A/HRC/33/49 These will only be effective if women are systematically provided with opportunities for meaningful participation, decision-making and access to and control of resources. II. Gender equality in laws and policies 7. Non-discrimination and equality are interlinked and are fundamental principles of international human rights law. Lack of access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene and the inability to participate in their management have in many instances, on a structural basis, left many rights out of women and girls’ reach. Laws serve to give individuals a legal claim, may create social expectations and may spur public action. Legal guarantees on gender equality and non-discrimination can help to build political legitimacy to back the enforcement of women’s and girls’ rights to access to water, sanitation and hygiene. 8. Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities between genders taking into consideration the different interests, needs and priorities and recognizing the diversity of different groups of women and men.1 Gender equality means that everyone must be able to enjoy the rights to water and sanitation equally. In order to attain substantive equality, therefore, it is necessary to address the specific gendered circumstances that act as barriers to the realization of those rights for women and girls in practice. States must assess existing legislation, policies and strategies, and find out to what extent the enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation between men and women are equally guaranteed. On the basis of that review, remedies should be provided and genderresponsive strategies should be developed that guide policymaking and the corresponding allocation of budgets. Temporary affirmative measures will in many cases be necessary. 9. Many legal constituencies, however, have laws in place that hinder the equal enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation. In many countries, land ownership, which is a precondition for gaining access to water, is often denied to women by family laws that also make it difficult for women to inherit land. Some countries criminalize open defecation while at the same time closing down public sanitation facilities. 2 Public urination and defecation is often criminalized and laws that aim to keep cities clean may discriminate against homeless persons who have no other option but to relieve themselves in the open. Among them are many women and girls in desperate need of an adequate facility that offers privacy. Some States allow individuals to use toilets in a manner consistent with that person’s chosen gender identity while other States oblige persons to use only those toilets that correspond with the biological sex listed on their birth certificate.3 Restrictive gender recognition laws not only severely undermine transgender peoples’ ability to enjoy their rights to basic services, it also prevents them from living safely, free from violence and discrimination. Water and sanitation facilities must be safe, available, accessible, affordable, socially and culturally acceptable, provide privacy and ensure dignity for all individuals, including those who are transgender and gender non-conforming. 10. Under international human rights law, States have the obligation to identify and rectify all laws that have direct or indirect discriminatory consequences on the enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation. The legal framework should contain provisions on non-discrimination and equality in access to water and sanitation. Such laws should aim to 1 2 3 4 Mayra Gómez and Inga Winkler, “Gender equality, water governance and food security with a focus on the Near East and North Africa”, final draft (2015), p. 4. On file with the author. See A/HRC/27/55, paras. 19 and 22. See, for example, bill S. 1203, introduced to the Senate of South Carolina, United States of America, on 6 April 2016.