION IN THE FORMALISEDWORKFORCE
Some NAPs to date note specific actions
on parental leave as part of responding to
women’s needs in the workplace and toenhance their participation in the formalised

workforce. Looking beyond NAPs, there arealso some noteworthy country examples,some illustrative examples are included
below.
The Chilean NAP states that its Ministry ofLabour will promote parental responsibility
through the development of Special
Covenants. The aim is to prompt unions andemployers to reach an agreement on offering
workers with parental responsibilities flexible
work arrangements, as set out by the country’s
Article 376 of Law No. 20.940.15
Ireland’s NAP addresses the country’s recent
positive developments on equality measures,such as the introduction of statutory paternity
benefits in 2016 and the launch of a new
National Strategy for Women and Girls in May
2017.16 One of the aims of the Strategy is to
respond to women’s needs in the workplace.
It proposes to continue to invest in childcare,initiate measures to reduce the gender pay
gap, to support women entrepreneurs and to
improve the conditions of women in insecure
employment.17 Efforts are also progressing on
a new Equality/Disability Bill.18
Norway introduced a four-week paternity
quota in 1993,19 making it the first country to
introduce such a so-called ‘daddy quota’ (anon-transferable paternity leave that is taken
on a ‘use-or-lose basis’).20 Now, paternity
quotas in Norway are 15 weeks for all children
born after July 2018.21 Furthermore, Norway’s
2002 Gender and Equality Act requires all
employers, in both the public and private
sector, to report annually on women’s
representation on staff and in management
positions.22

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2.1.2 SEGREGATION, OVER-REPRESENTATIONOR ABSENCE OF WOMEN IN DIFFERENTINDUSTRIES

Sex segregation at work is recognised as
an important indication of discriminationby the ILO Convention on Discrimination(Employment and Occupation) No. 111. It
is one of the most detrimental aspects ofgender inequality in the labour market, since
it generally accompanies lower pay and lessfavourable working conditions in female
dominated occupations. According to the
ILO, sex segregation is also one of the mostenduring aspects of labour markets aroundthe world.23 The ILO describes sectoral andoccupational segregation as a cycle: as womenand men are confined to certain occupations,stereotypes are strengthened regarding
women’s and men’s aspirations, preferences
and abilities. In turn, this affects the perceptionof employers about women’s and men’s skills
and attitudes, as well as the aspirations ofindividual workers. Consequently, women andmen are likely to pursue careers in sectors andoccupations that are considered ‘feminine’ and‘masculine’ and are often discouraged to dootherwise.24
Women in formal employment are overrepresented in a narrow range of sectors
and occupations: in ‘upper-middle-income
countries’, 33.9 per cent of women are
employed in wholesale and retail services,and 12.4 per cent in the manufacturing sector;in ‘high-income countries’ 30.6 per cent of
women are employed within the health andeducation sector; and in ‘low-income andlower-middle income countries’ agricultureis the most important source of employment
for women.25 An ILO analysis of 142 countries
shows that women remain over-represented
as ‘clerical, service and sales workers’ andin ‘elementary occupations’ (occupations
consisting of simple and routine tasks). These
occupations are usually associated with parttime employment and low-pay jobs.26 Women

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also make up the majority of the workforce
in textile, footwear and apparel sectors andare over-represented at the bottom of these
supply chains.27 The global apparel sector faces
numerous and well-documented challenges
in relation to its workforce, including: low pay,piece-rate pay and/or failure to pay overtime;
health and safety concerns (e.g., fire safety andexposure to chemicals); irregular work volume
and schedules; lack of access to benefits(e.g., health insurance, social protection andmaternity leave); and instances of workplacebased harassment and discrimination.28
Relatedly, studies show that women make up
between 70 and 90 per cent of the workforce
in Export Processing Zones (EPZs).29 The
ILO reports that, while EPZs are undoubtedly
major employment generators, particularly for
women in southern countries, too many EPZs
continue to be hampered by a reputation of
low wages, poor working conditions and underdeveloped labour-relations systems.30
Sex segregation is not only an issue ofrepresentation but also linked to ‘decent
work’ factors. The promotion of decent
work for women requires the integration ofboth a mainstreaming and gender-specificstrategy, encouraged in the ILO Decent Work
Agenda, towards the promotion of work thatis ‘productive and delivers a fair income,security in the workplace and social protection
for families, better prospects for personal
development and social integration, freedom
for people to express their concerns, organizeand participate in the decisions that affecttheir lives and equality of opportunity andtreatment for all women and men.’31 Decent
work is becoming universally accepted, as
evidenced by its inclusion in major humanrights declarations and the 2030 Agenda.
Furthermore, it is increasingly recognised that
employment generation is not effective on its
own, as the eighth UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon emphasises: ‘Experience shows that
economic growth, on its own, is not sufficient.

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

We must do more to empower individuals
through decent work, support people throughsocial protection, and ensure the voices of thepoor and marginalized are heard.’ Frequently,
indigenous women are especially vulnerable
to discrimination and exclusion in accessing
decent work opportunities and may face
additional barriers because of limited access totraining and skills.32
The right to organise at work through freedomof association and collective bargaining
rights is vital in ensuring the rights ofwomen at work; however, women are far lesslikely to be in trade unions and enjoy workrelated protections, including assembly andassociation rights. Anti-unionising tactics
by the state and employers have been usedagainst women, as highlighted, for example,
in a 2016 report of the UN Special Rapporteuron the Rights to Freedom of Assembly and
Association.33

BOX 2: COUNTRY EXAMPLES – SEX
SEGREGATION IN DIFFERENTINDUSTRIESTo date, most NAPs do not provide explicit
provisions to target occupational segregation.
However, country-level initiatives andprovisions in national legislations may provide
insight into how measures against sectoral andoccupational segregation may be addressed
in UNGPs implementation. Some illustrative
examples are included below.
The German NAP refers to the EU G7
framework, which includes the goal to increase
the number of women and girls learning
occupational skills by one third by 2030.
The NAP also stresses that the Government
supports the Women’s Empowerment
Principles and is eager to have moreenterprises adhere to the principles as well.34
The Georgian NAP states that one of thecountry’s objectives is to ‘Develop supportive
policy for minor and middle enterprises inorder to promote women entrepreneurship’.35
This will be accomplished by developing anexpert group that provides the Government
with recommendations and implementationsuggestions. The agency responsible is
the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable
Development.36
In 2016, the Welsh Government published afive-year plan concerning actions they intend
to carry out in order to improve citizens’
job opportunities and indirectly address
occupational segregation, especially inlower-paid occupations. Furthermore, theGovernment introduced a strategic equality
plan for 2016-2020 that includes a government
responsibility to identify and reduce the causesof employment, skills and pay inequalities
related to, among other issues, gender.37

15

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2.1.3 THE GENDER PAY GAP

In 2017, the United Nations Commission on
the Status of Women (CSW), a functional
commission of the UN Economic andSocial Council, expressed concern over thepersistently low wages earned by women
workers, which frequently inhibits women fromproviding decent and dignified living conditions
for themselves and their families.38 According
to the ILO’s Global Wage Report 2016/17,
the gender pay gap, while on the decline
in many countries, is a persistent featureof virtually every nation’s labour market.39
Today, globally, women earn approximately
77 per cent of what men earn – i.e. a 23 percent pay gap.40 Moreover, the ILO reports that
although gender pay gaps are found in all typesof business enterprises they are particularlyhigh in businesses with high average wages.41
Disparities in pay are also apparent in theinformal economy, where female dominatedjobs are concentrated. These include sectors
where workers are paid based on production(i.e. quantity of goods produced), as opposed tobeing paid based on the hours worked.42
The gender pay gap cannot be explained bymerely looking at differences in education orage, it is also directly connected to the undervaluation of the work that women generally
undertake, and the skills required in female
dominated sectors/occupations. It is also linked
to the continuous practices of discrimination
against women.43 Certain groups of women,such as racial and ethnic minorities, forexample, are often further disenfranchised
because of their status, making it more difficult
to assert their rights, including their right toequal pay.44

BOX 3: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –ADDRESSING THE GENDER PAY GAP
Many NAPs to date either refer to national
legislation and/or international conventions
prohibiting discrimination at the workplace16

based on gender, or highlight that they
promote equal treatment and women’s rights
in the workplace.45 In addition, there are usefulexamples of actions taken by countries toaddress the gender pay gap that could further
inform future NAPs.
The German NAP identifies the substantial
pay gap that remains between womenand men. The Government has started
cooperating with employers’ and employees’organisations in order to combat the issue andhas introduced a number of non-legislative
measures such as the ‘Equal Pay Day and a
new computer-assisted assessment procedure
for the identification of corporate pay
discrimination’.46
The Lithuanian NAP refers briefly to thestate’s duty to reduce the gender pay
gap and how the Government financially
supports NGOs that work on ensuring equal
employment, gender equality and reducing
the gender pay gap.47
In 2018, Iceland became the first country in
the world to enforce equal pay and make thegender pay gap illegal through a change intheir legislation. The Government will fine
any public or private body with more than 25
employees that has not been independently
certified as complying with a national equalpay standard modelled on the International
Organization for Standardization’senvironmental management standards.48
In 2000, Brazil doubled its minimum wage.
This had a significant impact on the gender
pay gap, which declined from 38 to 29 percent between 1995 and 2007. This narrowing
has been achieved through increases in both
women’s and men’s wages and not because ofa drop in wages for men.49

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2.1.4 PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN SENIORMANAGEMENT

According to the CSW, women’s active
participation in economic leadership anddecision-making are essential for shaping
the changing world of work to achieve
gender equality and women’s economic
empowerment.50 Despite steps forward,
women continue to be under-represented
in management and leadership positions,in both public and private spheres. The ILO
reports that men remain over-represented in
occupations such as legislators, senior officials
and managers – positions that are typically well
paid and enjoy high status. According to 2016
ILO figures, only five per cent or fewer of thechief executive officers of the world’s largest
corporations were women.51

BOX 4: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SENIORMANAGEMENT
Most NAPs to date do not explicitly address
women’s participation in senior management.
However, there are numerous examples
taken at country level that might informfuture NAPs. Some illustrative examples areincluded below.
The Polish NAP states that the Government
will take measures to promote a balanced
participation of women and men indecision-making bodies as part of UNGPs
implementation. It will do so through‘promotional and information campaigns,
projects co-financed from EU funds’ andadditionally through ‘support for initiatives
taken by entrepreneurs’.52
In 2006, Norway introduced a 40 per centquota for women on corporate boards, andthe objective was fulfilled within two years.
Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Iceland,
Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Spain are
countries that have followed suit.53The mostrecent quotas were introduced in Germany(30 per cent) and India (at least one board
member has to be a woman). Quotas range
from 20 per cent in France to 40 per cent in
Iceland, Norway and Spain.54

2.1.5 WOMEN WORKERS IN INFORMALSECTORS AND FORMALISATION OF THE
LABOUR MARKET

Informal employment comes in different
forms, including wage employment in informal
establishments and households, selfemployment, unpaid family work, or informal
wage employment in formal establishments.55
Informal work is usually characterised by low,or lack of, access to and coverage by, social
protections and labour rights, often poor and/or hazardous working conditions, and with low
pay and productivity. Consequently, informal
workers usually experience higher levels ofdecent work deficits and working poverty thanthose working in formal employment.56
Generally, the share of women in salaried
employment tends to increase with a country’slevel of economic development. For instance,
in southern countries, merely 13.6 per centof women are engaged in wage and salaried
employment, compared to 24.3 per cent ofmen. At the other end of the spectrum, theshare of women in salaried employment inhigh-income countries is currently 89.1 per
cent, compared with 83.7 per cent of men.57
The greatest disparities can be seen in subSaharan Africa, where the female share insalaried employment is at 22.6 per cent – 13.7
percentage points lower than the male share(36.3 per cent). Southern Asia also has a large
gender gap in salaried employment shares, inwhich the female share is at 18.2 per cent – 8.6
percentage points lower than the male share(26.8 per cent).58

17

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

According to the CSW, rural women andmigrant women workers are particularly
marginalised within the informal economy,
as they are often concentrated in low-pay
and precarious informal work. Poor working
conditions are further exacerbated bycommonplace labour discrimination, sexism,
racism and xenophobia.59
Relatedly, women are over-represented amongthe 73 per cent of the world’s population whichhas partial or no access to social protections.
According to the CSW, many women facegender-specific barriers to employment andincome security because of lower participationin the formal labour market, earning lower
wages and enjoying less access to credit andassets than men. As a consequence, many
women have lower coverage with regard tocontributory social protection instruments, suchas unemployment compensation, pensions andhealth insurance. For example, the proportionof women above retirement age receiving
pension is on average 10.6 per cent lower thanthat of men, globally, and the ILO reports thatapproximately 65 per cent of people above
retirement age without any regular pension are
women.60 According to the ILO, the majorityof social security programmes are formal,
employment-based and contributory. Women
often face two related difficulties in accessingthese programmes: (1) where they are in
employment, women on average earn less thanmen and are more likely to work in the informal
economy; and (2) much of the work undertaken
by women – i.e. household and care work – is
not formally recognised as such, and thus
renders them ineligible to participate in social
protection schemes.61

18

BOX 5: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –PROTECTION IN THE INFORMALECONOMYTo date, no NAP explicitly addresses the topic
of women’s rights in informal employment
or formalisation of the labour market from agender perspective. Furthermore, published
NAPs to date do not make specific reference
to the gendered aspects of pensions andunemployment compensation. However,provisions in various national legislations
and country-level initiatives may provide
insights into how gender impacts in informal
employment may be addressed in national
UNGPs implementation. Some examples areincluded below.
PROMOTING THE TRANSITION TO FORMALEMPLOYMENTIn 2000, a group of domestic workers from thePhilippines working in New York, the UnitedStates (US), founded Domestic Workers
United (DWU) with the objective to establish
fair labour standards for the industry. Outreachprogrammes in parks, playgrounds, churches
and the street helped to gather members andorganise workers. Unions, employers, church
leaders and members of the New York Statelegislature all supported DWU’s goal to createa Bill of Rights for domestic workers, ‘which
for the first time would provide them with thesame basic rights that other workers had been
entitled for decades.’62 In 2010, DWU playeda part in helping the New York State Bill of
Rights for Domestic Workers to pass. Amongother provisions, the Bill ensured the right toovertime pay, a day of rest every seven days,
paid leave and protection under state humanrights law. Hawaii followed New York’s leadand also established labour rights protections
specifically for domestic workers, followed by
California in January 2014 and Massachusettsin July 2014.63

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

PROTECTION OF INDIVIDUALS IN INFORMALEMPLOYMENT

Minimum wage legislation in some cases
also covers informal employment – which issignificant because many women workers are
in informal employment. Brazil, Costa Rica,
Mexico and Peru are examples of countries
that have minimum wage legislation for all
workers, regardless of the sector or the statusof the company that employs them. Chile,
Kenya, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago haveextended their national minimum wages todomestic workers, who often have an informal
employment relationship.64
In 2002, South Africa introduced a minimum
wage for domestic workers and authorised aneight per cent wage increase that year. Sixteen
months after it had been introduced, the wage
for domestic workers had increased by 20 per
cent.65
WOMEN’S ACCESS TO PENSIONS AND
UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

The introduction of universal social pensions
in countries such as Bolivia, Lesotho and
Mauritius, for example, has helped close
gender gaps and provide women with basic
income security in old age.66

2.1.6 SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND VIOLENCEAGAINST WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE

Violence against women in the world ofwork is a human rights violation that affects
women regardless of age, location, income
or social status. Not only does it restrict theireconomic and social potential, but it can also
have significant impacts on their physical andmental health, something which can lead toabsenteeism, missed promotions and job
losses.67 In 2016, UN Women reported that
one in three women globally have experienced
physical and/or sexual violence at some pointin their lives.68 Sexual harassment at work is

a common form of violence against women.
The World Bank, for instance, indicates that,within EU economies, 40 to 50 per cent of
women have experienced sexual harassment
at work.69 In its 2016 Women, Business andthe Law report, the World Bank shows that
41 economies out of the 173 examined haveno laws against sexual harassment. Where
laws do exist, they vary in the areas covered,such as employment, education and public
places. However, specific provisions covering
sexual harassment in employment are themost common, having been enacted in 114
economies.70

BOX 6: COUNTRY EXAMPLES – SEXUALHARASSMENT AND VIOLENCE IN THE
WORLD OF WORK
While a number of NAPs to date address
combating gender-based discrimination,
they do not mention sexual harassment orviolence explicitly.71 However, provisions invarious national legislations and country-level
initiatives may provide insights into how sexual
harassment could be better addressed in
UNGPs implementation. Some examples areincluded below.
In Australia, the Human Rights Commissionis leading a world-first National Inquiry into
Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces.
On 12 September 2018, the Australian Sex
Discrimination Commissioner released thefourth national workplace sexual harassment
survey.72 The results of the survey will be
used to inform the next stage of the National
Inquiry into Workplace Sexual Harassment –a round of public consultations in all capitalcities and several regional centres acrossAustralia. Speaking with people, employers,
unions and experts around Australia willfurther develop an understanding ofworkplace sexual harassment, its causes,
impacts and best practice responses. Throughthe Inquiry the Commission will identify

19

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

examples of existing good practice, and will
make recommendations for change, providing
a way forward for preventing and addressing
sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.
In Kenya, the Sexual Offences Act requires
employers with over 20 staff to have ananti-sexual-harassment policy, training andprocedures in place, including provisions for
non-retaliation.73
In India, the 2013 Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition
and Redressal) Act is a legislative act that
protects women from sexual harassment
at their workplace, including both public
and private employers. The Act also covers
students in schools and colleges, as well as
patients in hospitals.74

2.1.7 PREGNANCY AND MATERNITY-RELATEDDISCRIMINATION AT WORKIn its 2015-2016 Progress of the World’s
Women Report, UN Women report thatdeclining fertility rates play a part in increasing
workforce participation rates among womenof prime working age (24-54).75 According
to the International Planned Parenthood
Federation, the most frequently cited policies
that influence women’s participation in theworkforce are parental leave, childcare andaccess to contraceptives, and other policies
that are often described as ‘family friendly’or ‘equal opportunity’, which ease the careburden that women face in the home. Lack ofthese policies, combined with a lack of policies
that seek to distribute care work evenly, arecited as reasons due to which women in many
regions remain in the informal or agricultural
sectors, and are relatedly more vulnerable topoverty, ill health and precariousness.76
It is crucial to not only protect women’s
employment during pregnancy, maternity

20

leave and during a given period following
their return to work, but also to ensure thatmaternity is not a source of discrimination in
employment. ILO Convention No. 183 provides
protection in that the burden of provingthat reasons for dismissal are unrelated topregnancy, childbirth and nursing shall rest
upon the employer. However, in 2014 only 54
countries had legal provisions that place theburden of proof on employers.77 According to
the ILO, the guaranteed right to return to workin the same or equivalent position at the endof maternity leave is important for women’s
permanence and progression in paid work afterchildbirth. In an examination of 146 countries
in 2016, the ILO found that merely 38 countries
had legal guarantees for a woman’s right toreturn to work to the same or equivalent post,
26 guaranteed the same post, and 82 did nothave any guarantee in place.78
Furthermore, in many countries women face
‘motherhood wage penalties’ (a term coinedby sociologists who argue that working mothersencounter systematic disadvantages in pay,competence and benefits relative to childless
women79) when re-entering employment
after having a child. According to Budig andEngland, motherhood wage penalties areoften driven by one or a combination of thefollowing elements: loss of job-experience;less productive at work; trade off higher wages
for motherhood-friendly jobs; and/or directdiscrimination by employers.80 The ILO notesthat wage penalties disrupt progress towards
gender equality in both low- and middle/highincome countries.81
Women migrant workers are particularly
vulnerable to pregnancy-related discrimination
due to their status, frequently being subject
to inequitable laws and immigration policies.
In countries such as Malaysia, which has themost restrictive legal environment for migrant
workers, pregnancy testing as a condition
for continued employment is legal. WhileWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Taiwan has made significant improvementson its treatment of women migrant workers,
pregnancy discrimination continues to exist andregulatory loopholes remain, for example, thefact that ‘children born to low-skilled temporary
migrant workers are not eligible for health careor for any type of documentation that would
allow them to stay in Taiwan.’82

BOX 7: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –PREGNANCY AND MATERNITY-RELATEDDISCRIMINATION
To date, very few NAPs address pregnancy andmaternity-related discrimination. However,country-level legislation and initiatives may
provide insights into how these aspectsof women’s labour rights could be better
addressed in UNGPs implementation. Some
examples are included below.
The Polish NAP notes that the Labour Codecontains a number of provisions governing
specific rights of employees related toparenting, including: provisions on maternity,
parental, paternity, and childcare leave; aswell as provisions to facilitate the fulfilmentof parental responsibilities in relation tochildcare and education, including regulations
that make it possible to combine leave with
part-time work or regulations on working
time and the use of exemptions from workor breaks from work. Particular protection of
employment relationships during pregnancy
and maternity leave is subject to modifications
resulting from the provisions of the Act of 13
March 2003 on special rules regarding thetermination of an employment relationshipfor reasons not related to employees (Journalof Laws of 2016, Item 1474). This Law,
which applies to employers with at least 20
employees, allows for termination of current
employment and working conditions with
notice, while still prohibiting termination,
both in the case of collective redundancies
and individual termination of an employment

relationship during pregnancy and maternity
leave. Accordingly, these regulations also
apply in the case of employees taking parental
leave.83
Latin American countries have madeconsiderable progress in complying with the
ILO standard of 14 weeks paid maternity leave
and in ensuring that more women, including
those in informal work, are eligible. In Brazil,rural and domestic workers gained the right tomaternity leave in 1991 and, following a court
ruling in 2012, temporary workers are now
also eligible. Chile and Costa Rica also grantmaternity leave rights to temporary workers.
Yet, even where informal workers are legally
entitled to take maternity leave, take-up isoften low.84

2.1.8 WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS, INCLUDINGDOMESTIC WORKERS

The ILO Migrant Workers Convention No. 143
defines ‘migrant worker’ as ‘a person who
migrates or who has migrated from one country
to another with a view to being employedotherwise than on his own account and includes
any person regularly admitted as a migrant
worker’.85 Approximately half of the world’s
migrant workers are women. The majority ofwomen migrant workers are channelled into
traditionally female dominated occupations,such as domestic work and the garment
industry, where they commonly work underprecarious conditions. In these roles, women
workers are frequently excluded from labour
law protection, affected by discriminatory
residence regulations, and often face the riskof numerous human rights abuses, such as
violence and forced labour.86 While migration
creates many economic opportunities, it alsobears many risks for women as many end up at
the lower end of supply chains.87 Furthermore,it can be said to entrench the gender divisionof labour globally, in which there is a general

21

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

demand for women and migrant workers inreceiving countries, often within the care anddomestic sectors, as well as the service sectors
and the sex industry.
The ILO Domestic Workers Convention No. 189
defines ‘domestic work’ as ‘work performed
in or for a household or households’,88 and‘domestic worker’ as ‘any person engaged
in domestic work within an employment
relationship’.89 There are currently more than
53 million domestic workers worldwide; morethan 21 million are in Asia and the Pacific.
According to the ILO, more than 80 per centof all domestic workers are women.90 Many
countries have laws that prevent migrant
domestic workers from escaping from abusive
employers, unionising, changing employers
and from accessing justice. Employers often
withhold migrant workers’ official documents,
including their passports, which leaves themvulnerable to arrest and deportation if workers
try to leave their employment.91 Domestic
workers make a valuable contribution to theeconomic development and social wellbeing
in the countries where they work. However, thenature of their work makes them one of themost vulnerable groups of workers. Typically,
they work for private households behindclosed doors, often without clear terms of
employment, and excluded from the protectionof labour legislation.92 For example, in 2017,
Human Rights Watch reported that many
domestic migrant workers in the Middle East
Gulf region fall under the abusive ‘kafala’ (visasponsorship) system, which prevents themfrom leaving or changing employers without
their initial employer’s consent. If they do, theyrisk being arrested and punished with fines,
detention and deportation.93 In some of theinterviews by Human Rights Watch in the area,
women also described how they were often
sexually harassed or assaulted by male family
members. When trying to report the incidents
the victims faced challenges such as language
barriers and fear of deportation.94

22

BOX 8: COUNTRY EXAMPLES – WOMENMIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTS
To date, no NAP explicitly addresses theissue of women migrant workers, despite thefact that women make up a large proportionof migrant workers in those sectors andsituations most prone to human rights abuses,
including domestic workers. However, somecountries have taken specific steps to addresshuman rights abuses associated with migrant
workers that could inform future NAPs andstate implementation of the UNGPs. Some
illustrative examples are included below.
Under its 1995 Migrant Workers Act, thePhilippines established a fund to enablemigrant workers to access legal services incases of violations or disputes, including with
employers.95
Since 2002, Taiwan has introduced
progressive laws banning pregnancy-related
discrimination such as pregnancy testing atdifferent stages of the employment process,and prohibiting employers from terminating
contracts and deporting pregnant migrant
workers. Furthermore, Taiwan educatesmigrant workers on their rights immediately
upon arrival and maintains a 24-hour hotline
for complaints and assistance.96

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2.2 EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR RIGHTS– POINTS FOR STATE CONSIDERATION IN
UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION• Take proactive measures to address overand under-representation of women in
specific sectors of employment and indecision-making in all of them – e.g., special
measures to address the position of ruraland indigenous women, as well as womenwith disabilities, educational policies andprogrammes to address gender stereotypes
of women in the workplace.
• Address working conditions in sectors andareas where it is known that women are
over-represented and subject to poor labour
conditions – such as in export processing
zones, apparel, agriculture and services.
• Take steps to ensure that women’s
freedom of association and assembly at theworkplace is protected.
• Generate gender pay gap data and use thisto address systemic wage discrimination– including ensuring equal pay for work ofequal value.
• Evaluate the need for measures to formalisecertain sectors of the economy to ensure
better protection of women’s labour rights –e.g., agriculture, artisanal mining.
• Require businesses to develop andimplement targets and quotas for theparticipation of women, including in senior
posts and on governing mechanisms.
• Enact and implement anti-discrimination
legislation applicable to all businesses andset requirements of businesses to have inplace policies, procedures and reporting tomeet the requirements set by the legislation– including on sexual harassment and otherforms of sexual and gender-based violence.

