Women’s Rights and Citizenship (
WRC) is a new program of
IDRC,
launched on April 1
st, 2006, and aimed at supporting applied research
in the field of women’s rights, citizenship and development. Part of
IDRC’s Social and
Economy Policy (SEP) program area, the
WRC program contributes to
bringing Southern voices into current debates in the international gender and
development field.
The
WRC vision is
that of a just world where women in the South have a sense of self that includes
citizenship and the right to have rights; where all individuals have equitable
access to justice and the opportunity to participate meaningfully in democratic
decision-making; and where there is no discrimination based on gender in
realizing the full range of one’s rights and freedoms, including economic rights
and sexual and reproductive rights. In order to contribute to this broad
vision, the
WRC’s
mission is to support research on women’s rights and citizenship that uses
gender and social analysis and focuses on the needs of poor and marginalized
women in the South; that utilizes methodologies that are empowering to
participants; and that engages meaningfully with decision-makers and policy
debates, with a view to effecting change.
Although there have been notable gains for women globally in the last few
decades, gender inequality and gender-based inequities continue to impinge upon
girls’ and women’s ability to realize their rights and their full potential as
citizens and equal partners in the development of their communities. While
a variety of legal instruments commit the international community and individual
states to uphold women’s rights, the commitments made internationally are not
adequately acknowledged in national laws or practice. States have often
lacked the will or the knowledge to implement them, and where basic human rights
do exist in domestic laws, many women lack the freedom and the means to claim
them. As a result, for every right that has been established, there are
millions of women who do not enjoy it.
There is a need for social science research to investigate why, where and
how the implementation of formal gains in gender equality and equity in
development has fallen short of expectations and commitments, and to propose
concrete steps for redress. While priority issues vary between and within
regions, Women’s Rights and Citizenship will concentrate on the following
five thematic entry points:
- women’s citizenship and governance
- access to justice
- sexual and reproductive rights
- economic rights
- migration
The common thread linking these areas of research is the concept of
citizenship, understood not only as a status or identity, but also and
importantly, as a practice and a process through the exercise and claiming of
rights, and through participation in governance and civil society.
WRC will work to
promote concrete changes in policies, institutions and practices – both by
working with civil society groups and researchers to open spaces for public
discussion, and where feasible, by supporting our partners to engage directly
with national women’s machineries and other ministries to advocate for change.
For further information, please email
us.