Credits: NOAA, from Unsplash.com
By María Paz Daza Carniglia
In 1986 the General Assembly of the UN adopted the Declaration on the Right to Development (DRD). While the primary focus of development was about economic growth, it has been clearly identified as a right, both collective and individual, that encompasses social, political, economic and cultural notions.
Development aims to improve the well-being of the entire population, an equal distribution of the results of development, and the enjoyment of economic, social, cultural and political development. The Declaration’s preamble recalls that rights have to be promoted, respected and observed without any distinction, including those made based on people’s sex. However, inequalities between men and women are rooted in social structures, and therefore influencing also women’s situation in development.
International law already settles a solid ground with binding obligations for States to protect, respect and fulfil human rights, including the right to development and women’s right to work. However, development has failed in the incorporation of women as economic actors, sustaining international structures of inequality. Women persistently face employment gaps and indicators show poor improvement or even regression on the matter. Women face higher unemployment rates and the gap significantly increases in developing countries: 24.9% of women are unable to find a job, compared to 16.6% of men. Globally, once they enter the workforce, for every dollar earned by men, women earn only 51 cents.
In this context, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a bridge for countries to move from the legal formulation of a right to concrete actions that make those rights achievable. They represent a global commitment to promote efforts to make development sustainable, offering a review system to support accountability and track progress through data, common methodologies and specific targets. This system can be used to promote equality, and women’s right to work.
The formulation of the right establishes the legal basis for implementing the SDGs, which in turn make the realization and fulfilment of these rights possible, being mutually reinforcing. Understanding this is important, as it would help States and other actors to gain clarity and guidance for the protection and promotion of human rights.
1. Mutual reinforcement to rights’ promotion
The right to development aims sustainable growth and the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR). These rights are relevant since they grant a legal foundation and principles to guide the creation of the SDGs. At the same time, SDGs encompass key components of ESCR, such as social security (SDG 1), food (SDG 2), health (SDG 3), education (SDG 4), work (SDG 8), alongside many others. Consequently, suggestions have been made to recognize SDGs and ESCR as mutually reinforcing. The Human Rights Council has followed this idea in meetings regarding the 2030 Agenda. In this context, the report contained in the Human Rights Council Resolution “Reinvigorating the right to development: A vision for the future” explicitly mentioned the right to development, the DRD, and the SDGs, which shows to some extent their connection.
Moreover, most treaty bodies use the SDGs to reinforce their recommendations on the realization of specific rights, which illustrates the relevance of the SDGs. The CEDAW Committee contributions to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) explicitly recommend the use of its Concluding Observations considering SDG 5 and gender equality targets mainstreamed in the 2030 Agenda. Another example is the CEDAW Committee’s General Recommendation No. 38 on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration, that explicitly urges States to combat trafficking within the commitments of the 2030 Agenda. The latest Committee’s General Recommendation No. 40 on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems, identifies women’s underrepresentation in economic structures, decision making roles, and their overrepresentation in informal, low paying, less innovative and less lucrative sectors. Thus, General Recommendation No. 40 calls for progress and act towards the achievement of SGDs targets, and suggests that States adopt regulations guided by the indicators of the SDGs.
Concerning women’s right to work it can be noted that international human rights bodies have acknowledged the role of SDGs, expanding their tools from pure legal sources. The Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, about the Realization of the Right to Work, stress the need to take measures with strong gender lens to realize the right to work. Later, the same report mentions that States must create conditions for sustainable, inclusive and sustained economic growth, considering women’s economic empowerment, according to States’ human rights obligations, and taking the SDGs as framework and guidance.
In 2023 the Special Rapporteur on the right to development highlighted the unique value of the right to development to allow human beings not just to have entitlement to human rights, but also the possibility to enjoy them. This same report established the need to mainstream the right to development with other relevant policy agendas such as the SDGs. Also, the ILO recognizes the relevance of the transformation of women’s right to work as part of the development agenda, including actions such as the promotion of decent employment, inclusive growth policies and investments in care. A recent example is the 2024 ILO Social Dialogue Report, which acknowledges the need for inclusive policies and strategies on work and economic growth to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
2. SDGs as tangible guides
Under Article 2(1) of the ICESCR, States have binding legal obligations to progressively realize the rights outlined in the treaty. This entails, among other responsibilities, taking steps both individually and through international cooperation to promote their fulfilment. CESCR Committee's General Comment No. 3 about the nature of States Parties’ Obligations, stresses that is a concrete imposition of an obligation to move expeditiously and effectively towards the realization of ESCR. Consequently, it considers obligations of results, for which States need to adopt deliberate, concrete and targeted steps. Thus, from an international human rights perspective, the obligation for States exists and they must actively work to their accomplishment.
