Opening Address
By Susan Halliday, Sex Discrimination Commissioner to the Women's Electoral Lobby Annual Conference, 1999
Human rights occupy a central position in international law and international relations, but we often forget that this is a recent development. International human rights law is only 50 years old.
As Chris Sidoti the Human Rights Commissioner and my colleague at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission commented in Hanoi in 1997:
"People should not have to wait centuries for the development of an effective international system to protect human rights and ensure justice. Human Rights law is now in good shape. The next challenge is to develop effective mechanisms for its implementation and enforcement."1
In countries that lack effective implementation and enforcement of human rights there are some truly remarkable women and men defending the rights of others.
Christina Carrascalao is one such woman. Christina is sheltering 126 refugees at her father's home in Dili, East Timor - she expects to be killed by militia groups, she also expects them to kill those she is currently protecting.
The 126 refugees are living under a makeshift shelter in the backyard, many more are hiding in bushland on the city outskirts.
"I had phone calls two days ago telling me to please get out of my house", she says. "We've heard they're going to attack my house because they know I'm here by myself. (Friends) have asked me to evacuate myself but there's no use. I have 126 people needing me here, in my house."2
Christina is 19 years old; educated at St John's College in Darwin.
What can I say? It is rarely I am lost for words, yet on this occasion I really do not have the language to talk about the extent of Christina's plight, strength and courage in the face of such a shocking reality.
In Australia we have the freedom to promote the human rights of women and while there are many woman who suffer in many different ways in this country, at this point in time I see little that mirror's Christina's circumstance.
Nevertheless I am firmly of the view that as women we have much to offer those around us when we ourselves are focused and strong.
The Sex Discrimination Act (which is effectively my job description) makes sex discrimination against the law, and gives effect to Australia's international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and parts of International Labour Organisation Convention 156.
Australia signed CEDAW in July 1980.
However, the act of signing a convention does not automatically make it law within Australia, it must be incorporated into domestic law via our parliamentary process - which is what we did through the introduction of the federal Sex Disc Act.
But we need to ask ourselves, what good are rights when we cannot require others to respect them, or enforce them.
It is important here to emphasise what rights actually are. Rights are not merely privileges granted by the elected government of the day. They are a fundamental part of being alive. They belong to us as human beings because we were born and they are essential for our survival.
CEDAW states that women have the right:
- to be protected from trafficking and forced prostitution
- to vote in public elections
- to participate in government
- to work and be free to choose their profession
- to be equal with men before the law
- to freely choose a spouse and enter a marriage
- to freely participate in all aspects of social/cultural life
These aren't privileges, granted and taken away according to the political sentiment; they're rights that belong to all women.
Yet in Afghanistan how easily such rights were removed.
The government of Afghanistan signed CEDAW in August 1980. The country then suffered a devastating civil war.
Today, the Taliban effectively govern the country. Reports indicate that they have imposed extremely repressive laws, effectively excluding women from all public life. Women and girls are restricted to their homes, banned from working and banned from education or leaving their homes unaccompanied by a male relative. Women are beaten, tortured and detained for breaking these laws.
I do not take a position on who is the valid government of Afghanistan. What I am saying, is that all governments have a fundamental obligation to adhere to the human rights of women, particularly those that are signatories to CEDAW. This also applies to those governments that support the policies of the Taliban through the supply of weapons and/or political support.
Perhaps a less extreme case - yet one that I find disturbing is the recent judicial ruling in Rome, that a woman cannot be raped if she is wearing jeans. The reason being that she would have had to assist the alleged rapist in removing her jeans and therefore the sex would have had to have been consensual. It was also noted that, since there is nothing worse for a woman than to be raped, the sex must have been consensual as no woman would have allowed herself to be raped - OK so my preference here would be death?
Italy too is a signatory to CEDAW. However, it has a history of rape protection laws that many question. Until as recently as two years ago, a defendant could avoid punishment for a charge of rape by marrying the victim (to remove the shame on her family) or by proving that she had had other sexual experiences.
While new rape laws enacted in 1996 could have done away with such attitudes, only 10 of the 420 judges on the Italian Supreme Court, are women. The male judges who made this ruling can have no understanding of how a victim thinks, how paralysing the fear of rape can be, or any idea of the coercion that may lead to submission without real consent.
The human rights in CEDAW set out to prevent such outcomes, on this occasion failed to do so.
Gender equality and women's rights are a continuing site of struggle, as this news item from Zimbabwe reminds us:
Zimbabwe: Supreme Court Revokes Women's Rights
In "a stunning reversal of fortune for Zimbabwean women in particular and African women in general", Zimbabwe's Supreme Court last month stripped women of almost all the rights they have gained in the past 20 years. In a 5-0 decision, the court "overruled or challenged almost every law relating to women's rights in Zimbabwe" by ruling that Vennia Magaya could not inherit her father's estate, even though Zimbabwean laws and international treaties "clearly backed her claim". The court gave the estate to her half-brother.
The court's decision cited the deep-roots of patriarchy in Africa. The judges said the "nature of African society" relegates women to a lesser status, especially in the home. A woman should not be considered an adult within the family, according to the court, but only as a "junior male".
