CSW61: Reclaiming the Universality of Rights: Gender, Economic Justice and Anti-Rights Threats

An OURs event during CSW61, Wednesday 15th March 2017, 4:30pm

Reclaiming the Universality of Rights: Gender, Economic Justice and Anti-Rights Threats

Rising (mis)use of religion, culture, tradition, and nationalism to justify discrimination in many areas around the world is having disastrous consequences for gender justice and women’s economic rights and empowerment.

Anti-human rights actors employing these arguments increasingly undermine women’s rights, including their rights to work and rights related to gender and sexuality. Through their attempts to control women’s bodies and autonomy, they propagate gendered restrictions on employment, restrict pathways to employment, and fuel gender stereotypes that undermine women’s access to work and justify violence in the workplace.

This event will highlight the findings of the first trends report from the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs) initiative regarding regressive trends and actors on our human rights norms and systems and open up a critical reflection on the tactics, discourses, strategies and increasing impact of ultra-conservative actors to undermine the universality and indivisibility of our human rights standards. This event will then examine and discuss the strategic opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for gender justice movements.

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