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THE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

(with particular reference to its work on communications)

HertaKaschitz

Concern for women's rights has a long history within the Organiza-
tion. Both the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed equality of rights of all
human beings. The Charter makes the Economic and Social Council
responsible for promoting 'universal respect for, and observance of,
human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction
as to race, sex, language or religion' (Article 55).

The creation, in 1946, of a functional Sub-Commission of the

Economic and Social Council, which was subsequently converted
into a commission for dealing with the situation of women marks
the beginning of the process through which the examination of this
issue begins to acquire specificity and relevance within the system.
It was originally composed of 15 members, who serve as represen-
tatives of their respective Governments, and was extended to 32
members in 1967. Its further enlargement is presently under con-
sideration, in order to reflect more accurately the geographical
distribution of Member States.

The specific mandates of the Commission were designed to improve

the social and legal condition of women with respect to nationality,
race, language and religion, and to place them at a level of equal-
ity with men in all fields of human endeavor, eliminating all
discrimination in the legislation of the Member States, in respect of
political, civil, labour, education, social and economic rights. The
work of the Commission, conducted through its originally annual
and later biennial sessions, produced, if not all, the great majority
of the measures designed to improve the legal situation of women.
These measures, submitted as draft resolutions to the Economic and
Social Council by the Commission, were subsequently approved by

* Associate Social Affairs Officer, Division for the Advancement of Women, Centre for
Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Office at Vienna. The
views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations
Secretariat.

22
 KaschitzlThe Commission on the Status of Women

the General Assembly, which in turn added some topics to them and
requested the specialized agencies, such as ILO, FAO and UNESCO,
to collaborate on the question of women when it felt this to be
necessary.

The membership of the Commission now comprises eight from

African, six from Asian, six from Latin American States, four from
Socialist States of Europe, and eight from Western European and
other States.

During the first session, in February 1947, the Commission decided

on its guiding principles and aims, and its terms of reference. It
also dealth, among other things, with communications, its relations
with non-governmental organizations, specialized agencies, and its
co-ordination with other functional commissions of the Economic
and Social Council. The Commission's major thrust was in the
setting of standards, and to that end it began work on the adop-
tion of legal instruments. In 1952, the General Assembly adopted, in
the recommendation of the Commission on the Status of Women,
the Convention on the Political Rights of Women. The Convention
on the Nationality of Married Women, drafted by the Commission,
was adopted by the General Assembly in 1957 and in 1962, the
General Assembly adopted the Convention on Consent to Marriage,
Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, which
had been transmitted by the Commission on the Status of Women.
The culmination of the Commission's work in that area was the
adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, which encompasses the rights of
women in all walks of life. It was adopted by the General Assembly
in its resolution 34/180 of 18 December 1979 and came into force
in 1981.

The next stage of the Commission's work began in 1962 when it

focused on the role of women in development on the principle that
developmental efforts without the full and active participation of
women would not be successful. This long-term programme was
later subscribed in the World Plan of Action for the Implementation
of the Objectives of the International Women's Year, which was
adopted by the World Conference at Mexico City in 1975, and the
Declaration on the Equality of Women and their Contribution to
Development and Peace, 1975. At the national level, the Plan

23
SIM Newsletter 4/1988

provided Governments with 14 goals to be achieved by 1980. They

included raising the literacy standards for women, increasing job
opportunities, recognizing the economic value of women's unpaid
work, re-evaluating the roles of women and men, developing modern
rural technology to lighten women's heavy 'double burden' of work
at home and in the work place, and establishing government
machinery to speed up the advancement of women's status in all
aspects of national life.

The Plan also called for a more co-ordinated and world-wide

collection of data, analysis and research relating to women to help
explain the inequalities suffered by women on a scientific and
factual level. Mass media should be sought to assist in changing
prejudiced attitudes of women and men on the role of women in
society, and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) were requested
to assist.

The third stage began in 1975 with the proclamation of 1976-1985

as the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development
and Peace and with intensified efforts on the part of Governments
and United Nations organizations to monitor the situation of women
in all fields. It was decided that a World Conference would be held
at the mid-point of the Decade at Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1980,
to assess the action taken to implement the World Plan of Action.
In order to ensure the smooth running of the Copenhagen Con-
ference, a Preparatory Committee was set up and the Commission
on the Status of Women reviewed documents prepared for the
Conference.

At Copenhagen, the already mentioned Convention on the Elimi-

nation of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was open for
signature and ratification. The Copenhagen Conference formulated a
Programme of Action to strengthen and streamline the initial
proposals made at Mexico, in the context of the same theme:
Equality, Development and Peace, and some new priorities, such as
food and nutrition, unemployed women, migrant and refugee women,
young women and women solely responsible for their families.

It was decided at Copenhagen to hold an end-Decade Conference

in 1985. That time, instead of a Preparatory Committee, the Com-
mission on the Status of Women was appointed to act as the

24
 Kaschitz/The Commission on the Status of Women

Preparatory Body responsible for the Conference and held three

sessions between 1983 and 1985. The World Conference at Nairobi
in 1985 adopted by concensus the Forward-looking Strategies for
the Advancement of Women, which set the framework for the
situation of women until the year 2000.

The fourth stage started in 1985 when the Commission's position

has been enhanced after Nairobi, in particular through resolution
40/108 of the General Assembly of 13 December 1985, which called
upon the Commission to promote the implementation of the For-
ward-looking Strategies up to the year 2000 based on the goals of
the United Nations for Women.

At its exceptional session in 1987, priority themes were identified

for the Commission's attention for the following five years, under
the headings: equality, development and peace, and emphasis was
put on the interrelationship of those three goals. Each of the
following sessions of the Commission would deal with one subject
under the heading of each of the three themes. At the thirty-
second session in 1988, the subjects for consideration were national
machineries, rural women, violence against women and access to
education and information on peace.

