Business, Women’s and Children’s Rights
Event Background Note
8 November 2012
Introduction: Why a focus on women and children’s human rights issues?
Women’s and children’s human rights are central to the promotion and protection mandates of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and to the implementation and operationalization of the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In the last two years alone, the United Nations has supported multi-stakeholder initiatives to develop the Women’s Empowerment Principles[1]and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles[2]. These principles describe the policies, commitments and due diligence that businesses should adopt in order to respect women’s and children’s rights.
Early engagement of NHRIs on business, women and children’s human rights issues demonstrates their ability to be proactive actors within the field of business and human rights. Engagement on these themes also provides an opportunity for collaboration and partnerships with important international and regional agencies and mechanisms, businesses, civil society organizations and others on issues of shared concern.
This side-event has been organized in direct support of the theme of the 11th International Conference of NHRIs, “Rights of Women and Girls and Gender Equality”. Its fundamental cross-cutting themes for business and human rights, namely “business and women’s rights” and “business and children’s rights” have relevance to all NHRIs as they seek to refine their mandates in business and human rights further to the 2010 Edinburgh Declaration. The themes directly address a number of the issues of the “most widespread concern amongst respondents and across regions identified in the NHRI baseline assessment - discrimination, workers’ rights and child labour.
The side event backgrounder and programme are accompanied by a fact sheet that provides an overview of the international legal standards related to business, women’s and children’s human rights, as well as the potential roles of NHRIs to promote and protect these rights.
For the purpose of stimulating discussion at the side event, this backgrounder will focus on the following two sub-themes:
- Sub-theme one: Health and safety of women and children in relation to business
- Sub-theme two: Promoting women’s and children’s human rights through education, training and community initiatives.
Sub-Theme One: Health and safety of women and children in relation to business
Health and safety are critical issues in every workplace. They also are areas where businesses should have direct control over the impacts of their operations. Beyond the general concern for well-being and physical safety for all workers, women and the estimated 218 million boys and girls who work as child labourers[3] may be more vulnerable to certain types of health and safety risks. 126 million of these children alone are engaged in hazardous work[4]. Certain industries may have a higher proportion of women or children in the workforce—often with poor safety standards, inadequate nourishment or protective equipment, and lax enforcement. Chemical processes and hazardous materials for instance may pose significant risks to maternal health, requiring additional protective equipment or flexibility when women are pregnant and are breastfeeding. Additional restrictions on the minimum age of work are sometimes imposed to protect young workers from jobs and functions that endanger their health and well-being.
Another important aspect of protecting the health and safety of women and children in the workplace relates to freedom from discrimination, harassment, and violence. Unfortunately, women and children are more vulnerable to psychological and sexual abuse and exploitation. Not only are zero-tolerance policies required, but training and effective complaints mechanisms are needed to ensure that discrimination, harassment, and violence are appropriately addressed.
Health and safety issues also illustrate the importance of taking a broad view of business enterprises that includes supply chains and security contractors. Due diligence is required to ensure that suppliers and security forces have a shared commitment to a company’s health and safety standards and that the appropriate leverage is used to address risks to women and children’s human rights of various business partners.
Sample questions for discussion include:
- What industries in your country have a better reputation for ensuring the health and safety of women and children? What industries have a poor reputation?
- What other agencies have a mandate to monitor and address health and safety issues with respect to business operations? Do they collaborate with the NHRI for investigations, complaints or educational activities?
- What are the cultural, economic or legal barriers for women and children to raise issues and have access to remedies when their health and safety is jeopardized?
- What partnerships and joint activities can NHRIs support to promote the health and safety of women and children in the workplace?
Sub-Theme Two: Promoting women and children’s human rights through education, training and community initiatives
Education and training are the foundation for successful employment and advancement in the workforce. The State has the primary obligation to ensure that children have access to the basic education needed to become productive members of the workforce—and that girls have equal educational opportunities as boys do.
Businesses also can contribute to the right to education through on-the-job training for workers and community development initiatives that support schools, scholarships and internships in the broader community. The corporate responsibility to respect human rights means that companies must have policies and due diligence measures to ensure they prevent and remediate negative impacts on women’s and children’s rights; however, education and training is an area where businesses can have significant positive impacts on the right to education, the right to work and to non-discrimination.
With respect to women’s human rights, there often are significant barriers to advancement in the workforce that derive from or translate into discriminatory practices and inequities in pay and other benefits. Concerted efforts by employers to provide support and training to female employees and appropriate gender-sensitive policies and practices can help overcome these barriers to create a gender and human rights-sensitive working environment.
With respect to children’s rights, there is a strong correlation between the prohibition against child labour and the right to education. Children who have to work below the minimum age will not likely finish their primary or secondary schooling and may face a diminished future earning capacity[5]. At another level, however, efforts to combat child labour must be balanced with the negative impacts on families that depend on working children. This dilemma points to the need for broader efforts at the community, national and international levels to address the root causes of child labour. For instance, there is a need to support men and women by having better employment opportunities in the formal sector, with adequate wages and benefits, so that they can support their children below the minimum working age.
Sample questions for discussion include:
- Is child labour a concern in your country? In what industries is child labour a concern? What are the cultural or economic barriers to combatting child labour and ensuring that children have sufficient education to get decent jobs?
- What are constructive examples of businesses contributing to community-level initiatives to support the right to education? Does the government also participate in these initiatives? Are they sustainable or are they of a short-term duration?
- What partnerships and initiatives can NHRIs support with respect to enhancing education and training for women and children, with a view to increasing their equal opportunities for work and advancement?
- What strategies are used to promote education, training and advancement of women in the workplace? Does your NHRI have a mandate to address issues related to employment equity?
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[1]See for instance:
[2] See for instance:
[3]Source: UNICEF
[4]
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