Durakta benim gibi bekleyen bir kadın ve bir adam... İkisinin de gözleri bir ara çantamdaki LGBT+ stickerlarına takılıyor. Biraz beni süzüyorlar. Beklemekten sıkılmışlar. Adam, kadının çantasından sigara çıkartıyor. Tam sigarayı yaktıklarında Murphy devreye giriyor, bekledikleri otobüs geliyor. Adam sigarayı yere atıp şöyle belli belirsiz üzerine basıyor. Otobüse binip gidiyorlar, gülümsüyorum.
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21 Haziran 2019 Cuma
25 Mayıs 2019 Cumartesi
WOMEN’S RIGHTS = HUMAN RIGHTS
Why we need rights for women?
Human rights
should have been natal for everyone already. According to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.”[1] But it is really hard to say that people who
born free and equal are living equal.
It is quite
weird to say that women still trying to be equal with men in that age. But this
is unfortunately true. Every gender is
still struggling at least to be equal with men. The human mentioned by laws
actually is white, heterosexual, cisgender, sovereign men in power relations. Because
the rules, the system, the law have been constituted by these men and even
every human –regardless their genders- are equal on paper we know that some of
them are more equal than others.
The laws are not
always implemented as required. One of the differences between men and women is
women have unfair conditions only because they are women. Women still
fighting for their rights which like; get paid the same amounts with men,
protection from male violence or harassment, making their own decisions about
their own bodies, accessing good child-care services, etc. We also know a lot
of girls forced to marry at their early ages, a lot of girls who are not
allowed to go to school, women have to be careful what to wear, women have to
be careful which time to go out, women killed by their male partners, women
raped by men… all around the world.
Examples are
endless if we are talking about gender equality. Patriarchy is still successful
in maintenance it’s effects almost in every society. That’s why we need rights, especially for
women.
Historical Process
In 1789 “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen”[2]
set by France's National Constituent Assembly. That was a human civil rights
document from the French Revolution. When we consider this declaration we can
say if you are not a citizen you don’t have the rights but also as the name
suggests the citizens were only men. This declaration shows that if you don’t
have the political rights you may not even
have the basic human rights. For this reason, French activist, feminist,
and playwright Olympe de Gouges published another declaration in 1791: Declaration of the Rights of Woman[3]. But instead of bringing gender equality,
Gouges accused as treason because of this declaration. She was guillotined in
Paris on the 3rd of November 1793. But this declaration influenced the revolution
activists about feminism. “One year after its publication, in 1792, the keen
observer of the French Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft published Vindication of
the Rights of Woman.”[4] Women started to struggle for speaking more.
Although men talk about equality and social
change, women who are half of society are ignored. But feminist activists
continued to demand equal treatment from everyone. Feminists’ demands were
clear and powerful but they weren’t taken into consideration on time. Women had
to demand their rights especially like education for republic's
"goodness". Because mothers should raise their sons as a good citizen
and the sons would have joined the existence of the republic.
Women's struggle
for political and social equality continued in the 19th and 20th centuries. On
the other hand, women’s rights were assumed as they considered within general
human rights. This further delayed the resolution of women's problems. But in
1970s feminist movement started being more common and people started being more
sensitive about women rights. As a result of this, the United Nations submitted
CEDAW to member countries’ signs in
1979. Cedaw; The Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women[5]
described as an international bill of rights for women. Although over fifty countries have signed the
convention they didn’t accept some articles in it. But through this convention,
it accepted that present human rights are not contained women’s issues. And the
concept of “human rights of women” began to take place in international legal
documents more and more. This convention is one of the eight basic human rights
conventions in the United Nations now. The number of states parties to the
convention is 189 as of 2015.
The other
important development for women rights’ recognition was The World Conference on Human Rights in 1993. This conference held
by the United Nations in Vienna. It was the first human rights conference held
since the end of the Cold War. “The conference did have an expansive view of
human rights, with efforts made to highlight women's rights, indigenous
peoples' rights, minority rights, and more in the context of universal
political and economic rights. Women's rights, in particular, gained a strong
and effective presence at the conference.” [6]
The action program of Vienna recommended some reviews about unadmitted topics
of the 1979 Convention. The Vienna Conference responded to the demands of
women’s. It noted that governments and the UN have to ensure that women
enjoyment fully and equally of all human rights.
In 2011 an agreement was signed about violence against women in Istanbul: The Council of Europe Convention on
preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also
known as the Istanbul Convention).
It was the first legally-binding agreement about violence against women and is
focused on preventing domestic violence, protecting victims and prosecuting
accused offenders. Turkey was the first country to sign and ratify to the
convention in the following 33 signatory countries. The Convention came into
force on 1 August 2014.
In the
agreement, it was underlined that the main reason for the violence is
inequality between women and men. Gender and gender-based violence also were
defined in the convention. It aimed at the prevention of violence, protection
of women from violence and to end the impunity of perpetrators. “Gender: the socially constructed roles,
behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers
appropriate for women and men. Gender-based violence against women: means
"violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that
affects women disproportionately."”[7]
Conclusion
These are important gains; however, violence
against women and inequality is still didn’t last all around the world. Women's
rights should recognize as human rights to stop gender infringement and
discrimination at first. Violence against women is a violation of human rights.
Violence may happen everywhere but the horrible thing is it happens mostly in
the family which should be the safest place for women. Domestic violence is one
of the most harmful things for women. Violence can happen in plenty of ways like
verbal, physical, mental, economic, sexual, and social. The violence against
women and the equality of genders are interrelated. We have to see and we have
to solve these problems as an inseparable whole. Women also must take roles in
positions as decision-makers more, not only as an exerciser. For this aim,
women have to act with solidarity, they have to support each other in daily
life and also organizationally. They
have to build a sisterhood like human right’s “brotherhood”. They have to
resist against all kind of violence and all kind of domination. This is not a
new struggle, it started with religions that say women are secondary and
sinner. It continued with witch hunts which killing women who are trying to
help for abortion and health care to other women. Women struggled for gaining
citizenship and also gaining the right to vote for many years. They killed by
men and sovereigns. Women believed that they are not able to do the same things
with men. They accepted to being in their kitchens and taking care of children
on their own. They believed that they have to be beautiful to impress men; they
converted dolls which they played during their childhood. They learned what
they shouldn’t do, not what they can do. Men always explain everything to women.
And women continued practicing and teaching the men thoughts to other
women.
There is a massive shame on the men and on
the history of women’s existence. Feminism is the most important way to stop
all these irrationalities. And governments have to stop pursuing political and
cultural attacks on women. Governments should bring permanent measures and
solutions to violence against women. The rights for protection and supporting
to women should have more sanction power. Women shouldn’t wait for it from men;
they should take more responsibilities and more roles in governments and
laws. Struggling for women should go on
everywhere until the genders lose their meaning in societies. We should destroy
the rules of all genders for real equality. “One is not born but rather
becomes, a woman.”
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