• Require businesses to implement‘family-friendly’ workplace practices
and opportunities – such as through thecreation of part-time jobs, flexible work
arrangements, childcare facilities and careleave provisions.
• Address gender stereotypes that influence
women’s work opportunities and choices –e.g., use legislative and policy measures topromote paternity leave.
• Collaborate with relevant sending andreceiving countries to put in place measures
to address the labour rights and protectionsof migrant workers, including domestic
workers.
• Recognise domestic work as work andregulate accordingly, e.g., regulate
recruitment agencies.
• Put in place relevant legislative and policy
measures – including accompanying
requirements of businesses – to address
women’s access to social protections,
including pensions and unemployment
compensation.

2.3 LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES– ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.3.1 WOMEN’S LAND AND PROPERTY RIGHTS

For many women, land is key to living a life
with dignity and a basis for entitlements thatcan ensure an adequate standard of living andeconomic independence, and thereby personal
empowerment. Regardless of whether awoman lives in a rural or urban environment,
land rights have major implications forthe achievement of other human rights.97
Consequently, where businesses acquire, leaseor use land, women’s rights can be significantly
adversely affected. This may be directly, suchas where businesses negotiate only with male

23

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

community leaders regarding land use, orindirectly, such as through flow-on effects on
livelihoods resulting from land loss.
Globally, 2017 estimates indicate that women
own less than 20 per cent of the world’s
agricultural land holdings compared tomen.98 At the same time, women make up
approximately 43 per cent of the agricultural
workforce.99
While land and property can constitute up to
75 per cent of a nation’s wealth, three quartersof the world’s population cannot prove they
own the land on which they live and work,for example, because of lack of ownership
documentation or land rights recognition.100
For instance, according to the NGO Global
Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, in many countries women are restricted
to secondary land rights, whereby they holdtheir rights through a male family member.
Moreover, under many systems of customarylaw, widowed women are not permitted toinherit land or property from their deceased
husbands, and continue to be subject to socalled ‘property grabbing’ by their in-laws.
Where women do have access to land, theirparcels are often smaller and of lower quality
than those of men.101
For indigenous women, land and property
rights issues may be particularly pronounced
as land rights systems that value collective
rights to land and governance may exists but
not be recognised formally.102 The UNWG,
for instance, recommends that consideration
be given to the local communal system ofcollective rights when implementing projects
or policies, in order to effectively support
indigenous women’s specific struggle
for gender equality in areas such as land
rights.103 Also worth noting is a 2018 European
Parliament resolution on the rights ofindigenous peoples that ‘calls for the EU and
its Member States to actively support partner

24

countries in … applying the principle of free,prior and informed consent to large-scaleland acquisitions, as set out in the Voluntary
Guidelines on the Responsible Governance ofTenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests and incompliance with international human rights
law.’104
According to the World Bank, giving women
greater access to assets, such as land,through inheritance can change outcomes forchildren – particularly girls, as it increases theparent’s investment, for instance in education,
in daughters.105 Moreover, the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO) reports that if women would have thesame access to productive resources andservices as men they could increase yields ontheir farms by 20 to 30 per cent.106
In conflict or post-conflict situations
women’s access to land can be even further
undermined. Conflict almost invariably has an
impact on the availability and use of natural
resources, such as land, agricultural crops andwater. Women, especially in rural areas, tend
to be disproportionately affected by thesechanges, since they generally depend on theseresources for their livelihoods and are mostcommonly the ones responsible for acquiringand using them to meet daily household needs.
Moreover, conflict significantly disrupts socialand cultural systems for managing natural
resources, especially land. In conflict-affectedareas, this can have acute implications for
women because their access to land is typicallydependent on the social structures of theircommunities.107

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTSCONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

BOX 9: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –ENSURING EQUALITY IN LAND AND
PROPERTY RIGHTS
To date, ten countries make a specific reference
to land in their NAP.108 However, many ofthese references are very broadly formulated
and only highlight the intention of protecting
human rights. They thereby do not makea specific reference to the particular, andpotentially disadvantaged, position women
may be in with regard to land rights whenbusinesses interact with these rights. Relatedly,
the only NAP that makes reference to conflictis the US NAP in its ‘support for reducing land
conflict in West Africa’.109 However, no reference
is made to the vulnerability of women’s land
rights specifically.

Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Kenya, Malawi andNamibia are examples of states that in theirconstitution stipulate the state’s responsibility
to secure women and men equal rights inaccess to land.112 In Ecuador, for example,
the 2011 Constitution stipulates the state’s
responsibility to secure equal rights in accessto property and control over the marital estate
between men and women.113 Malawi’s 1994
Constitution provides women with the rightto a fair allocation of property in the event ofdissolution of marriage. Furthermore, it also
prohibits legislation that discriminates on thebasis of gender and civil status, and explicitly
mentions expropriation of property, including
inherited property, in relation to this.114
LAND POLICIESFrance, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK)and the US stress in their NAPs that they(continue to) support the Voluntary Guidelines
on the Responsible Governance of Tenure ofLand, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of
National Food Security (VGGT).110 With regard
to women’s rights to land, the VGGT notethat states should: ensure that women andgirls have ‘equal tenure rights’ and ‘accessto land, fisheries and forests independent of
their civil and marital status’; recognise thebarriers women and girls face; and ensurethat both women and men are included in theprocess of developing rules and legislation
concerning the management of land, fisheries
and forests.111
Looking beyond NAPs, numerous states
have implemented laws and policies in order
to assure women’s land and property rights– some illustrative examples are included
below. States seeking to take a gendersensitive approach to UNGPs implementation
may consider some of these examples
in formulating actions to address gender
discrimination in land and property rights thatbusinesses interact with.

Kenya’s 2009 National Land Policy aimed
at abolishing the constitutional provisionthat permitted discrimination concerning
inheritance and marriage, and now requires
equal marital rights to property and assures
the rights of widows and divorcees.115
In Ghana, the 1999 National Land Policy
initiated the Land Administration Project todevelop the land administration system byconstituting a regulatory structure that would
assure tenure security for women, landlessand vulnerable individuals.116
In Mozambique, the 1997 Land Act and the2004 Family Law have been integrated inorder to improve women’s rights to land as the
new law abolished marital power (according
to which the husband was entitled to makedecisions over his family, spouse and theirjoint property).117 Furthermore, under the
1997 Land Act, communities and individuals
can offer proof of land rights through oral
testimony. This avoids the need for costly
surveying, registration and titling and makes it
easier for (poor) individuals to establish theirrights.118

25

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

MEASURES AGAINST FORCED EVICTIONSThe Zambian 1989 Intestate Succession Act
governs the administration of land in cases
where the deceased did not leave a will. It
does not apply to customary land or theproperty of a family or chief of a tribe. The Law
allows for surviving spouses to inherit 20 per
cent of the deceased’s estate. Furthermore,
the surviving spouse can remain in the marital
home until remarriage or death if the land ora house of the deceased is held under a statelease. However, the spouse does not ‘inherit
the land or the house, and cannot transfer, sellor will the property.’ Furthermore, Zambia has
initiated a special victim support unit within
its law enforcement to protect women from‘property grabbing after the death of a spouseand enforce their rights’.119
In Malawi, the 2011 Deceased Estates Act
imposes criminal penalties and indictment
for wrongful deprivation of property by adeceased spouse’s relatives.120
LAND TITLE CERTIFICATESAs a result of much effort from civil society,
Nepal’s 2011/2012 Budget Policy includeda Joint Land Certificate for married couples,
which meant that landownership was given
to both husband and wife.121 However, Nepal
has not implemented laws securing women’sequal rights to inheritance.122
Joint land certificates were introduced in
Ethiopia in 2003. Women’s ability to claim
their land rights and consequently benefit
from land certification depends on women’s
knowledge of their rights and society’s
approval of the formal laws governing
women’s land rights. There are indications thatthe law has improved tenure security for both
women and men. Although joint certification
does not seem to have had much effecton women’s influence on household farmmanagement decisions, it has contributed
to an increased participation of female-26

headed households in the rental market. Joint
certification has furthermore improved thewelfare of female-headed households andreduced land-related conflicts.123
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Considering that women frequently gain land
and housing access through their relationshipwith a man, domestic violence can pose adirect impediment to women’s security oftenure. Brazil, India and Serbia are someexamples of states that have implemented
provisions in their national domestic violence
legislation that guarantee victims of domestic
violence the right to reside in their marital
home, irrespective of who owns it.124 Hence,
this also ensures the access to, use of andcontrol over, land and other resources for
women residing in rural areas.
CUSTOMARY LAWS

Legislation in Ghana has progressedto strengthen women’s land rights byencouraging equality and making it possible
for women to inherit land. Nevertheless,women still experience setbacks in achieving
these rights in practice. Customary laws
continue to influence how land is inherited
between family members in the case of death,and women are systematically excluded.
Despite this, the country’s Western region
differs. Some research has indicated thata combination of the expansion of cocoa
cultivation and lack of (male) labour brought
about the emergence of women’s land rights
and has reduced their economic reliance onmen. Consequently, the customary systemdeveloped into giving women an enduring
tract of land in exchange for their labour on
their husbands’ cocoa farms.125
The Government of Rwanda has a number oflaws and policies to deal with the country’s
customary laws that have implications
for women’s rights to land tenure, marital
property and inheritance. One of them isWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

the 1999 Law on Matrimonial Regimes andInheritance that provides for daughters toinherit land from her parents, gives wives
equal rights to matrimonial property andgrants widows the right to inherit theirdeceased husband’s property. However, theLaw does not ensure the rights of women
who marry only under customary or religious
rites, and although daughters are entitled toequal inheritance, parents during their lifetime
often gift their property to sons, leaving little
to be inherited later. Furthermore, applicationof this new Law has been hindered by men
continuing to control land allocation, lackof awareness of the new Law and limitedaccess to state courts. The Belgian NGO, RCN
Justice & Démocratie, with the support fromInternational Development Law Organizationand the Belgian Government, initiated apilot programme in six villages to support
local dispute resolution through teaching
on women’s legal land rights negotiation
approaches. Village heads and traditional
mediators were also part of the programme.
The pilot resulted in more land conflicts being
settled and village heads educated throughthe programme became more inclined toaccept claims of women that correspond to
customary laws.126

2.3.2 MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT OF WOMENIN LAND-RELATED CONSULTATION AND
AGREEMENT-MAKING PROCESSESThe UNGPs highlight the importance of
meaningful consultation and engagement as
part of a business exercising human rights due
diligence. However, in many contexts women’ssocial disadvantage, including lack of formal
land rights, may make it difficult for them toraise their interests in the management andproposed allocation of community land ininvestment contexts.127 For example, according
to CORE (the UK civil society coalition on
corporate accountability) and Womenkind (anon-religious and non-political women’s rights
organisation) any agreement reached withmale-dominated community leadership, prior
to engagement with the whole community,
may result in women being coerced to agree
to unfavourable proposals and should thus beavoided.128
In its General Recommendation No. 23, the
CEDAW Committee states that ‘the mostsignificant factors inhibiting women’s ability toparticipate in public life have been the cultural
framework of values and religious beliefs, thelack of services and men’s failure to share
the tasks associated with the organisation of
the household and with the care and raisingof children.’129 Specific efforts are therefore
needed to ensure that engagement andconsultation processes are meaningful for
women. The international community has been
paying increasing attention to inclusivenessand community participation in decisionmaking regarding land, and efforts have been
made to make transparency and meaningful
consultation part of the norm. For instance, the2012 VGGT now contain specific provisions foradvancing women’s participatory rights.130
Nevertheless, the overall situation remains
problematic. In research on women’s voice inland-related decision-making in investment
contexts, for instance, the World Resource
Institute (a non-governmental global researchorganisation) found that many communities
practice a top-down approach, where decisions
are made predominantly by male community
leaders and often in men-only meetings.
While some communities may allow wider
participation, women present at meetings areoften outnumbered by men or remain on thesidelines of the decision-making.131 Taking
steps to engage women specifically – forexample, through women-only meetings or
focus groups, household surveys, and having
women lead consultation and engagement
activities – may therefore be necessary to27

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

ensure an accurate understanding of thegendered impacts of a certain project and how
to address them. Lower literacy levels of rural
women in many contexts requires particularattention through women-specific engagement
methods that address this barrier.
Frequently, women are also excluded from,or marginalised in, Free Prior Informed
Consent (FPIC) processes, reflecting a failure
to address ‘women’s tenure rights, lack ofgendered division of labor, lack of opportunities
for women in community consultation andmeetings, lack of employment opportunities,
unequal benefit distribution and so on’.132
Research by the Centre for Social
Responsibility in Mining showed that gender
equity as a specific requirement for land
use agreements in mining is absent inmost jurisdictions.133 The research foundthat associated agreement procedures weregenerally also gender-blind, i.e. they failed to
identify gendered factors precluding women’sissues from being brought to the table inagreement negotiations. It was also noted thatagreement negotiations were often based onland ownership, where voting rights were tied
to land. Thus, where men typically held land
title, women’s rights to participate in decisionmaking processes became more limited.134
In summary, the research identified some of
the main challenges of involving women inagreement-making processes to be: formal andinformal representation of women; tensions
between cultural norms and gender equality;
and other prevailing challenges in agreement
processes (e.g., imbalanced power relations
between company and community at thenegotiating table, difficulty of finding skilled
negotiators, complexity of discussions and lackof information).135

BOX 10: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –LAND POLICIES AND LAND-RELATEDDECISION-MAKING
Taking specific account of gender in land
policies and governance frameworks (which
determine factors such as land allocationand land use for specific purposes, suchas agricultural development) is criticalfor promoting engagement of women indecision-making and agreement-making
regarding land. Such policies and governanceframeworks set the terms for investors andspecific business sectors, and as such should
be carefully considered in national UNGPs
implementation processes.
No NAP to date refers to gender-sensitivity
in land policies and land-related decisionmaking as a specific recommendation or
objective. This area therefore seems to bein need of urgent attention. Existing country
examples of gender-sensitivity in land
policies may provide useful insights andguidance to those drafting future NAPs andimplementation activities. Some illustrative
examples are included below.
NATIONAL POLICIESThe Ministry of Agriculture in Botswana
issued the 2013 Agricultural Sector Gender
Policy Framework to highlight the measures
to be taken to ensure greater participationof women in decision-making regarding
agriculture. The purpose of the Framework is
to improve gender equality in ‘all agriculturaldevelopment processes’.136 The Framework
was recognised at the ministerial level in2007 as representing guiding principles
for all processes and procedures within the
agricultural sector.137
The process resulting in Uganda’s 2013
National Land Policy, approved by theGovernment,138 has been noted for thepartnership between the Government and28

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

civil society during the development of the
Policy. As part of the drafting process, amultidisciplinary and multi-sectoral National
Land Policy Working Group that included
women’s rights groups and activists wasestablished under the ministry responsible
for land. This helped to ensure that mattersregarding women’s rights were on the agenda
at policy level, and has also enabled theongoing review of issues to determine whether
they are in line with women’s land rights.139
The 1995 National Agricultural Policy inNamibia stresses the importance of womenparticipating in agricultural development
and prescribes that women should be
acknowledged as farmers in their own right.
Namibia’s 2002 Communal Land ReformAct furthermore ‘guarantees minimum
representation for women on community
land management bodies and is applicable toareas under customary law’.140 Out of 12 board
members, four must be women.141
In Cambodia, the 2001 Land Administration,
Management and Distribution Programme142
acknowledges that women were insufficiently
represented in all organisations associatedwith land and therefore aims at securing thatcadastral commissions are made up of atleast 30 per cent women.143 The Cadastral
Commission for the Resolution of Land
Disputes was established under the Ministryof Land in 2002. One of its main tasks is
to examine and resolve land disputes overunregistered land.144
In Tanzania, various women’s rights groups
organised the Gender Land Task Force, which
managed to get policy-makers to include agender-sensitive approach in the regulationsof the 2005 Land Act and the 2005 Village
Land Act. However, further steps are stillneeded to secure that women enjoy theirland rights; in particular rural women havenot gained from these provisions, as they are

frequently either unaware of their rights or
unable to pursue legal remedies due to theexpenses associated with legal remedies.
Despite these hindrances, women’s rights
groups are now acknowledged as importantparticipants in the land reform process.145

2.3.3 WOMEN IN RESETTLEMENT AND
COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENTS

Where investments result in communities
losing land, women are more likely to bedisproportionately affected than men. It istherefore important to consider the gendered
impacts of livelihood replacement, participationin pre-investment consultations and access tobenefits from investments, when establishingrequirements for businesses using land.
Research has indicated that gender-neutralcompensation procedures do not sufficeand that without explicit provisions toprotect women’s interests, compensation
or resettlement schemes risk further
marginalising women.146 For instance, drawing
on practical case studies on the relocation ofcustomary communities in eastern Africa, theWorld Resource Institute noted that far fewer
women than men received compensation,
despite the fact that similar proportions of men
and women lost access to similar land. Thiswas because most farms cultivated by women
were labelled as ‘household’ property, andthus registered in the name of the household
head, i.e. a husband or other male relative whothen received the compensation payments.
This had implications for the whole household,since it was women who usually produced forhousehold food consumption, meaning that
limited means to acquire replacement land had
severe impacts on families’ food security. The
study also found that the most common use ofcompensation by the few women who received
it was for school fees, whereas for the men it
was consumption.147 In its 2008 Compulsory

29

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Acquisition of Land Compensation Handbook,the FAO notes that if compensation is paid tothe male head of the household, ‘the needs ofwomen and children may be ignored’, as themoney vanishes to the detriment of the wholefamily’s health and welfare.148
International financial institutions havealso highlighted the importance of paying
attention to gender in resettlement. In its
2003 Gender Checklist for Resettlement,
for instance, the Asian Development Bank
guides staff and consultants to identify
and address gender issues in resettlement
planning, implementation and monitoring,and design gender-inclusive resettlement
plans. It highlights the importance of theparticipation of women in the preparation andreview of resettlement plans and encourages
efforts to ensure that women do not feelhindered from speaking up.149 Similarly, theAfrican Development Bank’s 2003 Involuntary
Resettlement Policy seeks to ensure thatgender is mainstreamed throughout its
projects (including agriculture and ruraldevelopment, human resource development
and private sector development) in a fully
participatory manner. The policy addresses
issues connected to resettlement, including
its gender dimensions – suggesting thata proper examination of the relationshipbetween men and women with regard toland may help to minimise disparities.150 The
International Finance Corporation (IFC) 2002
Handbook for Preparing a Resettlement
Action Plan provides that particular attention
should be given to vulnerable groups, such as
women, when developing and implementing
a resettlement plan. For instance, when
conducting socioeconomic surveys,
resettlement planners should ensure that astatistically valid representative sample of alldata of the affected population – including
women and other vulnerable groups – isincluded in the survey. Furthermore, the IFC
encourages the establishment of ‘resettlement

30

committees’ that include representatives fromthe community who would otherwise have noformal leadership role, such as women.151
In research on lessons learned from landacquisition and resettlement the International
Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) foundthat the needs of women are often ignored inresettlement – with livelihood restoration, cash
compensation and employment opportunities
mainly targeted at men – leaving women
vulnerable to impoverishment.152 Based onthese lessons learned it was suggested thatany form of stakeholder engagement should
consider whether community leaders are truly
representative, taking steps to create spacefor vulnerable groups, such as women, which
may not always claim leadership. Consultation
teams should therefore have a balance
between men and women.153

BOX 11: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –RESETTLEMENT AND COMPENSATIONARRANGEMENTS
Published NAPs to date generally do notrefer to resettlement and compensation
arrangements. This is a key gap given that
resettlement associated with investment
can have adverse impacts on a number ofwomen’s human rights. However, insights fromcountry-specific examples could be drawn
upon to inform future NAPs. Some illustrative
examples are included below.
In Vietnam, a Hydropower project called Song
Bung 4 Hydropower Project was funded by amultilateral financial institution. The Project
included gender equality regulation to all
resettlement entitlements, including land,in their investment agreement and included
gender considerations in all documents
relevant to resettlement. Consequently, theProject ‘awarded joint titles and registrationof land-use rights for farming, upland areas,use of forest products, and new housing land

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

in the name of both husband and wife intheir presence’.154 Equal rights for individual
households was assured, regardless of thehead of the household being a man or awoman. Furthermore, the Project paid cash
compensation to both husbands and wives
equally and transparently.155

2.4 LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES –POINTS FOR STATE CONSIDERATION IN
UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION• Ensure that the NAP and other UNGPs
implementation strategies explicitly address
the gendered implications of land use ofdomestic and foreign investors.

In 2007, women for the first time played a part
during the negotiations at the Ok Tedi mine in
Papua New Guinea. In order to approach thenegotiations in a strategic and tactful way, thewomen held side meetings while independentfacilitators worked with the mine’s genderdesk and initiated a dialogue with women inaffected areas. This resulted in an agreement
giving women ‘10 percent of all compensation,
50 percent of scholarships, cash payments
into family bank accounts (to which many
women are cosignatories), and mandatedseats on the governing bodies implementing
the agreement.’156• Ensure equality in formal land and property
rights – such as land ownership, inheritanceand titling provisions – and back this up withspecific programmes working towards theireffective implementation. Set expectationsof businesses to respect these rights in law,policy and regulation governing businessland ownership and usage rights.
• Respect customary land rights, in particularcollective rights to land and resources,
including through relevant legislative
provisions that require businesses torecognise and respect customary land rights.
• Address customary land laws andpractices that discriminate against women,
including through specific requirementsthat businesses respect women’s rights incustomary land laws and practices.
• Consider and address the gendered
implications of any land allocations forinvestment, including allocations for specificindustries or regions in which women may beparticularly vulnerable or marginalised.
• Ensure that land policies recognise thespecific position of women with regard toland use and access, including livelihood
sustaining activities, and back this up withspecific programmes working towards theireffective implementation.
• Require foreign investors to demonstrategender-sensitive land use planning andimplementation as a condition of investment
permits and licences.

31

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS• Set expectations of businesses – whether
foreign, domestic, state-owned or otherwise– to respect women’s land rights, including
through relevant requirements in processes
such as licensing, impact assessment andcontract renewals.
• Develop and implement a resettlement
framework that requires explicit attention
to potential impacts of resettlement on
women and girls and the implementationof associated measures to avoid andmitigate any adverse impacts and enhance
livelihoods. Regularly monitor theeffectiveness of the framework.
• Involve women in planning andmanagement of business-related landownership and use, and require businesses to
do so in specific instances.
• Where land use by businesses is governedby land-use agreements between
communities and companies, require
women’s participation in agreement
negotiations and consideration of the rights
and interests of women and girls in thecontent of such agreements (both in termsof addressing adverse impacts as well as
being able to share in expected benefits).
Set requirements for the periodic monitoringof agreement implementation, including
involvement of relevant independent third
parties in the monitoring.

