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Beaconhouse Margalla Campus, Faiz Ahmad Faiz Road, H-8/4, H-8,

Islamabad Capital Territory
 Study guide-CSW
BMUN’23

Introduction to the committee:

United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is the principal global
intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender
equality and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established by ECOSOC
resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s
rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping
global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. The
Commission adopts multi-year programs of work to appraise progress and make
further recommendations to accelerate the implementation of the Platform for
Action. These recommendations take the form of negotiated agreed conclusions
on a priority theme. The Commission also contributes to the follow-up to the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development so as to accelerate the realisation of
gender equality and the empowerment of women. Forty-five Member States of
the United Nations serve as members of the Commission at any one time. The
Commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 Member States
elected by the Economic and Social Council on the basis of equitable
geographical distribution:13 members from Africa, 11 from Asia, nine from
Latin America and Caribbean, eight from Western Europe and other States, four
from Eastern Europe. The members are elected for a period of four years.

Definitions
Third World Countries:
The term Third World is used to identify the countries with substandard, underdeveloped, or
underperforming conditions in certain fields, which are in great need of development.

Poverty:
The state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or
material possessions. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy
their basic needs.
Discrimination against Women: Any distinction, exclusion or restriction
made on the basis of sex and gender that has the effect or purpose of impairing
or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of
their marital status, and on a basis of equality between women and men, of
human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural, civil or any other field.

Introduction to the Topic:

Third world countries already have employment issues which makes it even
harder for the women in comparison as well as generally. This brings a number
of other barriers in developing countries regarding the security of women. The
pay gap exists since for ever makes it even worse in third world countries due
to existing low average pay. Women are also kept from education in such
countries which leaves labour as the option for women further discouraging
them by capturing most blue and white collar jobs by men and providing the
harsh work environment which they can’t survive. Coming in another huge
problems with primitive mind sets is mainly in Sub continent where majority
women who get higher education is solely for the motive to get married into
high class family further more damaging women employment ratio.
Although there has been a significant change and a lot of improvement since the
media and world has played a part in their improvement but they are yet
neglected as they don't exist.
The increased participation of women in economic activities of developing
countries has been neglected, although they often work longer hours than men.
In Africa, Asia, and the Pacific women average 12-13 hours more a week than
men. They are often heads of households as male partners become ill, migrate,
or die. The work is mostly in the household with other subsistence activities
that statistics do not count. The UN Statistical Office estimated that the
percentage of economically active women increased between 1970 and 1990 in
the whole world except for sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the gap between female and
male employment in the developing world stays wide because of fewer
educational opportunities and social restrictions affecting women. 1/2 of the
70% of 830 million economically active women living in developing countries
are in Asia. 3 of 4 women aged over 25 in Asia and Africa are illiterate. In Latin
America and the Caribbean less than 25% of women are illiterate. Female
illiteracy reaches
over 75% in northern Africa and western Asia, almost 75% in sub-Saharan
Africa, under 50% in eastern and south eastern Asia, and 75% in southern Asia.
There is a wide gap between urban and rural illiteracy of women aged 15-24. In
Africa over 40% of urban women were illiterate vs. nearly 80% of rural women
in 1980. Enrollment in secondary schools in 1985 indicated that while in
developed countries about equal number of girls were enrolled per 100 boys, in
northern Africa only 70 girls, in sub-Saharan Africa only 60 girls, in eastern
Asia 90 girls, and in southern Asia only about 40 girls were enrolled. In Africa
under 20% of women vs. 80% of men in northern Africa, were active in the
official economy, while in sub-Saharan Africa 40% of women vs. 90% of men,
in Latin America nearly 40% of women vs. 80% of men, and in southern Asia
in a little over 20% of women vs. over 80% of men.

Education for Women:

The question is how far do girls go in school, compared with boys, and what do
they study. Attention is directed to the following: participation versus access;
literacy and primary schooling across the generations; enrollment rates and
wastage around the world (overview of enrollment rates, wastage and
promotion and retardation, early marriage and schooling, ambiguities of
coeducation, women's schooling in Muslim and in Latin American countries);
intra country variations in schooling of girls (spatial diffusions of schooling, sex
and social selection for schooling, and the assessment of progress). The
availability of educational options does not ensure their utilisation, and in the
less developed countries (LDCs) this distinction between provision and
utilization is basic for policy. Whether schooling of a daughter is considered
valuable will be influenced by perceptions of the effects of schooling on jobs,
on acquisition of a "better" husband, on quality of domestic life, on the
daughter's personality development, and on the well-being of her children. How
girls perform in school compared with boys is affected by the same factors
determining initial access. The situation regarding differences in literacy and
primary schooling between men and women is presented in tables to illustrate 4
distinctive patterns of change. Sex differentials in schooling among children 6-
11 are negligible in European countries and in Latin America, although the rates
in Latin America are lower. In these regions only small differentials occur for
ages 12-17, and sex contrasts continue to be moderate at ages 18-23. In the 3rd
world the situation is different. In Asian countries (excluding Japan), the rates
for 6 -11 year olds are 71 and 50%, respectively, and for Africa 59 and 43%; at
ages 12-17, in Asia 83
and 22%, and in Africa 39 and 24%. Everywhere outside the most developed
regions intercountry variations in enrollment rates are very large for both sexes,
as are disparities in those rates. A country can rank quite differently at each
level of school for the proportion of girls, and countries vary greatly in female
shares of pupils. In countries where girls are married at ages 15-19, their
enrollments at those ages are lower, but there is no simple trade-off between
marriage and schooling. It appears that there are common causes for both early
marriage and low school attendance. In all aspects of girls' schooling, the
availability of women teachers is salient as both an instrument and a product.
The proportion of girls who are in school can vary more among provinces than
among countries taken as a whole. The factors affecting educational
opportunities are numerous and cross cutting. Possibly the firmest
generalisation regarding social selectivity in the education of girls is that
socioeconomic status of parents has more influence on the schooling of girls
than of boys. This influence frequently is greater in rural localities or among
disadvantaged ethnic groups than it is in favoured segments of the population.
Prohibit and logit models are becoming widely used in many different kinds of
studies of educational participation.
In a global survey in 2005, the United Nations estimated the number of
homeless individuals worldwide to be over 100 million. Surveys struggle to
account for homeless populations living in slums, camps or other transitional
forms of shelter — the “hidden homeless”.

Causes:
1- Gender-based discrimination:
Gender based discrimination has long kept women and girls subordinate to men in
the workplace, in politics and at home. In some countries such discrimination
persists in the law—legally barring women, for example, from certain professions—
while in others economic barriers like the gender pay gap prevent women from
experiencing full equality. Ending gender-based discrimination will require laws
and frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality across all areas
of life. Justice, equity and inclusion are basic human rights which everyone
deserves.
In situations of social and economic instability, social protections provide a
crucial safety net for those most affected. But before the pandemic, only
26.5% of the world’s women enjoyed comprehensive social protection by
law (as compared to 34.3% of men). This has left women with little to fall
back on in the face of illness, job loss, and increased care and domestic
burdens.
Girls in poverty are 4 times more likely to experience violence than boys
although women are an important and an equal contributor to the success and
active contribution the society can make to human progress and development.
This also transcends into the idea that gender equality is not a privilege that
we need to create or achieve, it is in fact a basic human right that we need to
give to women.
Around the world, finding a job is much tougher for women than it is for men.
When women are employed, they tend to work in low-quality jobs in vulnerable
conditions, and there is little improvement forecast in the near future.
2- Mindsets and stereotypes:
Women are not accepted in leading roles in professions in workplaces but still
the importance given to women in workplaces are only in roles that are
secondary to men.

Consequences/ Effects:
Limitations on women's legal capacity weaken their decision making hence they
face difficulty in travelling alone or making or deciding independently on what
they have to do.

Legal barriers that affect a woman's ability to work including gender based job
restrictions and the lack of workplace protections, inhibit her job prospects
earning potential career growth and ability to balance work and family.

Violence against Women can undermine women’s careers, ability to work and
access to financial resources.

Wage Gap:
Many different factors determine the wage gap including different structural factors that
determine a woman’s decision to work in Pakistan like occupational segregation. Women are
generally concentrated in a smaller number of and specific occupations than men, and these
occupations usually pay lower wages. Higher paying jobs require longer working hours
which are frequently incompatible with the responsibilities of many women tending to work
and people at home, a reality that persists around the world.
On average though, men earn 71 per cent more than women controlling for other factors.
Low paid jobs have higher gender pay inequalities.

Reports on Women Discrimination:

A number of international organizations have faced high profile allegations of
sexual abuse perpetrated by staff and contractors in several instances during
emergency crisis response activities.

In a 2018 report on sexual abuse and exploitation in aid, the UK government

cited that sexual abuse is “endemic in aid organizations”. It is clear that sexual
violence needs to be addressed in development work, both within development
institutions and in their operations in the field.

In many developing countries, a culture of impunity for sexual violence exists due
to a combination of factors such as weak legal protection, limited welfare and
social protection systems, lack of basic services, and prevailing patriarchy. This
inhibits women’s participation, voice, trust and confidence in reporting incidences
of sexual violence.

Within this scenario, large infrastructure projects financed by development

organizations often bring disruption and changes to the fabric of communities from
an influx of workers - both foreign and from other regions of the country - which
increase the risks of sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment for women
and girls in project communities.

Several studies have found that development projects with infrastructure

components and large labour influx, can negatively impact host communities by
creating a situation in which incoming workers have greater power than vulnerable
community members, creating disruption to established social and economic
relations, causing stress, and potentially increasing risks of sexual violence,
especially if the community is rural, small, or remote.

The negative impact is exacerbated if local institutions are weak and unable to
effectively protect women and girls, if there is a high level of poverty in the host
community, and if gender inequality is rife both within households and
communities.

These studies further confirm that risks of large infrastructure works stem not
simply from the influx of male workers, but also through compounding of pre-
existing gender inequalities in the dynamics of power and influence in local
communities and worker camps. It is therefore imperative to take into account all
these factors when we design infrastructure development projects.