The thirty-third session in 1989 will consider the priority themes of

equality in economic and social participation, women and education,
eradication of illiteracy, employment, health and social services, and
full participation of women in the construction of their countries
and in the creation of just social and political systems.

The terms of reference of future sessions of the Commission

include monitoring and promoting the objectives of equality,
development and peace and of measures for the advancement of
women, and the function of reviewing and appraising progress at
the national, subregional, regional, sectoral and global levels. The
Commission's role is to examine the coherence of the work of the
United Nations system in implementing the Nairobi Forward-looking
Strategies for the Advancement of Women and the adequacy of the
future work programme of the United Nations Secretariat.

By its resolution 1987/27 of 26 May 1987, the Economic and Social

Council decided, starting with the session in 1988, on annual

25
SIM Newsletter 4/1988

sessions of the Commission until the year 2000. By resolution

1987/20 of the same day, the Council recommended that in 1990, a
session of an extended duration be held to review and appraise the
progress achieved in the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-
looking Strategies, and that a world conference be held during the
decade of the 1990's and a further one in the year 2000.

As already said earlier, one of the items on the agenda of the

Commission on the Status of Women since its inception has been
the consideration of communications concerning the status of
women. This issue is treated totally different from other items on
the agenda. The related procedure will be explained hereafter.

In resolution 76(V) of 5 August 1947, as amended by resolutions

304(XI)I of 14 and 17 July 1950, the Economic and Social Council
requested the Secretary-General to compile and distribute to the
members of the Commission a non-confidential list containing a
brief indication of the substance of each communication, however
addressed, which dealt with the principles relating to the promotion
of women's rights in the political, economic, civil, social and
educational fields, and furthermore, to compile a confidential list
containing a brief indication of the substance of other communi-
cations concerning the status of women, and to furnish that list to
members of the Commission in private meetings and to send to each
Member State concerned a copy of any communication concerning
the status of women, which referred explicitly to that State,
without divulging the identity of the author.1

As suggested by the Council in resolution 76(V), the Commission,

until its twenty-third session, set up at every session, an ad hoc
committee to review the confidential list of communications. At its
twenty-fifth session in 1974, the Commission decided to delete
consideration of communications from its work programme. In 1975,
however, the Council invited the Commission to consider the ad-
visability of continuing to deal with communications concerning
the status of women. Repeated discussions lead eventually to the
adoption of resolution 1983/27 of 26 May 1983,2 by the Economic

1 See for the text of these resolutions, appendix III of this SNL.
2 See for the text of this resolution, appendix III of this SNL.

26
 Kaschitz/The Commission on the Status of Women

and Social Council, by which the Council recognized the desirability

of strengthening the capacity of the Commission to deal with
communications, and took note of paragraph 274 of the Programme
of Action for the second half of the United Nations Decade for
Women, in which it was emphasized that the Commission's ability to
consider communications should be improved. In that resolution, the
Council reaffirmed the Commission's madate to consider confidential
and non-confidential communications on the status of women and
requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission a
report on confidential and non-confidential communications on the
status of women which should include:

(a) Communications received under Council resolutions 76(V) and

304(XI)I, including the comments of Governments thereon, if any;

(b) Communications received by the specialized agencies, regional

commissions and other United Nations bodies, together with infor-
mation or action that may have been taken following the receipt of
such communications.

The Commission was also authorized to appoint a working group,

consisting of not more than five of its members, to meet in closed
meetings during each session of the Commission in order to con-
sider all communications and prepare a report that should indicate
the categories in which communications were most frequently
submitted to the Commission. The working groups' task has hence
been to bring to the Commission's attention the communications
that appeared to reveal a consistent pattern of reliably attested
injustice and discriminatory practices against women. The Commis-
sion has been asked to examine the reports of the working groups
and it is empowered to make recommendations to the Council. The
Council can then decide what action may be taken on the emerging
trends and patterns of communications.

Council resolution 1986/29 of 23 May 1986 requested the Commis-

sion to continue the consideration of communications relating to
the status of women and to make related recommendations to the
Council.

The first working group, which was constituted pursuant to reso-

lution 1983/27, took the view that only communications relating

27
SIM Newsletter 4/1988

specifically to women should be included in the lists; communi-

cations that applied equally to men and women should be referred
to the Commission on Human Rights. In its report to the Commis-
sion (E/1984/15, Chap. IV, para 70) it identified a trend of wide-
spread physical violence against women while in official custody.
The second working group in its report (E/1986/24, Chap. V, para
94) established a link with the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women and stated that cases,
which were not covered by the definition of discrimination as
contained in the Convention, would not fall within its competence.
It reiterated the trend of exposure of women to physical violence,
while officially detained. Member States were subsequently invited
by the Council, in resolution 1986/29 to report on legislative and
other measures to prevent physical violence against detained women
that is specific to their sex.

The working group, which was established at the thirty-second

session of the Commission (E/1988/15, Chap. III, 27-32), after
having considered the list of communications, singled out cases of
unequal rights in economic and social life, inequality before the
law, and continued physical and sexual violence against women in
detention. It expressed particular concern about sexual harassment
of women at the workplace and urged continued monitoring of the
problem. It was distressed at the lack of response from several
Governments to communications regarding violations of education,
employment and political rights of women.

The next lists of communications will be presented to the Commis-

sion at its thirty-fourth session in 1990. It should not be forgotten
that the Commission on the Status of Women has always been the
only body to offer a forum devoted to the advancement of women
within the legal, political, social, economic and cultural fields. It
has acted as a catalyst for action and helped to mobilize resources
to strengthen women's participation in the global areas. Its tasks
has been to ensure that the role of women was not overlooked in
the development process.

28