2.5 ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND
PRIVATISATION – ISSUES AND COUNTRY
EXAMPLES
2.5.1 PRIVATISATION OF ESSENTIALSERVICES AND STATE OBLIGATIONS‘Privatisation’ covers a range of models andprocesses, ranging from ownership of assets
to models where the state retains ownershipbut contracts out an institution or delivery

32

of a public service to private actors. Many
governments around the world are embracing
the privatisation of services – such as hospitals
and schools, and of infrastructure, including
roads and water delivery systems – often withthe aim of improving efficiency and qualityof service delivery. The trend towards private
sector involvement has been accelerated byfactors such as the policies of international
donors, organisations and financial
institutions.157 Moreover, the 2030 Agenda
makes clear that Public-Private Partnerships(PPPs), and the private sector more broadly,
have a key part to play in the implementation of
the SDGs.158
Privatisation is not precluded from or
encouraged by international human rights
law. The existence of private provision of
essential goods and services was recognisedby the drafters of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESCR),159 and the United Nations
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (CESCR Committee) has noted thatprivatisation may be one of the ‘enablingstrategies’ to be encouraged by states to supply
essential goods and service deficits.160
The impacts of the transfer of public services
to private entities can be both positive andnegative. Some general advantages may
include increased operational efficiency,
improved selection of service providers andthe reduction of service costs. On the other
hand, privatisation of certain essential services(such as water and electricity) may create
single monopolies where private operators
seek to increase prices to the detriment of theconsumer – hitting the poor and vulnerable
the hardest, thereby replicating inequalities.
Furthermore, the government often loses
dividends after privatisation, which means that
there is less capital available to re-invest insociety at large.161

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

According to the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD),
privatisation is coming back into focus inmany countries. For instance, it reportsthat privatisation revenues have risen fromaround USD110 billion in 2008 to USD266
billion in 2016.162 It reports that share issue
privatisations accounted for over 95 per centof the total number of privatisations during
2015, and 87 per cent of the total value while
auctions, targeted stake sales, convertible
bond offerings, and asset sales accounted forthe rest. The corresponding figures for 2016
are 93 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively.163
China was, by far, the leading privatisingcountry during both 2015 and 2016, raising anastonishing USD173.2 billion during 2015 and
USD148.0 billion during 2016. These Chinese
totals represented over half of the worldwide
total for both 2015 (54.1 per cent) and 2016(55.6 per cent). The UK was the second-leading
privatising country during 2015 (13 deals, worth
USD34.8 billion), while Australia (5 deals worth
USD25.7 billion) took second place during
2016. The USD87.1 billion and USD37.8 billion
raised by EU governments during 2015 and2016 represented 27.2 per cent and 14.2 percent, respectively, of the respective global
annual totals.164
In addressing the delivery of essential services,
states must bear in mind their obligations
under international human rights standards.
For instance, the CESCR Committee, in its
General Comment No. 16, provides that states
have an obligation to monitor and regulate
the conduct of non-state actors to ensurethat they do not violate the right of womenand men to enjoy their economic, social andcultural rights. The Committee states that
this obligation applies, for instance, whenpublic services have been partially and/or fully
privatised.165 Furthermore, the 2017-issued
General Comment No. 24 explicitly addresses
the topic of essential services and privatisation.
The CESCR Committee recalls that while

privatisation is not prohibited by the ICESCR,
states have an obligation to ensure that private
providers are subject to strict regulations that
impose relevant standards for equitable service
delivery, noting that it is ‘particularly concernedthat goods and services that are necessary forthe enjoyment of basic economic, social andcultural rights may become less affordable
as a result of such goods and services being
provided by the private sector’.166 The CESCR
Committee also asserts that privatisation
can be associated with problematic effects
and processes, in particular equal access bydifferent rights-holder groups, which should
be carefully analysed and avoided, and notesthat that states cannot use privatisation asa ‘convenient excuse’ not to discharge their
human rights duties.167 Similarly, CEDAWCommittee General Comment No. 28 provides
that, in order to prevent discrimination against
women, due diligence should be observed inrelation to the activities of private actors in theareas of education, employment and health,as well as in any other areas where non-state
actors provide services.168 In addition, CEDAWCommittee General Comment No. 34 provides
that states ‘should address the negative anddifferential impacts of economic policies …
including privatisation … on the lives of rural
women and the fulfilment of their rights’.169
2.5.2 EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Article 13 of the ICESCR provides that stateparties shall recognise the right of everyone
to education. While recognising the liberty of
individuals and bodies to establish and direct
educational institutions, CESCR Committee
General Comment No. 13 notes that ‘it isclear that article 13 regards States as having
principal responsibility for the direct provisionof education in most circumstances’.170 In
addition, Article 10 of CEDAW provides thatgovernments shall take appropriate measures
to eliminate discrimination against women in
the field of education – including by taking
into consideration the particular problems

33

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

faced by rural women, and the significant
roles they play in the economic survival of
their families, and ensuring that they obtain all
types of training and education.171 Furthermore,
the Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Education states that ‘Governments should
ensure that private providers only supplement
public education, the provision of which is
the Government’s responsibility, rather than
supplant it’.172 Similarly, General Comment
No. 5 of the Committee on the Rights of theChild emphasises that ‘enabling the private
sector to provide services, run institutions andso on does not in any way lessen the State’s
obligation to ensure for all children within its
jurisdiction the full recognition and realisationof all rights in the Convention’.173 The same
General Comment suggests that there should
be a permanent monitoring mechanism orprocess aimed at ensuring that all non-stateservice providers respect the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child.174
The United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization (UNESCO) explainsthat ‘public schools’ are managed by a publicauthority or agency, and ‘private schools’ arecontrolled and managed by any type of private
entity, such as (but not limited to) an NGO,
trade union, church, association or business.
Private schools are privately funded for most of
their activities and even though they can receive
subsidies from the state, their status remains ofa private nature.175
Research shows that privatisation of education
can lead to greater discrimination and thatmarginalised groups, such as women and girls,
fail to enjoy the bulk of the positive impacts
and bear the disproportionate burden of thenegative impacts of privatisation in the areaof education.176 The Special Rapporteur on

the Right to Education, for instance, notesthat privatisation adversely affects theright to education, both as an entitlement
and as empowerment, in particular noting

34

that ‘privatisation in education … exacerbates
discrimination against girls in gaining accessto education. It is well known that families
prioritize the education of boys over girls andthat girls are less likely to be enrolled in private
education owing to parents’ perceived returnon the costs of educating girls compared tothat of boys’.177 Similarly, CEDAW Committee
General Comment No. 36 explains that ‘ithas been established that privatization has
specific negative consequences for girls andwomen and particularly girls from poorer
families, excluding them from education’.178
The Committee recommends that states, interalia, ‘respect the same standards regarding
non-discrimination of girls and women as inpublic institutions as a condition for the right toprivate actors to run academic institutions’.179
The CEDAW Committee has also pointed outthat privatisation of education may include poor
regulation and oversight of education providers
leading to, in some cases: lack of accountability
for sexual assault of girls by school personnel;
promotion of gender stereotypes in schooling;
and lack of access to sexual and reproductive
health education, which also have adisproportionate impact upon girls.180
According to the Global Initiative for Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, free schooling may
be the single most important policy measure toensure that girls are able to access education.181
In a 2017 study on the effects of privatisationof education in a number of African countries,
ActionAid found that more girls than boys
go to public schools. This poses a problem
of gender equality, since the girls graduatingfrom public schools are generally perceived ashaving received an education of lesser quality
compared to those attending private educational
institutions. This, in turn, may negatively affectgirls’ chances in the job market and possibilities
of entering into higher education.182
On the other hand, according to the Right
to Education Project, positive human rights

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

impacts of privatisation of education may
include: an increase in the number of available
schools for certain groups, such as womenand girls; an expansion in educational
choice with some examples of alternative
curricula or additional subjects not coveredby public education; greater participationof parents in their child’s education and anincreased sense of empowerment due to aninterest in following through on a financial
investment; and perceived improvements inquality of education by parents, especiallyin relation to high-end, fee-paying private
schools.183 Similarly, UNESCO notes that, insome instances, privatisation of education
has led to an increased physical availability
and accessibility of education for certain
groups, such as women and girls, through theprovision of new, privately-sourced schools.
For instance, in a study on Mali, physicalaccessibility was reported to increase due tomadrasas (Islamic religious schools) being set
up in local communities that were otherwise
not serviced by any schools.184 Similarly, in
Bangladesh, non-government schools fundedby the international community through the
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
specifically aim to increase accessibility forstudents who are usually excluded fromeducation due to geographic distance.185 The
privatisation of education can also lead to anincrease of choice for parents in the type andstyle of education possible for their children.
Studies from Burma, Cambodia and Nepal
have indicated that private schools offer more
appealing curriculum choices to parents, suchas the study of foreign and/or indigenous
languages.186 Moreover, ActionAid notes thata positive aspect of private schools in the
promotion of gender equality is a higher shareof female teachers, which may play a positiverole in supporting girls’ education.187
UNESCO argues that to strike a balance,
privatisation needs to be democraticallycontrolled. To achieve this goal, states needto develop rules and systems that ensurethat the privatisation of education does not
end up favouring the corrupt, the alreadyprivileged and the few, rather than all.188
Another way in which the state can address
adverse impacts of privatised education isthrough PPPs, which involve public and private
sectors working together to develop policies
and programmes that are consistent with thewishes of the community but are delivered by
the market. By ensuring that equity concerns
are taken into account, including the needto prevent discrimination and exploitation,
establish continuity and stability of services,and encourage social cohesion, UNESCO
concluded that the public sector can indeed
collaborate productively with the market andtame its excesses.189

BOX 12: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –PRIVATISATION AND EDUCATIONSERVICES
While the Polish NAP refers to the rightto education, NAPs to date do not discuss
access to education in light of privatisation,or the gender impacts of a private education
system.190 However, there are country
examples wherein privatisation of education
has inhibited girls’ access to education and thegovernment took steps to address this, whichmight inform future NAPs. Some illustrative
examples are included below.
A common barrier in equal gender access to
private education is the informal management
surrounding privatised schools. In Malawi,
for example, many private schools wereunregistered up until 2010. At this point,
the Government closed 800 private schools
due to poor education standards. After athorough government review and subsequent
school shutdowns, the Ministry of Education
published the National Education Standards
in 2015, which are compulsory for public andprivate schools.191 This effort, in addition to35

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

strengthening registration requirements put inplace by the 2012 Education Bill, establishedmandatory inspection exercises to increase
the quality of education.192
Informal registration systems likewise affectgender access through fee discrepancies.
In Tanzania, the authorities have limited
inspection capacity in private schools, making
it very difficult to monitor school adherence
to state regulatory policies. Consequently,
monitoring school fees is near impossible.
Now, ‘fees in private schools are regulated byarticle 57 of the Education Act, which requires
the approval of the commissioner, but there
is no monitoring in practice’.193 While theGovernment has recently attempted to mitigate
fee increases and put pressure on private
schools to stop arbitrarily setting entrance
fees, the 2015 National Education Policy
delineating these requirements is still not inplace. In 2016 ‘the government tried to bar
any fee increase, but private schools argued
that they could not accept any non-negotiatedfee structure. [However,] after protests by the
Tanzania Association of Managers and Ownersof Non-Government Schools and Colleges,
the government decided not to impose any
fee limitation, provided that justification for theincrease is given.’194
In Nepal, many actors consider community
schools as being weaker than private schools,
and girls are frequently excluded fromprivatised education due to its costs.195 In
2015, girls made up 52 per cent of primaryand 53 per cent of secondary school children,
but represented only 43 per cent of primaryand 44 per cent of secondary students inthe private sector.196 Research suggests that
this disparity is due to parents choosing tosend sons over daughters to private schools
if money is an issue. Often, parents only
able to send sons to private schools will
send daughters to government schools, andwill pull girls from school altogether if the36

alternative options are unsafe.197 To combat
gender inequality and inaccessibility, theGovernment of Nepal has implemented
gender equality strategies and targets ingovernment policies and in the Child Friendly
Schools framework. These policy initiatives,though not utilised to the full extent, havecreated significant improvements in genderequality in education.198
In Liberia, historically, minimal state funding
for public schools has resulted in low learning
outcomes, notably a male pass rate of 57 percent and a female pass rate of only 48 per
cent, in 2017. On the other hand, females inpublic schools had a higher 62 per cent passrate, and male students had a 68 per centpass rate. To address these disparities, theGovernment launched the Partnership Schools
for Liberia initiative in 2016. The initiative isaimed at ensuring that schools remain free andgovernment-owned during a three-year period,
as well as being run by both public and private
actors. The initiative aims to determine provenstrategies for increasing learning outcomesin the public sector, narrowing the disparity
between public and private education in the
country. While results from this partnershipare still pending, the Partnership Schools for
Liberia project suggests that PPPs may be atool for addressing education disparities in the
public sector.199

2.5.3 HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Article 12 of the ICESCR, asserts that parties
shall ‘recognise the right of everyone to theenjoyment and highest attainable standardof physical and mental health.’200 In addition,
Article 12 of CEDAW provides that states shalltake all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in the fieldof healthcare in order to ensure, on a basisof equality of men and women, access tohealthcare services, including those related toWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

family planning. Article 14 of the same treaty
necessitates states to take into account theparticular problems faced by rural women,
ensuring that they have access to adequate
healthcare facilities, including information,
counselling and services in family planning.
The privatisation of healthcare includes,
but is not limited to: privatising the costs ofhealthcare by shifting the burden of payment
to individuals; privatising the delivery of healthservices by expanding opportunities for private,
for-profit health service providers; privatising
the delivery of healthcare services by shiftingcare from public institutions to communitybased organisations and private households;
privatising care work from public sector
healthcare workers to unpaid care givers; andprivatising management practices within thehealth system by adopting the management
strategies of private sector businesses.201
CESCR Committee General Comment No. 14
provides that ‘obligations to protect include,inter alia, the duties of States to adopt
legislation or to take other measures ensuring
equal access to health care and health-related
services provided by third parties; to ensurethat privatisation of the health sector does
not constitute a threat to the availability,
accessibility, acceptability and quality of healthfacilities, goods and services’.202 The CESCR
Committee also recommends that states
integrate a gender perspective in their healthrelated policies, planning, programmes andresearch, in order to promote better health forboth sexes.203 Similarly, the Special Rapporteuron the Right to Health provides that states havean obligation to protect against harm by third
parties, including the private sector, and should
work to ensure that private actors support therealisation of the right to physical and mental
health while fully understanding their role andduties in that respect.204 For instance, a stateshould ensure that privatisation of the healthsector and the supply of medicines by privatecompanies does not constitute a threat to theavailability, accessibility, acceptability and qualityof medicines.205 The Rapporteur states that theright to health requires that essential services
include those for populations with specialised
needs, such as reproductive health services
adapted to the needs of women and girls.206
In General Recommendation No. 24, on womenand health, the CEDAW Committee statesthat it ‘is concerned about the evidence that
States are relinquishing [their] obligations as
they transfer State health functions to private
agencies’.207 The Committee specifies that
‘State parties cannot absolve themselves of
the responsibility in these areas [women’s illhealth] by delegating or transferring thesepowers to private sector agencies’.208 The
UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt andHuman Rights notes that the privatisationof public health services, and the associatedintroduction of user fees in many developing
countries have limited access to health services
for vulnerable groups, including the poor,
HIV-positive persons, sex workers, rural andindigenous women and migrant workers.209
On the other hand, contracting out healthservices to non-government actors may
have positive impacts, for instance where
governments define standards (e.g., forquality of service) and develop a frameworkof incentives to address the specific healthneeds of women and girls with particular healthrisks.210

BOX 13: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –PRIVATISATION AND HEALTHCARESERVICES
To the extent that current NAPs reference
right to health issues, this is usually in thecontext of workplace health and safety, rather
than in relation to the provision of healthcare
services per se. While no NAPs mention
gender in relation to access to healthcare, or

37

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

potential issues associated with privatisationof healthcare, there are numerous country
examples that could provide insights for
NAP implementation and revision, to embeda more gender-sensitive approach. Some
illustrative examples are included below.
In rural China, a series of health reforms in
the 1980s shifted financial responsibility for
health services from the state to local areasand individuals. The consequence was a lackof public funds for service provision, and thus
the transition to a primarily fee-for-service
system. Funding for preventative care thus
decreased and one consequence was a severe
reduction in reproductive health services, anda fee increase that made proper reproductive
healthcare infeasible for many Chinese
women. To mitigate this issue, China’s Ministryof Health began a national rural healthinitiative in 1997, including the Reproductive
Health Improvement Project, which was
initiated in 1998. The Project intended toreinstate accessible reproductive healthcare
for rural, impoverished women.211
Gender-based analyses of privatisation in
the province of Alberta, Canada, indicatedthat deficit reduction initiatives beginningin the 1990s, specifically those cutting
healthcare, social services and education,negatively impacted women most out of theregional population. These reforms madehealthcare financially inaccessible for many
women.212 In 2000, as a response to thenegative impacts of increasing privatisationof healthcare, the Government of Alberta
passed legislation to require a regulatory
framework for health services in the region.
The Health Care Protection Act provides anoverarching framework to make healthcare
more accessible, equitable and regulated, andincreased care accountability for concernedinterest groups.213

38

2.5.4 WATER SERVICES

In 2010, the human right to water and sanitation
was officially recognised by the UN General
Assembly in Resolution 64/292.214 Moreover,international human rights standards, such as
Article 14 of CEDAW, stipulate that states shallensure to women the right to ‘enjoy adequate
living conditions, particularly in relation to …
water supply’.215 CESCR Committee General
Comment No. 15 notes that states must ensurethat water services, ‘whether privately or
publicly provided, are affordable for all’216 andshall ensure that ‘women are not excluded
from decision-making processes concerning
water resources and entitlements. The
disproportionate burden women bear in thecollection of water should be alleviated’.217 In
addition, CESCR Committee General Comment
No. 14 stresses that ‘where water services(such as piped water networks, water tankers,
access to rivers and wells) are operated orcontrolled by third parties, States parties must
prevent them from compromising equal,
affordable, and physical access to sufficient,safe and acceptable water. To prevent suchabuses an effective regulatory system mustbe established … which includes independent
monitoring, genuine public participation andimposition of penalties for non-compliance’.218
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right toWater and Sanitation provides that, underinternational human rights law, states havethe obligation to identify and rectify all lawsthat have direct or indirect discriminatory
consequences on the enjoyment of thehuman rights to water and sanitation. The
legal framework should contain provisions
on non-discrimination and equality in accessto water and sanitation. Such laws should
aim to eliminate both formal and substantive
discrimination, and take into account bothpublic and private actors.219
According to the UN Secretary-General,
women and girls in low-income countries
spend some 40 billion hours per year

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

collecting water.220 Similarly, the World HealthOrganization reports that in one day, more than152
million hours of women and girls’ time isspent collecting water for domestic use.221 Whilemen occasionally participate in these tasks,
women tend to carry the brunt of the work.222
These tasks put time constraints on womenand girls, limiting their ability to participate
in food security and agricultural activities,
local governance structures and training
opportunities (only to name a few).223
Privatisation of water services has the potential
to exclude and alienate poor women when theycannot pay for the services or are excluded
from decision-making in management systems
and resource allocation.224 In most rural areas
women’s participation in local institutions suchas water users’ associations is limited, and evenwhen they do belong to such organisations,social restrictions may prevent them fromparticipating on par with their male counterparts.
This situation hinders more participatory andequitable decision-making regarding water
resources at local and national levels.225 The
FAO, for instance, has noted that mechanisms
are needed to ensure that women are
included in the membership, decision-making
committees and the irrigation professionals of
Water Users Associations.226 According to the
Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency, companies which provide water systems
may contribute to the additional exclusionof poor people. These groups, often women,
may not have been served by the former water
utilities but could anyway often get accessto water through ‘informal’ connections.227
Moreover, ActionAid has argued that women’ssafety may be put at risk when water restrictions– as a result of privatisation – force them tocollect water at night-time, or from far-away
or isolated places.228 Similarly, the Women’s
Environment and Development Organization
states that trekking distances to access water or
sanitation can place women in danger of being
victims of physical violence.229

On the other hand, in some circumstances
privatisation may result in a more efficientwater management system and may thus
allow more people to have access to water.
The corporation’s profit-driven nature can,theoretically, eliminate or diminish theinefficiencies or redundancies in construction,
maintenance, upgrades and distribution.
Furthermore, since management occurs outside
government, there is an assumption that lesscorruption is likely to take place.230 Meena
Palaniappan et al. suggest an elaborationof three principles they consider essential
for any privatisation of public water supply.
Firstly, they suggest that water should bemanaged as a ‘social good’. In so doing, private
water providers should ensure that they fulfil
basic needs for water, where all residents areguaranteed a basic water quantity under any
privatisation agreement. Secondly, ‘soundeconomics’ should be utilised in all private
water management. In such manner, water
and water services should be provided at fairand reasonable prices, and whenever possible,
link proposed rate increases with agreedupon improvements in services. Thirdly,
strong government regulation and oversightis necessary when privatising water services.
Thus, public agencies and water service
providers should monitor water quality, andgovernments should define and enforce water
quality laws. Moreover, contracts that specify
the responsibility of each partner should be a
pre-requisite of any privatisation.231

39

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

BOX 14: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –PRIVATISATION AND WATER SERVICES
NAPs to date do not explicitly mention accessto water or water privatisation. However, there
are country examples of the negative gender
implications of water privatisation and possible
steps that states might take to address these.
Some examples are included below.
State legislation concerning water privatisationin countries with inequitable gender access havebeen fraught. The UN states that this has been
largely due to female under-representationin water policy creation and the ‘water world’in general.232 Efforts to increase female
involvement in water policy have begun with theincrease of women serving as ministers of waterand environment. In South Africa, Lesothoand Uganda, for example, ‘women ministers
for water are implementing affirmative action
programmes in the water sector to train
women for water and sanitation related careers,
including science and engineering.’233 Thesechanges have had a trickle-down effect, as‘at the local level, women have found their
voices and have now been trained to locate
water sources in the village, to decide on thelocation of facilities and to repair pumps.’234
These changes have considerably reduced theoccurrence of pump breakdowns. Additionally,
the UN concludes that although ‘it may be hard
to imagine a change in orientation of water
policy in many countries in the near future,affirmative action policies such as “women inwater” awards and a bursary for young women
to take up careers in the water sector in South
Africa have proved to be a successful means of
empowering women.’235
A 1999 legislation that guaranteed equal
access to water for all in Kenya wascompromised in 2002 by a new government
policy which defined water as an ‘economic
good’. Additionally, outside investors haveencouraged water privatisation. A USD75

40

million Privatisation and Private Sector
Development Project intends to increasewater privatisation in the country as its maingoal. While water systems remain publicly
owned for the time being, about 50 per centof the population in rural and urban areas do
not have access to clean water. Instead, theymust buy water from local vendors, paying
over 30 times the cost of piped resources.
According to the Women’s Environment andDevelopment Organization, although ‘women
play a critical role in the water sector, they
are rarely integrated into actual practice orpolicy.’236 As a result, ‘some women are taking
matters into their own hands, forming local
associations that work with municipalities toensure that piped-water points are establishedwithin their reach. They have mobilized
neighbourhoods, municipalities and otherpartners to build water tanks, and havegenerated funds locally to pay for them.’237

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2.6 ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND
PRIVATISATION – POINTS FOR
STATE CONSIDERATION IN UNGPSIMPLEMENTATION• Thoroughly analyse and account for any
potential gender impacts in delivery ofessential services, including decisions
regarding privatisation.
• Improve transparency of decision-making
regarding delivery of essential services –including by clearly demonstrating how
economic, efficiency, accessibility, genderand other factors have been accounted for
and weighted in decision-making.
• Ensure thorough consultation withpotentially impacted women and men using
essential services.
• Address systemic gender discrimination
through essential service delivery models– e.g., enhancing girls’ education, improving
accessibility and quality of reproductive
health services for women.
• Where essential services are privatised, put
in place concrete measures to ensure thatprivatised essential services meet relevantinternational human rights and domestic
standards – e.g., though contractual
provisions, incentives and ongoing
monitoring.
• Periodically evaluate the gender impacts ofpublic service delivery – including throughthe use of gender-relevant indicators anddata.
• Consider using PPPs to balance involving
the private and public sectors in delivering
equitable essential services.

