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Most global human rights dispersion writing focuses on states rejecting or assimiling norms. Chen Kertcher analyzes the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which sets standards.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 29, 2024

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This video video discusses a research project examining the role of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in addressing gender stereotypes in a global context, particularly in Muslim countries. The authors note a gap in literature regarding stereotypes compared to the extensive studies on politics, economics, and social rights. They conducted a content analysis of 55 CEDAW reports, revealing that while the organization identifies issues like forced marriage and female genital mutilation, it often addresses symptoms rather than the underlying social perceptions leading to these issues.

The researchers emphasize that gender stereotypes are socially constructed beliefs that restrict women's potential. They found that CEDAW's recommendations for transforming negative stereotypes remain superficial, lacking detailed actionable steps, especially in education and media. The study calls for further research to better understand how to effectively address stereotypes and improve the translation of equality concepts into practice.

In conclusion, while progress has been made in legal and political realms regarding women's status, the need for deeper cultural and social change remains, and a more focused approach is necessary to combat negative gender stereotypes effectively.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.105 --> 00:02.885
To examine, freshly on the way,

00:03.175 --> 00:06.925
human rights are being diffused in a global environment.

00:07.785 --> 00:11.085
And, we particularly were intrigued about the work

00:11.085 --> 00:16.005
of CDA, which a lot have been done about CDA, this,

00:16.355 --> 00:18.925
committee to elimination of,

00:19.285 --> 00:21.725
the discrimination against women,

00:21.725 --> 00:23.445
for the past 40 years or so.

00:23.665 --> 00:27.925
And, a lot have been written on politics, on economics

00:27.985 --> 00:29.125
and social rights,

00:29.795 --> 00:32.085
much less about the question of stereotypes.

00:32.545 --> 00:35.445
So we were really highly motivated to work on this topic.

00:35.985 --> 00:39.525
We don't have enough on the literature about stereotype.

00:39.785 --> 00:43.645
The, the major writing is focusing about the resiliency

00:43.825 --> 00:45.965
of states and the refusal to adapt,

00:46.785 --> 00:50.405
or they're looking at just minor case studies.

00:51.105 --> 00:54.245
So we don't have like a, a major overview of

00:55.195 --> 00:58.125
what are the entire system, how it works,

00:58.665 --> 01:02.645
and how does it proselytize its mission of,

01:02.995 --> 01:05.845
eradication of negative stereotypes against women.

01:06.505 --> 01:09.045
So we try to look at it in fresh,

01:09.045 --> 01:11.965
perspective while addressing two main question.

01:12.505 --> 01:13.925
So the first question was,

01:14.145 --> 01:18.445
how does this organization conceptualize the problem

01:18.665 --> 01:21.885
of gender stereotypes in, comparison

01:22.145 --> 01:24.445
to the current literature on the topic?

01:25.105 --> 01:28.445
And the second issue was how does it operationalize

01:29.095 --> 01:31.325
these concepts into concrete terms

01:31.465 --> 01:35.725
to different Muslim countries, which we found that we have

01:35.725 --> 01:38.125
to answer it because the majority of the,

01:38.125 --> 01:39.765
of the literature is saying that,

01:39.765 --> 01:43.005
that Muslim countries are just object to,

01:43.145 --> 01:45.045
to any diffusion of these norms.

01:45.265 --> 01:47.045
And we wanted to see, but what this,

01:47.045 --> 01:50.285
this organization is arguing, what do they proselytize

01:50.705 --> 01:51.725
to these countries?

01:52.315 --> 01:54.485
What we did was a content analysis.

01:54.705 --> 01:58.725
We took 55 reports of the United Nation of cdo.

01:58.945 --> 02:02.725
CDO is the arm of the United Nation working on

02:03.365 --> 02:05.725
a women's right and women's status in all,

02:05.865 --> 02:07.525
all ratified countries.

02:08.105 --> 02:09.845
And we coded,

02:10.065 --> 02:13.525
we read it thoroughly close reading it calls,

02:13.945 --> 02:15.565
and we took an Excel sheet

02:15.825 --> 02:20.205
and made a, a point a v, a mark

02:20.805 --> 02:25.645
whenever a, a certain stereotype was mentioned, like taking

02:25.745 --> 02:28.725
for granted women are supposed to be at home

02:28.785 --> 02:32.205
and taking care of the children, changing

02:32.885 --> 02:34.125
textbooks in schools.

02:34.785 --> 02:39.645
And we did a huge list which we, processed statistically

02:39.645 --> 02:43.085
with SPSS, software.

