Women’s Access to Justice

Justice for women must be transformative, not only about punishing a perpetrator. It needs to be about outcome, agency, participation, and it has to be inclusive – leaving no woman or girl behind.

Irene Khan, Director-General of IDLO

Introduction

From time immemorial our society, even most of the societies of the world are supporting patriarchy, this is although true that many stigmas have been changed but there are still many more dogmas and beliefs that need to be change and it can clearly be seen in many nations’ legal systems. Women and girls’ subordinate position in society is reflected in many national legal systems. Discrimination is still faced by the girls and women with regard to family law, property and inheritance rights and employment.

The main element of social change is the law. It contributes to the legal developments of norms and rules on which the nation is based for many years. It provides the framework for translating international standards into national benchmarks.

Enhancing the ability of women to access justice is essential to further gender inequality and discrimination, and for furthering the development and human security. Women’s empowerment in every aspect of their lives is reliant upon systems of law and justice that work for women.[i]

The poor women face more difficulties than that of the poor men because women have to face institutional barriers to access justice. Some women have no option rather to go in a male dominated institution which includes police officers, prosecutors and judges. And in such areas, women can be deteriorated from reporting crimes mainly in issues like domestic violence and rape due to fear of shame and stigma.

Undoubtedly, we can say that women’s status changed in the last few years but the actual problem is in the same in the rural areas. Women are still treated as an object in those areas. The real difficulty is that they don’t even know that what are their rights. “Women Access to Justice” is not about today’s pseudo-feminism theories rather it is about the concept of Equality, which is the supreme goal of law, it is about Women Empowerment.

Women Empowerment

The ability of women in taking decisions of their life and work with equality in all spheres can be termed as Women Empowerment, it is essential for the betterment of any country’s future as they play dual responsibilities of managing their families while simultaneously juggling to earn to contribute in fulfilling their family needs. No one can ever ignore the importance of the role of a mother, sister, or a daughter in their families.

But whenever we talk about these issues, we focus in the urban and modern areas and forget the backward areas where need of women’s empowerment is supreme in present times.

Women empowerment is not limited to urban and even women in remote towns and villages are now increasingly making their voices heard loud and clear in society. But also, we cannot deny that women, to a large extent, do not face discrimination in society today, unfortunately, they face discrimination of distinct types e.g. emotional, physical, mental and sexual. They are often subjected to rape, abuse and other forms of physical and intellectual violence. So, women access to justice is very important in regard of Women Empowerment.

Women Access to Justice

Navigating everyday justice problems is a complex process. This is particularly true for women, who often face unique social and institutional barriers to accessing justice and finding suitable solutions to their legal problems due to gender discrimination, social stigmas, lack of knowledge of their rights, as well as economic and educational disadvantages.

When viewed globally, 53% of women report experiencing a legal problem within the last two years. However, only 13% turned to an authority or third party to help resolve the problem. Consumer and housing issues were among the most common problems women experienced. This includes problems related to poor or incomplete professional services, difficulties obtaining a refund for faulty or damaged goods, and disruptions in the supply of utilities, as well as disagreements with landlords, tenants, or neighbours, and becoming homeless. It is important to note that the true incidence of domestic violence — categorized under family problems — is likely underreported in this dataset and is notoriously difficult to measure using traditional household survey methodologies.

The difference between women who can resolve their legal problems and women whose legal problems are still in process, is clearly shown by this data. Their legal capacities are different. 67% of women who resolute their legal problems knew where to get advice regarding the issue compared with 52% of women whose legal problem remained unresolved. 

42% of women who report their legal problem experienced a hardship as a result of their problem. 29% means more than 1 in 4 women reported experiencing a physical or stress-related illness as a result of their legal problem, and 21% means more than 1 in 5 women lost their job or needed to transfer. Suffering such hardships impact women’s capacity to fully contribute and participate in the economy and in public life. 

As per most recent data available from the end of 2015, there are 4,19,623 persons in jail in India, of which, 17,834 (about 4.3%) are women. Of these, 11,916 (66.8%) are undertrial prisoners. In India, an analysis of prison statistics at five-year intervals reveals an increasing trend in the number of women prisoners – from 3.3% of all prisoners in 2000 to 4.3% in 2015. A majority of female inmates are in the age group of 30-50 years (50.5%), followed by 18-30 years (31.3%). Of the total 1,401 prisons in India, only 18 are exclusive for women, housing 2,985 female prisoners. Thus, a majority of women inmates are housed in women’s enclosures of general prisons.

There are many reasons because of progress in this area in Asia is limited and not expanded, and we can say that one of the main barriers for women in order to access justice is the laws that are explicitly discriminated against them e.g. restrictive interpretations of religious laws and patriarchal laws on land rights. In addition, deeply rooted discriminatory and gender-biased attitudes, norms and practices, which are included by justice practitioners and by community members. Preventing women from accessing justice and in many cases, women have also been affected by harmful gender norms, limiting their own justice-seeking behaviour. Also, the presence of numerous justice systems, which exist in many countries in the Asia Pacific region, can, in itself, limit women’s access to justice by perpetuating and reinforcing biased and discriminatory social norms.