2.7 TRADE AND INVESTMENT – ISSUESAND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.7.1 GENDER EQUALITY IMPLICATIONS OFTRADE AND INVESTMENT ARRANGEMENTS

Increased trade and investment can beimportant sources of economic growth,which may result to benefit women. However,trade and investment agreements andstructures in the global economy have also
been criticised for focusing on commercial
interests without sufficiently taking into
account human rights.238 As such, states shouldcarefully consider the gendered implicationsof trade and investment prior to entering
into agreements, including by assessing
how women and girls may benefit and how
they may be adversely impacted. Trade andinvestment is also relevant in the context of the2030 Agenda. The SDGs, for instance, refer toincreasing aid for trade support for southerncountries, and increasing southern country
exports with a view to doubling the share of
global exports of least developed countries
by 2030.239 The Addis Ababa Action Agenda,
which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda,
explicitly links trade and gender equality, notingthat by ‘recognising the critical role of womenas producers and traders, we will address
their specific challenges in order to facilitate
women’s equal and active participation indomestic, regional and international trade.’240
The potential role of trade as a ‘means of
implementation’ to achieve the SDGs has also
been recognised by different actors, including
the World Trade Organization (WTO).241
In 2015, United Nations Human Rights Council
mandate-holders voiced concerns about the
impacts of trade and investment agreements onhuman rights. In a collective statement, a groupof UN experts stated that trade agreements‘are likely to have a number of retrogressive
effects on the protection and promotion ofhuman rights, including lowering the thresholdof health protection, food safety and labour

41

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

standards, by catering to the business interestsof pharmaceutical monopolies and extending
intellectual property protection.’242
In 2016, the European Parliament noted thatgender inequality in trade is apparent throughthree main channels: (1) employment; (2)consumption; and (3) public provision ofservices. Consequently, different groups ofwomen and men are affected in their multiple
roles as workers, producers and consumers,
and as citizens and taxpayers entitled to
public services.243 In terms of employment,
trade expansion as a consequence of tariff
liberalisation leads to changes in the structureof production. This means that, although theoverall economy gains and grows, there aresectors that benefit from the trade agreement
while others are negatively affected. One
cannot say a priori which sectors gain andwhich ones lose, as this depends on relativecompetitiveness of each of the sectors. Hence,for each trade agreement, the gender effects
can be different. From a non-tariff perspective,changes in the regulatory environment could
affect the quality and security of employment
for various groups, with small-scale producers
and low-skilled workers being most affected.244
Due to the occupational segregation between
women and men (existing in both northern andsouthern countries) women are often in thelower segments of the employment categories,
and/or working part-time only, and are thus
relatively more vulnerable to changes in market
structures.245 It also means that they potentiallystand to gain most, if trade agreements arenegotiated and implemented in a gendersensitive way. Regarding consumption, trade
induced changes in relative prices of goods andservices generates changes in real incomes,
which affect households and individuals
differently depending on their consumption
needs, as well as their access and control overincome. Gendered effects may then result,for instance, because of prevailing norms
assigning women the primary responsibility

42

for the purchase and preparation of food forthe family. Since women generally spend
higher percentages of their incomes on foodand their children’s education, any change
in the availability or price of such goods andservices may have significant effects for thewhole family. Public Services International(a global trade union federation) argues that
preferential trade agreements may deepen theeconomic inequality between women and men,
especially where the reduction of tariffs denies
governments an important source of revenue
that could be spent on essential services.246
For those countries where tariffs still make asizeable percentage of income, it is important
to investigate whether tariff liberalisation,
combined with poorly developed tax systems(and/or where tax incentives are used to drive
foreign direct investment), would lead to anegative effect on gender equality. Reduced
public expenditures usually impact the poor
more heavily, particularly poor women.
Studies also show that globalisation and tradeliberalisation, through increasing competition,
may weaken the bargaining power ofworkers, especially of female workers if they
are disproportionately employed in sectors
increasingly competing on the basis of ‘cheap
labour’.247 The International Centre for Tradeand Sustainable Development, for instance,states that trade liberalisation may adversely
affect wages paid if female workers in northerneconomies have lower average skills thantheir male workers (then the wages of female
workers will drop more significantly thanthose of male workers as trade with southerncountries increases). This skill effect would
increase the gender wage gap, indicating theimportance of increasing skill levels in order toempower women and to ensure they benefit
from trade liberalisation. However, it has beensuggested that the gender wage gap should
decrease in southern economies with increasein trade, empowering women.248

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

On the other hand, it has been argued that
regional trade agreements may present
opportunities for encouraging cooperation
around gender equality as they may pressure
governments to address key structural barriers
to gender equality, including eliminating legal
constraints and barriers to access finance.249
The World Bank, for instance, has notedthat trade and economic agreements canprovide a channel for international pressure
to elicit domestic action on gender equality,
for example, through the inclusion of antidiscriminatory and social clauses that link a
country’s access to the economic benefits in anagreement to adherence to certain minimum
standards.250 Moreover, when gains in economic
growth, as a result of trade, are utilised
to increase infrastructure and to improveavailability and quality of public services,
gender disparities in human capital are likely tofall, and with them the gender pay gap.251
Economic policies impact different segmentsof the population, including men and women,
in different ways. Taking into account gender
perspectives in macro-economic policies,
including trade policies, is thus essential
to pursuing inclusive development, and toachieve fairer and beneficial outcomes forall.252 The International Centre for Trade andSustainable Development states that there
are at least two ways in which trade policy canbe more gender-responsive: ex ante genderassessments of trade measures and theinclusion of gender-related considerations
in trade-related instruments.253 Firstly,
assessments of the risks and benefits of trade
for a country should be complemented byan analysis of impacts on specific segmentsof the population – in particular those at riskof being left behind, including women andgirls. Secondly, gender-related considerations
should be included in the text of the trade
agreement.254

The UN Conference on Trade andDevelopment’s Trade and Gender Toolbox
provides a methodological approachfor carrying out ex ante gender impact
assessments of trade reforms.255 The Toolbox
is intended for policy-makers involved in tradenegotiations, including government officials,
but also for development practitioners working
on gender equality issues. It aims to equip
relevant stakeholders with the necessary tools
to gauge the potential effects of trade policies
on gender equality and it provides a checklist
to guide policy-makers in selecting measuresto accompany trade reforms in the event thatnegative impacts on gender inequalities areforeseen.256 The Guiding Principles on Human
Rights Impact Assessment of Trade andInvestment Agreements, developed by the UN
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, also
note the importance of specific attention to theimpact of trade and investment agreements
on gender equality, including, for example,
through the use of disaggregated indicatorsand data in analysis.257
The European Parliament, in its 2016 study
on gender equality in trade agreements,
makes recommendations on how to ensurethat new trade agreements take genderequality objectives more fully into account.258
Firstly, it states that it is important to use sexdisaggregated data throughout the analysis– examining the gender effects in all sectorsof the economy concerned, rather than in a
few instances. Secondly, the study notes theimportance of ensuring that the economic
model used to assess the potential impacts
of investment agreements is designed tocapture the diversity in female employment
rates and welfare regimes across countries
within Europe itself. Thirdly, it is recommended
that the gender analysis should not be limited
to employment effects, but should also
investigate consumption effects and public
provision effects to the extent possible. The
study also notes that attention needs to be

43

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

paid to implications for social services, which
are especially salient for gender equality
because changes in access to such services(and their quality) have direct implications
for the distribution of unpaid care work. The
Parliament encourages the participation of
women’s groups in trade consultations andstates that it is essential that gender experts
are appointed as members of the researchteam. Lastly, the study recommends that states
promote training of government officials on
gender issues and trade.259
The African, Caribbean and Pacific – European
Union (ACP-EU) Partnership Agreement is themost exhaustive agreement between southerncountries and the EU, addressing challenges
such as climate change, food security, regional
integration, state fragility and aid effectiveness.
In its chapter on thematic and crosscutting
issues, it mandates that technical cooperation
should create the appropriate framework
to ‘integrate a gender-sensitive approachand concerns at every level of development
cooperation including macroeconomic policies,
strategies and operation, and encourage theadoption of specific positive measures infavour of women’.260 Some earlier Free Trade
Agreements (FTAs) have also included genderrelated capacity building mechanisms. For
instance, in the EU-Mexico global agreement,
gender equality is regarded as a crosscutting
issue to be mainstreamed in development
cooperation between partners.261 Similarly, theEuropean Union – East African Community(EU-EAC) economic partnership agreement
calls for promotion of gender equity in fisheries,
as well as for developing capacity of womentraders involved and intending to engage infisheries.262 In more recent trade agreements,
gender issues tend to be addressed in specificchapters – significantly shifting the visibilityof such issues within trade instruments. For
instance, trade and gender chapters can befound in the Chile-Uruguay FTA263 and theCanada-Chile FTA,264 both of which recognise

44

the importance of gender mainstreaming forachieving economic growth, as well as the
key role that gender equality policies play infostering socioeconomic development.
2.7.2 TRADE AGREEMENTS ON AGRICULTURE,
INCLUDING TRADE LIBERALISATION

Agriculture plays a significant role in the livesof women (and men) in the global economy,
particularly in many southern countries, where
it is still a significant part of the total domestic
output, as well as a source of employment fora large proportion of the population. Since
women tend to make up the majority of workers
in the agricultural sector in most southerncountries, agricultural policies – including
those on trade of agricultural produce – have
major implications for women’s livelihoods.
For instance, according to the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food, gender
gaps are observed in access to all productive
resources, such as land, seeds, fertilisers, pest
control measures and mechanical tools, credit
and extension services.265
Agricultural trade liberalisation is often
premised on export-promotion policies that
benefit larger-scale farmers. Liberalisation has
opened smaller markets to subsidised imports,
thereby displacing the farmed products ofsmaller-scale farmers (often women), andencouraging the production of export crops
over subsistence agriculture. Women tend
to hold smaller plots, which are often circa
20 to 30 per cent less productive than plots
managed by men; therefore, their production
is not compatible with a large, corporate modelof farming.266 As such, many female smallscale farmers struggle to maintain householdincomes due to the increased competition with
imported agricultural goods, reduced prices,and declining commodity prices in international
markets.267 However, for women working inlarger agriculture export-oriented industries,
the effect may be positive. A challenge is thatmany female farmers are excluded from theWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

benefits of contract farming arrangements,
central to the agro-industrial model ofmodern agriculture. This is largely because
men continue to be in control of contract
arrangements.268 This is an argument in favourof adjusting domestic patterns and contracts
to allow for a larger share of the trade gains
accruing to women. Currently, even without
formal prohibitions to market access, structuralbarriers may challenge women’s ability toestablish relationships with buyers or to market
their own goods. In addition, women may lacksufficient time to engage in market activities
as a result of their unpaid household and careburdens.269
The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) is aninternational treaty of the WTO, which cameinto force in 1995.270 In short, the aim of
the AoA is to ensure tighter discipline in
agricultural trade policies, to facilitate exports
by way of commitments by member states to
cut tariffs and other trade barriers on importsof agricultural goods, and to reduce tradedistorting government support to domestic
producers and export.271 According to BRIDGE(a specialised gender and development
research and information service within theInstitute of Development Studies in the UK),the reduction of import tariffs mandated by
the AoA has led to the displacement of local
farmers, who are pushed out of domestic
markets as a result of the dumping ofcheap subsidised food imports from othercountries.272 This downward pressure on prices
benefits women as consumers; however, italso means that pressures could increase on
women farmers working in countries where
farmers are not subsidised and where it costs
more to produce the crop than it is possible tosell it for. In addition, it has been argued thatthe removal of state support to the agricultural
sector, including the extension of services andsubsidies for inputs and credits, has entailed
further marginalisation of small and poor
producers in many countries, in terms of accessto productive resources.273 Subsidies continue
to have a disproportionate effect on women
because of pre-existing gender inequalities
in access to, and control over, productive
resources and in their role as primary producers
and managers of food security in households,
especially if also used in other (competing)countries.
Moreover, trade policies that promote cash
crops and prioritise export-oriented growth
generally work for the benefit of men, rather
than women, as men tend to hold the overall
responsibility in this area. Gender inequalities
in access to and command of productive
assets, such as land and credit, or storage
and transport facilities, tend to constrain
women’s benefits from such policies.274 These
asymmetries could be adjusted by appropriate
domestic flanking policies. In addition, womenin many countries lack access to technology
and training. In Africa, for example, while themajority of agricultural activities are performed
by women, they receive less than 10 per centof the credit granted to small farmers.275
Furthermore, agro-biotechnology is posing
specific challenges for women, who may
be less likely to understand the impacts oftechnological developments and the effective
and safe use of technology. If women’s
participation in the development of agrobiotechnology is restricted, technologies arelikely to fail to account for the specific needs ofwomen.276 It has therefore been argued that itis necessary to rebalance rules that are biased
against women’s needs and interests andthat undermines their livelihoods in a context
where they constitute the majority of the poor.
Governments should step up their domestic
flanking policies by addressing supply-side
constraints facing women and low-income
producers, such as access to resources, training
and extension services, assistance with scaleeconomies, and access to childcare.277

45

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

BOX 15: COUNTRY EXAMPLES– AGRICULTURAL TRADE ANDINVESTMENT ARRANGEMENTS
Numerous NAPs stress that they intend toprotect human rights in the context of tradeand investment. Furthermore, many NAPs
emphasise that they either have, or plan to,incorporate the OECD Guidelines and the
UNGPs in relation to trade and investment
agreements.
The Finish NAP, for instance, states that‘Finland will support the strengthening of
human rights assessments in third countries
during EU trade or investment agreement
negotiations and when monitoring theirimplementation’.278 References to tradeand investment in other NAPs are similarlyphrased.
However, NAPs to date do not refer to womenand gender in the context of investment
or trade. Looking beyond NAPs, there arecountry examples of measures that promotewomen’s rights in the context of agricultural
trade and investment arrangements,
which could provide insights and guidance
for the implementation of human rights
commitments in current and future NAPs.
Some illustrative examples are included
below.
PROGRAMMESThe 2006 Ten Year Agricultural Sector
Development Programme in Tanzania,
launched as an implementation tool ofthree agricultural development and poverty
reduction procedures, recognises gender asa specific ‘crosscutting and cross-sectoralissue and addresses gender in specificareas of implementation’.279 For instance,
it is required that local investment meets
social and gender standards, as part of theProgramme’s performance assessment at
district level which is carried out every year.

46

Similarly, the 2013 National Agricultural Policy
identifies gender as a crosscutting theme
that must be addressed when applying the
Policy. The same is true of the 2011 Tanzania
Agriculture and Food Security and Investment
Plan, which particularly emphasises the needfor agribusiness investment policy to apply
a gender-sensitive approach in employment
opportunities. While it has been noted that
implementation of these initiatives has been
weak,280 they nevertheless provide insights as
to how gender can be more explicitly calledout and taken into account in agriculturalinvestments.
TARIFFS

To protect sensitive products, Swaziland281
and Botswana282 have used import quotas
on products like dairy and poultry. Since
Malawi introduced its agricultural support
for seeds and input in 2005,283 the country
has been credited for advancing agriculturaldevelopment among small-scale producers.284
The 2002 Southern African Customs Union
Agreement allows national protection for
infant industries, which is often used to justify
import bans to protect local manufacturers.285
For example, Botswana has reduced importsof specific sorts of tomatoes and UHT milk.
Accompanying seasonal import constraint
on maize, wheat and flour aims to ensurethat national production is consumed first.286
Export taxes also impose costs and restrain
the development of regional supply chains. An
illustrative example is the case of small stockexports from Namibia, where the Namibian
Government has limited exports to boost local
slaughtering since 2004.287
As part of the AoA agricultural reform process,farm sizes in Brazil’s dairy sector haveincreased, with large-scale firms replacing
traditional cooperatives. However, a FAO casestudy from 2000 suggests that the solution is
not to avoid the reform process, but instead

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

to promote safeguards for rural populations
and small-scale farmers, such as by reforming
contract law to ensure the rights of smallscale farmers in the face of large agriculturalcompanies and by establishing new credit
institutions. Likewise, FAO’s case study ofIndia suggests that a constructive responseto the negative effects that agricultural tradeliberalisation has on the rural and poor issafety net measures such as employment
programmes, targeted food supplies and a
programme of food stabilisation, all of which
would be in conformity with the AoA.288
These types of measures can be particularly
beneficial to women since they are often
small-scale farmers.
OFFICIAL INDEPENDENT ADVISORY BODY

In 1985, the UK Gender Expert Groupwas founded by the Department of Tradeand Industry.289 It is supported by the
Women’s National Commission, which is theGovernment’s official independent advisory
body on women, tasked to ensure that genderis integrated into UK/EU trade policy andto give expert advice on issues regarding
gender. The UK Gender Expert Group ismade up of representatives of women’s anddevelopment organisations who are engaged
in trade and gender issues, academics, and UK
government observers.290

2.7.3 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROVISIONS,INCLUDING ACCESS TO MEDICINES

Under the Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS), all WTO members are required toapply uniform intellectual property rights andminimum standards on patents, copy-rights,
trademarks and trade secrets.291 Supportersof TRIPS have claimed that it will lead toincreased intellectual property protections
and investments in more research anddevelopment on the priority health needs ofsouthern countries.292 However, TRIPS has also
been criticised for its potential adverse impacts
on human rights related to public health,agriculture, biodiversity, traditional knowledge
and technology transfer.293
According to the 1992 UN Convention on
Biological Diversity, traditional knowledge,
innovation and practices of indigenous
communities and local communities must
be protected by domestic legislation.294 It
also suggests that when such knowledge iscommercialised, it should be done so withthe consent and wider participation of such
communities, and that benefits that accrue
from such commercialisation be sharedwith the communities.295 The Institute for
Agriculture & Trade Policy (a non-profit
research and advocacy organisation that
promotes sustainable food, farm and tradesystems) states that, as a result of somepatents granted on inventions based on
traditional knowledge, intellectual property
rights on bio-technical inventions (as granted
under TRIPS) may encourage corporations
to patent inventions based on traditional
knowledge without acknowledging theirsource, or sharing benefits that arise from thecommercialisation of such products.296 Lackof recognition of the traditional knowledgeof local and indigenous communities may
serve as a major setback to women because,
in many instances, they play a vital role inconserving biological diversity at its site ofoccurrence.297 The continued patenting ofseeds and biological resources, as well as theuse of genetically modified organism (GMO)
technology for agricultural policies, have direct
impacts on women as farmers – severely
hampering their access to seeds, farm inputs
and plants.298 On the other hand, it may beargued that new technologies and seeds havemade a significant contribution to reducing
poverty and improving livelihoods for ruralcommunities, including women.

47

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

According to the Institute for Agriculture &Trade Policy, TRIPS may also have critical
implications for women’s health – particularly
in terms of access to medicines for their
specific health needs.299 To the extent thatstronger intellectual property protections – asthose anticipated by TRIPS – result in drug
prices that people in southern countries cannot
afford, TRIPS arrangements (and TRIPS-Plusagreements) may contribute directly to reduced
access to medicines. Another set of factors that
affects access to essential medicines is thepresence, or absence of, efficient distribution
mechanisms at national, regional and local
levels for drugs and healthcare services insouthern countries. In the absence of drug andhealthcare distribution networks, medicines will
not reach people who need them the most –even if they are available at affordable prices.300
Generally, women are more vulnerable to pricerises of patent protected drugs, including ARV
drugs. For instance, according to UN Women,
51 per cent of all HIV&AIDS affected persons
are women, and 60 per cent of all youth
affected by HIV&AIDS are young women andadolescent girls.301 In many situations, women
also have important responsibilities as carers,
further increasing their need for accessible ARV
drugs.

LEGISLATION PROTECTING TRADITIONALKNOWLEDGE

BOX 16: COUNTRY EXAMPLES –INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROVISIONSIN TRADE
To date, no NAP refers to gender impacts ofintellectual property provisions in trade andinvestment arrangements. However, provisions
in various national legislations and countrylevel initiatives may provide insights into how
the gender impacts of intellectual property
provisions in trade and investment may be
addressed in national UNGPs implementation.
Some illustrative examples are included
below.

Likewise, the role of customary law
and practices is recognised in the 2010
Swakopmund Protocol on the Protection of
Traditional Knowledge and Expressions ofFolklore within the Framework of the African
Regional Intellectual Property Organization.305
This type of legislation can benefit women,
who frequently play a vital role in conserving
biological diversity, as it provides for the
sharing of benefits that arise from thecommercialisation of products based on
traditional knowledge.

48

The Government of the Philippines has
passed legislation specifically addressing
women’s rights in the context of protecting
traditional knowledge. The 2009 Magna
Carta of Women provides equal rights to men
and women in land titling, and in use andmanagement of land, water and other natural
resources.302 The Act also acknowledges
special rights of indigenous women,
including their ‘rights to the enjoyment, use,
and management of land, water, and othernatural resources within their communities orancestral domains’. It also seeks to ensure theprotection of indigenous women’s ‘knowledge
systems and practices, traditional livelihoods,
and other manifestations of their cultures andways of life … [p]rovided that [such] cultural
systems and practices are not discriminatory
to women’.303
The Peruvian 2002 Law No. 27811 deals
with protecting the collective knowledge ofindigenous peoples attained from biologicalresources, aiming ‘to promote the fair andequitable distribution of the benefits derived
from the use of … collective knowledge’.
It also acknowledges customary laws andprotocols concerning benefit sharing.304

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

MEASURES AGAINST PATENT PROTECTEDDRUGSIn order to supply its HIV programme andmake it more available for its citizens, theBrazilian Government has sought ways toencourage the international pharmaceuticalindustry to negotiate the price in sale ofdrugs. With specific reference to the United
Nations Development Programme Human
Development Index, the Government
developed the 1997 Brazilian Intellectual
Property Law.306 The Law grants a government
authority the power to ‘issue a compulsory
licence where a patent holder exercises
patent rights in an abusive manner, or bymeans of an abuse of economic power provenby an administrative or court decision’. For
several years, the enactment of the law was
useful to the Government in negotiations
with companies, resulting in lower pricesof patent medicines.307 Furthermore, in
2007, the Law allowed the Government toissue a compulsory licence on efavirnez, a
medicine treating HIV.308 This licence allows
the government to import generic efavirnez
from India instead of patented efavirnez,
which significantly reduces the cost of
the medicine.309 While issues associatedwith the quality of generic drugs need tobe acknowledged and addressed, genericdrugs can make an important contribution to
reduction of costs, providing they meet therelevant quality standards.
The Treatment Action Campaign was set up in1998 and is a South African social movement
working to secure access to effective
treatment through the public health systemfor people living with HIV and AIDS. In 1997,
the South African Government initiated the
Medicines and Related Substances Control
Amendment Act, which ‘allowed for thesubstitution of brand-name medicines withgeneric medicines once a patent had expired,

the importation of generic medications,and a transparent pricing mechanism’.310
Multinational pharmaceutical companies saw
the Act as a violation of their drug patents
and future profits for new innovations. As aneffort to stop the Act, the Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers’ Association and 40
international drug corporations took the South
African Government to court, with the supportof the US Government, and postponed
the implementation of the Law for three
years.311 As a reaction to this, the Treatment
Action Campaign was initiated to support
the Government against the pharmaceuticalcompanies and worked closely with theCongress of South African Trade Unions toorganise communities against the actionsof the transnational corporations. Medecinssans Frontières supported the campaign byinitiating a universal 'Drop the case petition'
against the pharmaceutical corporations. In
2001, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers'
Association dropped its lawsuit after the
US FDA agreed with the South African
Government on the fact that for emergency
situations like the HIV&AIDS epidemic (but nomore) the TRIPS flexibilities would apply.312
Being categorised as a ‘least developed
country’, Bangladesh has had access to a
special WTO waiver. This waiver has allowed
Bangladesh to enact its 1982 Drugs Control
Ordinance, which makes it possible for theGovernment to regulate the price of drugs
and limit the imports of medicine if the drug,
or a substitute, is produced domestically in
Bangladesh. The 2005 National Drug Policy
declared that the Government would provide
basic services and facilities to local genericdrug manufacturing industries.313

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2.8 TRADE AND INVESTMENT – POINTSFOR STATE CONSIDERATION IN UNGPSIMPLEMENTATION• Evaluate and address the actual andpotential gender implications of tradearrangements – such as liberalisation of
specific sectors, implications of tariffs,
potential impacts on social services.
• Perform ex ante human rights and genderanalysis of trade and investment proposals
to evaluate potential adverse impacts andpotential benefits for women and girls.
This should include robust and meaningful
consultations with affected rights-holders
and communities, as well as other relevant
stakeholders such as civil society.
• Generate and use sex-disaggregated datain the human rights analysis of trade andinvestment options.
• Ensure parliamentary oversight of trade andinvestment agreements.
• Pay particular attention to critical issues
in trade and investment that are known todisproportionately adversely impact womenand girls – such as food security and accessto medicines.
• Use trade and investment negotiations andarrangements to proactively address genderinequalities – such as through targeting
women in job creation in under-represented
sectors and industries.
• Align human rights and trade and investment
objectives in policy and practice to ensure
policy coherence and the transfer ofcommitments to non-discrimination andgender equality in trade and investment
policies and agreements.
• Ensure that any trade and investment
agreements allow sufficient policy space for50

the state to meet its international humanrights obligations – e.g., avoid international
investor-state dispute settlement
mechanisms.
• Recognise and proactively address the overrepresentation of women in the services
sector and the resulting gender concerns inthe services sector implicated by trade andinvestment arrangements.