02:44.065 --> 02:47.445
And I'll, I'll let you know in a minute what we found out,

02:47.625 --> 02:49.045
but I would like to say

02:49.045 --> 02:51.725
that when we're talking about stereotyping the academic

02:52.085 --> 02:55.885
literature, we all know that they are defined as belief, as

02:56.605 --> 02:57.845
symbolic representation.

02:58.865 --> 03:02.645
Uh, we're talking about women in advertising always perform

03:02.645 --> 03:05.445
the sex object and very beautiful and very seen.

03:05.445 --> 03:07.485
Those are, this is the western stereotype,

03:08.025 --> 03:10.205
but what is a stereotype when it is,

03:10.475 --> 03:14.005
when it be concern about, Muslim state?

03:14.315 --> 03:18.925
What can you talk about, what will be the content

03:19.025 --> 03:21.525
of stereotyping a in a Muslim's realm?

03:22.025 --> 03:23.845
And just because I don't want

03:23.865 --> 03:27.005
to blame any traditional society, I would say

03:27.005 --> 03:30.285
that you can ask the same question about ultra religious

03:30.285 --> 03:31.525
Jewish communities.

03:32.425 --> 03:35.925
Do they concept conceive, stereotype, gender?

03:36.525 --> 03:39.405
Do they have the, the notion of gender stereotype?

03:39.755 --> 03:42.365
When we are talking about ultra religious Jews,

03:42.865 --> 03:44.885
I'm not sure there is, there's no way

03:44.905 --> 03:46.365
of talking about perception.

03:46.465 --> 03:48.325
It is just what a woman is

03:48.505 --> 03:52.005
and in, in her, her innate abilities and what she should do.

03:53.745 --> 03:57.285
So when it comes to the, academic literature

03:57.545 --> 03:59.845
and also the United Nation literature,

03:59.955 --> 04:02.285
there's more similarities and differences.

04:03.025 --> 04:07.245
But as a contrary to the common mass versus the Venus,

04:07.385 --> 04:11.885
the popular perception, the scholarly premise hold,

04:12.065 --> 04:15.685
the gender stereotype, our social construction belief,

04:15.685 --> 04:17.045
that has nothing to do

04:17.275 --> 04:19.885
with the substance differences in reality.

04:20.515 --> 04:23.885
Instead, it's, it's, it's a, it's a construction,

04:23.985 --> 04:27.365
an imaginary construction, what women shouldn't supposed

04:27.365 --> 04:31.245
to be or to act in a patriarchy of society.

04:31.455 --> 04:34.165
Those construction constrain

04:34.425 --> 04:37.445
and obs become an obstacle toward any woman

04:37.465 --> 04:38.685
to fulfill herself.

04:39.265 --> 04:42.485
So this was crucial for us to understand

04:43.945 --> 04:48.805
how is the, the critical apparatus of the United Nation

04:48.865 --> 04:52.765
to toward Muslim society concept

04:52.825 --> 04:55.965
and, define the idea of general stereotype.

04:56.575 --> 05:01.405
First of all, just basic, basic, finding.

05:02.345 --> 05:04.755
So we do find, for example,

05:04.785 --> 05:07.915
that all good concerns state policy,

05:09.025 --> 05:11.315
it's almost, always

05:11.505 --> 05:13.715
that you will see the caw demand from,

05:13.905 --> 05:16.235
from state policy, to change.

05:16.335 --> 05:18.755
But what was more intriguing that at the heart

05:18.895 --> 05:21.475
or the core of the transformation

05:21.775 --> 05:23.755
of negative stereotype will look at about

05:23.755 --> 05:27.155
what they are recommending at education and media fields.

05:28.015 --> 05:30.195
And in these fields, we found

05:30.225 --> 05:33.035
that they almost never go into details.

05:33.815 --> 05:36.395
So they're remaining at the superficial level

05:36.415 --> 05:39.035
of just recommending a transformation.

05:39.075 --> 05:40.155
I will just give an example.

05:40.535 --> 05:42.635
For example, we, we, we found several times

05:42.665 --> 05:44.235
that they're recommending

05:44.305 --> 05:48.635
that religious leaders in Afghanistan will, trans

05:49.155 --> 05:50.515
transform the way,

05:50.705 --> 05:54.995
they encourage in their religious schools the way,

05:54.995 --> 05:59.475
women are being, perceived and, and, and nothing more.

06:00.135 --> 06:02.595
So, so this level, I think we, and we,

06:02.615 --> 06:05.315
and we found it being repeatedly in different cases,

06:06.295 --> 06:09.875
and it is, and it's kind of detrimental,

06:09.975 --> 06:12.115
to the main goal of, of encouraging,

06:12.345 --> 06:15.035
because you don't go into detail what should be done,

06:15.335 --> 06:16.635
or for example, the thing that

06:16.635 --> 06:20.875
or not will later perhaps will give more example on,

06:20.945 --> 06:23.355
more details, for example, from the media fields.