Justice Simbarashe Muchechetere said the 1982 Majority Age Act which said that women over 18 could not be treated as minors, had been interpreted "too widely" and had given women "rights they never had under customary law".
Noted Zimbabwean legal scholar Welshman Ncube: "Basically, there's nothing left of the gains women's rights have made in the past 20 years. It's a full-bench decision by the Supreme Court. There is no appeal. They meant to settle this question once and for all."3
In a number of countries the birth of a girl-child still equates to misfortune, that's assuming she is allowed to live.
And that it was only very recently that rape was officially recognised as a war crime.
An image that plagues me is that as a result of the 1994 Rwandan massacres a Ugandan farmer hired to fish out bodies floating down Lake Victoria, retrieved a woman who had five small children tied to her body - one to each limb and one to her back - no other wounds - they had been thrown in to drown.
There is an important message here - and the message is that while women have had an extensive set of human rights documented, their enforcement can be weak and fickle.
While the Taliban are unlikely to ever rule Australia - we have witnessed over recent years Australian politicians calling for the abolition of laws that prevent an employer from discriminating on the basis of gender in recruitment.
More recently, the Queensland Young Liberals made public their intention to debate whether women breastfeeding in non-designated public areas should be given on the spot fines.
Both of these policies are blatant breaches of CEDAW.
Then there was an interesting letter in the Canberra Times late last year:
Feminism to blame for child abuse
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare announced 31,707 cases of child abuse - a 6% increase.Arnold Jago of Mildura wrote
"should we be surprised? In a society where parents can legally have their unborn baby killed, its no surprise when born children get treated in a brutal fashion too. Our feminist pro-abortion brigade are the ones to thank for the bashed child epidemic."
Sexual harassment is alive and well
And then of course there's the regular stream of complaints that cross my desk, blatant, raw and revolting; animals are treated better than some of the young woman who formalise complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act.
A sexual harassment free workplace is a right - not a privilege.
Many of the victims of sexual harassment are young woman as you will note if you read through Harsh Realities, the publication I launched on International Women's Day this year.
Working with our youth
By choice I often take the opportunity to work with young woman - the majority of whom it seems are still of the view that they will be supported later in life by someone else - my career mapping exercises with young girls also demonstrate that most conclude their mental career maps at age 35, unlike their male counterparts.
As yet they do not think of themselves as viable independent economic units - this will have repercussions for many future generations.
I often ask myself what it is I can do for these girls.
I have decided to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sex Discrimination Act with a Year 9 opportunity to compile a written piece about the Act. At the Commission, the Race Discrimination Commissioner and I are also starting to work on curriculum material and a video covering sex / race issues for senior students.
I talk to parents and educators - some of the parents scare me - many of them my age - some older, others younger - but generally conservative. While they recognise many young women will support themselves few are willing to take on board it may be their daughters. Especially fathers. Others make it clear that if they had their choice their daughter would not end up like me.
Women more so today than ever before pursue progress as individuals rather than in groups. We must recognise and respect their choice.
I am inspired and encouraged the remarkable words of young Australian girls featured in Girls Talk4 - this is a true insight to our future generations of young women.
- 14 year old said
some men still take advantage of women in awful ways ....women have to understand that it is not their fault.
- 16 year old said
Choices have to become less about gender rules or the set of genitals you have and much more about individual need and desires.
- 12 year old said
In computer games its always the boyfriend who has to rescue his girlfriend from the baddies - this makes it look like women are weak and always need men to save them...
I believe this young girl's point was nothing other than I can save myself thank you very much!
Another young woman wrote:
"The feminine hygiene ads on TV and in Dolly hid the real issues of menstruation behind flowery pink packaging and girls frolicking on the beach....these images had nothing to do with our periods....I remember lying on the bed in pain, clutching a hot water-bottle and thinking I was trapped. I was going to be menstruating for a quarter of every year until I was 45 or so and there was nothing I could do about it."
We live in conservative times
I reflect on a recent article by Emma McDonald discussing Marion Sawer's perception of the political landscape and the Angry White Man - I agree that anti-feminism sentiment has hit mainstream politics - in fact I think that's a very polite way of describing what's happened.
We must be strategic how we manage this within Australia and globally.
The national pregnancy inquiry, granted by the federal Attorney-General in August last year was the first to be granted to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission under the Coalition Government.
The pregnancy inquiry aims to look at the reasons why people are confused about pregnancy and work legislative requirements, the level of discrimination and how best to increase awareness and compliance with the Sex Discrimination Act.
My effort is well spent on education campaigns that publicise breaches of women's human rights and the Sex Discrimination Act. While I work quietly with those pushing the boundaries - these people will continue on, with or without me.
In the current climate my time is best spent rounding up those who have little understanding of the first principles of equality, challenging those who are ignorant of human rights and exposing those who don't care. For now, appropriate strategies are 'Consolidation' and 'education'.
Endnotes
1 Chris
Sidoti "Introducing human rights law" Hanoi, Vietnam, 2 May 1997.
2 Paul Toohey "Teen Samaritan sees death in long grass"
The Australian, 10-11 April 1999.
3 Houston Chronicle "Zimbabwe: Supreme Court revokes women's
rights", 14 April 1999.
4 Compiled and edited by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Finch Publishing,
Sydney, 1998.