2.9 ACCESS TO EFFECTIVE REMEDY –ISSUES AND COUNTRY EXAMPLES
2.9.1 GENDER CONSIDERATIONS FOR ACCESSTO EFFECTIVE REMEDY

The right to remedy is not only a human righton its own but also a pre-requisite for theenjoyment of other human rights.314 A genderanalysis is therefore necessary to ensure thatwomen who are victims of business-related
human rights abuses have access to effective
remedies. The third pillar of the UNGPs isdedicated to remedy. This includes accessto judicial (e.g., courts, including specialised
courts such as on land, labour or consumer
issues) and non-judicial remedies (including
both state-based mechanisms, such as national
human rights institutions, as well as nonstate-based mechanisms, such as grievancemechanisms provided by financial institutions
or operational-level grievance mechanisms
provided by companies).315 In national UNGPs
implementation, states should ensure that eachof these avenues is accessible for women, as wellas address any gender-related factors in setting
up and administering these remedy channels forbusiness-related complaints and instances.
The OHCHR, for example, has undertaken
extensive research looking at the barriers toaccess to remedy in BHR and has recommended
law and policy measures on how states might
address them, including several references tothe importance of gender in doing so.316 GenderWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

norms, interfering with women’s leadership andagency, along with their disproportionate unpaid
care responsibilities, undermine women’s voice,time and freedom of movement to participate
in remedial processes.317 Furthermore, genderinequalities in access to education means thatwomen frequently have lower levels of literacy
and awareness of rights, laws and available
mechanisms for redress – whether judicial
or non-judicial – and how to access them.
Additionally, women working under insecure (ornon-existent) work contracts often have to put
their jobs and livelihoods at risk when trying toaccess remedy.318
Overall, the general absence of gendersensitivity within judicial, non-judicial andcompany-based grievance mechanisms (andamong the state or business actors overseeingthem) means that women’s specific concerns– whether immediate or long-term – areoften overlooked.319 The UNWG, for instance,notes that ‘States should take appropriate
affirmative action to provide access to effective
remedies to marginalized or vulnerable
groups’, specifically women, as they experience
the impacts of business-related human rights
abuses differently and face additional barriers
because of ‘discriminatory laws, genderedroles, economic marginalization, social stigma,
power imbalances, religious values and cultural
norms’.320
The threat of sexual or gender-based violence
perpetrated by business or state actors, andthe stigma associated with such violence,
can deter women from seeking redress. Even
where it is possible, it can be particularly
difficult for women to access redress due tothe potentially sensitive nature of the issues,
such as reproductive rights.321 In industries orsettings where the majority of the workers are
women and most supervisory and management
positions are held by men, for example in theapparel industry, access to remedy is impeded
as women may be reluctant to come forward toreport even the most egregious abuse or sexual
harassment. The lack of female representation
among management can also mean thatwomen’s needs are not properly articulated
and addressed – such as requests to improve
quantity and quality of on-site childcare,or the desire of female workers to accesstransportation from their work place.322
There are also concerns about remedy forhuman rights violations that fails to take
into account the gender dimensions withinhouseholds. For instance, the UNWG notesthat ‘even if women do have access to remedialmechanisms, the dispute resolution process
may lack gender sensitivity or compensation
awarded may not reach them because of
patriarchal social structures.’323 Changes inhousehold finances may also cause increasing
domestic violence due to disagreement
about priorities for spending the funds. When
payment of compensation or benefits are paidout by companies, these often go to the manof the household, or on behalf of their families
and communities. This denies women access
to, and control over, the financial benefits of, forinstance, large-scale industry projects. Instead,it encourages women’s economic dependence
on men – exacerbating existing inequalities.324
Settlements with companies or profit sharing
agreements that do not take into account thegender dimensions of how the money will be
distributed can also indirectly contribute toincreased levels of violence against women.325
2.9.2 BARRIERS TO JUDICIAL REMEDY ANDACCESS TO JUSTICE

Normative frameworks for advancing women’s
rights have progressed significantly over the
past decades. However, studies show thatwomen around the world continue to have little
or no access to formal justice systems, andmuch less the ability to hold large businessactors to account.326 The marginalisation of
women in many contexts, stemming fromentrenched gender-based power asymmetries,

51

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

means that their barriers to accessing justice
are frequently further increased.327 As notedby the UN Working Group on the Eliminationof Discrimination Against Women in Law andPractice, for instance, the effective eliminationof discrimination against women in economic
and social life requires gender-responsive andeffective accountability systems. Although
there have been some judicial decisions on
discrimination against women in economic
and social life at the international, regional andnational levels, the numbers are disturbingly
low.328 A European Union and Council ofEurope study in Five Eastern PartnershipCountries found that despite the significant
legislative progress made, especially in the
adoption of laws and policies, women still facebarriers in access to justice including ‘de jurediscrimination of women, such as protective
labour legislation that restricts women’s accessto certain professions and types of work, or gaps
in the antidiscrimination legislative frameworks.
Further barriers have been observed in thearea of labour law, such as limitations on
fathers’ access to parental leave or the unlawful
dismissal of pregnant women.’329
A 2016 World Bank Report on Women, Businessand the Law highlights that women’s accessto justice can be affected by limits on theirrepresentation in judicial institutions.330
Evidence is emerging that women judges canmake a difference in cases where gender is an
issue, such as sex discrimination and sexual
harassment, and plaintiffs were twice as likely
to win when a woman was on the panel deciding
the cases. With that said, ‘the United Nations
estimates that globally women account for 27%
of all judges.’331
Financial costs of participating in grievanceprocesses and the lack of legal aid can be ahuge obstacle for women accessing justice,given their socioeconomic marginalisation in
many contexts.332 Small claims courts havebeen shown to provide an alternative to more

52

expensive judicial litigation making it ideal forsmall businesses, many of which are owned by
women. However, fifty-three economies do nothave small claims courts and while 90 per centof OECD high-income economies have suchcourts, only 46 per cent of economies in SubSaharan Africa do.333
Moreover, women within marginalised groups
can encounter additional legal and structuralbarriers in accessing judicial mechanisms. These
include, for instance, migrant women, displaced
or indigenous women – especially if they only
communicate in their own native language.334 An
intersectional lens that unpacks these nuancesis therefore especially important to ensure thatjustice systems can adapt and respond to thesecontexts (e.g., firewalls to ensure undocumented
migrant women can register complaints, orgreater sensitivity within the judicial system on
addressing the rights of sex workers).
The increasing complexity of business
operations (operating in different countries,
through different actors) requires remedies
that reach beyond national boundaries andthat are able to investigate complex corporate
structures, finances and relationships. Thus,
civil remedies, such as tort law, may be the only
option in some of these cases. However, thisarea of law may not always be the best suited toaddress gender discrimination, inequality andhuman rights abuses.335

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

BOX 17: COUNTRY EXAMPLES­– GENDER
AND JUDICIAL REMEDIESTo date, no NAP explicitly refers to women or
gender in the context of access to remedies.336
However, looking beyond NAPs, there areexamples of legislation and court cases that
promote women’s access to remedy in BHR,
which might be useful in informing future NAP
developments. Some illustrative examples
are included below.
DOMESTIC LAWS

Sex, pregnancy and family responsibilities
are explicitly referred to as illicit reasons of
discrimination in the legislation of numerous
countries, for example, Australia, France, Italy
and the Republic of Korea.337 According tolegislation in Argentina, Colombia, Germany,
Mauritania, Sri Lanka and Zambia, when firing
a pregnant employee, the burden of proof thatthe termination of employment is not linked
to the pregnancy lies with the employer.338
In Austria, Chile, Guatemala and Panama,
employers are bound to request legal oradministrative approval before dismissing apregnant or nursing employee.339 A legal oradministrative permission is required before
dismissing a pregnant or nursing employee in
Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea and Slovenia.340
These types of provisions are important for
women employees in all industries to seek
remedy for discrimination based on sex,
pregnancy or family responsibilities.
CLASS ACTIONClass action can be beneficial for womenas it can decrease legal costs and risks forplaintiffs. Collective legal actions are possible
in several countries, for instance, the US,
the UK, France, Germany, Japan and China;
however, there are some differences in thetypes of claims that can qualify as classactions, depending on the state. Furthermore,
the collective action arrangements that are

permitted do not always meet the particularneeds of claimants in cases involving grosshuman rights abuses.341
LEGAL AID

Legal aid is critical for overcoming barriers
to judicial remedies for women, as it helps toaddress the economic barrier that frequently
constrain women’s access to remedy.342 Theavailability and accessibility of legal aid for
women in BHR cases is therefore important.
Denmark, England and Wales, for example,
grant legal aid regardless of the plaintiffs’
nationality or residence.343
JUDICIAL DECISIONS ON DISCRIMINATIONAGAINST WOMENIn 2001, six women employed at Walmart
initiated a lawsuit against their workplacein the US Federal Court, claiming that they
were being discriminated against in relation
to pay, benefits and training.344 In 2003, thecomplainants filed an amended complaint
requesting that the court validate thecase as a class action on ‘behalf of current
and former female Walmart employees
maintaining that the discrimination facedby the original plaintiffs was systematic innature and affected all women employed byWalmart.’345 In 2004, the court accepted thecomplainants’ submission for class action,
meaning that the lawsuit would representroughly 1.5 million women. This was appealed
by Walmart, arguing that each claim should
be made individually. The Ninth Circuit Courtof Appeals maintained the ruling in 2007 and2009. However, in 2011 the Supreme Court
overruled the decision. The plaintiffs re-filed
their complaint with the Federal Court in San
Francisco, and with the US Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, but it was denied
there as well. In November 2017, the women
who were part of the initial suit filed a newlawsuit in Florida Southern District Court andthe case is currently ongoing.346

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

In 2013, the largest public sector union in
the UK (Unison) made an agreement with
Birmingham City Council that involved roughly
11,000 women council workers. It alleged thatthe council had subjected women working
as cooks, cleaners and care assistants tosystematic discrimination by paying themless in their bonuses and benefits than malecouncil workers. At first, the council disputed
the allegation but ultimately agreed to settle
the claim.347
In the period 2010-2012, the Australian Service
Union brought a claim to the government’s
employment ombudsman (Fair Work Australia)
about equal pay for women. Fair Work Australia
decided that gender had been an importantfactor in underrating the public sector’s largely
female workforce. Ultimately, the case resulted
in an increase of 23 to 45 per cent to theworkers’ salary over the span of eight years,
benefitting 150.000 workers. Unions hope thatthe case will help to establish an equal pay
standard in more industries.348
In 2012, the Kingsland garment factory in
Cambodia, a subcontractor of a supplierto the companies H&M and Walmart, shut
down their factory.349 Most of the workers
were women and were left without workand compensation.350 Roughly 200 workers
demonstrated for two months by sleeping
outside the factory and preventing the sewing
machines from being transferred, and 82
workers initiated a hunger strike.351 Even
though the supplier’s use of the subcontractor
breached its agreement with H&M, which
technically did not have any direct legal
liability, H&M decided that it could help toimprove the situation. Together with NGOs,
the Cambodian Arbitration Council, theGovernment and the ILO, the workers werecompensated. H&M developed clear guidanceon their expectations of suppliers and, withcooperation from trade unions, established awhistle-blower system.352

54

REMEDIES THAT REACH BEYOND BORDERS

In 2016, the Regional Court of Dortmund
in Germany issued a primary resolution
to accept jurisdiction for a case regarding
individuals who have suffered from a fire ina textile factory in Pakistan. The claim wasbrought against the German discount clothing
merchant KiK. The case is still pending but
the initial hearing indicated that German
companies may be held accountable forillegal conduct in foreign countries undercertain circumstances. As the workforce inmany apparel factories consists mainly of
women, these types of judicial decisions may
contribute to strengthening the position of
women in access to remedy for businessrelated human rights abuses.353

2.9.3 WOMEN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
While women human rights defenders (WHRDs)
are subject to the same types of risks as other
HRDs, they are also targeted for, or exposed
to, gender-specific threats and violence. Thisis particularly true where the work of WHRDs
is perceived as challenging traditional family
and gender roles in society.354 As noted by
the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of
Human Rights Defenders, for instance, ‘women
human rights defenders are particularly at risk
when leading the opposition to companies
and reporting human rights abuses. They are
targeted both as human rights defenders but
also because they are women. Women humanrights defenders are often at the forefront of
human rights battles, partly because they are
directly affected by human rights violations andbecause they challenge companies’ power anddeeply rooted patriarchy.’355
In 2017, the UNWG launched a workstream
on this issue, noting the ‘increasing recordsof killings, attacks, threats and harassment
against human rights defenders who speak up
against business-related human rights issues,

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

including the particular challenges faced by
WHRDs.’356 National human rights institutions
have also called for particular attention to
WHRDs in the 2018 Marrakech Declaration
on human rights defenders, which notes that‘women human rights defenders, whilst facing
similar risks as other human rights defenders,
may also face additional gender-specificdiscrimination and violence, not only by Stateagents but also private actors. This comes in
the form of intimidation, threats, and sexual
violence. This may also happen not only in theirown organizations, in their communities, andin their families. They also face social, political,
cultural and religious barriers.’357 According to
the 2017 report of Front Line Defenders, threats
were more commonly used against WHRDs
than their male counterparts. Approximately
23 per cent of the Urgent Appeals on WHRDs
issued by Front Line Defenders in 2017 related
to threats or intimidation as a result of theirwork, compared to 10 per cent for their malecounterparts. Reportedly, the gendered
dynamic to the targeting of WHRDs wasprevalent in every region in 2017.358

BOX 18: COUNTRY EXAMPLES – WOMENHUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSAs an outcome of strong promotion frommany women’s rights groups in Colombia,
the country’s Ministry of Interior adopted the2012 Resolution 0805, which acknowledges
WHRD’s ‘specific prevention and protectionneeds’359 and has therefore initiated agender protocol to improve their safety. The
resolution’s essential provisions include, forinstance, ‘the extension of the state sponsored
protection measures to WHRD’s children
and other family members and the inclusionof principles that prioritizes consultation
with WHRD’s’ and ‘gender sensitizationand training of officials involved in WHRDs
protection cases.’360

2.9.4 GENDER AND NON-JUDICIAL REMEDIES

Non-judicial grievance mechanisms include,
for instance, intergovernmental grievancemechanisms (such as mechanisms linked to
UN treaty-based and charter-based bodies), theILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association,national contact points, national human rights
institutions, mechanisms associated with
the international finance institutions (suchas the Inspection Panel of the World Bankand the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsmanof the IFC), sectoral and multi-stakeholder
grievance mechanisms (such as the Fair Wear
Foundation), and operational-level grievancemechanisms (established by businesses
themselves).361 All non-judicial grievancemechanisms should meet the effectivenesscriteria set out in the UNGPs, as being:
legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable,transparent, rights-compatible, a source ofcontinuous learning, and based on dialogue
and engagement.362
In its 2018 report to the UN General Assembly,
the UNWG explains how women’s experiencesand expectations should inform the provisionof effective remedies, in all types of remedialmechanisms, in line with the UNGPs. It statesthat women’s experiences should be relevantin three interrelated ways: ‘how corporate
activities may affect women differently,
including by reinforcing or exacerbating
existing gender discrimination or exacerbating
existing gender discrimination by adopting
gender-neutral policies; what additional
barriers women may face in gaining access toeffective remedies to redress human rights
abuses; and what remedial responses women
may need to achieve substantive justice inan era in which the private sector is playing adominant role.’ 363 The UNWG thus states that
it is ‘critical for both States and business toengage with women by applying gender lens
while implementing the UNGPs, including
pillar III.’ 364

55

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

According to the International Women’s Rights
Action Watch in Asia Pacific and Landesa,
designing effective, gender-responsive
remedies requires specific attention to
women’s social contexts and legal rights
status. For instance, company-based grievancemechanisms can ensure that women’s land
rights and interests are captured, although theirrights are generally more likely than men’s
to be unregistered, informal and contested.
Establishing such remedies will require
local knowledge and assistance and involve
consultations with both men and women in theaffected communities.365 Considering effective
gender representation and participation in
local contexts and cultural dynamics is also
important. Mediation and other types ofalternative dispute resolution, such as assisted
dialogue or joint fact-finding, can assist in thisregard.366
Moreover, there have been cases of womenreporting allegations of sexual assault andrape by companies’ private security firms,
with remediation packages falling short ofinternational standards, including the UNGPs.
Operational-level grievance mechanisms
should thus be independently reviewed,
and the right to access court and obtain
judicial review or appeal decisions should
be facilitated. Stakeholders have also argued
that states should ensure that violence against
women should not be addressed by nonjudicial mechanisms, in particular operationallevel grievance mechanisms, but should besanctioned under criminal law.367 Where inplace, operational-level grievance mechanisms
can serve to not only address specific instances
but to also filter and capture more systemic
gender issues in a particular communitycompany context.

56

BOX 19: COUNTRY EXAMPLES– GENDER AND NON-JUDICIALREMEDIES
To date, although many states have a sectionin their NAP regarding non-judicial grievanceresolution, only the NAPs for Denmark and
Norway explicitly refer to gender.368
The Danish Government has establisheda Mediation and Complaints-Handling
Institution for Responsible BusinessConduct, which receives complaints andinvestigates and mediates in cases concerning
alleged breaches of the OECD Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises by Danish
organisations or their business partners.
Additionally, non-judicial institutions forbusiness-related human rights abuses,
such as the Employment Tribunals, national
Ombudsman and Consumer tribunal, areaccessible for filing complaints. Furthermore,
the Danish NAP explicitly mentions
mechanisms in place for dealing with casesof gender discrimination in employment orservices.369
The Norwegian Government has set up
institutions such as the Labour Inspection
Authority and the Equality and Antidiscrimination Ombudsman. The Norwegian
NAP furthermore states that there arecomplaints mechanisms in connection withthe rights of employees, children, women andmen.370
FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN GRIEVANCEMECHANISMS

If grievance mechanisms build on andcomplement other community engagement
processes, their cultural appropriateness islikely to be increased. An example of this is
Newmont’s Ahafo project in Ghana, which
initiated a Women Consultative Committee in2008.371 The Committee has 95 members thatcome together each quarter to review matters

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

affecting women, such as employment,
access to credit, and scholarships forchildren’s education.372 Resolving officers
in charge of Ahafo’s grievance mechanism
explain how the raised issues are dealt with,and the committee members then inform
other women. If an issue cannot be solved
at a meeting, it is dealt with through Ahafo’s
grievance procedure.373

2.10 ACCESS TO EFFECTIVE REMEDY –POINTS FOR STATE CONSIDERATION IN
UNGPS IMPLEMENTATION• Address barriers to judicial remedies thathave particular relevance to women – suchas access to legal aid, physical accessibility(taking into account women with disabilities
but also rural women and women living inremote areas), language and literacy barriers.

Together with local partner NGOs in
Bangladesh and India, the Fair Wear
Foundation initiated a programme in 2011 toraise awareness of anti-harassment laws ingarment factories with the establishment ofanti-harassment committees. As the trust forthe committees and the awareness of antiharassment laws grew, more severe issues
were reported in these workplaces. The
committees consist of elected workers who
can file grievances on behalf of workers who
experience harassment or concerns about
safety. In order to make sure that the cases areresolved properly, they work with the factory
management. In both India and Bangladesh,the law requires that factories create policies
to address grievances and to prevent andrespond to workplace harassment; inturn, these laws govern the work of thecommittees.374 Although there is still plentyof room for improvement, progress has beenmade. Since 2014, Fair Wear Foundation, with
their partners Social Awareness and Voluntary
Education and CIVIDEP India, have managed
training programmes for factory supervisors inIndia’s garment industry.375• Periodic monitoring of BHR data within
the judicial system – i.e. periodically andsystematically collect data to understand how
many cases per year deal with BHR, including
details on how these were addressed from awomen’s rights perspective.
• Adjust domestic laws to enable the hearingof business-related human rights complaints,
including addressing common barriers suchas burden of proof.
• Implement capacity building for the
judiciary on business-related human rights
complaints, including any relevant genderdimensions – such as challenges aroundsexual and gender-based violence cases
or discrimination in land rights that inhibit
women’s access to judicial remedies.
• Improve investigation and prosecution ofcrimes associated with business entities.
• Make provisions for hearing extraterritorialhuman rights claims in home countries,
particularly in instances where access tojustice in host countries is limited or has
been exhausted.
• Mandate the national human rights
institution and/or equality body to address
gender and business-related humanrights complaints – including through theapplication of multiple mandate areas, suchas investigations, complaints handling andeducation.

57

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS• Proactively address threats faced by WHRDs– including by targeting specific industries
or issues where WHRDs are at risk (e.g.,
adopt laws and policies that reaffirm thatno interference, intimidation, abuse, threat,
violence or reprisal against WHRDs will betolerated; conduct prompt, thorough andimpartial investigations into any interference
and ensure accountability for perpetrators;
and strengthen state institutions responsible
for safeguarding and supporting the work ofhuman rights defenders376).
• Provide guidance to industry on thecompliance of operational-level grievancemechanisms with the eight effectivenesscriteria of the UNGPs, including specificprovisions to ensure that processes
and outcomes of such mechanisms arecompatible with international human rights
law and do not prevent access to judicial
remedies.
• Involve women in the design andimplementation of non-judicial grievancemechanisms for business and industry toensure that gender-related aspects areadequately addressed.
• Reflect awareness of the particularchallenges faced by specific groups

58

of women, e.g., indigenous women,in business-related human rights
complaints – such as by requiring women’s
participation in the hearing and resolution ofcomplaints regarding land use agreement
implementation.
• Address barriers to access to justiceexperienced by women – such as byproviding legal access to individuals despite
their nationality, residence or migrant status,
and allow class action.
• Enable access to remedy for women andwork specific grievances – e.g., the burdenof proof should lie on the employer in casesof dismissal of pregnant or nursing workers,
employers should be obliged to request
legal or administrative approval for dismissalof a pregnant or nursing worker.
• Assist and require companies to develop
clear guidance on their grievance resolution
expectations of suppliers, in particular infemale dominated industries.
• Encourage companies to work with diverse
and independent civil society actors, humanrights defenders and national human rights
institutions, and use them as access points to
BHR-related grievances.

ANNEX I: OVERVIEW OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND THE
2030 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
This Annex provides an overview of key
concepts and definitions regarding women’s
rights and further outlines the rationale forstrengthening attention to gender in UNGPs
implementation, based on international humanrights law and 2030 Agenda perspectives.
KEY CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONSDEFINITION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINSTWOMEN AND GIRLS

The prohibition of discrimination against
women and girls in international human rights
law is broad, and includes both direct andindirect discrimination. Article 1 of CEDAW
describes discrimination against women andgirls as: ‘any distinction, exclusion or restriction
made on the basis of sex which has the effector purpose of impairing or nullifying therecognition, enjoyment or exercise by women,
irrespective of their marital status, on a basis ofequality of men and women, of human rights
and fundamental freedoms in the political,
economic, social, cultural, civil or any otherfield.’377
Sex and gender are often used interchangeably
in the context of discrimination, however, it isimportant to understand that there are somedifferences between the terms. While ‘sex’ isusually used to refer to a person’s biologicaland anatomical characteristics,378 ‘gender’ isusually used to describe characteristics thatare associated with a certain sex throughsocial roles, norms and expectations. ‘Gender
identity’ is a term frequently used to refer topersonal identification of one’s own gender.379

FORMAL AND SUBSTANTIVE EQUALITY

While formal (or de jure) gender equality looks
at equality between men and women in andbefore the law, substantive (or de facto) genderequality considers whether women enjoy
equality with men in practice.380 For example,
women and men may formally have the sameright to apply for work in a certain industry,
however, due to social roles, norms andstereotypes women may be less likely to apply
for jobs in the industry, be successful in thecase of applying, or work in the industry for longenough to be eligible for more senior positions.
The concept of substantive equality arose outof the realisation that formal equality may not
be sufficient for ensuring full equality between
men and women.381
MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF
INTERSECTIONALITY

Women are not a homogenous group and theirexperiences vary greatly depending on theregion, country, socioeconomic class and theiridentities as members of different groups, suchas minorities and migrants (among others).
Multiple (or intersectional) forms of
discrimination arise from a combinationof discriminatory treatments based uponvarious grounds which produces compoundeddiscrimination. Intersectionality takes into
account historical, social and political contexts,
and recognises the unique experience of
women who have been targets of discrimination
on more than one ground.382 Importantly,intersectionality recognises that women who
may be subject to discrimination on more than59

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

one ground (e.g., race and gender) do not
simply experience ‘double’ discrimination but
experience discrimination from a particularand unique position that is shaped by these
multiple factors.383

UN CHARTER AND UDHR PROVISIONS

Adopted in 1945, the UN Charter stipulates
that one of its goals is ‘to reaffirm faith infundamental human rights, in the dignity andworth of the human person, (and) in the equal
rights of men and women’.385

MEANING AND USE OF SPECIAL MEASURESAt times, non-identical treatment of womenand men will be required to address andovercome certain substantive inequalities. A
common strategy to combat such inequalities
is the use of temporary ‘special measures’ tosupport the achievement of equality. This issometimes called ‘affirmative action’ or ‘equal
opportunities’. An example might be a hiring
programme targeting female applicants in a
male-dominated profession, or setting quotas
for female participation on company boards.
Article 4(1) of CEDAW states that the ‘adoption
by State Parties of temporary special measures
aimed at accelerating de facto equality between
men and women shall not be considereddiscrimination as defined in the present
Convention, but shall in no way entail as aconsequence the maintenance of unequal or
separate standards; these measures shall be
discontinued when the objective of equality ofopportunity and treatment have been achieved.’
According to the CEDAW Committee, thepurpose of Article 4(1), on temporary special
measures, is to accelerate the improvement of
the position of women in order to achieve theirde facto or substantive equality with men.384
WOMEN’S RIGHTS UNDERINTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
Attaining equality between women and men
and eliminating all forms of discrimination
against women are fundamental human rights
and essential UN values. Today, discrimination
based on sex is prohibited under almost every
human rights treaty, and states have a positive
obligation to protect and promote genderequality in all their activities.

60

It also states that one of the core purposes of
the UN is to promote respect for human rights
and fundamental freedoms ‘without distinction
as to race, sex, language or religion’.386 The
prohibition of discrimination based on sex isrepeated in Articles 13 (on the mandate of theUnited Nations General Assembly) and 55 (onthe promotion of universal human rights).
Similarly, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948) proclaims that the rights
contained in it must be applied ‘without
distinction of any kind, such as … sex’.387
ICCPR AND ICESCR PROVISIONSThe International Covenant on Civil andPolitical Rights (ICCPR) and International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR) prohibit discrimination basedon, inter alia, sex (Common Article 2), andensure the equal right of men and women to
the enjoyment of all rights contained in them(Common Article 3). The ICCPR also provides
for equality before the law and equal protectionof the law (Article 26).
CEDAW PROVISIONS

Among the international human rights treaties,
CEDAW takes an important place in bringing
the female half of humanity into focus ofhuman rights concerns. Adopted in 1979, it hascome to be known as the ‘international bill of
women’s human rights’.
Article 3 of the Convention gives positive
affirmation to the principle of equality,
requiring ratifying states to take ‘all appropriate
measures, including legislation, to ensure thefull development and advancement of women,

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

for the purpose of guaranteeing them theexercise and enjoyment of human rights andfundamental freedoms on a basis of equality
with men’.388
Not only does CEDAW provide that states are
obliged to address discriminatory laws, but also
to take measures to eliminate discrimination
against women ‘by any person, organisationor enterprise’.389 Thus, when developing a
policy of eliminating discrimination against
women, states must engage the private sector,
including business enterprises, and enlist theirinvolvement in adopting measures that fulfil
the goals of the Convention.390
Article 4 provides that states may invoke
temporary special measures (also known as‘equal opportunity measures’) to accelerate defacto equality between men and women. These
measures are not considered discriminatory
under the Convention, as long as they are
discontinued when the objectives of equalityof opportunity and treatment have beenachieved.391
The Convention also seeks to ensure equal
opportunities, free choice of profession, theright to promotion and equal remuneration andequal treatment, among others (Article 11).

as equal remuneration for work of equalvalue (Recommendation 13), unpaid women
workers in rural and urban family enterprises(Recommendation 16) and women migrant
workers (Recommendation 26), for example.393
The Optional Protocol to CEDAW allows theCommittee to consider complaints made byindividuals on violations of rights enshrined in
the Convention.394
ILO PROVISIONSThe International Labour Organization (ILO)
Declaration on Fundamental Principles andRights at Work states that all members states,
even if they have not ratified the relevant
conventions, have an obligation to promote andrealise the principles concerning fundamental
rights, such as ‘the elimination of discriminationin respect of employment and occupation’.395
Moreover, the ILO Declaration on Equality ofOpportunity and Treatment for Women Workers
provides that ‘all forms of discrimination on
grounds of sex which deny or restrict such
equality are unacceptable and must be
eliminated.’396

Article 14 specifically addresses discrimination
against women in rural contexts, and provides
that they should have equal access to economic
opportunities through employment or selfemployment, including through organisingself-help groups and/or cooperatives.

Two out of the eight ILO core conventions
include specific provisions seeking topromote gender equality, including the Equal
Remuneration Convention (No. 100), which
establishes equal pay for equal work, and the
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)
Convention (No. 111) which provides that
persons cannot be discriminated against in
employment or their occupation based on theirsex, race, colour, religion etc.

