A/HRC/38/L.1/Rev.1
showing that women have substantially fewer opportunities than men to participate
meaningfully in the economy and in decision-making processes at all levels and areas, to
have control over assets, including land, are more likely to be unemployed or
underemployed, to be paid less for equal work or work of equal value, to be engaged in
precarious work with limited legal and social protections, and that women and girls
undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work,
Stressing the need to promote the right of women to work and their full, equal and
meaningful participation in the economy and in decision-making processes at all levels and
areas, ensuring access to economic resources, including land and natural resources, and
equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, decent paid care and domestic work by
providing social protection and safe work conditions, and to develop and promote policies
that facilitate the reconciliation and equal sharing of work and family responsibilities for
both women and men,
Recognizing that the right to work and just and favourable working conditions, and
the right to non-discrimination and gender equality, combined with the right to sexual and
reproductive health, also requires States to ensure employment with maternity protection
and parental leave for workers, including workers in vulnerable situations, as well as
protection from sexual harassment in the workplace and the prohibition of discrimination
based on pregnancy, childbirth or parenthood,
Expressing profound concern at the backlash against the progress made by States,
international and regional organizations, and civil society, including women’s and
community-based organizations, feminist groups, women human rights defenders, trade
unions and girls’ and youth-led organizations to respect, protect and fulfil all human rights,
and recognizing that these retrogressions can be linked to economic crisis and inequality,
retrogressive lobbies and political or religious interpretations that oppose the struggle for
women’s and girls’ equal rights,
Recognizing the differing needs of girls and women at different ages and stages of
their lives, and the various patterns of discrimination that affect their day-to-day reality,
Recognizing also that discrimination against women and girls is inherently linked to
deep-rooted gender stereotypes, that discriminatory attitudes, behaviours, norms,
perceptions, customs and harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation and child,
early and forced marriage, have direct negative implications for the status and treatment of
women and girls and that gender-biased environments promote impunity and impede the
implementation of legislative and normative frameworks that guarantee gender equality and
prohibit discrimination against women and girls,
Strongly condemning discrimination and gender-based violence against women and
girls in all its forms, in digital contexts and offline, in public and private spaces, including
harassment, sexual and online harassment, domestic violence, including intimate partner
violence, ex-partner violence, stalking and so-called ”honour-based” violence, and
recognizing that they constitute violations or abuses of women’s and girls’ human rights
and are a manifestation of gender inequality and a major impediment to the achievement of
women’s economic empowerment, independence and social and economic development,
imposing short- and long-term costs on society and individuals,
Recognizing the importance of relevant standards of the International Labour
Organization relating to the realization of women’s right to work and rights at work that are
critical for women’s economic empowerment, and welcoming the work undertaken by the
Organization towards the development of a convention and a recommendation on violence
and harassment in the workplace,
Reaffirming that the full enjoyment of all human rights by women and girls includes
their right to have control over and to decide freely and responsibly on matters relating to
their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination
and violence, and that equal relationships in matters of sexual relations and reproduction,
including full respect for the dignity, integrity and bodily autonomy of the person, require
mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behaviour and its
consequences, in accordance with international human rights law,
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