06:24.295 --> 06:27.515
And, and quite surprisingly for us, we found

06:27.515 --> 06:31.155
that in the details of their report, they, they

06:31.875 --> 06:33.795
emphasized not on stereotype,

06:34.055 --> 06:37.595
but more on harmful for practices such as, such

06:37.595 --> 06:41.995
as forced marriages, female genital mutilation,

06:42.055 --> 06:46.875
or honor killing, which of course, we, they work with

06:46.975 --> 06:49.075
and they agreed that this is,

06:49.135 --> 06:50.515
so they should work against it.

06:50.975 --> 06:54.635
But they did, they, but this is only the physical expression

06:55.015 --> 06:57.875
or, or the behavioral expression instead

06:57.875 --> 07:01.275
of the social perception that lead to these,

07:01.755 --> 07:03.315
physical, outcomes.

07:03.655 --> 07:07.755
We were looking for stereotypes in the UN reports toward

07:08.215 --> 07:09.275
Muslim take.

07:09.535 --> 07:12.435
And we figure out that what's going to be there.

07:12.585 --> 07:16.355
Okay, so they, they're going to talk about stop,

07:16.355 --> 07:18.875
looking at, at women as property.

07:19.615 --> 07:22.275
Uh, women do not need male guardianship

07:22.675 --> 07:23.995
whenever they go to the mall.

07:24.655 --> 07:28.915
Um, you women are not supposed to be abducted in order to,

07:29.175 --> 07:31.355
to, to get married.

07:32.175 --> 07:35.595
So, and nothing was, nothing of the sort was there.

07:36.295 --> 07:41.185
Um, what we did find that the list

07:41.205 --> 07:44.865
of stereotype that was addressed to Muslims country

07:45.885 --> 07:50.145
was a list of physical violence act

07:50.695 --> 07:54.265
that has a traditional backgrounding like,

07:55.265 --> 07:59.705
a child marriage, genital mutilation, forced marriage.

08:00.645 --> 08:03.975
Um, I have more,

08:04.075 --> 08:07.895
but those are really disasters, ideas, really terrible

08:08.155 --> 08:09.975
and, atrocities.

08:10.915 --> 08:15.565
Um, so we did not find what we expected.

08:16.065 --> 08:19.445
And they, what we concluded is

08:19.445 --> 08:22.085
that CDOs is putting,

08:22.585 --> 08:24.685
is looking at the symptoms

08:24.905 --> 08:28.525
and not the cause, which was its main mission.

08:29.115 --> 08:31.365
This is a project that I think that we call

08:31.465 --> 08:34.165
for further studies, about this.

08:34.225 --> 08:38.485
Uh, first of all, there is the mandate of, of, of CD

08:38.665 --> 08:39.685
and what they're allowed to do.

08:39.715 --> 08:41.805
This is a kind of work of, reporting

08:42.265 --> 08:44.325
and having a discussion,

08:44.355 --> 08:47.045
between these organization and, and states.

08:48.065 --> 08:51.245
And they're always afraid of being perceived as,

08:51.465 --> 08:53.045
anti-religious in some way,

08:53.425 --> 08:56.685
or not mentioned Jews, Bab, Christians

08:56.985 --> 08:58.685
and Muslims, of course.

08:59.345 --> 09:03.445
Uh, and this why it's creating what we call poor tism,

09:03.955 --> 09:07.405
because they do not address this issue, upfront,

09:08.185 --> 09:11.085
and it's, kind of circumvent the main issues.

09:12.025 --> 09:13.925
So we, they're always mentioning

09:13.945 --> 09:15.645
and denouncing the physical acts.

09:16.065 --> 09:19.685
Uh, and, we, we, we learned that there are

09:19.705 --> 09:24.125
so many physical acts, that we didn't even imagine

09:24.555 --> 09:25.725
that these things could happen,

09:26.345 --> 09:30.565
but they don't address the core issue, the main goal

09:30.565 --> 09:32.485
that they were supposed to be addressed.

09:33.265 --> 09:34.765
And this is about the,

09:34.785 --> 09:37.325
the negative stereotype, of women.