These restraints on women’s access to justice must be spoken and addressed in order to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and combat discrimination towards women. Ensuring strong legal frameworks and non-discriminatory practices in the judicial sphere is a first step towards eliminating the social and legal conditions that perpetuate gender inequality.

Strengthening the Access to Justice

In the 67thUNGA (United Nation General Assembly) debate; establishment of a strong Rule of Law, underlining its central role in international peace and security and in the achievement of universal human rights are main focused points. This is the first of this kind of meeting held on these topics and there are hopes that it will bring governments and the societies together for the progress and combat the challenges in establishing rule of law at national and international level.

UN Women’s Approach:

To successfully enhance women’s access to justice in Asia and the Pacific, approaches must focus on combating gender stereotypes and discriminatory practices and on engaging women from the grassroots to inform and lead change.

UN Women’s theory of change says that if:

  1. Create a good legal environment:

A legal enabling environment for women to access gender-responsive justice in Asia and the Pacific is created by advocating for laws and court decisions that are consistent with international human rights law and standards, including CEDAW.

2. Remove the difference between the formal law and informal law:

Plural justice systems are gender-responsive because gaps between formal and informal settings are bridged through increased understanding and awareness of justice system providers of women’s rights in Asia and the Pacific.

  • Introduce the uneducated women to their rights:

Grassroots women’s organisations and community-based women’s organisations in Asia and the Pacific are empowered and well-positioned to document and facilitate interactions between and with formal and informal justice providers, and it enhances their resilience to build a just and sustainable future.

Therefore, stepping towards these approaches can enhance access to justice to women in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Conclusion

We can say that the most significant trend in justice reform efforts in the last decade in developing societies has been a growing interest in informal justice systems. This trend is partially in response to the poor track record of interventions aimed at transforming formal justice institutions into well-functioning systems that matches with the ideals of Western rule of law. It also reflects an effort to accommodate what is now recognised as an impractical fact –in many societies, informal justice systems are the primary locus of dispute resolution for the vast majority of the population, and therefore cannot be ignored.

The rhetorical recognition of the importance of informal systems has far overtaken change in strategies or even programming. There are several reasons for this, but the biggest challenge is normative. International actors regard the alternative patterns of justice offered by local communities as desirable only if they offer accessible and restorative remedies in ways that do not contravene international standards of rule of law and human rights. The recognised advantages are outweighed in the minds of many development actors by the perceived failure of informal systems to comply with these norms – especially for women’s rights.

“Access to justice for women is not luxury – it is a basic human right related to human dignity. If there’s no justice for women, there’s no justice for anyone.” Said by IDLO’s Director-General Irene Khan. The primary aim of the rule of law lies in the principle of equality: equal protection and equal rights. That’s what justice is all about. Lack of access to justice for women is in part perpetuated by the underrepresentation of female professionals in the justice sector.

Question & Answer

  1. Why poor women suffer more difficulties in access to justice?

The poor women face more difficulties than that of the poor men because women have to face institutional barriers to access justice. Some women have no option rather to go in a male dominated institution which includes police officers, prosecutors and judges. And in such areas, women can be deteriorated from reporting crimes mainly in issues like domestic violence and rape due to fear of shame and stigma.

2. What is women empowerment?

The ability of women in taking decisions of their life and work with equality in all spheres can be termed as Women Empowerment, it is essential for the betterment of any country’s future as they play dual responsibilities of managing their families while simultaneously juggling to earn to contribute in fulfilling their family needs. No one can ever ignore the importance of the role of a mother, sister, or a daughter in their families.

3. Why access of justice is not expanded in the region of Asia?

There are many reasons because of progress in this area in Asia is limited and not expanded, and we can say that one of the main barriers for women in order to access justice is the laws that are explicitly discriminated against them e.g. restrictive interpretations of religious laws and patriarchal laws on land rights. In addition, deeply rooted discriminatory and gender-biased attitudes, norms and practices, which are included by justice practitioners and by community members. Preventing women from accessing justice and in many cases, women have also been affected by harmful gender norms, limiting their own justice-seeking behaviour. Also, the presence of numerous justice systems, which exist in many countries in the Asia Pacific region can, in itself, limit women’s access to justice by perpetuating and reinforcing biased and discriminatory social norms.

4. What are UN Women’s approach to enhance women’s access to justice?

  • Create a good legal environment:

A legal enabling environmentfor women to access gender-responsive justice in Asia and the Pacific is created by advocating for laws and court decisions that are consistent with international human rights law and standards, including CEDAW.

  • Remove the difference between the formal law and informal law:

 Plural justice systems are gender-responsive because gaps between formal and informal settings are bridged through increased understanding and awareness of justice system providers of women’s rights in Asia and the Pacific.

  • Introduce the uneducated women to their rights:

Grassroots women’s organizations and community-based women’s organizations in Asia and the Pacific are empowered and well positioned to document and facilitate interactions between and with formal and informal justice providers, and their resilience is enhanced to build a just and sustainable future.

Therefore, stepping towards these approaches can enhance access to justice to women in the Asia Pacific Region.

References

[i] UN Women Asia Pacific “Women Access to Justice”  https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/focus-areas/governance/womens-access-to-justice accessed on 6th July 2020

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *