Women's Legal Rights Research Articles

Sexist textbooks: Automated analysis of gender bias in 1,255 books from 34 countries.

Textbooks play a critical role in schooling around the world. Small sample studies show that many books continue to under-represent women and girls, and to portray men and women in stereotypical gendered roles. In this paper, we use quantitative text analysis to assess the degree of gender bias in a newly assembled corpus of 1,255 English language school textbooks from 34 countries that are publicly available online. We find consistent patterns of under-representation of female characters and portrayal of stereotypical gendered roles. Women and girls appear less frequently, are portrayed as more passive, are less likely to be associated with work or achievement, and are more likely to be associated with the home and traditionally female occupations. Comparing across countries, female representation in books is correlated with higher GDP and more legal rights for women. Under-representation and stereotypes are a particular problem in South Asia.

Waves of Feminism in Literature and their Literary Reflections

This research paper explores the evolution of feminist thought across four waves. The first wave, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, focused on women's suffrage and legal rights. The second wave, from the 1960s to the 1980s, addressed reproductive rights and systemic patriarchy. The third wave, beginning in the 1990s, emphasized intersectionality, recognizing diverse identities. The fourth wave, marked by digital activism, confronts issues like sexual harassment and body shaming, reflecting the ongoing evolution of feminist movements

Feminism in 18 Century

The 18th century marked a pivotal era for the early stirrings of feminism, laying the groundwork for future movements seeking gender equality. During this period, societal roles were rigidly defined, with women predominantly relegated to domestic spheres. However, the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on reason and individual rights, began to challenge these traditional norms. This intellectual movement inspired a reevaluation of women's roles and their capabilities. ioneering voices emerged, advocating for women's education and rights. One of the most influential figures was Mary Wollstonecraft, whose seminal work, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792), argued for women's rationality and the importance of education. Wollstonecraft's treatise challenged the prevailing notion that women were inherently inferior to men, advocating instead for equal opportunities in education as a means to achieve true equality.Other women, such as Catherine Macaulay and Olympe de Gouges, contributed to the discourse, with de Gouges penning the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen" in 1791, a bold statement calling for women's rights during the French Revolution. These early feminists laid the intellectual and philosophical foundation for future generations to build upon.Despite their efforts, the impact of 18th-century feminism was limited by cultural and institutional barriers. The movement did not result in immediate societal change; however, it ignited a conversation about gender equality that would gain momentum in the centuries to follow. The ideas and writings from this era inspired later activists in the 19th and 20th centuries, who continued to fight for women's suffrage, legal rights, and social reforms.

AN INSIGHT INTO THE POSTCOLONIAL FEMINISM USING ABDULLAH’S SHORT STORY “ASHES TO ASHES AND DUST TO DUST”

Postcolonial feminism is a collection of numerous ideologies aimed at explaining, initiating and preserving social, economical, political and legal rights of women in post-colonial settings. Many literary figures have put down their minds on paper to elaborate the themes of postcolonial feminism; Shaila Abdullah is one of those writers who have painted the miseries of feminine bodies in postcolonial milieu. This study concentrates on one of the short stories of Shaila entitled “ashes to ashes and dust to dust”, to explore the notions of oppression, power, hegemony and patriarchy through gender lens. Under the light of postcolonial feminism, the paper examines the protagonist of the story, ‘Dhool’ and investigates the relations and interactions between opposite genders to analyze impact of patriarchal society on the lives of feminine segments of society. The analysis depicts that the instances of patriarchy are universalized in the text, which dominate the physical and psychological state of the genders, specifically females. Through the demonstration of the courageous opposition of the character Dhool against patriarchy, the writer symbolizes the traces of feminism among postcolonial women. However, the overall journey of Dhool in the story validates the prominence of male power which makes her identity and physical presence devalued as well as makes her appearance not more than an object for men to fulfill their desires.