09:37.865 --> 09:41.445
And without addressing it, you cannot expect from state

09:41.505 --> 09:44.765
to change because you actually, you don't confront them

09:45.155 --> 09:48.725
with the main, with the main, issue, the cultural issue,

09:49.265 --> 09:53.965
the social issue, which, which is at the core

09:54.585 --> 09:57.245
of, of, if at least, if the core, if you want

09:57.245 --> 09:58.485
to transform society

09:59.065 --> 10:04.045
and call for a, for a change in, in social behavior,

10:04.045 --> 10:08.445
concerning relations between men and women in the society,

10:09.365 --> 10:11.925
They should, and they need to find ways

10:12.025 --> 10:13.565
to make a better job.

10:13.835 --> 10:14.925
Because sit

10:15.545 --> 10:18.325
and the United Nations have succeeded in changing

10:18.885 --> 10:20.245
positively the status

10:20.345 --> 10:24.405
of women in many field in legislation in access to politic,

10:24.625 --> 10:27.925
to politics, in representation in the parliament.

10:28.665 --> 10:31.685
But this issue of social perception,

10:32.415 --> 10:34.445
there is no progress, nothing

10:34.475 --> 10:36.405
that we can call an achievement.

10:36.625 --> 10:41.565
And they should think if there's a possible way,

10:41.665 --> 10:45.765
to translate, to better translate the ideas of equality

10:45.985 --> 10:49.805
and discrimination against discriminating,

10:50.105 --> 10:51.365
gender discrimination

10:51.985 --> 10:56.365
and to work better in, in this apparatus of, reporting

10:56.545 --> 11:00.085
and criticize and commentary reports of the United Nations.

11:00.185 --> 11:01.925
The entire project was a surprise for us.

11:01.945 --> 11:06.485
We expected the total different, results we expected,

11:06.515 --> 11:09.805
just to add another perspective on human rights

11:10.115 --> 11:14.285
with just a focus on, women's stereotypes.

11:14.905 --> 11:17.205
And, and this is, I think this is a call

11:17.225 --> 11:19.885
for much more studies about the global level,

11:20.145 --> 11:21.285
the institutional level,

11:21.865 --> 11:23.685
and state level in order

11:23.685 --> 11:26.765
to encourage a more precise mechanism

11:27.305 --> 11:30.965
and to be more, clear about what we are trying

11:30.985 --> 11:33.565
to do here and how we are going to do it.

11:34.105 --> 11:37.045
And without this mechanism, this transformation,

11:37.045 --> 11:41.245
unfortunately, at least I think, we're just going

11:41.245 --> 11:43.965
around the bush and we will never, solve

11:44.105 --> 11:47.565
or at least advance, in the eradication

11:48.105 --> 11:50.085
of negative gender stereotypes.

00:00 - To examine, freshly on the way, human rights are being diffused in a global environment. And, we particularly were intrigued about the work of CDA, which a lot have been done about CDA, this, committee to elimination of, the discrimination against women,

00:21 - for the past 40 years or so. And, a lot have been written on politics, on economics and social rights, much less about the question of stereotypes. So we were really highly motivated to work on this topic. We don't have enough on the literature about stereotype. The, the major writing is focusing about the resiliency of states and the refusal to adapt, or they're looking at just minor case studies. So we don't have like a, a major overview of

00:55 - what are the entire system, how it works, and how does it proselytize its mission of, eradication of negative stereotypes against women. So we try to look at it in fresh, perspective while addressing two main question. So the first question was, how does this organization conceptualize the problem of gender stereotypes in, comparison to the current literature on the topic? And the second issue was how does it operationalize

01:29 - these concepts into concrete terms to different Muslim countries, which we found that we have to answer it because the majority of the, of the literature is saying that, that Muslim countries are just object to, to any diffusion of these norms. And we wanted to see, but what this, this organization is arguing, what do they proselytize to these countries? What we did was a content analysis.

01:54 - We took 55 reports of the United Nation of cdo. CDO is the arm of the United Nation working on a women's right and women's status in all, all ratified countries. And we coded, we read it thoroughly close reading it calls, and we took an Excel sheet and made a, a point a v, a mark whenever a, a certain stereotype was mentioned, like taking for granted women are supposed to be at home

02:28 - and taking care of the children, changing textbooks in schools. And we did a huge list which we, processed statistically with SPSS, software. And I'll, I'll let you know in a minute what we found out, but I would like to say that when we're talking about stereotyping the academic literature, we all know that they are defined as belief, as symbolic representation. we're talking about women in advertising always perform

03:02 - the sex object and very beautiful and very seen. Those are, this is the western stereotype, but what is a stereotype when it is, when it be concern about, Muslim state? What can you talk about, what will be the content of stereotyping a in a Muslim's realm? And just because I don't want to blame any traditional society, I would say that you can ask the same question about ultra religious Jewish communities.

