Executive summary

• Author: Deniz Devrim - Roland Blomeyer - Paul Dalton - Senni Mut-Tracy
• Pages: 7-9

Discriminatory Laws Undermining Women’s Rights

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Executive summary

This paper has been requested by the Eu ropean Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) to

pro vide ins ight into the current s ituation a nd recent t rends in t he abolitio n or r eform of dis criminatory laws

undermining women’s rights in countries outside the European Union (EU) 1. The paper addresses factors

relevant fo r successful r eform processes and ob stacles in the path of r eform, ana lyses the perfor mance of

the EU’s policies and instruments, and presents case studies from four countries – Bangladesh, The Gambia,

Tunis ia an d Ukr aine.

At a time where an incr easing number of coun tries across the wor ld are tak ing illiberal stances, the EU

needs to continue its strong support for reform of laws that discriminate against women. The EU has

numerous tools at its disposal to s uppo rt g ender equa lity throu gh po litical dialo gues and bilate ral

cooperation, as well as direct support to women’s organisations. The most effective approach for the EU to

take to support the reform of laws that discriminate against women is to apply a com binat ion o f me asures:

political dialogue, public advocacy, support for women’s rights and other like-minded organisations,

engagement with a broad range of stakeholders at national and local levels, and targeted programmatic

support informed by gender analysis and making use of gender-disaggregated data.

Discrim inator y family and pers onal status laws, includ ing inher itance laws, a re the m ost difficu lt area in

which to secure r eform. Even though equality between men and women should be promoted in all se ctors,

the r eality in many countr ies is th at refo rm of pers onal st atus laws ma y be difficult if n ot impo ssible to

achieve in the short to medium term. In such contexts, it is legitimate to support incremental steps towards

the e vent ual ab olitio n of discr imina tor y laws and policies . In many count ries , lega l framewor ks for

combating gen der-based violence are either yet to be est ablished or need to be strengthened. While legal

pro tectio n of wo men’s civil and po litical righ ts h as imp rov ed sign ificant ly ov er th e past few decades, t he

trend in legislative refor ms on, among oth ers, freedo m of m ovement and citizensh ip suggests that

progres s may have now plateaued. Girls’ development, education and economic opportunities continue

to be affected by d iscrimina tory marriage laws permitting girls to marry earlier than boys. Labour laws in

many cou ntries continue to be influenced by social norms wher e men are considered to be t he primary

economic provider for the family. There is also an over representation of women in the infor mal sector,

where there are no protections against harassment or discriminatory practices.

Factors that support the elimination of discriminatory elements in law include the ratification of the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other

internat ional sta ndards, increased women’s r epresentation in elected office, research an d advocacy by

women ’s righ ts and o ther civ il societ y orga nisations, strateg ic litigation and awar eness ra ising. A mong

these facto rs, fem inist a ctivism 2 has been one o f the key factors in driving law reform. Th e increased

represen tation of women in elected office can often, but does n ot by itself, lead to gender-sens itive legal

reform pr ocesses in a ll areas where exist ing laws undermine women’s rights. For the EU, the focus in

programming should therefore include provision of technical support to parliamentary committees and

Ministries to advance legal refor m processes.

Given the central role that women's rights organisations play in succes sful lega l refo rm – fr o m b ui ld ing an

evidence base, to analysing and raising the problems with existing laws, and campaigning for change –

the EU should continue to intensify its capacities to support women’s groups in countries where the space

for hu man r ight s advocacy is sh rinking. Th is inclu des de veloping s trategic r esponses t o cove r the diff erent

stages of the closing space.

1 The focus of the paper is on those countries that are recipients of European development assistance / cooperation.

2 Feminist acti vism and women's ri ghts activism are tre ated as synonyms t hroughout the study. Accordi ng to th e Oxfor d defini tion,

feminist activism is the advocacy o f women's ri ghts on the ground of the e quality of the sexe s.