Hukum Islam Dan HAM: Tinjauan Hukum Poligami dan Kesetaraan Hak dalam Perkawinan

The Declaration of Human Rights (HAM) in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) has become a reference for the international community and has influenced aspects of international law. However, the interpretation of human rights and their implementation within the national scope often clashes with local culture and laws. As Islamic law is codified in various Muslim countries which are also part of the United Nations. Is there a conflict between International Human Rights Law and Islamic Law then what is the solution, also how is the harmonization between Islamic Law and Human Rights regarding the permissibility of the practice of polygamy which violates the Principle of Equality is a question that must be answered thoroughly from the perspective of both. The dialogical approach finds answers that are very relevant, through the rule of "Mashlahah", Islamic law and international human rights can dialogue in order to reach a common understanding in order to realize human rights in the Muslim world. By utilizing women's legal rights, namely "ta'liq al-thalaq and tafwidh al-thalaq" or the marriage agreement in the marriage contract not to be polygamous, the practice of polygamy becomes everyone's "free choice". In the Indonesian context, it is regulated in Law no. 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage Chapter V Article 29, and Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI) Chapter VII Articles 45-52. The marriage agreement is also listed in the Counter Legal Draft Chapter V Articles 21 and 22. This is in accordance with Islamic Law and also fulfills the obligations of Muslim countries to guarantee equal rights in marriage.

Utah's Women Homesteaders

Utah's Women Homesteaders

An Equality of Security

In the “Principles of the Civil Code,” Jeremy Bentham identifies four “principles subsidiary to utility”: subsistence, abundance, equality, and security. Whereas these subsidiary principles form part of the bedrock of classical liberalism, in this essay I show that in the hands of his friend and disciple William Thompson, they are transformed into the foundations for socialism. Where Bentham prioritizes security over equality, and security of property takes a preeminent role, Thompson shows that the system of individual competition and private property—his way of describing capitalism—is best characterized by the “inequality of security.” Based on the labor theory of property, Thompson argues that the system that assigns ownership to the providers of capital violates the workers’ security—the right to have the full produce of their labor secured to them. Thompson then reconciles security and equality, understanding them as mutually constitutive instead of in conflict. From his work I identify a modified set of subsidiary principles that place security and equality at the same level, and then adds additional subsidiary principles as necessary conditions to enable full equality of security: voluntarism, democracy, and united effort/common property. With this as his basis, Thompson offers the outlines for important elements of socialist theory, including the theory of surplus value; a call for the abolition of private property; and full equal social, civil, and legal rights for women, establishing a firm grounding for socialism in utilitarian philosophy. Because Thompson also was a major influence on the early cooperative movement, which also adopted these principles, this has significant implications for how we view the cooperative movement, which today may justifiably claim to be the world’s largest democratic social movement.

Four Waves of Feminism: A Blessing for Global Humanity

This paper tries to analyze the development of waves of feminism. In the human civilization, “Feminism” is considered as a mass movement, which has commenced by women of all groups to remove all forms of feminist oppressions by men that are prevailing in a patriarchal society. The world has already experienced four waves of feminism that act against women’s abuse and oppression. The first wave of feminism arises in the United States and Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and concerns with the achieving voting right, equal opportunities, and other legal rights of women. Second wave of feminism has initiated by both white and non-white women of Western countries as well as in developing countries, starts in the 1960s and ends in the 1990s. It works for equal education and employment opportunities, maternity leave, birth control and abortion rights, etc.; and fights against domestic violence issues, marital rape issues, sexual harassment and rape, etc. Third wave of feminism presents a dynamic critique to the previous feminist political trends, and extents from the 1990s to 2000s. In this movement, women find themselves as strong and rebellious, and working women in various occupations are not subjected to a sexist patriarchy. Fourth wave feminism starts around 2012, which offers a new feminism that depends on online social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. After the development of waves of feminism, various laws have been established in many countries of the world to support the participation of women in all activities of the society. This study takes attempts to discuss aspects of four waves of feminism elaborately.

Intimate Partner Violence and Its Predictors among Pregnant Women in Eastern Ethiopia: Generalized Structural Equation Modeling.

Introduction Intimate partner violence (IPV) has a negative impact on women's physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health. Identifying the determinant factors of IPV among pregnant women is of paramount importance to overcome its negative consequences thereby increasing the performance of women in all activities. Thus, this study applied a generalized structural equation model (GSEM) to determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence among pregnant women and its predictors in Eastern Ethiopia. Methods A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS), Eastern Ethiopia. Data were collected form a sample of 1051 pregnant women using structured questionnaires. Descript findings were presented in percentage with 95% confidence interval. The generalized structural equation model was used to determine factors associated with each domain of IPV (physical, emotional, and social violence). Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% CI were used to declare significant factors associated with intimate partner violence. Results The overall prevalence of IPV in the Eastern Ethiopia was 48.57% (95% CI: 45.45, 51.69). The highest intimate partner violence was observed in the sexual domain of IPV (31.6%, 95% CI: (28.8, 34.58)). In GSEM, being a farmer (AOR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.91) was significantly associated with psychological domain of IPV. Age (AOR = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.95, 0.99) and educational status (neither read nor write) (AOR = 2.50, 95% CI: 1.61, 3.89) were significantly associated with physical domain of IPV. Being in medium (AOR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.90) and rich (AOR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.36, 0.78), wealth quintiles were significantly associated with sexual domain of IPV, whereas husband controlling behavior was significantly associated with all domains of IPV. Conclusions The magnitude of IPV among pregnant women was relatively high in Eastern Ethiopia. This finding pin a light to pay special consideration to pregnant women at each point of service delivery to alleviate consequence of IPV. Being a farmer, older ages and being in higher wealth quintiles were protective factor, whereas being uneducated increase the risk of IPV. Improving socioeconomic status and promoting legal rights of women is needed to alleviate the problem, and younger women require special attention.

Women's Legal Rights and Gender Gaps in Property Ownership in Developing Countries

AbstractWomen's property ownership matters for their well‐being and agency, broader economic prosperity, and children's development. However, until recently, a lack of data has constrained further exploration of gender differences in property ownership in the developing world. Using data from 41 developing countries, this paper contributes to the literature by investigating gender gaps in the incidence of property ownership among couples and the factors associated with these gaps, focusing on the role of legal systems. We find that in almost all countries, husbands are more likely to own property than wives. Across countries in our sample, husbands are, on average, 2.7 times more like than wives to own property alone and 1.4 times more likely to own property alone or jointly. Within countries, gender gaps in the incidence of property ownership are most pronounced for disadvantaged groups, that is, the rural population and the poorest quintile. These gender gaps reflect a variety of factors, including discriminatory laws with respect to inheritance, property ownership, marital regimes, and laws that protect from workplace discrimination. Countries with more gender egalitarian legal regimes have higher levels of property ownership by married women, especially housing, suggesting that legal reforms are a potential mechanism to increase women's property ownership.

Women’s Right to Equal Employment Opportunities in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Women have been struggling for their rights for centuries in the male-dominated societies. When females are involved in economic and social aspects of their lives, it helps improve their families, communities and countries’ health, welfare, prosperity and security. Kurdistan, as a part of Iraq, is one of the State Party to CEDAW and is under an obligation to take the measures required by the convention to eliminate discrimination against women and ensure the equal enjoyment of human rights by women. There are different agents and factors that can contribute to the enforcement of human rights, however, state power plays the foundational and major role in establishing and enforcing the legal rights of women. The study will identify the extent to which national legislation correspond to CEDAW conventions. Our instrument of analysis would be Article 11 which is focused on women’s employment. Our findings include that no substantial legal discriminations disadvantaging women exist.

Протокол и гендер

The article aims at studying the norms of the diplomatic protocol regulating relations among countries through persons representing them in negotiation processes. However, the representatives are prone to their own subjectivity because of their job hierarchy, gender, social status, etc. There is still a tendency to divide negotiating styles into «male» and «female», while some ultra-conservative men refuse to conduct negotiations with women, being skeptical about them and deliberately showing their unreasonable superiority. Such a non-diplomatic attitude towards women in negotiation processes, their discrimination in the political and business environment in Muslim countries, as well as contradictions between the legal rights of women and religious restrictions on the same rights are no longer acceptable in the modern business world. The art of diplomacy is aimed to provide a constructive dialogue between people of different subjective views, and the diplomatic protocol is to be the document that keeps records and regulates the norms, rules of conduct, and the tone of negotiations.

Cyber Crimes and Cyber Laws : A Perspective of Women Victimization

Women from all the parts of society are facing cybercrime against them. Being a victim of cyber crime, women experiences several psychological impact which deeply effects their life. Sometimes they even commit suicide. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has reported increased rate of cyber crime against women in the last few years. Cyber crime against women takes place in the form of cyber defamation, sexual harassment and abuse, email-misrepresentation and so forth . Cyber crime itself is traumatic for women to deal with and on the other side the challenges that are encountered by a women to proceed for a legal action against the culprit is also matter of concern for them. This research paper is an attempt to discuss upon the various types of cybercrimes that are inflicted upon women in India. It is also brief analysis of the legal rights of women to protect against cyber crime, its application and challenges that are experienced by women to get those rights.