Laws and legislations:

Governments around the world are beginning to understand the cost
of inequality for women in the workplace, and to take action.
Between 2015 and 2017, over 110 countries and territories carried
out more than 180 reforms that improved women’s economic
opportunities. Governments should also do more to implement
existing laws and policies that provide for women’s equality.

CEDAW: Convention on the elimination of all forms of

discrimination against women:
The Convention defines discrimination against women as "...any
distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which
has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition,
enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital
status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights
and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural, civil or any other field. 3-16th amendment: The UN-
appointed panel drew specific attention to article 16, which
“protects women’s rights to decide freely and responsibly on the
number and spacing of their children”, adding that unsafe abortion
is a leading cause of maternal mortality. ICERD: International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination:
Its entry into force was 4th January 1969, in accordance with
Article 19. This Convention promotes the respect and observance of
equal rights for all regardless of race, colour or origin.
UDHR: Universal declaration of Human Rights:
The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General
Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly
resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all
peoples and all nations.
Religious aspect:
Stories abound of gender-based violence done in the name of religion. As a result, in many
cases, the issues of religion and gender parity are often dismissed as too complicated to
address. There appears to be no way to unwind this rather complex multi-institution.

However, a critical factor overlooked in this conversation is religious freedom. Unless there
is religious freedom, minority groups, including women, will not be at the table and their
vital, productive and creative voices will not be heard. Corporations and economies will
suffer if they miss out on the contribution of women.

The denial of religious freedom contributes to gender inequality throughout the world.
Extremist ideologies such as ISIS represent the complete loss of religious freedom, and when
respect for a diversity of religious beliefs and practices disappears, gender equality suffers.

Case study:
India:
A majority of both men and women believe that men should be treated preferentially when
there are few jobs. Perceived discrimination against women varies by geography, but,
overall, less than a quarter of men and women say there is “a lot of discrimination against
women. ”Three-quarters of those surveyed say violence against women is a “very big
problem.”

Traditionally, women have been expected to care for children and the home while the
husband works. Paid employment outside the home is looked down upon, and social norms
keep many women from seeking to be anything other than a devout wife and mother.

Though the POSH Act was passed in 2013 to protect women at work, many still face
harassment and sexual assault.

There is a gender population gap that starts at birth due to a cultural preference for sons. For
every 100 boys born nationally, 91 girls are born.

Pakistan:

At 22%, Pakistan has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in
South Asia. The emerging reasons behind this low rate are a lack of access to safe
transport, social norms, and household responsibilities that prevent women from
having the time to work. However, one area which has received less attention is the
job search process itself. We discuss the differences in job search methods across
women and men, and what this reveals about the barriers that women in the labour
market face.

Women and men in Pakistan who are interested in working search for jobs at
different rates and using different methods. For instance, men are more likely than
women to search for jobs; indeed, 41% of men looked for jobs using any search
method, compared to only 29% of women. Further, men were also more likely to
look for jobs within each job search method.

Pakistan presently ranks among the worst countries in the world in terms of gender
parity, only performing better than Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan. According to the
“Global Gender Gap Report 2021” published by the World Economic Forum (WEF),
Pakistan ranked 153rd out of 156 countries on the gender parity index. Pakistan also
ranked 7th among eight countries in South Asia.

Middle East: MENA region

Currently, just 19 percent of MENA’s labour force is female, the lowest

worldwide. Despite plans and policies to address the gender gap in employment,
women remain side lined at work, which is hurting families and suppressing
gross domestic product growth across the region.

While the situation is not uniform in all Arab countries, the reasons that keep
women out of the labour force are endemic.

It is not that women are not eager to work outside the home, but legal
discrimination, social norms, the burden of childcare, low wages,
harassment, gender-related biases in hiring and a dearth of safe transportation
options are among the many barriers hindering employment ambitions.

Although the region’s women are better-educated than ever, educational attainment
has not translated into an increase in jobs. In fact, the unemployment rate among
young women in Arab countries is 42.5 percent, nearly double that of young men
(21.4 percent) and almost three times the global average of 14.9 percent.

In conflict-riddled countries like Yemen and Iraq, female labour force participation
is the lowest in the region — 6 percent and 11 percent, respectively. But even in
Jordan, a country not at war, only 13 percent of women work outside the home,
according to the World Bank.
Questions A Resolution Must Answer: QARMA

1- Why are women facing discrimination in workplaces?

1- Are women getting workplace inclusion in third world

countries? 2- How is poverty linked to gender discrimination?

3- What causes a lower percentage of women in work places than men in

third world countries?

4- What legislation should exist to support women in getting jobs?

5- What are the economic and political sanctions that countries can put on
other countries where women are not getting workplace inclusion?

6- What are the effects on an economy if women are not getting

workplace inclusion?

7- What are governments and international organisations doing for women's

rights and to eradicate poverty, including women in jobs and workplaces?

8- What is the role of trade organisations in women getting workplace inclusion?