6.
A joint reading of articles 1 to 5 and 24, which form the general interpretative framework for
all of the Convention’s substantive articles, indicates that three obligations are central to States
parties’ efforts to eliminate discrimination against women. These obligations should be
implemented in an integrated fashion and extend beyond a purely formal legal obligation of equal
treatment of women with men.
7.
Firstly, States parties’ obligation is to ensure that there is no direct or indirect 1 discrimination
against women in their laws and that women are protected against discrimination - committed by
public authorities, the judiciary, organizations, enterprises or private individuals - in the public as
well as the private spheres by competent tribunals as well as sanctions and other remedies.
Secondly, States parties’ obligation is to improve the de facto position of women through concrete
and effective policies and programmes. Thirdly, States parties’ obligation is to address prevailing
gender relations 2 and the persistence of gender-based stereotypes that affect women not only
through individual acts by individuals but also in law, and legal and societal structures and
institutions.
8.
In the Committee’s view, a purely formal legal or programmatic approach is not sufficient to
achieve women’s de facto equality with men, which the Committee interprets as substantive
equality. In addition, the Convention requires that women be given an equal start and that they be
empowered by an enabling environment to achieve equality of results. It is not enough to guarantee
women treatment that is identical to that of men. Rather, biological as well as socially and
culturally constructed differences between women and men must be taken into account. Under
certain circumstances, non-identical treatment of women and men will be required in order to
address such differences. Pursuit of the goal of substantive equality also calls for an effective
strategy aimed at overcoming underrepresentation of women and a redistribution of resources and
power between men and women.
9.
Equality of results is the logical corollary of de facto or substantive equality. These results
may be quantitative and/or qualitative in nature; that is, women enjoying their rights in various
fields in fairly equal numbers with men, enjoying the same income levels, equality in decisionmaking and political influence, and women enjoying freedom from violence.
10. The position of women will not be improved as long as the underlying causes of
discrimination against women, and of their inequality, are not effectively addressed. The lives of
women and men must be considered in a contextual way, and measures adopted towards a real
transformation of opportunities, institutions and systems so that they are no longer grounded in
historically determined male paradigms of power and life patterns.
11. Women’s biologically determined permanent needs and experiences should be distinguished
from other needs that may be the result of past and present discrimination against women by
individual actors, the dominant gender ideology, or by manifestations of such discrimination in
social and cultural structures and institutions. As steps are being taken to eliminate discrimination
against women, women’s needs may change or disappear, or become the needs of both women and
men. Thus, continuous monitoring of laws, programmes and practices directed at the achievement
of women’s de facto or substantive equality is needed so as to avoid a perpetuation of non-identical
treatment that may no longer be warranted.
12. Certain groups of women, in addition to suffering from discrimination directed against them
as women, may also suffer from multiple forms of discrimination based on additional grounds such