UNESCO Report: Gender Equality, Heritage and Creativity
2014 :: 158 pages
ISBN 978-92-3-100050-8
Report pdf: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002294/229418e.pdf

[From overview]
Women have been particularly marginalized from cultural life. They face many barriers to access, contribute and participate equally in theatre, cinema, arts, music and heritage, which prevents them from developing their full potential and impedes social and inclusive sustainable development.

The UNESCO report on Gender Equality, Heritage and Creativity demonstrates the need to enhance debate, research and awareness-raising regarding equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for women and men, girls and boys in the areas of heritage and creativity. The report points out symptoms encountered in other areas of socio-economic life: limited participation of women in decision-making positions; discrimination in certain activities; restricted opportunities for continuing education, capacity building and networking; women’s unequal share of unpaid care work, poor conditions of employment (e.g. part-time, contract or informal work) as well as gender stereotypes and fixed ideas about culturally appropriate roles for men and women, not necessarily based on the consent of those involved.

Initiated by the Culture Sector of UNESCO, the report brings together for the first time research, policies, case studies and existing statistics on gender equality and empowerment of women, conducted by the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations in the field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed, by government officials, research groups, think tanks, academics, artists and heritage professionals. This report includes recommendations in the areas of heritage and creativity for governments, policy makers and the larger international community.

Report Conclusions
[Excerpts]
This report provides evidence and suggestions for further action on how gender equality and culture can be mutually reinforcing and serve to achieve positive social transformations with benefits for everyone. As a driver and an enabler of sustainable development, culture determines the way in which individuals and communities understand the world, and envisage and shape their future. Building a better future, in particular concerning the post-2015 development framework, requires strategies that ensure that both women and men have equal rights and opportunities to fully and actively participate in all spheres of cultural life.
As such, this report sought to contribute to the growing body of evidence of the importance of culture for inclusive, sustainable and human-rights based development. Adding a gender lens to this evidence is critical at a time when the international community debates the new development architecture that will replace the existing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and that gender equality will likely be a stand-alone goal in the post-2015 development framework. This report is a reminder that the human rights normative framework in place, including UNESCO’s culture conventions, offer a strong platform, based on international consensus, for governments, the international community and civil society to work together to ensure that cultural practices are in harmony with human rights, including women’s rights.

This represents the first global stock take and reflection by UNESCO of the rich albeit complex relationship between culture and gender equality through a focus on the two pillars of creativity and heritage. Gender issues permeate all areas of cultural life: as the DNA of communities,

culture provides a unique space where gender roles and social norms are constantly questioned, challenged as well as reinforced and reimagined…

The gender diagnosis of heritage and creativity identifies symptoms that are familiar in other areas of socioeconomic life: limited participation of women in decision-making positions (the “glass ceiling”); segregation into certain activities (‘glass walls’); restricted opportunities for ongoing training, capacity-building and networking; women’s unequal share of unpaid care work; poor employment conditions (part-time, contractual work, informality, etc.) as well as gender stereotypes and fixed ideas about culturally appropriate roles for women and men, not necessarily based on the consent of those concerned. Lack of sex-disaggregated cultural data is a factor concealing the gender gaps and challenges from policy-makers and decision-makers…

To conclude, the report calls for culture and gender equality to be seen as partners for inclusive, sustainable and human rights-based development. It raises the challenge for the international community of ensuring that policies and measures aim to reinforce and strengthen the mutually reinforcing nexus between gender equality and culture. Gender-responsive and transformative approaches can better support international cooperation efforts to safeguard heritage and foster creativity for future generations. This requires recognizing the full potential of women and girls as agents of change and for societies everywhere to support the empowerment of all their citizens as wellsprings for innovative, dynamic and sustainable development…