03:32 - Do they concept conceive, stereotype, gender? Do they have the, the notion of gender stereotype? When we are talking about ultra religious Jews, I'm not sure there is, there's no way of talking about perception. It is just what a woman is and in, in her, her innate abilities and what she should do. So when it comes to the, academic literature and also the United Nation literature, there's more similarities and differences.

04:03 - But as a contrary to the common mass versus the Venus, the popular perception, the scholarly premise hold, the gender stereotype, our social construction belief, that has nothing to do with the substance differences in reality. Instead, it's, it's, it's a, it's a construction, an imaginary construction, what women shouldn't supposed to be or to act in a patriarchy of society. Those construction constrain and obs become an obstacle toward any woman

04:37 - to fulfill herself. So this was crucial for us to understand how is the, the critical apparatus of the United Nation to toward Muslim society concept and, define the idea of general stereotype. First of all, just basic, basic, finding. So we do find, for example, that all good concerns state policy, it's almost, always that you will see the caw demand from,

05:13 - from state policy, to change. But what was more intriguing that at the heart or the core of the transformation of negative stereotype will look at about what they are recommending at education and media fields. And in these fields, we found that they almost never go into details. So they're remaining at the superficial level of just recommending a transformation. I will just give an example.

05:40 - For example, we, we, we found several times that they're recommending that religious leaders in Afghanistan will, trans transform the way, they encourage in their religious schools the way, women are being, perceived and, and, and nothing more. So, so this level, I think we, and we, and we found it being repeatedly in different cases, and it is, and it's kind of detrimental, to the main goal of, of encouraging,

06:12 - because you don't go into detail what should be done, or for example, the thing that or not will later perhaps will give more example on, more details, for example, from the media fields. And, and quite surprisingly for us, we found that in the details of their report, they, they emphasized not on stereotype, but more on harmful for practices such as, such as forced marriages, female genital mutilation, or honor killing, which of course, we, they work with

06:46 - and they agreed that this is, so they should work against it. But they did, they, but this is only the physical expression or, or the behavioral expression instead of the social perception that lead to these, physical, outcomes. We were looking for stereotypes in the UN reports toward Muslim take. And we figure out that what's going to be there. Okay, so they, they're going to talk about stop,

07:16 - looking at, at women as property. women do not need male guardianship whenever they go to the mall. you women are not supposed to be abducted in order to, to, to get married. So, and nothing was, nothing of the sort was there. what we did find that the list of stereotype that was addressed to Muslims country was a list of physical violence act that has a traditional backgrounding like,

07:55 - a child marriage, genital mutilation, forced marriage. I have more, but those are really disasters, ideas, really terrible and, atrocities. so we did not find what we expected. And they, what we concluded is that CDOs is putting, is looking at the symptoms and not the cause, which was its main mission. This is a project that I think that we call

08:31 - for further studies, about this. first of all, there is the mandate of, of, of CD and what they're allowed to do. This is a kind of work of, reporting and having a discussion, between these organization and, and states. And they're always afraid of being perceived as, anti-religious in some way, or not mentioned Jews, Bab, Christians and Muslims, of course.

08:59 - and this why it's creating what we call poor tism, because they do not address this issue, upfront, and it's, kind of circumvent the main issues. So we, they're always mentioning and denouncing the physical acts. and, we, we, we learned that there are so many physical acts, that we didn't even imagine that these things could happen, but they don't address the core issue, the main goal that they were supposed to be addressed.

09:33 - And this is about the, the negative stereotype, of women. And without addressing it, you cannot expect from state to change because you actually, you don't confront them with the main, with the main, issue, the cultural issue, the social issue, which, which is at the core of, of, if at least, if the core, if you want to transform society and call for a, for a change in, in social behavior, concerning relations between men and women in the society,

10:09 - They should, and they need to find ways to make a better job. Because sit and the United Nations have succeeded in changing positively the status of women in many field in legislation in access to politic, to politics, in representation in the parliament. But this issue of social perception, there is no progress, nothing that we can call an achievement.

10:36 - And they should think if there's a possible way, to translate, to better translate the ideas of equality and discrimination against discriminating, gender discrimination and to work better in, in this apparatus of, reporting and criticize and commentary reports of the United Nations. The entire project was a surprise for us. We expected the total different, results we expected, just to add another perspective on human rights with just a focus on, women's stereotypes.

11:14 - And, and this is, I think this is a call for much more studies about the global level, the institutional level, and state level in order to encourage a more precise mechanism and to be more, clear about what we are trying to do here and how we are going to do it. And without this mechanism, this transformation, unfortunately, at least I think, we're just going around the bush and we will never, solve

11:44 - or at least advance, in the eradication of negative gender stereotypes.

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