Gender Equality Laws - CEDAW Southeast Asia

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe authors would like to thank Jean D’Cunha, Regional Programme Director, UNIFEM Eastand Southeast Asia Subregional Office and Shoko Ishikawa, UNIFEM CEDAW Southeast AsiaProgramme Manager, for their substantive input to the report. The authors would also like to thankSarah Cameron for her work on the project, Rathy Santhiran and Alison Aggarwal for their invaluablecontributions and Gyan and Raj Kumar Jivan for their tireless support. The authors also thankShanan Mitaim, Rachit Boonyawiroj and Pannin Laptaweesath of the UNIFEM East and SoutheastAsia Subregional Office. Finally, the authors wish to acknowledge and thank Amarsanaa Darisuren,Human Rights Specialist, UNIFEM CEDAW Southeast Asia Programme, for all her guidance, inputand commitment to the project.Note on the AuthorsChristine Forster and Vedna Jivan,March 2009Christine Forster holds degrees in Law from Otago University, in Arts majoring in Women’sStudies from Massey University (Aoteroa/NZ), a Masters in Legal Studies from Carleton University(Canada) and a PhD in Law from Sydney University (Australia). She is also a solicitor and barrister ofthe NZ Bar. Christine teaches Feminist Legal Theory in the Law Faculty at the University of NSW andat the ILS Law College in Pune, India. She has undertaken consultancies on women’s human rightsand CEDAW legislative compliance for the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development,UNIFEM Pacific and the UNDP Pacific Centre.Vedna Jivan holds degrees in Arts and postgraduate Law from the University of NSW (Sydney).She is a senior lecturer in the Law Faculty, University of Technology, Sydney, having previouslypractised as a solicitor in the community sector for eight years. She has a Masters in Law (HumanRights and Social Justice) and has researched widely in the areas of women’s human rights, tort lawand the scope and limitations of the legal system to achieve social change. Vedna has worked as aconsultant for various international organisations including the UNDP Pacific Centre, UNIFEM Pacificand the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development. Her commitment to the social justiceand the education sector has been recognised nationally and she is a recipient of the AustralianUniversities Teaching Award (2001), the University of NSW Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence inTeaching (2000) and was Highly Commended for the UTS Human Rights Award (2006).Christine and Vedna are co-authors of the publication Translating CEDAW into Law: CEDAWLegislative Compliance in Nine Pacific Countries, UNDP Pacific and UNIFEM-Pacific, Suva, 2007and CEDAW Legislative Compliance in the Cook Islands, UNDP Pacific and UNIFEM-Pacific, Suva,2008. Their other publications in the field of CEDAW and gender equality include “Public InterestLitigation and Human Rights Implementation: The Indian and Australian Experience” (2008) Vol 3Asian Journal of Comparative Law: A Digest of Case Law on the Human Rights of Women (AsiaPacific), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (with Imrana Jalal and Madhu Mehra)(2005); “Opportunity Lost: In Search of Justice for Victims of Sexual Assault” (2005) Vol 28 Universityof New South Wales Law Journal, and “What Would Gandhi Say? Reconciling Universalism, CulturalRelativism and Feminism through Women’s Use of CEDAW’ (2005) Vol 9 Singapore Yearbook ofInternational Law.II