Women and Gender in Iraq: Between Nation-Building and Fragmentation

Women and Gender in Iraq: Between Nation-Building and Fragmentation

Проблеми охорони права жінок на працю

The article examines the problems of women’s labor rights. The author emphasizes that, taking into account the physiological characteristics of the woman’s body, the interests of maternity and childhood protection, Ukraine establishes special norms concerning women’s labor protection and health. However, in practice these guarantees are neglected. Insufficient protection is associated with objective (difficult economic situation, intensification of production, declining spirituality and culture of the population) and subjective (wrong attitude to women’s interests, misunderstanding of social equality of both sexes, the specifics of the female body, the role of women in the family , raising children, etc.) reasons. Women are involved in night shifts, hard physical work, overtime work, work in unhealthy conditions; no additional social leave is provided to mothers, they are not exempted from business trips on the grounds provided by law. There is no activity in labor collectives to identify women who need reduced working hours, flexible work schedules. Cases of unequal pay remain unresolved. Legislation is mentioned, which often has no practical implementation. Changes to the pension provision that worsen the situation of employees are analyzed. The purpose of the article is to analyze the peculiarities of legislative regulation and practice of exercising women’s right to labor. Tasks: to characterize the trends in the implementation of guarantees of women’s right to work, gaps in the implementation practice and the causes of such phenomena. The research methodology is epistemological and ontological approaches to the subject of analysis. The scientific novelty is as follows: the doctrine of women’s rights in modern society and the state has received further scientific development; the theoretical material on guarantees of realization of the right of women to labor was improved; attention is focused on the analysis of the effectiveness of legislation in the outlined area; the need to influence the law-making activity of public authorities, institutions of society of the new gender ideology is emphasized. Conclusions. Women are involved in socio-economic and ideological confrontation, in which they appear as the most vulnerable community. There is a gradual deformation of their legal status. The education of new relations between the sexes will be able to harmoniously combine the factual and legal rights of women

Osmanlı’da Mahkeme ve Kadın: Mahkemede Kadınların Taraf Olduğu Konular (1732-1733)

Osmanlı kadın tarihi üzerine yapılan çalışmaların sayısı her geçen gün biraz daha artmaktadır. Bu çalışmalar sayesinde, tarihte Osmanlı kadınının toplum içindeki yerleri ve rolleri hakkında bilgi edinilmektedir. Osmanlı kadın tarihi üzerine yazılan yazılar genellikle, kadınların ekonomik anlamda toplumsal üretime katkıları, sosyal alandaki varlıkları ve kadınların hukuksal haklarını kullanımı üzerinedir. Osmanlı toplumunda hukukun ve geleneklerin erkek iktidarına öncelik tanımasına rağmen kadınların kendilerine tanınan hakları kullandıkları bilinmektedir. En önemli hukuksal haklardan biri kadınların mahkemeye başvurabilmeleridir. Bu anlamda, Osmanlı kadınının bizzat kendileri ya da vekilleri aracılığıyla mahkemeyi sık sık kullandıkları bilinmektedir. Çalışmada, mahkeme ve kadın ikilemi üzerinden kadınların mahkemeyi neden ve nasıl kullandıkları anlatılacaktır. Çalışmanın ana kaynağı 210 Numaralı Kastamonu Şer’iyye Sicilidir. Sicil, 1732-1733 tarihlidir. Buna göre Kastamonu mahkemesi özelinde 1732-1733 yılları arasında bir yıllık süreçte kadınların mahkemeye yansıma süreci çalışmanın konusudur. Sicil, tarandığında belgelerin yaklaşık %80’inde kadınların var olduğu görülmüştür.

Women, law and legal intervention in early modern Portugal

AbstractEarly modern Portuguese women had the legal right to engage in a number of official transactions, including granting and receiving sureties and powers of attorney. This was not the case for women in many other parts of western Europe, making the Portuguese example worthy of scrutiny for comparative purposes. This article looks at the unique position of women in early modern Portugal, and shows that upon close examination of the archival sources, the evidence points to a significant gap between women's legal rights and the cultural limitations that were imposed on women.

Scandinavian women's experiences with abortions on request: a systematic review.

