Womenomics in Action: #genderequalityfundamentalright
The attainment of equality between women and men, and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women are fundamental human rights and United Nations values. Despite this, women around the world regularly suffer violations throughout their life cycle, and the realization of women’s human rights has not always been accorded priority attention. Achieving equality between women and men requires a comprehensive understanding of the ways in which women experience discrimination and are denied equality. This understanding facilitates the development of appropriate strategies for the elimination of such discrimination and measures for the achievement of equality between women and men.
Since its founding, women’s equal rights have been included amongst the most fundamental guarantees of human rights. However, important gaps remain and women’s realities are constantly changing, with new manifestations of discrimination against women regularly emerging. Intersecting forms of discrimination, combining factors such as sex, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, health status, marital status, education, disability and socio-economic status, among other grounds, also have a particular impact on women, which must be factored into responses.
Social media has proved to be a powerful vehicle for bringing women’s rights issues to the attention of a wider public, galvanising action on the streets of cities around the world and encouraging policy makers to step up commitments to gender equality.
Social media has transformed the landscape of how information is shared globally and the relationship between citizens and governments. Beyond its use as a social networking tool, social media allows for the first time any individual to share content and opinions to a global audience, bypassing traditional media or other modes of information transmission. Platforms such as YouTube, Facebook or Twitter have allowed activists around the world to retransmit events live to a broad online audience. Local issues become global concerns; local activists become connected with global citizens.
Below are three areas identified by the online discussion and research where social media has enabled women’s political activism:
Hashtag activism bringing women’s issues to the forefront of political agendas: Hashtag activism has helped to mobilise public attention on women’s rights, increasing the visibility of issues that are under-reported in mainstream media.
Tackling violence against women through social media tools: Social media tools have helped female victims to share their experiences of violence with other victims, creating a space to exchange knowledge and information on their rights, legal processes and welfare services.
Public accountability towards gender equality: Social media has been increasingly used by women’s grassroots organisations to call for greater public accountability towards gender equality.
Global Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Confederation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Global Council for Cluster Excellence and Research; International Council for Technology, Management and Applied Engineering along with various supporting partners would like to earmark 31st March’2021 as a day of women in leadership. And call for actions, awareness, movements for #genderequalityfundamentalright
The main issues in focus are:
- Gender Integration
- Violence against Women
- Women, peace and security
- Women’s economic, social and cultural rights
- Women’s civil and political rights
Key messages
- Social media has proven potential for mobilising attention and accountability to women’s rights, and challenging discrimination and stereotypes.
- Obstacles remain in translating women’s online advocacy to pushing for systemic change through policy.
- Strategies to enhance social media’s potential for women’s empowerment include facilitating their access to technology; increasing women’s representation in public life and media; and working with a cross-section of actors.
