30.06.19
UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - In an oral Statement to the council, MMM also called businesses to promote a more equitable sharing of unpaid family care responsibilities and work between women and men, but also between society and families.
Despite existing non-discrimination provisions in the laws of many countries, women continue to experience many forms of discrimination and human rights violations in the context of business-related activities.
The new “gender guidance” elaborated by the Working Group on Business and Human Rights in a report on the gender dimension of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights was the object of a recent discussion at the 41st session of Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva.
MMM seized this opportunity to draw attention to the “motherhood penalty” – i.e. the specific obstacles and discriminations women face in relation to maternity. These include
We are pleased that the proposed gender guidance will tackle some of these specific discriminations faced by mothers and pregnant women. We can only endorse the calls to reduce the gender wage gap, the provisions to support women’s reproductive rights, and the recommendations that businesses enable more work-family balance.
However, in our view, the gender guidance falls short of making recommendations to address the main obstacle to substantive Gender Equality – that is, the inequitable distribution of unpaid family care work.
MMM is calling for more systemic changes. We are calling for businesses and government policies that promote and support a more equal sharing of the essential work of caring, nurturing and educating the next generation – not only between men and women, but also between families and society. In the long term, everyone benefits.
Read the full statement
Just before, the Human Rights Council had heard Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Prime Minister of Iceland, who is a young mother of 3. Iceland is a country which consistently ranks first in many indexes on Gender Equality. It is also the first country which since 2018 puts the responsibility of eliminating the gender pay gap on the employer – not the employee. Yet, Ms. Jakobsdóttir acknowledged that substantive gender equality will only become a reality when the issue of women’s unpaid care work is addressed. A more balanced sharing of unpaid care work between men and women must be promoted. 90% of men now take their 3 months reserved share of parental leave and this has already changed behaviours and traditional ideas around masculinity.
“An underrecognized factor is unpaid care work and domestic work, which is unfairly distributed in households. Addressing the imbalance is important, not only to achieve more substantive equality but also it reinforces a negative chain reaction. Imbalances of responsibilities in the homes have consequences on women’s participation in public life as well as their professional development and their ability to take on full-time work.”
02.07.24
UN New York / HLPF - Register now to join us online at this year’s High Level Political Forum side-event.
13.02.24
UN New York, CSocD62 - MMM's intervention to the Commission on Social Development reiterates that investing in mothers through recognition, education, protection and adequate support is a smart invest
11.03.24
UN New York, CSW68 - Join us for a discussion on changing the narrative in support of mothers - an online parallel event to the 68th UN Commission on the
16.12.24
UN Geneva - The working group on discrimination against women and girls has requested input on care policies and programmes worldwide. In addition to highlighting examples of good laws, policies and practices t
02.12.24
Responding to a call for input for a UN Report, MMM highlights how the early years of the child constitute a crucial period to act and foster peace and tolerance for all, and what needs to be done to support ea
04.11.24
Our Executive Director Afaf Abounouadar was in Geneva recently for the commemoration of the International Day of Care and Support organised by UN Women, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Offic
07.10.24
UN Geneva - As the 57th session of the Human Rights Council (9 September-11 October) wraps up, we take a look back at our contributions in bringing the perspective of mothers to multiple discussions that took p
21.09.24
UN New York, Summit of the Future - At an event on Caring Territories for the Future: Feminist Municipalism for Equality, Climate Action, Democracy and Peace, MMM highlighted the many ways in which local govern
29.07.24
UN New York - Our virtual HLPF side-event brought together experts to shed light on how the various global crises we face (in particular climate change and other environmental crises, the debt crisis, poverty