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John and Mary Yaremko Forum in Multiculturalism and Human Rights: Student Symposium on Women's Human Rights: March 6, 2009
Keri Bennett
Family Responsibilities Discrimination in the Americas: Transformative Potential of the Human Rights Claim.
Abstract
Women’s rights work in Latin America has often focused on significant barriers to safe, accessible reproductive and sexual health care. However some activists are turning to the impact of family responsibilities on women in the workforce as an alternative or complementary means of furthering women’s reproductive rights.
A right to be free from discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities has not yet been fully recognized in international law. The purpose of this project is to establish its validity and explore its efficacy as the foundation for a human rights claim against states, through the rights to work and to non-discrimination.
The paper also considers the potential of this type of claim to serve as a non-coercive instrument, i.e. as an advocacy tool to encourage states to voluntarily enact legislation and policies that will prevent or mitigate direct or indirect discrimination against individuals in the workforce who take on family responsibilities.
Finally, the paper examines the potential of this claim to effect the broader societal transformation called for by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Not only would prevention of discrimination in the workforce on the basis of family responsibilities protect individual women’s rights, it will also further male participation in care giving and potentially support a broader interpretation of “family” which includes same sex couples, so that all individuals who wish to found a family have workplace and social security protections.
The Women’s Human Rights Resources Programme thanks John and Mary Yaremko for generously funding this Symposium
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