The objective of the review was to explore the experiences of Scandinavian women with abortions on request, that is, before, during and after the intervention. In Scandinavia, the primary issues surrounding the abortion debate to date have been women's legal rights to an abortion, and, to a lesser extent, how women experience an abortion on request and how society could and should support them. This systematic review investigated Scandinavian women's experiences in relation to this intervention. The current review included all studies that focused on adult women (aged 15 and over) living in Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) who have experienced an abortion on request (a medically or surgically induced abortion without a medical indication for the mother or child, described here as an "abortion on request"). The phenomena of interest were Scandinavian women's experiences in relation to an abortion on request, that is, before, during and after the intervention, and self-reported psychosocial or psychological health consequences following the abortion. This systematic review focused on Scandinavian hospital or clinical environments where authorized medical personnel performed abortions on request. This review considered studies that focused on qualitative data including, but not limited to, designs such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research. A three-step search strategy was used to identify published and unpublished studies from 1973 to June 2016. The comprehensive literature search identified nine studies that met the inclusion criteria. These nine studies were assessed by two independent reviewers using the standardized critical appraisal instruments from the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). Six of these studies were deemed to be of sufficient methodological quality for inclusion in this systematic review. Data were extracted from the six included studies using the standardized data extraction tool from JBI. A total of 24 qualitative research findings were pooled using JBI methodology. A total of six studies met the inclusion criteria, with a total of 80 participants. Twenty-four research findings were extracted and grouped into six categories that were synthesized into three synthesized findings: 1) Experiences in connection with the decision-making process; 2) Experiences in connection with the procedure; and 3) Experiences after abortion. The vast majority of participants were aged 15 to 24 years at the time of the abortion. Conclusions and recommendations for practice apply to Scandinavian women within this age group. This systematic review indicates that young Scandinavians consider it a woman's responsibility to obtain and use contraceptives and that young women seeking an abortion on request have little knowledge of their own bodies with respect to fertility and their menstrual cycles. Young Scandinavian women between the ages of 15 and 24 years seeking an abortion on request experience conflicted feelings. They feel both joy and shame about their pregnancies and, during the decision-making process, are torn between the possibility of motherhood and the reasonable and expected choice of abortion that is supported by their parents and friends. The majority of women experience worse-than-expected pain and discomfort in connection with the abortion procedure. The approach of healthcare staff to women's physical needs is described as good and professional, but there is little or no focus on the women's emotional and existential needs. After abortions on request, young women express ambivalence: relief that the pregnancy has been terminated, coupled with a feeling of loss. Some suffer from guilt and some express regret.

Igualdad de género y Educación Superior: Retos por alcanzar en la Unión Europea

A finales del siglo XIX nacían en Europa los primeros movimientos para la defensa de los derechos jurídicos de la mujer, reclamando principalmente el derecho al trabajo, al voto y a la educación. La paulatina adquisición y generalización de estos derechos durante el siglo XX recondujo las iniciativas de igualdad hacia otros terrenos, incluyendo el económico y el de representatividad política. Durante el siglo XXI, a pesar de los avances y gracias a ellos, el nivel real de igualdad de género en Europa continúa suponiendo un importante foco de interés, tal y como demuestra el programa de trabajo para el periodo 2010-2015 de la Comisión Europea en materia de igualdad de género. Este interés abarca el plano educativo en ámbitos nacionales, internacionales y supranacionales, mostrando un patente desarrollo de políticas educativas de igualdad. Siendo la educación el mayor motor de cambio social, esta tendencia puede considerarse como la mejor representación de la defensa de la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres. Así, parece pertinente analizar políticas educativas de igualdad que han calado desde escenarios internacionales hacia espacios supranacionales y nacionales, como es el caso de la Unión Europea, y sus países miembros. Tras revisar las políticas de igualdad de género en las últimas décadas, se hace uso del método comparado para la realización de un estudio sobre los cinco países miembros de la Unión Europea con menor población: Estonia, Eslovenia, Malta, Luxemburgo y Chipre.

The Impact of Justice Scalia's Replacement on Gender Equality Issues

Every Presidential election is, in effect, a national referendum on the meaning of the Constitution. The people of the United States are largely united in their dedication to the general constitutional principles of liberty, equality, fundamental fairness, democracy, and limited government. We are, however, divided as to the proper application of those principles to our laws and public institutions. Elections for the Presidency and (to a much lesser degree) the Senate of the United States afford each citizen the opportunity to vote on how the Constitution should be interpreted.Myriad provisions of Constitutional Law bear upon gender equality. Standards under the Equal Protection Clause, the Right to Privacy, the First Amendment, the Establishment Clause, the Free Exercise Clause, the Commerce Clause, the Enforcement Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the State Action Doctrine, and the unenumerated principle of State Sovereignty all bear upon the legal rights of women and men, LGBTQ and straight individuals. The Supreme Court is evenly and sharply divided in its approach to interpreting all of these constitutional provisions, and these interpretive differences also affect the validity and application of civil rights statutes. This presidential election will have a major impact on our legal rights to gender equality.