Section 3 - Educating and Partnering for CEDAW

Why review and revise In each of these areas, one could find ideas, beliefs,
practices, behavior, and so forth that convey, reinforce, perpetuate and/or
aggravate gender-based discrimination and marginalization. Course titles,
objectives, content, as well as reading materials and class activities may reflect
“taken-for-granted” gender biases. One example cited as sexist course title is
“History of Mankind.” As a part of their initiative, UPCWS developed a “Checklist
of Guide Questions,” which suggests steps in addressing discrimination in the
educational system. (See Annex 1: Addressing sexism and discrimination in the
educational system - Checklist of Guide Questions)
The 2Rs of gender-fair education: REVIEW and REVISE
• Academic programmes and practices, including teaching materials
(e.g. history textbooks that are organized around men’s experience
only)
• Teaching strategies and daily practices in the classroom (e.g. those
that marginalize women)
• Syllabi and curricular programmes – to reflect the issues and
experiences of the wider society, including those who have been
silenced and marginalized
• School policies and programmes that are discriminatory
Why CEDAW in the curriculum
With the help of UNIFEM and CIDA, UPCWS pushed forward with its processes
and advocacy for gender-fair education. CEDAW served as the primary framework
for review and revision as well as re-strategizing and re-tooling.
According to UPCWS, the emphasis on CEDAW signifies a shift from a needs-based
approach to a rights-based approach. For De Guzman, the shift to a rights-based
approach enhances the principles of gender and development (GAD). She agrees
with CEDAW Experts that this is best done “by precisely anchoring women’s right
to equality and to better life chances in an internationally, legally-binding covenant
that recognizes women’s de facto equality in rights in all spheres.” (Dairiam, Shanthi.
2005, “The Relevance of the Links between Human Rights, BPFA and MDG.” UN CEDAW Expert
Group Meeting, Azerbaijan.)
Explaining the link between CEDAW’s rights-based framework and curriculum
reform, De Guzman says, “integrating women’s concerns and issues of sexism,
discrimination and concepts of rights – human rights and women’s rights – in the
academic curriculum is unavoidably part of curriculum reform. More than just
updating the academic curriculum, curriculum reform aims to address historical
marginalization and exclusions advanced, whether intentionally or not, by and
through the educational system.”
119