Gender equality
Gender Equality as a human right and a development goal is enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights and in the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Gender Equality is one of UNESCO’s two global priorities. In this understanding, gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys. It implies that the interests, needs and priorities of both women and men are taken into consideration, recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men.
Gender equality is a human rights principle, a precondition for sustainable, people-centred development, and it is a goal in and of itself.
From the report ‘Gender Equality, Heritage and Creativity’
“The realization of equal cultural rights demands that women and girls are able to access, participate in, and contribute to all aspects of cultural life on a basis of equality with men and boys. This includes the right to equally determine and interpret cultural heritage; decide which cultural traditions, values or practices are to be kept intact; which are to be retained but modified, and which are to be discarded altogether. The right to participation includes the right not to participate in any ritual, custom or practice which contravenes the human dignity of girls and women, regardless of cultural justifications. Women and girls must enjoy the freedom to join, leave and re-join as well as create new communities of shared cultural values around any markers of identity they want to privilege, without fear of punitive actions, including any form of violence”(Gender Equality, Heritage and Creativity, p. 7).
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