Oversight of the implementation of CEDAW
is the task of the CEDAW Committee.392 The
Committee issues general recommendations(the equivalent of general comments), allof which are directly related to critical areasof concern, as well as state reviews. Severalof these recommendations are directly
relevant to BHR, addressing topics such

In addition, many other conventions address
women’s reproductive roles and ability toparticipate in work life, including the Workers
With Family Responsibilities Convention (No.
156), the Workers With Family Responsibilities
Recommendation (No. 165), the Maternity Pro­
tection Conventions (Nos. 103 and 183), and theMaternity Protection Recommendation No. 191.

61

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTSREGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTSPROVISIONSIn addition to international standards, regional
human rights treaties include key provisions
aimed at promoting and protecting women’shuman rights.
For instance, the African Charter on Human andPeople’s Rights prohibits discrimination on any
grounds, including sex, in the enjoyment of therights guaranteed by the Charter (Article 2).
It also specifically mentions the obligation of
African states to ensure the elimination of every
discrimination against women, as stipulated
in international declarations and conventions(Article 18). The Protocol to the African Charteron Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights
of Women in Africa (also known as the ‘Maputo
Protocol’) further elaborates states’ obligations
with regard to women’s rights.397
The Charter of the Organization of American
States includes a non-discrimination provisionin Chapter II, and Article 3 (I), and the American
Convention on Human Rights in its Article 1.
In 1994, the Organization of American States
adopted the Inter-American Convention on thePrevention, Punishment and Eradication ofViolence against Women.
The Revised Arab Charter on Human Rights
upholds the right to non-discrimination (Article3) and to equal protection before the law(Articles 11, 12 and 22).
The European Convention on Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms prohibits
discrimination on any grounds, including sex,
in the enjoyment of the rights contained in theConvention (Article 14).

priority in the global economy, the continuous
burden of poverty on women, inequalities
in education, training, economic structuresand policies, productive activities and accessto resources. The Declaration identifies a
number of action points specific to women’s
rights in the context of business activities, forexample, noting the need for: increased training
opportunities for women to enable participationin different industries; better understanding
the contribution of women’s paid and unpaid
work in economies; increased access to financefor women and women’s businesses; andpromoting small and cooperative enterprises,
including by reforming laws and regulations thatmay discriminate against women’s participationin these types of business activities.398
The Commission on the Status of Women has
the primary mandate to monitor and review
the implementation of the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action, and in mainstreaming
a gender perspective throughout the UN’s
activities.
Following the adoption of the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development in 2015, theCommission on the Status of Women also
contributes to the follow-up to the 2030
Agenda, so as to accelerate the realisationof gender equality and empowerment of
women.399
RELEVANT PROVISIONS ON WOMEN,BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS FROM UN
SPECIAL PROCEDURES

THE BEIJING DECLARATION AND PLATFORM
FOR ACTION

The special procedures of the United Nations
Human Rights Council are independent humanrights experts with mandates to report andadvise on human rights from a thematic orcountry-specific perspective. These procedures
cover all human rights, including civil, cultural,
economic, political and social rights.

The 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action of the Fourth World Conferenceon Women identified, as a critical policy

Several thematic mandates are specifically
devoted to women’s rights, namely: the Special

62

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Rapporteur on violence against women, its
causes and consequences; the Working Groupon discrimination against women in law andpractice; and the Special Rapporteur on
trafficking, especially women and children.
The Working Group on discrimination against
women in law and practice:Notes that there are significant barriers towomen’s access to leadership and decisionmaking positions in many financial institutions,which generate policies that determine
the quality of life of women, men and theircommunities. Moreover, in the emerging area of
business responsibility, the gendered harm towomen, resulting from transnational businessand trade policies, has been largely invisible.
There is thus a need to address these issues,and develop tools for gender responsivenessin economic leadership and business
responsibility.400
The Independent Expert on the effects offoreign debt and other related international
financial obligations of states on the fullenjoyment of all human rights, particularlysocial, economic and cultural rights:
Notes that corporate tax abuse forces
governments to raise revenue from othersources, including through regressive taxes,
the burden of which falls the hardest on
the poor. He argues that this has important
human rights implications since regressive
tax structures limit the redistributive impact ofsocial programmes, because they effectively
end up being funded by the very people they
are supposed to benefit. The need to make up
revenue shortfalls via regressive taxes further
undermines the realisation of economic andsocial rights for the most vulnerable. When
low-income households face deteriorating
public services, women and girls are frequently
forced to take on additional costs of unpaid careneeds. Furthermore, tax systems themselves
are not gender neutral, and regressive taxes(such as consumption taxes) tend to fall

disproportionally upon women. Both regressive
taxes and their effects, therefore arguably
undermine the achievement of substantive
equality for women.401
The Special Rapporteur on trafficking,especially women and children:
Notes that individuals in conflict contexts
are particularly vulnerable to human rights
violations. Pre-existing vulnerabilities, such as
gender-based discrimination affecting women,children and non-citizens, are usually worsened
during conflict as opportunities for exploitation
increase and protections break down.402
In post-conflict zones, the vulnerabilityof women and girls to trafficking-related
exploitation is often heightened by theirgeneral lack of access to resources, education,
protection and personal documentation.
Moreover, the demand for cheap labour, in
the aftermath of crises, when countries andbusinesses start to rebuild, may also lead totrafficking.403
THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS AND
THE 2030 AGENDA
Women’s economic empowerment and therealisation of women’s rights to and at work are
critical for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development. Equality andnon-discrimination – ‘leaving no one behind’ –are key crosscutting principles of the Agenda.404
Of particular importance is Goal 5 to ‘achieve
gender equality and empower all women andgirls’, consisting of the following targets andindicators:• Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination
against women and girls everywhere;
Indicator 5.1.1 - Whether or not legal
frameworks are in place to promote, enforce
and monitor equality and non-discriminationon the basis of sex.

63

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS• Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violenceagainst all women in the public and private
spheres, including trafficking and sexual andother types of exploitation. Indicator 5.2.1 Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls
aged 15 years and older subjected to physical,
sexual or psychological violence by a current
or former intimate partner in the previous
12 months, by form of violence and by age;
and indicator 5.2.2 - Proportion of womenand girls aged 15 years and older subjected
to sexual violence by persons other than an
intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by
age and place of occurrence.

rights as agreed in accordance with theProgramme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development
and the Beijing Platform for Action andthe outcome documents of their review
conferences. Indicator 5.6.1 - Proportion of
women aged 15-49 years who make theirown informed decisions regarding sexual
relations, contraceptive use and reproductive
healthcare; and indicator 5.6.2 - Numberof countries with laws and regulations thatguarantee women aged 15-49 years accessto sexual and reproductive healthcare,information and education.

• Target 5.3: Eliminate all harmful practices
such as child, early and forced marriage andfemale genital mutilation. Indicator 5.3.1 Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who
were married or in a union before age 15 andbefore age 18; and indicator 5.3.2 - Proportionof girls and women aged 15-49 years who
have undergone female genital mutilation/
cutting, by age.

• Target 5.A: Undertake reforms to give womenequal rights to economic resources, as wellas access to ownership and control overland and other forms of property, financial
services, inheritance and natural resources,in accordance with national laws. Indicator
5.A.1 - (a) Proportion of total agricultural
population with ownership or secure rights
over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) shareof women among owners or rights-bearersof agricultural land, by type of tenure; andindicator 5.A.2 - Proportion of countries
where the legal framework (including
customary law) guarantees women’s equal
rights to land ownership and/or control.

• Target 5.4: Recognise and value unpaid careand domestic work through the provisionof public services, infrastructure and social
protection policies and the promotion ofshared responsibility within the household
and the family as nationally appropriate.
Indicator 5.4.1 - Proportion of time spent on
unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age
and location.
• Target 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective
participation and equal opportunities forleadership at all levels of decision-making inpolitical, economic and public life. Indicator
5.5.1 - Proportion of seats held by women innational parliaments and local governments;
and indicator 5.5.2 - Proportion of women in
managerial positions.
• Target 5.6: Ensure universal access to sexualand reproductive health and reproductive

64• Target 5.B: Enhance the use of enabling
technology, in particular information andcommunications technology, to promote theempowerment of women. Indicator 5.B.1 Proportion of individuals who own a mobile
telephone, by sex.
• Target 5.C: Adopt and strengthen soundpolicies and enforceable legislation forthe promotion of gender equality and theempowerment of all women and girls at alllevels. Indicator 5.C.1 - Proportion of countries
with systems to track and make public
allocations for gender equality and women’s
empowerment.

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Goal 8 is also important to achieving genderequality, seeking to accomplish “full andproductive employment and decent work for all
women and men, including for young people
and persons with disabilities, and equal pay forwork of equal value”.
Further linkages to gender equality andwomen’s empowerment can be found in Goal
10 which seeks to “reduce inequality within andamong countries”, emphasising income growthof the bottom 40 per cent of the population, theelimination of discrimination, and the adoptionof fiscal wage and social protection policies toprogressively achieve greater equality.
In his 2017 report, the Special Rapporteur on
the right to development observes that theimplementation of the right to development
and related sustainable development
processes have not been successful in
integrating a gender perspective. He thus
aims to pay particular attention to the genderdimensions of his work – especially thedevelopmental challenges that women andgirls face in most societies. These challenges
are many, and range from laws that giveunequal access to land and other resources, todevelopment or disaster reduction policies that
do not provide women with access to educationand financing to develop their businesses, oreven enough food to feed their families.405
CONTEXTUALISING THE LINKAGE BETWEEN
BHR AND THE SDGSThe SDGs include a call to all businesses
to play a role in their implementation.406
Contributing to the SDGs is neither a substitutefor, nor unrelated to, implementation of
the UNGPs. In fact, the two agendas areinterwoven; in order for business to realise its
full contribution to sustainable development, it
must put efforts to advance respect for humanrights at the heart of its strategy.407

65

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTSNOTES

1	Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Guiding Principles for Business andHuman Rights: Implementing the United
Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’
Framework, HR/PUB/11/04, 2011: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/
GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf
2	The Danish Institute for Human Rights,
National Action Plans on Business andHuman Rights, n.d.: https://globalnaps.
org/
3	UN Working Group on the Issue of Human
Rights and Transnational Corporations andOther Business Enterprises, Gender Lens
to the UNGPs, 2017-2019: https://www.
ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Business/Pages/
GenderLens.aspx
4	International Labour Organization, World
Employment Social Outlook, 2017: http://
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/--dgreports/---inst/documents/publication/
wcms_557245.pdf
5	Ibid.
6	UN Human Rights Council, Reportof the Working Group on the issue ofDiscrimination Against Women in Law andin Practice, A/HRC/26/39, 2014, para. 45:
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/26/39
7	UN Women, Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, 1979, Article 4: http://www.un.org/
womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.
htm#article4
8	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendation No. 25, HRI/GEN/1/
Rev.7 at 282, 2004, para. 15: http://66

www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/
cedaw/recommendations/General%20
recommendation%2025%20(English).pdf
9	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendation No. 25, HRI/GEN/1/
Rev.7 at 282, 2004, para. 22: http://
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/
cedaw/recommendations/General%20
recommendation%2025%20(English).pdf
10	European Institute for Gender Equality,
Gender Quotas, n.d.: http://eige.europa.eu/
rdc/thesaurus/terms/1203
11	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women Report 2015-2016: http://progress.
unwomen.org/en/2015/pdf/UNW_
progressreport.pdf
12	International Labour Organization, Women
At Work, 2016: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_457317.pdf
13	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women Report 2015-2016: http://progress.
unwomen.org/en/2015/pdf/UNW_
progressreport.pdf
14	Ibid.
15	Ministry of External Relations of Chile,
National Action Plan on Business andHuman Rights Chile, 2017, p. 36:	
https://globalnaps.org/wp-content/
uploads/2017/11/national-action-plan-onbusiness-and-human-rights_.pdf
16	Government of Ireland, Department ofJustice and Equality, National Plan on
Business and Human Rights 2017-2020,
p. 14: https://globalnaps.org/wp-content/

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

uploads/2017/11/ireland-national-plan-onbusiness-and-human-rights-2017-2020.
pdf/
17	Ibid.
18	Ibid.
19	International Labour Organization, Modern
Daddy: Norway’s Progressive Policy on
Paternity Leave, 2005: http://www.ilo.
org/global/publications/world-of-workmagazine/articles/WCMS_081359/lang-en/index.htm
20	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women, Transforming Economies,
Realizing Rights, 2015, p. 88:	
http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/
pdf/UNW_progressreport.pdf
21	Nav, Paternity Leave, Maternity
Allowance and Joint Period, 2013:https://www.nav.no/no/Person/
Familie/Venter+du+barn/fedrekvotepappaperm-m%C3%B8drekvote-ogfellesperiode--347651
22	International Labour Organization, Modern
Daddy: Norway’s Progressive Policy on
Paternity Leave, 2005: http://www.ilo.
org/global/publications/world-of-workmagazine/articles/WCMS_081359/lang-en/index.htm
23	International Labour Organization,
Women at Work, 2016: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_457317.pdf. According to the ILO’s
2016 Women At Work report, women are
considered to be more concentrated thanmen in a particular sector or occupation
when their employment in that sector
or occupation, as a share of their total
employment, is greater than men’s
employment in that particular sector
or occupation, as a share of men’s total
employment. Large differences between
women’s and men’s shares of employment
in a sector or occupation thus suggests thatwomen or men are highly over-represented
in that sector or occupation.

24	Ibid.
25	Ibid.
26	Ibid.
27	Business for Social Responsibility,
Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel
Industry, 2017: https://www.bsr.org/reports/
BSR_Empowering_Female_Workers_in_
the_Apparel_Industry.pdf
28	Ibid.
29	Clean Clothes Campaign, Women Working
in the Shadows: The Informal Economy andExport Processing Zones, 2010: https://cleanclothes.org/resources/nationalcccs/2010-22-women-working-in-theshadows.pdf
30	International Labour Organization, Export
Processing Zones Growing Steadily, 1998:
http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/
newsroom/news/WCMS_007997/lang--en/index.htm
31	International Labour Organization, Decent
Work, 2018: https://www.ilo.org/global/
topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm
32	International Labour Office, Decent Workfor Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in the
Rural Economy, n.d.: https://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/--sector/documents/publication/
wcms_601067.pdf
33	UN General Assembly, Rights to Freedomof Peaceful Assembly and of Association,
A/71/385, 2016: http://freeassembly.net/
wp-content/uploads/2016/10/A_71_385_
AUV.pdf
34	Government of Germany, Federal
Foreign Office, National Action Plan
– Implementation of the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights
2016-2020, p. 20: https://globalnaps.org/
issue/gender-womens-rights/
35	Government of Georgia, Human Rights
Secretariat, Georgian Human Rights
National Action Plan 2018-2020, objective
25.5.1: https://globalnaps.org/issue/
gender-womens-rights/
36	Ibid.

67

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

37	Equality and Human Rights Commission,
Pressing for Progress: Women’s Rights andGender Equality in 2018, p. 87: https://www.
equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/
files/pressing-for-progress-womens-rightsand-gender-equality-in-2018-pdf.pdf
38	UN Commission on the Status of Women,
Report on the Sixty-first Session,
E/2017/27-E/CN.6/2017/21, 2017, para. 21:
https://undocs.org/E/2017/27
39	International Labour Organization, Global
Wage Report 2016/17: https://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_537846.pdf
40	International Labour Organization,
Women at Work, 2016: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_457317.pdf
41	International Labour Organization, Global
Wage Report 2016/17: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_537846.pdf
42	Verité, Women at Work in Global Supply
Chains, n.d.: https://www.verite.org/
women-work-global-supply-chains/
43	International Labour Organization,
Women at Work, 2016: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_457317.pdf
44	UN General Assembly, Rights to Freedomof Peaceful Assembly and of Association,
A/71/385, 2016: http://freeassembly.net/
wp-content/uploads/2016/10/A_71_385_
AUV.pdf
45	These countries being: Belgium, Denmark,Finland, Ireland, Italy, Colombia, France,
Georgia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Sweden, Switzerland, United States
46	Government of Germany, Federal
Foreign Office, National Action Plan
– Implementation of the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights

68

2016-2020, p. 15-17:	
https://globalnaps.org/issue/genderwomens-rights/
47	Government of Lithuania, Working
Group on the Issue of Human Rights andTransnational Corporations and Other
Business Enterprises, Lithuania’s Action
Plan on the Implementation of the United
Nations Guiding Principles on Businessand Human Rights, 2015, p. 1: https://globalnaps.org/issue/gender-womensrights/
48	The Guardian, Equality won’t happen by
itself: How Iceland Got Tough on Gender
Pay Gap, 2018: https://www.theguardian.
com/world/2018/feb/20/iceland-equalpay-law-gender-gap-women-jobs-equality49	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women 2015-2016 Transforming
Economies, Realizing Rights, 2015, p. 73:
http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/
pdf/UNW_progressreport.pdf
50	UN Commission on the Status of Women,
Women’s Economic Empowerment in the
Changing World of Work, E/CN.6/2017/3,
2016, para. 44: https://undocs.org/E/
CN.6/2017/3
51	International Labour Organization,
Women at Work, 2016: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_457317.pdf
52	Government of Poland, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Polish National Action Plan for
the Implementation of the United Nations
Guiding Principles on Business andHuman Rights 2017-2020, p. 35: https://globalnaps.org/issue/gender-womensrights/
53	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women: Transforming Economies,
Realizing Rights, 2015, p. 94:	
http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/
pdf/UNW_progressreport.pdf
54	World Bank, Women, Business and the Law,
2016: http://wbl.worldbank.org/~/media/

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

WBG/WBL/Documents/Reports/2016/
Women-Business-and-the-Law-2016.
pdf?la=en
55	International Labour Organization, Genderand the Informal Economy: Key Challenges
and Policy Response, 2017: http://www.ilo.
org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/
documents/publication/wcms_614428.pdf
56	Ibid.
57	International Labour Organization, World
Employment Social Outlook, 2017: http://
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/--dgreports/---inst/documents/publication/
wcms_557245.pdf
58	Ibid.
59	UN Commission on the Status of Women,
Ministerial Round Table: Informal and
Non-Standard Work: What Policies Can
Effectively Support Women’s Economic
Empowerment?, E/CN.6/2017/15, 2017,
para. 4: http://undocs.org/E/CN.6/2017/15
60	International Labour Organization,
Women at Work, 2016: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_457317.pdf
61	International Labour Organization,
Gender Equality and National Social
Protection Floors, 2013: http://www.socialprotection.org/gimi/gess/ShowTheme.
action?id=3646
62	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women, Transforming Economies,
Realizing Rights, 2015, p.66:
	
http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/
pdf/UNW_progressreport.pdf
63	Ibid, pp. 66-67.
64	Ibid, p. 100.
65	Ibid.
66	Ibid, p. 14.
67	UN Women, Violence Against
Women, 2014-2016: http://interactive.
unwomen.org/multimedia/infographic/changingworldofwork/en/index.html
68	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women Report 2015-2016: http://progress.

unwomen.org/en/2015/pdf/UNW_
progressreport.pdf
69	World Bank, Women, Business and the Law,
2016: http://wbl.worldbank.org/~/media/
WBG/WBL/Documents/Reports/2016/
Women-Business-and-the-Law-2016.
pdf?la=en
70	Ibid.
71	These countries being: Belgium, Denmark,France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the US.
72	Australian Human Rights Commission,
Everyone’s Business: 2018 Sexual
Harassment Survey: https://www.
humanrights.gov.au/news/stories/
everyone-s-business-2018-sexualharassment-survey
73	Kenya Law, Sexual Offences Act, 2006:
http://www.kenyalaw.org/lex/actview.
xql?actid=No.%203%20of%202006
74	Government of India, Ministry of Law andJustice, The Sexual Harassment of Womenat Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition andRedressal) Act, 2013: http://www.iitg.ac.in/
iitgicc/docs/Sexual_Harassment_Act_2013.
pdf
75	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women Report 2015-2016: http://progress.
unwomen.org/en/2015/pdf/UNW_
progressreport.pdf
76	UN Commission on the Status of Women,
Statement submitted by International
Planned Parenthood Federation, a
Non-Governmental Organization in
Consultative Status with the Economic andSocial Council, E/CN.6/2017/NGO/20,
2017, section E: https://undocs.org/E/
CN.6/2017/NGO/20
77	International Labour Organization,
Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law andPractice around the World, 2014: http://
www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/--dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/
publication/wcms_242615.pdf
78	International Labour Organization,

69

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Women at Work, 2016: http://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/
wcms_457317.pdf
79	See, e.g., Budig and England, The Wage
Penalty for Motherhood, 2001: https://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/
pdf/Reference%20Media/Budig_2001_
Lifecourse.pdf
80	Ibid.
81	International Labour Organization, The
Motherhood Pay Gap: A Review of theIssues, Theory and International Evidence,
2015: http://eige.europa.eu/resources/
wcms_371804.pdf
82	Fair Labor Association, Triple Discrimination
among Temporary Migrant Workers:
Lessons from Malaysia, Taiwan, andThailand, 2018: http://www.fairlabor.org/
sites/default/files/documents/reports/
triple_discrimination_woman_pregnant_and_migrant_march_2018.pdf
83	Government of Poland, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Polish National Action Plan for
the Implementation of the United Nations
Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights 2017-2020: https://globalnaps.org/
issue/gender-womens-rights/
84	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women, Transforming Economies,
Realizing Rights, 2015, p. 87:	
http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/
pdf/UNW_progressreport.pdf
85	International Labour Organization, MigrantWorkers Convention No. 143, 1975, Article
11(1): https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/
en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C143#A11
86	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women Report 2015-2016: http://progress.
unwomen.org/en/2015/pdf/UNW_
progressreport.pdf
87	UN Women, Migrant Workers in the AsiaPacific, 2017: http://asiapacific.unwomen.
org/en/focus-areas/women-povertyeconomics/migrant-workers

7088	International Labour Organization,
Domestic Workers Convention No. 189,
2011, Article 1(a): https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::
NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C189
89	Ibid, Article 1(b).
90	International Labour Organization,
Domestic Workers, 2018: http://www.ilo.
org/asia/areas/domestic-workers/lang-en/index.htm
91	UN Commission on the Status of Women,
Statement Submitted by Asia Pacific Forumon Women, Law and Development, a NonGovernmental Organization in Consultative
Status with the Economic and Social
Council, E/CN.6/2017/NGO/45, 2016, p. 2:
https://undocs.org/E/CN.6/2017/NGO/45
92	International Labour Organization,
Domestic Workers, 2018: http://www.ilo.
org/asia/areas/domestic-workers/lang-en/index.htm
93	Human Rights Watch, #MeToo, Say
Domestic Workers in the Middle East, 2017:https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/12/08/
metoo-say-domestic-workers-middle-east
94	Ibid.
95	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women, Transforming Economies,
Realizing Rights, 2015, p. 106:	
http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/
pdf/UNW_progressreport.pdf
96	Fair Labor Association, Triple Discrimination
among Temporary Migrant Workers:
Lessons from Malaysia, Taiwan, andThailand, 2018: http://www.fairlabor.org/
sites/default/files/documents/reports/
triple_discrimination_woman_pregnant_and_migrant_march_2018.pdf
97	UN Women, Realizing Women’s Rights
to Land and Other Productive Resources,
2013, p. 3:
	https://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Publications/
RealizingWomensRightstoLand.pdf
98	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Gender and Land Rights,

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2010, p. 1:
	http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/al059e/
al059e00.pdf
99	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, The Role of Women in
Agriculture, 2011, p. 35: http://www.fao.org/
docrep/013/am307e/am307e00.pdf
100	World Economic Forum, Women Own
Less than 20 % of the Worlds Land.
It’s Time to Give Them Equal Property
Rights, 2017: https://www.weforum.org/
agenda/2017/01/women-own-less-than20-of-the-worlds-land-its-time-to-givethem-equal-property-rights/
101	The Global Initiative for Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, Using CEDAW to
Secure Women’s Land and Property
Rights: A Practical Guide, 2014: http://
globalinitiative-escr.org/wp-content/
uploads/2014/03/CEDAW-Guide.pdf
102	See, e.g., Holly Worthen, Indigenous
Women’s Political Participation:
Gendered Labor and Collective Rights
in Mexico, 2015: http://journals.
sagepub.com.ep.fjernadgang.kb.dk/doi/
abs/10.1177/0891243215602103
103	UN General Assembly, Human Rights
and Transnational Corporations andOther Business Enterprises, A/72/162,
2017: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/
doc/UNDOC/GEN/N17/218/65/PDF/
N1721865.pdf?OpenElement104	European Parliament, European
Parliament Resolution of 3 July 2018 on
the violation of the rights of indigenous
peoples in the world, including land
grabbing, P8_TA-PROV(2018)0279,
2014-2019: http://www.europarl.europa.
eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//
EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-20180279+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN
105	World Bank, Women, Business andthe Law, 2016: http://wbl.worldbank.
org/~/media/WBG/WBL/Documents/
Reports/2016/Women-Business-and-theLaw-2016.pdf?la=en106	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Improving Gender Equality
in Territorial Issues: Territory as an Entry
to Gender Equality, 2017: http://www.fao.
org/3/a-i6629e.pdf
107	UN Women, Women and Natural
Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding
Potential, 2013: http://www.unwomen.
org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/
sections/library/publications/2013/11/
unep_un-women_pbso_undp_gender_
nrm_peacebuilding_report%20pdf.
pdf?la=en&vs=1455108	These countries are: Chile, Czech
Republic, Germany, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, Switzerland, UK and US:
https://globalnaps.org/issue/land/109	Government of United States of America,
Responsible Business Conduct: First
National Action Plan for the UnitedStates of America, 2016, p. 19: https://globalnaps.org/issue/land/110	Government of Germany, Federal
Foreign Office, National Action Plan
– Implementation of the UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human
Rights 2016-2020, p. 19; French
Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Development, National Action Planfor the Implementation of the United
Nations Guiding Principles on Businessand Human Rights, 2017, p. 32; The
United Kingdom Government, Secretaryof State for Foreign and Commonwealth
Affairs, Good Business: Implementing the
UN Guiding Principles on Business andHuman Rights, 2016, p. 13; Governmentof United States of America, Responsible
Business Conduct: First National Action
Plan for the United States of America,
2016, p. 12: https://globalnaps.org/issue/land/111	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Voluntary Guidelines on
the Responsible Governance of Tenure, of
Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context