This also applies for the right to development. Legislation is considered an essential obligation, that has to be complemented with other “appropriate means”, by adopting and implementing strategies, policies, and action plans to ensure the effective realization of ESCR. However, even if there is some certainty of the existence of obligations for States, the international legal framework does not provide explicit examples, steps, or policies to accomplish the fulfilment of human rights: this is where SDGs play an important role.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, highlighted in the publication Realizing the Right to Development that cultural gender norms still affect equality and women’s access to development. Particularly, the publication highlights the negative impacts for women in distribution, structure of labour force and wages, education and political participation. Additionally, the publication points out the lack of consideration of women in development projects, threatening or undermining women’s access to economic development.
Additionally, since development also brings social changes, negatives impacts are usually exacerbated on individuals or groups in vulnerable situations. Development projects may negatively impact if they do not take women into account, affecting their productivity and rights. For instance, labour influx for construction projects might increase violence against women, such as verbal sexual harassment, sexual and physical abuse. Other example is the agricultural sector, were women are the primary producers and can be affected by an increase of labour burden. If programs do not address gender-based violence and provide effective intervention, women will remain left behind.
SGDs’ can play a key role in this context. The consideration of indicators per goal helps States by giving them concrete elements that can be measured and provide insights about the improvement or compliant with specific rights and targets. Indicators are more specific than obligations outlined in the legal framework for the right to work, and can be considered in policies for development.
For instance, to ensure women’s full participation in decision making (SDG No. 5.5), the indicator is the proportion of women in managerial positions, providing a tangible manner of measuring women’s incorporation. Goal 8 on sustainable and decent growth for all offers concrete indicators that States can use to guide their policies and efforts toward achieving a progress. To illustrate, indicators like average hourly earnings (8.5.1), unemployment rate (8.5.2), child labour (8.7.1), workplace accidents (8.8.1), and compliance with labour rights (8.8.2) require sex-disaggregated data, helping States to gather information and take action.
The international community’s commitment to the SDGs has encouraged monitoring and the development of recommendations to achieve them. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs created the Local SDG Platform to create a database and map progress of the SDGs, to support local governments. Also, regional commissions like the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) have created more tangible directives to achieve the SDGs. For women’s right to work, ECLA’s suggestions include registration of domestic workers in social security systems, inclusion in social security to lower-income workers, promotion of collective bargaining and trade union processes. Moreover, other non-State actors, such as NGOs, have also contributed by developing online platforms that bring education and guidance, encouraging positive actions to achieve the SDGs.
The potential of the SDGs and the legal framework will become be more effective when considered comprehensively, mainstreaming principles such as gender equality at every step. To achieve this, their relevance must be emphasized at all levels. The report of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls recognized the inequalities and discrimination of women in the labour market, and recommended the elimination of discrimination, address violence and harassment, recognize unpaid domestic work, and increase women participation. The SDGs would have strengthened the Working Group’s recommendations; however, they were not mentioned. Also, although the CEDAW Committee has included SDGs in its recommendations, it has not updated the State reports guidelines since 2003, which could incorporate the SDGs to some extent.
The reinforcement between SDGs and women’s right to work becomes clearer when the goals are read as concreate measures that materialize the realization of the right. Since the SDGs provide more concrete ideas to move forward women’s right to work and development, they could be incorporated more consistently.
3. Conclusion
International legal frameworks and the UNDRD underscore the imperative of women's inclusion as economic actors for sustainable development. Despite progress, persistent gender inequalities hinder this realization. The SDGs offer guidance to materialize women's rights through development objectives - and vice versa -, facilitating accountability and progress tracking, helping States to move forward an inclusive, sustainable, and rights-based development. States must prioritize integrating SDG targets into national policies, focusing on gender equality. Also, SDGs should be considered consistently in all forums, including UN treaty bodies recommendations, Working Groups, and reports, in order to take concrete actions to address barriers and ensure that women’s right to work is fully realized.
Bio:
María Paz Daza Carniglia is a chilean Lawyer, Master in Public Law and Constitutional Litigation from Universidad Diego Portales, and LLM in Public International Law, Human Rights, from Utrecht University. Strong interest in human rights, women’s rights and gender equality.