WHAT DOES IT TAKE – achieving equality for minority women The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the OSCE Secretariat Gender Issues Programme WIN Project commissioned research into the intersections of gender equality and national minorities. Gender inequality and discrimination affects minority women across the entire life cycle, and concrete measures are needed to achieve equality for all women, including those from national minorities.
2-6 7-18 18-25 26-65 65 (early childhood) (mid-childhood and (young adulthood) (adulthood) (senior citizens) adolescence)
• The lack of data on the situation of • Traditional gender roles and • Weak national tax bases and corruption Economic and social rights of minority girls and women
minority girls and women hampers expectations for girls to marry disproportionately affect minority women living in evidence-based policymaking for young and take care of their poverty. ensuring that no one is left behind. families are among the main Solution: Efficient revenue re-distribution combined Solution: Carry out regular population reasons why minority girls drop with targeted and accessible social protection for the censuses that include information on out of school. most marginalized minority women increases social the situation of minorities and use the Solution: Promoting equality stability and economic prosperity. data to increase accessibility of service. and ending early marriages, child • Unemployment and precarious work are trafficking, and protecting girls from • Minority women in need of support common among minority women, who are often hazardous work, fosters the physical are often not aware of public services disproportionately affected by legal barriers in job and mental well-being of girls. that are available. markets because of their more limited education Solution: Publish information in • Concerns over the safety of opportunities. minority languages and strengthen girls on their way to school and at Solution: Ensure legal worker status combined social and child protection school can lead to girls dropping with targeted support for skills development and infrastructure in rural areas and out of school. employability informal settlements. Solution: Analyse gender-specific • Minority women may have difficulties accessing trends among school dropouts and • National minorities often lack public health care because of language barriers take measures to ensure that schools personal documentation, which is a and negative attitudes among medical workers. are safe spaces for all students. pre-condition for seeking medical and Solution: Sensitize public servants and medical legal aid when the rights of girls are • Becase of age stratification among professionals about different cultures and provide violated. many ethnic groups, girls are often accessible services to minority women. Solution: Include minority not heard. representatives in social services and Solution: Transform harmful gender law enforcement structures so that the stereotypes among men, women, • Elderly minority women have a greater risk of specific concerns of minorities can be girls and boys, and implement falling into poverty than other age groups. addressed effectively. Ensure that birth targeted activities to empower girls to Solution: Promote financial autonomy, strengthen registration and other administrative speak up. their financial skills, and develop affordable and services are accessible to minorities. accessible savings and pension schemes for minority women to increase their economic resilience. Minority girls’ and women’s right to political / public participation
peace and security processes Minority girls and women in
• Minority women are often not considered as political actors in their • Minority women tend to be communities and therefore girls are excluded from decision-making at home disproportionately affected during and in their communities. Their access to voting rights might be restricted. conflicts and are often left to take care Solution: Teaching citizen skills and political skills in schools builds confidence of their families during the aftermath, among young minority women, helps them to navigate the public administration yet they are severely underrepresented systems in later life and encourages them to become agents of change, both in conflict resolution and peace-building locally and in national politics. processes. • Minority and female politicians are often a target for hate speech and Solution: Including minority women in political intimidation. peace negotiations helps us to understand Solution: Training women and girls in online safety and data protection, holding the effects of conflicts on them, and on perpetrators of hate speech to account and working closely with them for positive their families and communities. change, will increase tolerance for diversity and a pluralist democracy. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS to OSCE participating States to promote equal opportunities for minority women
Economic and social rights of minority girls and women
• Ensure that gender • Guarantee access to • Increase efficiency in • Reduce poverty disaggregated data on quality education for public financial management by enhancing access minorities’ access to minority girls and girls from and develop targeted to social protection education, social services rural and marginalized protection for minority schemes, especially for 2-6 and employment is communities. women to save them from minority women in rural (early collected and made • Engage local civil society poverty and neglect. areas. childhood) available to service and minority networks and • Empower and build the • Foster inter-cultural providers. advocate for the protection confidence of minority relations and inclusive • Decentralize basic social of minority girls from early women, encourage dialogue between services and enable access marriages. employment and self- different age groups and to health care, especially • Train teachers to development. social groups to ensure maternal care and early facilitate gender-sensitive • Strengthen access that the care needs of childhood education, for inter-cultural dialogues to to quality tertiary and minority senior citizens rural minority communities. break stigmas and taboos vocational education in are met. • Create opportunities on minority cultures and minority languages and for minority children to gender roles. provide flexible learning learn the country’s official methods to increase 7-18 language. • Ensure safe school environments for minorities outreach. (mid-childhood • Ensure the right to by tackling ethnicity-based • Remove legal and attitude and guardianship and personal bullying and gender-based barriers for women in adolescence) identity documents, violence. job markets and ensure particularly for minority • Empower minority girls the legal status of female girls. to speak up in and outside minority workers. their own communities. • Train healthcare and social workers to recognize and respond to the needs of minority women.
Minority girls’ and women’s right to political / public participation 18-25 (young adulthood) • Make civic education part of the primary and • Tackle gender and ethnicity-based harassment of secondary school curricula, and increase awareness female decision-makers. about gender equality and minority rights. • Create positive and safe physical and online • Build political, communication and language skills and environments to participate in public decision-making. promote the participation of especially underrepresented • Encourage peer support networks to encourage the minority women. public participation of minority women. • Launch national advocacy campaigns to break cultural • Promote positive role models from marginalized stereotypes and gender-based barriers for minority minority communities in public fora. women’s public participation. • Create opportunities especially for young minority 26-65 women to influence public decision-making and to (adulthood) participate in students’ associations, community affairs and youth wings of political parties.
Minority girls and women in peace and security processes
• Initiate reconciliation processes that include girls and • Tackle ethnicity-based hate crimes and violence against women affected by ethnic conflicts and tensions in order women by providing support and access to justice. 65 to restore mutual trust and to share good practices by • Empower minority women to report any violations to (senior building exchange and peer support networks for minority their rights and provide targeted legal aid. citizens) women. • Maintain and expand space for civil society and free • Support minority women’s networks at the local and and reliable media. national level and include them in governmental peace • Raise the profile of minority women as agents of change processes. by highlighting stories about female empowerment.