Unit-IV: Group Rights

b. Women and Children

 INTRODUCTION

• Women and children are faced with political,

economic and educational problems. They face
severe social, economic and political
discrimination. Children do not enjoy their
childhood and their little shoulders carry the
burden of adulthood in their tender years. Their
little hands work in the field in scorching heat to
earn for their families or look after their siblings
when other children of their age play.
• Throughout history, children have been abused and
exploited. They work in harmful conditions; suffer
from hunger and homelessness, high infant mortality,
poor health care and limited opportunities for basic
education. Children have the right to survive,
develop, be protected and participate in decisions that
impact their lives.
• Women are entitled to enjoy the same human rights and
fundamental freedoms as other individuals.
International human rights treaties require State parties
to take proactive steps to ensure that women’s human
rights are respected by law and to eliminate
discrimination, inequalities, and practices that negatively
affect women’s rights. Under international human rights
law, women may also be entitled to specific additional
rights such as those concerning reproductive healthcare.
• As a particularly vulnerable group, women have
special status and protection within the United Nations
and regional human rights systems. International
human rights treaties prohibit discrimination on the
basis of gender and also require States to ensure the
protection and realization of women’s rights in all
areas – from property ownership and freedom from
violence, to equal access to education and participation in
government.
• In a compartmentalized world, the rights of women
and those of children have often been promoted in
isolation from one another.
• Discrimination and other human rights violations
against women affect children and vice versa.
• Numerous case studies reveal that children’s rights
cannot be guaranteed in a framework that diminishes
women’s status and discriminates against women.
• On the one hand, the struggles to realize the human
rights of women and children have much in common
because historically women and children have been
legally and socially disadvantaged. On the other hand,
gender-based discrimination is deeply embedded in
childhood and contributes to the continuum of violence
that runs through many women’s and girl’s lives. The
human rights framework is an effective entry point for
analysis and action to promote gender equality and the
rights of children.
• Gender equality is central to realizing children’s rights.
Moreover gender equality produces a double dividend: it
benefits both children and women.
• The benefits of gender equality go far beyond their direct
impact on children. Gender equality will not only empower
women to claim their own rights but will also assist all
children, families, communities and countries in the
development process.
• Gender bias has indeed a negative impact on women and
children’s access to numerous resources, including
education, healthcare, ownership of property, and decision-
making in both the family and the public sphere
• Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
and the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) call upon
States Parties to take measures particularly in the
private sphere to eliminate discrimination and achieve
substantive equality.
• The two conventions draw together different strengths
and insight in the overall pursuit of women’s and
children’s rights.
For example, using the CEDAW and the CRC together in
light of the rights of the girl child allows for creative
ways to dismantle discrimination on the basis of sex
through temporary special measures, such as preferential
access to girls in education. In combining the mandates
of both conventions, supported by the overall framework
of the Universal Human Rights Declaration, a powerful
rights framework emerges, ensuring the rights of women
and children within the private and public spheres.
 Conclusion
The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the rights
that must be realized for children to develop to their full
potential.
The Convention offers a vision of the child as an individual
and as a member of a family and community, with rights and
responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and stage of
development. By recognizing children's rights in this way,
the Convention firmly sets the focus on the whole child.
The Department of Women and Child Development,
Government of India, came into existence as a separate
Ministry with effect from 30th January, 2006, earlier
since 1985 it was a Department under the Ministry of
Human Resources Development.
The Ministry was constituted with the prime intention of
addressing gaps in State action for women and children
for promoting inter-Ministerial and inter-sectoral
convergence to create gender equitable and child-centred
legislation, policies and programmes.