71

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTSof National Food Security, 3B/4, 3B/5.4,
3B/5.5: http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/
i2801e/i2801e.pdf
112	UN Women, Realizing Women’s Rights
to Land and Other Productive Resources,
2013, p. 23:	
https://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Publications/
RealizingWomensRightstoLand.pdf
113	Ibid.
114	Ibid, pp. 23-24.
115	Ibid, p. 23.
116	Ibid, p. 25.
117	Ibid, p. 36.
118	Focus on Land in Africa, Mozambique’s
Innovative Land Law, 2011:	
file:///C:/Users/evhe/Downloads/
mozambique-land-law-new.pdf
119	UN Women, Realizing Women’s
Rights to Land and Other Productive
Resources, 2013, p. 27: https://www.
ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/
RealizingWomensRightstoLand.pdf
120	Ibid.
121	ActionAid, Not Ready, Still Waiting, 2016,p. 26:
	
http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/
actionaid/not_ready_still_waiting_final_0.
pdf
122	Ibid, p. 10.
123	Focus on Land in Africa, Gender
Implications of Joint Land Titles in
Ethiopia, 2013:	
file:///C:/Users/evhe/Downloads/
ethiopia-gender-implications-of-jointland-titling-in-ethiopia.pdf
124	UN Women, Realizing Women’s Rights
to Land and Other Productive Resources,
2013, p. 25:
	
https://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Publications/
RealizingWomensRightstoLand.pdf
125	Focus on Land in Africa, Women’s Evolving
Land Rights in the Face of Economic
Change: Ghana, 2011 p. 4:
	
file:///C:/Users/evhe/Downloads/ghana-72

womens-evolving-land-rights%20(2).pdf
126	Focus on Land in Africa, Women’s Land
Rights in Customary Dispute Resolution in
Rwanda, 2012:	
http://www.focusonland.com/countries/
womens-land-rights-in-customarydispute-resolution-in-rwanda/
127	World Resource Institute, Making Women’s
Voices Count in Community Decisionmaking on Land Investments, 2017: http://
www.wri.org/sites/default/files/Making_
Womens_Voices_Count_In_Community_
Decision-Making_On_Land_Investments.
pdf
128	CORE, Land Intensive Corporate Activity:
the Impact on Women’s Rights, 2017, p. 3:
	
http://corporate-responsibility.org/
wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Core_
WomensRights_Final1.pdf
129	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination Against Women, General
Recommendation No 23: Political andPublic Life, 1997, No. 10: https://tbinternet.
ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20
Documents/1_Global/INT_CEDAW_GEC_4736_E.pdf
130	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Voluntary Guidelines on
Responsible Governance of Tenure ofLand, Fisheries and Forests, 2012: http://
www.fao.org/docrep/016/i2801e/i2801e.
pdf
131	World Resource Institute, Making
Women’s Voices Count in Community
Decision-making on Land Investments,
2016: https://www.wri.org/sites/default/
files/Making_Womens_Voices_Count_In_
Community_Decision-Making_On_Land_
Investments.pdf
132	See, e.g., Megha Chand, Participationof Women in Free, Prior and Informed
Consent (FPIC) Process of the UN-Redd
Programme in Vietnam, 2013: http://doi.
nrct.go.th//ListDoi/listDetail?Resolve_
DOI=10.14457/MU.the.2013.210
133	Deanna Kemp, Julia Keenan, Centre forWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Social Responsibility in Mining, Mining
and Local Level Development: Examining
the Gender Dimensions of Agreements
Between Companies and Communities,
2012: https://www.csrm.uq.edu.au/
publications/mining-and-local-leveldevelopment-examining-the-genderdimensions-of-agreements-betweencompanies-and-communities
134	Ibid.
135	Ibid.
136	UN Women, Realizing Women’s Rights
to Land and Other Productive Resources,
2013, p. 18:	
https://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Publications/
RealizingWomensRightstoLand.pdf
137	Ibid.
138	Focus on Land in Africa, Women’s
Customary Rights in Uganda, 2011:	
http://www.focusonland.com/countries/
womens-customary-rights-in-uganda/
139	UN Women, Realizing Women’s
Rights to Land and Other Productive
Resources, 2013, p. 18: https://www.
ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/
RealizingWomensRightstoLand.pdf
140	Ibid.
141	Ibid, p. 29.
142	Open Development Cambodia, Land
Policy and Administration, 2015:	
https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/
topics/land-policy-and-administration/
143	UN Women, Realizing Women’s
Rights to Land and Other Productive
Resources, 2013, p. 18: https://www.
ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/
RealizingWomensRightstoLand.pdf
144	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Gender and Land Rights
Database, Cambodia, n.d.:	http://www.fao.org/gender-landrightsdatabase/country-profiles/countries-list/
land-tenure-and-related-institutions/
en/?country_iso3=KHM
145	Focus on Land in Africa, Gender and Land

Rights Debate in Tanzania, 2011:
http://www.focusonland.com/countries/
gender-and-land-rights-debate-intanzania/
146	World Resource Institute, Ensuring Equity
in Compensation and Resettlement
Schemes Related to Commercial Land
Investments in Tanzania and Mozambique,2017:
	
file:///C:/Users/evhe/Downloads/01-04Salcedo-LaVi%C3%B1a-841_paper.pdf
147	Ibid.
148	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Compulsory Acquisitionof Land Compensation, 2018: http://www.
fao.org/3/a-i0506e.pdf
149	Asian Development Bank, Gender
Checklist Resettlement, 2003: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/
publication/28731/gender-checklistresettlement.pdf
150	African Development Bank,
Involuntary Resettlement Policy, 2004:
https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/
uploads/afdb/Documents/PolicyDocuments/10000009-EN-BANKGROUP-INVOLUNTARY-RESETTLEMENTPOLICY.PDF
151	International Finance Corporation,
Handbook for Preparing a Resettlement
Action Plan, 2002: https://commdev.org/
userfiles/ResettlementHandbook.pdf
152	International Council on Mining & Metals,
Land Acquisition and Resettlement:
Lessons Learned, 2015: https://www.
icmm.com/website/publications/pdfs/
social-and-economic-development/9714.
pdf
153	Ibid.
154	Asian Development Bank, Navigating
Gender: Inclusive Resettlement,
the Experience of the Song Bung 4
Hydropower Project in Viet Nam, 2014, p.
21:
	https://www.adb.org/publications/navigating-gender-inclusive-resettlement-

73

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

experience-song-bung-4-hydropowerproject155	Ibid, p. 22.
156 BSR, The William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation, Women’s Economic
Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa:
Recommendations for the Mining Sector,
2017, p. 30:
https://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_
Womens_Empowerment_Africa_Mining_
Brief.pdf
157	Human Rights Council, Report of the
Independent Expert on the Issue of
Human Rights Obligations Related
to Access to Safe Drinking Water andSanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, A/
HRC/15/31), 2010, para. 6: https://www2.
ohchr.org/english/issues/water/iexpert/
docs/a-hrc-15-31-aev.pdf
158	UN President of the General Assembly,
Transforming Our World: The 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development,
2015, Goal 17.17, para. 43: https://www.
un.org/pga/wp-content/uploads/
sites/3/2015/08/120815_outcomedocument-of-Summit-for-adoption-ofthe-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf
159	UN Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, 1976, Article 13(4): https://www.
ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/
pages/cescr.aspx; see also UN Officeof the High Commissioner for Human
Rights, UN Convention on the Rightsof the Child, 1989, Articles 23 and 29:
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/
ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf
160	UN Committee on Economic, Social andCultural Rights, General Comment No. 3:
The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations,
1990, para. 8: http://www.refworld.org/
docid/4538838e10.html
161	Annet Baingana Bakazi, An Investigation
into the Impact of the Privatizationof Public Utilities on the Affordability

74

and Access to Basic Services to Poor
Households in Developing Countries:
Lessons from Rwanda, 2005: https://core.
ac.uk/download/pdf/58912582.pdf
162	Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development, Privatisation and
the Broadening of Ownership of StateOwned Enterprises, 2018: http://www.
oecd.org/corporate/Privatisation-andthe-Broadening-of-Ownership-of-SOEsStocktaking-of-National-Practices.pdf
163	Ibid.
164	Ibid.
165	UN Committee on Economic, Social andCultural Rights, General Comment No.16,
E/C.12/2005/3, 2005, para. 20: http://
www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/
docs/CESCR-GC16-2005.pdf
166	UN Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, General Comment
No. 24 on State Obligations under theInternational Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights in the Context
of Business Activities, E/C.12/GC/24, 2017,
para. 22: https://undocs.org/E/C.12/
GC/24
167	Ibid.
168	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Comment No. 28 on the Core Obligationsof State Parties, CEDAW/C/2010/47/GC.2,
2010, para. 13: http://www2.ohchr.org/
english/bodies/cedaw/docs/CEDAW-C2010-47-GC2.pdf
169	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Comment No. 34 on the Rights of Rural
Women, CEDAW/C/GC/34, 2016, para.
11: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/
CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/
INT_CEDAW_GEC_7933_E.pdf
170	UN Committee on Economic, Social andCultural Rights, Implementation of theInternational Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights: General
Comment No. 13, E/C.12/1999/10, 1999,

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

para. 48: http://www.right-to-education.
org/resource/cescr-general-comment-13right-education-article-13
171	UN Women, Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, 1979, Article 14: http://
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/
text/econvention.htm#article14172	UN General Assembly, Report of theSpecial Rapporteur on the Right to
Education, A/69/402, 2014, para. 96:
https://undocs.org/A/69/402
173	UN Committee on the Rights of theChild, General Comment No. 5: General
Measures of Implementation of theConvention on the Rights of the Child,
CRC/GC/2003/5, 2003, para. 44: http://
dag.un.org/handle/11176/247127
174	Ibid, para. 45.
175	UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, Overview of the Role ofPrivate Providers in Education in Lightof the Existing International Legal
Framework, 2015: http://unesdoc.unesco.
org/images/0024/002438/243823e.pdf
176	UN Committee on the Eliminationof Discrimination against Women,
Privatisation and its Impact on the Right
to Education of Women and Girls, 2014:
http://www.campaignforeducation.
org/docs/reports/GCE_Submission_
Privatisation_CEDAW_2014.pdf
177	UN General Assembly, Report of theSpecial Rapporteur on the Right to
Education, A/69/402, 2014, para. 47:
https://undocs.org/A/69/402
178	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendation No. 36 on the Right ofGirls and Women to Education, CEDAW/C/
CG/36, 2017, para. 38: https://tbinternet.
ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/
Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW/C/
GC/36&Lang=en
179	Ibid, para. 39(d).
180	UN Committee on the Eliminationof Discrimination against Women,
Privatisation and its Impact on the Right
to Education of Women and Girls, 2014:
https://ppp.worldbank.org/publicprivate-partnership/sites/ppp.worldbank.
org/files/documents/Privatization%20
and%20its%20Impact%20on%20the%20
Right%20to%20Education%20of%20
Women%20and%20Girls.pdf
181	Global Initiative for Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, Privatisation and
its Impact on the Right to Educationof Women and Girls, 2014: http://
globalinitiative-escr.org/wp-content/
uploads/2014/07/140627-Right-toEducation-Submission-to-CEDAW-Finalwith-logos.pdf
182	ActionAid, The Effects of Privatisation
on Girls’ Access to Free, Quality Public
Education in Malawi, Mozambique, Liberia,
Tanzania and Nepal: Summary Report,
2017: http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/
actionaid/the_effects_of_privatisation.pdf
183	ActionAid International: Right to Education
Project, Privatisation of Education: Global
Trends of Human Rights Impacts, 2014:
http://www.right-to-education.org/
resource/privatisation-education-globaltrends-human-rights-impact
184	Open Society Foundations, Madrasas orPrivately Funded Islamic Faith-Based
Schools in Mali and Issues of Social
Justice, 2012: http://www.periglobal.
org/sites/periglobal.org/files/WP41_
Madrasas_Boncana.pdf
185	Open Society Foundations’ Privatisationin Education Research Initiative, Primary
Education in Rural Bangladesh: Degreesof Access, Choice, and Participation of thePoorest, 2012: http://www.periglobal.org/
sites/periglobal.org/files/13.Primary_
Education_Rural_Bangladesh(Sommers).
pdf
186	Open Society Foundations, Privatization
and Teacher Education in Cambodia:
Implications for Equity, 2012: http://www.

75

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

periglobal.org/sites/periglobal.org/files/
WP45_Williams_Kitamura_Zimmerman.
pdf
187	ActionAid, The Effects of Privatisation
on Girls’ Access to Free, Quality Public
Education in Nepal, 2017: http://www.
actionaid.org/sites/files/actionaid/nepal_
country_report.pdf
188	UN Educational Scientific andCultural Organization, Privatisation in
Education: Trends and Consequences,
2016: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0024/002464/246485E.pdf
189	Ibid.
190	Government of Poland, Ministry ofForeign Affairs, Polish National Action
Plan for the Implementation of the United
Nations Guiding Principles on Businessand Human Rights 2017-2020, p. 12:https://globalnaps.org/wp-content/
uploads/2017/11/nap-poland.pdf
191	ActionAid, The Effects of Privatisation
on Girls’ Access to Free, Quality Public
Education in Malawi, Mozambique,
Liberia, Tanzania and Nepal, 2017, p. 16:
http://www.ungei.org/_The_effects_of_
privatisation.pdf
192	Ibid.
193	Ibid.
194	Ibid, p. 17.
195	World Bank, Privatisation and its Impact
on the Right to Education of Womenand Girls, 2014: https://ppp.worldbank.
org/public-private-partnership/sites/
ppp.worldbank.org/files/documents/
Privatization%20and%20its%20
Impact%20on%20the%20Right%20
to%20Education%20of%20Women%20
and%20Girls.pdf
196	ActionAid, The Effects of Privatisation
on Girls’ Access to Free, Quality Public
Education in Malawi, Mozambique, Liberia,
Tanzania and Nepal, 2017: http://www.
ungei.org/_The_effects_of_privatisation.
pdf
197	World Bank, Privatisation and its Impact

76

on the Right to Education of Womenand Girls, 2014: https://ppp.worldbank.
org/public-private-partnership/sites/
ppp.worldbank.org/files/documents/
Privatization%20and%20its%20
Impact%20on%20the%20Right%20
to%20Education%20of%20Women%20
and%20Girls.pdf
198	ActionAid, The Effects of Privatisation
on Girls’ Access to Free, Quality Public
Education in Malawi, Mozambique, Liberia,
Tanzania and Nepal, 2017: http://www.
ungei.org/_The_effects_of_privatisation.
pdf
199	Ibid.
200	UN Human Rights Office of the HighCommissioner, International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
1966: https://www.ohchr.org/en/
professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx
201	Prairie Women’s Health Centre of
Excellence, Missing Links: The Effects ofHealth Care Privatisation on Women in
Manitoba and Saskatchewan, 2000: http://
www.pwhce.com/pdf/ml.pdf
202	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Comment No. 14: Female Circumcision,
A/45/38, 1990, para. 35: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/
Shared%20Documents/1_Global/INT_CEDAW_GEC_3729_E.pdf
203	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Comment No. 24: Women and Health,
A/54/38/Rev.1, 1999, para. 20: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/
Shared%20Documents/1_Global/INT_CEDAW_GEC_4738_E.pdf
204	UN Human Rights Council, Report of
the Special Rapporteur on the Right ofEveryone to the Enjoyment of the Highest
Attainable Standard of Physical and
Mental Health, A/HRC/35/21, 2017, para.
41: https://undocs.org/A/HRC/35/21
205	UN Human Rights Council, Report ofWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

the Special Rapporteur on the Right ofEveryone to the Enjoyment of the Highest
Attainable Standard of Physical and
Mental Health, Anand Grover, on Access to
Medicines, A/HRC/23/42, 2013, para. 5:
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/23/42
206	UN General Assembly, Right of Everyone
to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable
Standard of Physical and Mental Health,A/71/304, 2016, para. 79: https://undocs.
org/A/71/304
207	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendation No. 24: Women and
Health, A/54/38/Rev.1, 1999, para. 17:
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/
CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/
INT_CEDAW_GEC_4738_E.pdf
208	Ibid.
209	UN General Assembly, Effects of Foreign
Debt and Other Related International
Financial Obligations of States on the
Full Enjoyment of All Human Rights,
Particularly Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, A/67/304, 2012, para. 48: https://
undocs.org/A/67/304
210	Mirna Macur, Privatisation and the Qualityof Health Care Services, 1999: http://
dk.fdv.uni-lj.si/dr/dr29macur.PDF
211	Joan Kaufman, Jing Fang, Privatisationof Health Services and the Reproductive
Health of Rural Chinese Women,
2002: https://www.tandfonline.
com/doi/full/10.1016/S09688080%2802%2900090-3
212	Prairie Women’s Health Centre of
Excellence, The Differential Impact ofHealth Care Privatization on Women inAlberta, 2000: http://www.pwhce.ca/pdf/
alta.pdf
213	John Church, Neale Smithe, Health
Reform and Privatization in Alberta, 2008:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/
pdf/10.1111/j.1754-7121.2006.tb01995.x
214	UN General Assembly, 64/292. The
Human Right to Water and Sanitation,

A/RES/64/292, 2010: https://undocs.
org/A/RES/64/292
215	UN Women, Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, 1979, Article 14(a): http://
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/
text/econvention.htm#article14
216	UN Committee on Economic, Social andCultural Rights, General Comment No.
15: The Right to Water, E/C.12/2002/11,
2002, para. 27: http://www.unhcr.org/
publications/operations/49d095742/
committee-economic-social-culturalrights-general-comment-15-2002-right.
html
217	Ibid, para. 16(a).
218	Ibid, para. 24.
219	UN Human Rights Council, Report by theSpecial Rapporteur on the Human Right
to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation on
his Mission to El Salvador, A/HRC/33/49,
2016, para. 10: http://www.refworld.org/
pdfid/57cd86c84.pdf
220	UN Secretary-General, SecretaryGeneral’s remarks at Launch ofInternational Decade for Action ‘Water for
Sustainable Development’ 2018-2028 (asdelivered), 2018: https://www.un.org/sg/
en/content/sg/statement/2018-03-22/
secretary-generals-remarks-launchinternational-decade-action-water221	Water Research Commission, The Impactof Gender in the Rural Water Services
Environment of SA, 2009: http://www.
wrc.org.za/Knowledge%20Hub%20
Documents/Research%20Reports/TT407.pdf
222	Kelly Pavelich, Water Privatisation:
A Threat to Human Rights?, 2017,p. 26: https://escholarship.org/uc/
item/2dq9f2s7
223	UN General Assembly, Effects of Foreign
Debt and Other Related International
Financial Obligations of States on the
Full Enjoyment of all Human Rights,
Particularly Economic, Social and Cultural

77

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Rights, A/67/304, 2012, paras. 54-55:
https://undocs.org/A/67/304
224	Water Research Commission, The Impactof Gender in the Rural Water Services
Environment of SA, 2009: http://www.
wrc.org.za/Knowledge%20Hub%20
Documents/Research%20Reports/TT407.pdf
225	Ibid.
226	Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Irrigation Sector Guide,
2011: http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/
ak209e/ak209e00.pdf
227	Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency, Discussion on Issues
and a Review of Sida Projects: Water and
Urban Conflict, 2006: https://www.alnap.
org/system/files/content/resource/files/
main/water-and-urban-conflict_1071.pdf
228	ActionAid Australia, 6 Reasons Why
Privatisation Impacts Women’s Rights,
2016: http://www.peuples-solidaires.org/
en/australia/privatisation-womens-rights
229	Women’s Environment & Development
Organization, Diverting the Flow – A
Resource Guide to Gender, Rights andWater Privatisation, 2003: http://wedo.
org/wp-content/uploads/2003/11/
divertingtheflow.pdf
230	Edwin S. Rubenstein, The Untapped
Potential of Water Privatisation,
2000: http://www.esrresearch.com/
Theprivatewaterindustry.htm
231	Meena Palaniappan, Water Privatization
Principles and Practices in: The World’s
Water 2004–2005: http://pacinst.org/
publication/the-worlds-water-2004-2005/232	UN Water, Gender, Water and Sanitation:
A Policy Brief, 2015: http://www.un.org/
waterforlifedecade/pdf/un_water_policy_
brief_2_gender.pdf
233	Ibid.
234	Ibid.
235	Ibid.
236	Women’s Environment & Development
Organization, Diverting the Flow: A

78

Resource Guide to Gender, Rights andWater Privatization, 2003, p. 4: http://
wedo.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/11/
divertingtheflow.pdf
237	Ibid.
238	UN Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Human Rights, Trade andInvestment, n.d.:	
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/issues/
Globalization/Pages/Globalizationindex.
aspx
239	UN Development Programme,
Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 17:
Partnerships for the Goals, n.d.:	
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/
home/sustainable-development-goals/
goal-17-partnerships-for-the-goals.html
240	UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, Addis Ababa Action Agendaof the Third International Conference
on Financing for Development (Addis
Ababa Agenda), 2015, para. 90: http://
www.un.org/esa/ffd/wp-content/
uploads/2015/08/AAAA_Outcome.pdf
241	See, e.g., The Commonwealth, Tradeand the SDGs: Making ‘Means of
Implementation’ a Reality, 2016: https://www.tralac.org/images/docs/9568/
trade-and-the-sdgs-making-means-ofimplementation-a-reality-commonwealthtrade-hot-topics-april-2016.pdf; World
Trade Organization, Mainstreaming trade
to attain the Sustainable Development
Goals, 2018: https://www.wto.org/english/
res_e/booksp_e/sdg_e.pdf
242	UN Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights, UN Experts Voice
Concern Over Adverse Impact of Free
Trade and Investment Agreements on
Human Rights, 2015: http://www.ohchr.
org/FR/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.
aspx?NewsID=16031&LangID=E
243	European Parliament, Gender Equality
in Trade Agreements, 2016: http://
www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/
etudes/STUD/2016/571388/IPOL_WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

STU(2016)571388_EN.pdf
244	Ibid, p. 18.
245	Ibid.
246	Public Services International, Free Tradeor Women’s Rights, 2018: http://www.
world-psi.org/en/free-trade-or-womensrights
247	Remco H. Oostendorp, Globalisationand the Gender Wage Gap in World Bank
Economic Review, 2009, pp. 141-161:	
http://documents.worldbank.org/
curated/en/485181468331860495/
pdf/776090JRN0200900the0Gender0Wage0Gap.pdf
248	Ibid.
249	International Centre for Trade andSustainable Development, The 2030
Agenda and the Potential Contribution ofTrade to Gender Equality, 2016: https://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/
research/gender_and_trade.pdf
250	World Bank, Globalization’s Impact on
Gender Equality: What’s Happened andWhat’s Needed in World Development
Report 2012: Gender and Development, 2011: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2012/Resources/
7778105-1299699968583/77862101315936222006/chapter-6.pdf
251	Remco H. Oostendorp, Globalisationand the Gender Wage Gap in WorldBank Economic Review, 2009, pp. 141161: http://documents.worldbank.org/
curated/en/485181468331860495/
pdf/776090JRN0200900the0Gender0Wage0Gap.pdf
252	UN Conference on Trade and Development, Trade, Gender and Development,n.d.:	http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DITC/
Gender-and-Trade/Trade,-Gender-andDevelopment.aspx
253	UN Conference on Trade andDevelopment, The New Way of
Addressing Gender Equality Issues
in Trade Agreements: Is It a True

Revolution?, 2017: https://unctad.org/
en/PublicationsLibrary/presspb2017d2_
en.pdf254	Ibid.
255	UN Conference on Trade andDevelopment, Trade and Gender
Tool Box, 2017: http://unctad.org/
en/pages/PublicationWebflyer.
aspx?publicationid=1877
256	Ibid.
257	UN Human Rights Council, Report of theSpecial Rapporteur on the Right to Food,
Oliver De Schutter: Guiding Principles
on Human Rights Impact Assessmentsof Trade Investment Agreements, A/
HRC/19/59/Add.5, 2011: https://www.
ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/
HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session19/AHRC-19-59-Add5_en.pdf
258	European Parliament, Gender Equality
in Trade Agreements, 2016: http://
www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/
etudes/STUD/2016/571388/IPOL_
STU(2016)571388_EN.pdf
259	Ibid.
260	ACP- European Union, The Cotonou
Agreement and Multiannual Financial
Framework 2014-2020, Article 31:	
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/acp/03_01/pdf/mn3012634_en.pdf
261	European Commission, EU-Mexico Trade
Agreement, 2018:	http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/
countries-and-regions/countries/mexico/262	European Union, East African Community,
Economic Partnership Agreement
between the East African Community
Partner States, of the One Part, and theEuropean Union and its Member Statesof the Other Part, 2014: http://ec.europa.
eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/regions/eac/263	Organization of American States, ChileUruguay Free Trade Agreement, 2016:
http://www.sice.oas.org/TPD/CHL_URY/
CHL_URY_e.asp

79WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

264	Government of Canada, Canada-Chile
Free Trade Agreement, 1997, Appendix II:
Chapter N bis: Trade and Gender:	http://international.gc.ca/tradecommerce/trade-agreements-accordscommerciaux/agr-acc/chile-chili/ftaale/2017_Amend_Modif-App2-Chap-N.
aspx?lang=eng
265	UN Human Rights Council, Report of theSpecial Rapporteur on the Right to Food,
A/HRC/31/51, 2015, para. 9: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/
GEN/G15/293/26/PDF/G1529326.
pdf?OpenElement266	Ibid, para. 42.
267	Ibid, para. 41.
268	Ibid, para. 45.
269	Ibid.
270	World Trade Organization, Agreement on
Agriculture, 1995: https://www.wto.org/
english/docs_e/legal_e/14-ag_01_e.htm
271	Ibid.
272	Zo Randriamaro, BRIDGE: Development- Gender, Gender and Trade: Overview
Report, 2006: http://www.bridge.ids.
ac.uk/sites/bridge.ids.ac.uk/files/reports/
CEP-Trade-OR.pdf
273	Ibid.
274	Ibid.
275	Sumati Nair, Sarah Sexton, Preeti Kirbat,
A Decade after Cairo: Women’s Healthin the Free Market Economy in Indian
Journal of Gender Studies, 2006, pp. 171193: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/
abs/10.1177/097152150601300203?journalCode=ijgb
276	UN Human Rights Council, Report of theSpecial Rapporteur on the Right to Food,
A/HRC/31/51, 2015, para. 43: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/
GEN/G15/293/26/PDF/G1529326.
pdf?OpenElement277	Zo Randriamaro, BRIDGE: Development- Gender, Gender and Trade: Overview
Report, 2006: http://www.bridge.ids.
ac.uk/sites/bridge.ids.ac.uk/files/reports/

80

CEP-Trade-OR.pdf
278	Government of Finland, National Action
Plan for the Implementation of the UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights, 2014, p. 16:
https://globalnaps.org/issue/trade/279	International Institute for Environment andDevelopment, Tanzania Women Lawyers
Association, Strengthening Women’s
Voices in the Context of Agricultural
Investments: Lessons from Tanzania, 2016,p. 32:
http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/12593IIED.pdf
280	Ibid.
281	World Trade Organization, Trade Policy
Review, WT/TPR/S/324/Rev.1, n.d., p. 382:
	
https://docsonline.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/
FE_Search/FE_S_S009-DP.aspx?language=E&CatalogueIdList=226744,134
794,97313,81745,14288,48237&CurrentCatalogueIdIndex=0&FullTextHash=&H
asEnglishRecord=True&HasFrenchRecord=True&HasSpanishRecord=True282	World Trade Organization, Annex 1
Botswana, 2001, p. 72:
	https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/
tpr_e/s114-1_e.doc
283	World Trade Organization, Trade Policy
Review Report by the Secretariat Malawi,
2016, p. 47:
	https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/
tpr_e/s335_e.pdf
284	UN Economic Commission for Africa, The
Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in
Africa – A Human Rights Perspective, 2017,p. 91:
	
https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/
files/PublicationFiles/2017_07_cfta_hria_
publication_eng.pdf
285	Governments of the Republic of Botswana,
the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republicof Namibia, the Republic of South Africa
and the Kingdom of Swaziland, 2002
Southern African Customs Union (SACU)
Agreement, Article 26: https://wits.
worldbank.org/GPTAD/PDF/archive/

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

SACU.pdf
286	For instance, the imports of wheat flour
were prohibited for half of 2009 in Swaziland: Africa Trade Policy Notes, Ian
Gillson, Deepening Regional Integration
to Eliminate the Fragmented Goods
Market in Southern Africa, Note #9,
2010: http://documents.worldbank.org/
curated/en/251341468194328603/pdf/601100BRI0Afri1IntegrationREDESIGN3.
pdf
287	Ian Gillson, Deeping Regional Integration
to Eliminate the Fragmented Goods
Market in Southern Africa, 2010, p. 7:	
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/
en/251341468194328603/pdf­/601100BRI
0Afri1IntegrationREDESIGN3.pdf
288	UN Economic and Social Council,
Globalization and its Impact on the
Full Enjoyment of Human Rights, E/
CN.4/2002/54, 2002, p. 22:	
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/
doc/UNDOC/GEN/G02/101/08/PDF/
G0210108.pdf?OpenElement289	Gender & Development Network, Why Join
GADN?, 2018:	http://gadnetwork.org/why-join-thegadnetwork290	Zo Randriamaro, BRIDGE: Development- Gender, Gender and Trade: Overview
Report, 2006, p. 38: http://www.bridge.
ids.ac.uk/sites/bridge.ids.ac.uk/files/
reports/CEP-Trade-OR.pdf
291	World Trade Organization, Agreement
on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights in Trade and Gender:
Opportunities and Challenges forDeveloping Countries, 1994: http://www.
wipo.int/wipolex/en/other_treaties/text.
jsp?file_id=305736
292	Gehl Sampath Padmashree, Gender andthe Agreement on Trade-Related Aspectsof Intellectual Property Rights: Exploringsome Interlinkages, 2004: http://oro.open.
ac.uk/11411/
293	Zo Randriamaro, BRIDGE: Development- Gender, Gender and Trade: Overview
Report, 2006: http://www.bridge.ids.
ac.uk/sites/bridge.ids.ac.uk/files/reports/
CEP-Trade-OR.pdf
294	United Nations, Convention on Biological
Diversity, 1992, Article 8:	
https://www.cbd.int/doc/legal/cbd-en.pdf
295	Ibid, Articles 1 and 8(j).
296	Gehl Sampath Padmashree, Gender andthe Agreement on Trade-Related Aspectsof Intellectual Property Rights: Exploringsome Interlinkages, 2004, Article 27(3)(b):
http://oro.open.ac.uk/11411/
297	UN Inter-Agency Network on Women and
Gender Equality Task Force on Gender andTrade, Trade and Gender: Opportunities
and Challenges for Developing Countries,
2004, p. 256: http://unctad.org/en/docs/
edm20042_en.pdf
298	Zo Randriamaro, BRIDGE: Development- Gender, Gender and Trade: Overview
Report, 2006, p. 24: http://www.bridge.
ids.ac.uk/sites/bridge.ids.ac.uk/files/
reports/CEP-Trade-OR.pdf
299	Gehl Sampath Padmashree, Gender andthe Agreement on Trade-Related Aspectsof Intellectual Property Rights: Exploringsome Interlinkages, 2004: http://oro.open.
ac.uk/11411/
300	Ibid.
301	UN Women, Facts and Figures: HIV and
AIDS, 2018:	
http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-wedo/hiv-and-aids/facts-and-figures
302	Celine Salcedo-La Viña, Maitri Morarji,
Making Women’s Voices Count inCommunity Decision-Making on Land andInvestment, 2016, pp. 18-19:	https://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/
Making_Womens_Voices_Count_In_
Community_Decision-Making_On_Land_
Investments.pdf
303	Ibid.
304	World Intellectual Property Organization,
No. 7 Customary Law and Traditional
Knowledge, 2016, p. 3:

81

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/
wipo_pub_tk_7.pdf
305	Ibid.
306	UN Economic and Social Council, The
Impact of the Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Right on
Human Rights, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/13,
2001:
	
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/
doc/UNDOC/GEN/G01/143/45/PDF/
G0114345.pdf?OpenElement
307	Ibid.
308	Keith Alcorn, Brazil Issues Compulsory
License on Efavirenz, 2007: http://www.
aidsmap.com/Brazil-issues-compulsorylicense-on-efavirenz/page/1427206/,https://www.ictsd.org/brazil-issuescompulsory-licence-for-aids-drug309	International Centre for Trade andSustainable Development, Bridges, Brazil
Grants Compulsory License, 2017, Volume
11, Number 3:	https://www.ictsd.org/bridges-news/
bridges/news/brazil-grants-compulsorylicense
310	Rachel Mousslé, AWID, Challenging
Corporate Power, 2016, p. 44:
	https://www.awid.org/sites/default/files/
atoms/files/ccp_fullreport_eng.pdf
311	Ibid.
312	Ibid, p. 91.
313	UN Committee for Development Policy,
What LDC Graduation Will Mean for
Bangladesh’s Drugs Industry, 2017:https://www.un.org/ldcportal/what-ldcgraduation-will-mean-for-bangladeshsdrugs-industry/
314	International Organisation of Employers,
Making Access to Remedy a Reality for All:
Recommendations for Governments and
UN Institutions, 2014, p. 2: http://www.
csrgermany.de/www/csr_cms_relaunch.
nsf/id/D0D4A5F23DA06072C1257D78002578FB/$file/_2014-09-22__Making_access_to_remedy_a_reality_for_all__final_.pdf?open

82

315	UN Human Rights Council, Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights:
Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect,
Respect and Remedy’ Framework,
HR/PUB/11/04, 2011: https://www.
ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/
GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf
316	UN Human Rights Office of the HighCommissioner, Business and Human
Rights: Enhancing Accountability andAccess to Remedy, 2014: https://www.
ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/
DomesticLawRemedies/RemedyProject2.
pdf
317	Gender & Development Network, CORE,
Why National Action Plans on Businessand Human Rights Must Integrate Gender
Equality and Women’s Human Rights,
2015: http://www.progressio.org.uk/
sites/progressio.org.uk/files/gadn_b_hr_
paper_13_11_15_final.pdf
318	Ibid.
319	Ibid.
320	UN General Assembly, Human Rights
and Transnational Corporations andOther Business Enterprises: “Access to
Effective Remedies Under the Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights:
Implementing the United Nations Protect,
Respect and Remedy Framework”,
A/72/162, 2017, paras. 25, 30: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/
GEN/N17/218/65/PDF/N1721865.
pdf?OpenElement321	Ama Marston, Women, Business andHuman Rights: A Background Paper for
the UN Working Group on Discrimination
Against Women in Law and Practice, 2014:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/
Women/WG/ESL/BackgroundPaper4.pdf
322	Verité, Women at Work in Global Supply
Chains, n.d.:
https://www.verite.org/women-workglobal-supply-chains/323	UN General Assembly, Human Rights
and Transnational Corporations andWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Other Business Enterprises: ‘Access to
Effective Remedies under the Guiding
Principles on Business and Human
Rights: Implementing the United Nations
Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework’,
A/72/162, 2017, para. 30: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/
GEN/N17/218/65/PDF/N1721865.
pdf?OpenElement324	Christina Hill, Chris Madden, Nina Collins,
Oxfam Australia, A Guide to Gender Impact
Assessments for the Extractive Industries,
2017, p. 4:	https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/
uploads/2017/04/2017-PA-001-Genderimpact-assessments-in-mining-report_FA_
WEB.pdf
325	Ama Marston, Women, Business andHuman Rights: A Background Paper for
the UN Working Group on Discrimination
Against Women in Law and Practice, 2014:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/
Women/WG/ESL/BackgroundPaper4.pdf
326	Ibid.
327	Gender & Development Network, CORE,
Why National Action Plans on Businessand Human Rights Must Integrate Gender
Equality and Women’s Human Rights,
2015: http://www.progressio.org.uk/
sites/progressio.org.uk/files/gadn_b_hr_
paper_13_11_15_final.pdf
328	UN Human Rights Council, Reportof the Working Group on the Issue ofDiscrimination against Women in Law andPractice, A/HRC/26/39, 2014, para. 20:	
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/
Issues/Women/WG/ESL/A-HRC-26-39_
en.doc329	Council of Europe, European Union,
Barriers, Remedies and Good Practices for
Women’s Access to Justice in Five Eastern
Partnership Countries, 2016: https://rm.coe.int/16806b0f41
330	World Bank Group, Women, Businessand the Law 2016: Getting to Equal,
2015: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/

en/810421519921949813/WomenBusiness-and-the-Law-2016.pdf
331	Ibid.
332	Gender & Development Network, CORE,
Why National Action Plans on Businessand Human Rights Must Integrate Gender
Equality and Women’s Human Rights,
2015: http://www.progressio.org.uk/
sites/progressio.org.uk/files/gadn_b_hr_
paper_13_11_15_final.pdf
333	The International Corporate Accountability
Roundtable, CORE, The European
Coalition for Corporate Justice,
The Third Pillar: Access to Judicial
Remedies for Human Rights Violations
by Transnational Business, 2013, p.75:
https://static1.squarespace.com/
static/583f3fca725e25fcd45aa446/
t/58657dfa6a4963597fed59
8b/1483046398204/The-Third-PillarFINAL1.pdf
334	Ibid.
335	Ama Marston, Women, Business andHuman Rights: A Background Paper for
the UN Working Group on Discrimination
Against Women in Law and Practice, 2014:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/
Women/WG/ESL/BackgroundPaper4.pdf
336	Those countries being: Belgium, Chile,
Columbia, Czech Republic, Finland,
France, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and US.
337	International Labour Organization, Womenat Work Trends 2016, p. 59: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/--dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/
publication/wcms_457317.pdf
338	Ibid.
339	Ibid.
340	Ibid.
341	Jennifer Zerk, prepared for the OHCHR,
Corporate Liability for Gross Human
Rights Abuses: Towards a Fairer andMore Effective System of Domestic
Law Remedies, 2014, p. 87: https://83

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/
Business/DomesticLawRemedies/
StudyDomesticeLawRemedies.pdf
342	International Women’s Rights Action
Watch Asia Pacific and Landesa Center for
Women’s Land Rights, Submission to the
UN Working Group on the Issue of Human
Rights and Transitional Corporations andother Business Enterprises on Access toRemedy, 2017, p. 7:
	https://www.business-humanrights.org/
sites/default/files/documents/Jointsubmission-on-access-to-remedy-womenlong-version.pdf
343	Antoni Pigrau Solé, Maria Álvarez Tonré,
Antonio Cardesa-Salzmann, Maria
Font I Mas, Daniel Iglesias Márquez,
Jordi Jaria I Manzano, Human Rights in
European Business: A Practical Handbook
For Civil Society Organisations andHuman Right Defenders, 2016: http://
humanrightsinbusiness.eu/wp-content/
uploads/2016/09/HUMAN_RIGHTS_IN_
EUROPEAN_BUSINESS_EN.pdf
344	Business & Human Rights Resource
Centre, Walmart Lawsuit, n.d.:
https://www.business-humanrights.
org/en/walmart-lawsuit-re-genderdiscrimination-in-usa
345	Ibid.
346	Ibid.
347	UN Women, Progress of the World’s
Women 2015-2016: Transforming
Economies, Realizing Rights, 2015, p. 99:
http://progress.unwomen.org/en/2015/
pdf/UNW_progressreport.pdf
348	Ibid.
349	UN Human Rights Council, Report of theWorking Group on the Issue of Human
Rights and Transnational Corporations
and Other Business Enterprises on Multistakeholder Engagement Across ‘Protect,
Respect and Remedy’ – Reflections
from Discussions at the 2015 Annual
United Nation Forum on Business andHuman Rights, A/HRC/32/45/Add.3,

84

2016, para. 21: http://www.refworld.org/
pdfid/576156f54.pdf
350	Peter Boyle, Green Left Weekly, Photos& Story: Cambodia’s Garment Workers
Confront Multinationals, 2013: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/photosstory-cambodias-garment-workersconfront-multinationals
351	Alex Pearlman, Global Post, Cambodian
Workers Win $200,000 Settlement from
Walmart, H&M, 2013:https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-03-03/
cambodian-workers-win-200000settlement-walmart-hm
352	UN Human Rights Council, Report of theWorking Group on the Issue of Human
Rights and Transnational Corporations
and Other Business Enterprises on Multistakeholder Engagement Across ‘Protect,
Respect and Remedy’ – Reflections
from Discussions at the 2015 Annual
United Nation Forum on Business andHuman Rights, A/HRC/32/45/Add.3,
2016, para. 21: http://www.refworld.org/
pdfid/576156f54.pdf
353	International Women’s Rights Action
Watch Asia Pacific and Landesa Center for
Women’s Land Rights, Submission to the
UN Working Group on the Issue of Human
Rights and Transitional Corporations andOther Business Enterprises on Access toRemedy, 2017, p. 11:	
https://www.business-humanrights.org/
sites/default/files/documents/Jointsubmission-on-access-to-remedy-womenlong-version.pdf
354	Inmaculada Barcia, Association for
Women’s Rights in Development,
Our Right to Safety: Women Human
Right Defenders’ Holistic Approach toProtection, 2014:
http://defendingwomen-defendingrights.
org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/OurRight-To-Safety_FINAL.pdf
355	UN General Assembly, Situation of Human
Rights Defenders, A/72/170, 2017, para.

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

19: https://undocs.org/en/A/72/170
356	UN Working Group on Business andHuman Rights, Informal Background note
Human Rights Defenders and Civic Space:
The Business & Human Rights Dimension,n.d., p. 3:
	https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/
Issues/Business/ForumSession6/UNWG_
ProjectHRDsBackgroundNote12052017.
pdf
357	Global Alliance of National Human Rights
Institutions, The Marrakech Declaration‘Expanding the Civic Space and Promoting
and Protecting Human Rights Defenders,with a Specific Focus on Women: The Roleof National Human Rights Institutions’,2018, para. 14: http://ombudsman.md/
sites/default/files/marrakech_declaration_
en_12102018_-_final_.pdf
358	Front Line Defenders, Annual Report on
Human Rights Defenders at Risk in 2017:	
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/sites/
default/files/annual_report_digital.pdf
359	Inmaculada Barcia, Association for
Women’s Rights in Development,
Our Right to Safety: Women Human
Right Defenders’ Holistic Approach To
Protection, 2014, p. 28:
http://defendingwomen-defendingrights.
org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/OurRight-To-Safety_FINAL.pdf
360	Ibid.
361	SOMO, The Patchwork of Non-judicial
Grievance Mechanisms: Addressing theLimitations of the Current Landscape,2014: https://www.grievancemechanisms.
org/attachments/ThePatchworkofNonJudicialGrievanceMechanisms.pdf
362	UN Human Rights Council, UN Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights:
Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect,
Respect and Remedy’ Framework, HR/
PUB/11/04, 2011, Principle 31:	https://www.ohchr.org/
Documents/Publications/
GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf

363	UN General Assembly, Human Rights
and Transitional Corporations and Other
Business Enterprises, A/72/162, 2017,
para. 28: https://undocs.org/A/72/162
364	Ibid, para. 31.
365	International Women’s Rights Action
Watch Asia Pacific and Landesa Center for
Women’s Land Rights, Submission to the
UN Working Group on the Issue of Human
Rights and Transnational Corporations
and Other Business Enterprises on Accessto Remedy, 2017: https://businesshumanrights.org/sites/default/files/
documents/Joint-submission-on-accessto-remedy-women-long-version.pdf
366	The Office of the Compliance Advisor
Ombudsman, Compliance Advisor
Ombudsman: 2014 Annual Report: http://
www.cao-ombudsman.org/publications/documents/CAOANNUALREPORT2014.
pdf
367	International Women’s Rights Action
Watch Asia Pacific, Landesa Center for
Women’s Land Rights, Submission to the
UN Working Group on the Issue of Human
Rights and Transnational Corporations
and Other Business Enterprises on Accessto Remedy, 2017: https://businesshumanrights.org/sites/default/files/
documents/Joint-submission-on-accessto-remedy-women-long-version.pdf
368	Government of Denmark, Danish
National Action Plan – Implementationof the UN Guiding Principles on Businessand Human Rights, 2014, pp. 20-21;
Government of Norway, Business andHuman Rights: National Action Plan for
the Implementation of the UN Guiding
Principles, 2015, pp. 40-41:	
https://globalnaps.org/issue/non-judicialgrievance-mechanisms/
369	Government of Denmark, Danish National
Action Plan – Implementation of the UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights, 2014, p. 30: https://globalnaps.
org/issue/non-judicial-grievance-

85

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

mechanisms/
370	Government of Norway, Business andHuman Rights: National Action Plan for
the Implementation of the UN Guiding
Principles, 2015, p. 41: https://globalnaps.
org/issue/non-judicial-grievancemechanisms/
371	Newmont, Operations and Projects/
Africa/ Ahafo-Ghana/ Community, n.d.:	
https://www.newmont.com/operationsand-projects/africa/ahafo-ghana/community/default.aspx372	International Finance Corporation,
Addressing Grievances from ProjectAffected Communities, 2009, p. 9:
	https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/
cbe7b18048855348ae6cfe6a6515bb18/
IFC%2BGrievance%2BMechanisms.
pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=cbe7b18048855348ae6cfe6a6515bb18
373	Ibid.
374	Fair Wear Foundation, Antiharassment
Committees, n.d.: https://www.fairwear.
org/vaw-prevention/#!/content/https://www.fairwear.org/vaw-prevention/
antiharassment-committees-intro/
375	BSR, Empowering Female Workers in
the Apparel industry, 2017, p. 18: https://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_Empowering_
Female_Workers_in_the_Apparel_Industry.
pdf
376	UN Human Rights Office of the HighCommissioner, 20th Anniversary of
the UN Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders: Joint Statement by a Groupof Chairs, Vice-Chairs and Members of
the United Nations Human Rights Treaty
Bodies and the UN Special Rapporteuron Human Rights Defenders, HRI/
MC/2015/6, 2015: https://www.ohchr.
org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.
aspx?NewsID=23154&LangID=E377	UN Women, Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, 1979, Article 1: http://www.
un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/

86

econvention.htm#article1
378	UN Women Training Centre, Gender
Equality Glossary, n.d.: https://trainingcentre.unwomen.org/mod/glossary/view.
php?id=36&mode=letter&hook=S&sortkey=&sortorder=
379	Ibid.
380	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendation No. 25, HRI/GEN/1/
Rev.7 at 282, 2004, paras. 3-14: http://
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/
cedaw/recommendations/General%20
recommendation%2025%20(English).pdf
381	Ibid.
382	UN Human Rights Office of the HighCommissioner, Submitting information
to the Working Group on Discrimination
against Women in Law and in Practice,n.d.: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/
Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/
SubmissionInformation.aspx383	Kimberle Crenshaw, Mapping the
Margins: Intersectionality, Identity
Politics, and Violence against Womenof Color, 1991: https://www.jstor.org/
stable/1229039?seq=2#metadata_info_
tab_contents384	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendation No. 25, HRI/GEN/1/
Rev.7 at 282, 2004, para. 15: http://
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/
cedaw/recommendations/General%20
recommendation%2025%20(English).pdf
385	United Nations, Charter of the United
Nations, 1945, Preamble: http://www.
un.org/en/sections/un-charter/preamble/
index.html
386	Ibid, Article 1.
387	UN Human Rights Office of the HighCommissioner, Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, 1948, Preamble: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/
UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
388	UN Women, Convention on the Elimination

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, 1979, Article 3: http://www.
un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/
econvention.htm#article3389	Ibid, Article 2(e).
390	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendation No. 28, CEDAW/C/
CG/28, para. 28: http://www.refworld.org/
docid/4d467ea72.html
391	UN Women, Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, 1979, Article 4: http://www.
un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/
econvention.htm#article4392	The Committee’s mandate and theadministration of the treaty are defined in
the Articles 17 to 30 of the Convention: UN
Women, Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination against
Women, 1979, Articles 17-30: http://www.
un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/
econvention.htm
393	UN Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, General
Recommendations, 2014: http://www.
ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/
Recommendations.aspx394	UN General Assembly, Optional Protocol
to the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women,
A/RES/54/4, 1999: https://undocs.org/
en/A/RES/54/4
395	International Labour Organization,
Declaration on Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work, 1998, section 2(d):https://www.ilo.org/declaration/lang--en/index.htm
396	International Labour Organization,
Declaration on Equality of Opportunity
and Treatment for Women Workers, 1975,
Article 1(1): https://www.ilo.org/public/
libdoc/ilo/P/09604/09604(1975-58series-A)96-100.pdf#page=2397	African Commission on Human andPeoples’ Rights, Protocol to the African

Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
on the Rights of Women in Africa, 2003:
http://www.achpr.org/instruments/
women-protocol/
398	UN Department for Policy Coordinationand Sustainable Development, Report on
the Fourth World Conference on Women,
A/CONF.177/20, 1995: http://www.un.org/
esa/gopher-data/conf/fwcw/off/a--20.en
399	UN Women, Commission on the Status of
Women, n.d.: http://www.unwomen.org/
en/csw
400	UN Human Rights Council, Reportof the Working Group on the Issue ofDiscrimination against Women in Law andin Practice, A/HRC/26/39, 2014, para. 19:
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/26/39
401	UN Human Rights Council, Final Studyon Illicit Financial Flows, Human Rights
and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development of the Independent Expert
on the Effects of Foreign Debt and Other
Related International Financial Obligationsof States on the Full Enjoyment of All
Human Rights, Particularly Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, A/HRC/31/61,
2016, para. 24: http://www.undocs.org/A/
HRC/31/61
402	UN General Assembly, Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children,
A/71/303, 2016, para. 25: https://undocs.
org/A/71/303
403	Ibid, para. 40.
404	UN General Assembly, Transforming ourWorld: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, A/RES/70/1, 2015:
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.
asp?symbol=A/RES/70/1&Lang=E405	UN Human Rights Council, Resolution
Adopted by the Human Rights Council on
28 September 2017, A/HRC/36/49, para.
31: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/
doc/UNDOC/GEN/G17/293/79/PDF/
G1729379.pdf?OpenElement406	Shift, What Do the UN Sustainable
Development Goals Have To Do with87

WOMEN IN BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Corporate Respect for Human Rights?,
2016: https://www.shiftproject.org/
resources/viewpoints/sustainabledevelopment-goals-corporate-respecthuman-rights/
407	Ibid.

88