This report demonstrates that where laws and justice systems work well, they can provide an essential mechanism for women to realise their human rights. However, it also underscores the fact that, despite widespread guarantees of equality, the reality for many millions of women is that justice remains out of reach.
The report highlights the practical barriers that women face in negotiating justice systems and the innovative approaches that governments and civil society are pioneering to overcome them. It explores the ways in which women are reconciling guarantees of their rights with the realities of living within plural legal systems. It also discusses the severe challenges that women face in accessing justice in the aftermath of conflict, as well as the enormous opportunities for change that can emerge in these most difficult times. It was compiled through desk-based research based on background papers, case studies and research notes.
Part I of the report addresses how justice systems can be made to work for women. It shows how legal reform is changing the landscape for women’s rights in all regions. It showcases the initiatives of governments and civil society to transform justice systems and create new models to meet women’s rights. It also highlights how women—as legislators, as lawyers and judges, as paralegals and community activists—are at the forefront of this transformation.
Part II of the report analyses advances towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from a gender perspective. It makes the case for a stronger focus on gender equality across all the MDGs as an integral part of progress overall and as an essential foundation for women’s access to justice.
Key Findings:
- Some of the main routes to reform include strategic litigation, women’s campaigns for legal reform and the efforts of women legislators. In several countries, steep increases in women’s representation in parliament have been accompanied by wide-ranging legal reforms that have advanced women’s rights.
- Making justice systems responsive to women requires changes in the mandates, procedures and organisational cultures of the police, the courts and other service providers. Because of the particular barriers that women face, specialised, tailored and integrated services are needed. Women must also be aware of their rights and have the knowledge required to navigate the justice chain.
- Governments are responsible to address barriers to justice posed by the existence of plural legal systems. There are many examples where governments are working with civil society to implement successful interventions in legally plural contexts to increase women’s access to justice. These programmes include training of paralegals to help women to navigate justice systems; initiating dialogues on women’s rights with customary leaders; and supporting women’s engagement with indigenous courts.
- In post-conflict contexts, women often prioritise both reparative and retributive justice, so support for livelihoods, health care and education is needed alongside prosecutions of perpetrators of human rights abuses. The aftermath of conflict has often proved to be an important opportunity to ‘rewrite the rules’ as the State is rebuilt, ushering in progressive new constitutions and legal reform.
Recommendations:
- Governments should implement a 3-part reform agenda, aimed at: ending explicit discrimination against women; extending the protection of the rule of law to the private domain; and taking responsibility for the law’s impact on women.
- Ensuring that women are present in justice services can help to enhance accountability and create a system that is responsive to women. Reporting of sexual assault increases if there are women in the police, pointing to the need to ensure that women are part of front line justice service delivery.
- Addressing underlying gender inequalities through comprehensive reparations—ensuring women’s voices are heard in truth commissions and harnessing the post-conflict moment to fundamentally reshape society in more gender equitable ways—holds the as yet unfulfilled promise of transformational change in women’s lives.
The report concludes with ten recommendations on how to make justice systems work for women:
1. Support women’s legal organisations.
2. Support one-stop shops and specialised services to reduce attrition in the justice chain.
3. Implement gender-sensitive law reform.
4. Use quotas to boost the number of women legislators.
5. Put women on the front line of law enforcement.
6. Train judges and monitor decisions.
7. Increase women’s access to courts and truth commissions during and after conflict.
8. Implement gender-responsive reparations programmes.
9. Invest in women’s access to justice.
10. Put gender equality at the heart of the MDGs.
