UN Consultation on dismantling gender stereotypes

LGB International has made a submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Draft on their General Recommendation No. 41 on Dismantling Gender Stereotypes and the Unequal Power Relations that Sustain Them.

Our submission focuses on a complete contradiction in the UN’s position. On the one hand it says, correctly, that gender means the characteristics and stereotypes falsely associated with women (and men) and used to control women’s behaviour and restrict their freedom. However, it also speaks about gender expression and claims that “Gender expression refers to the outward and public ways in which a person manifests their gender to society. It concerns how someone ‘performs’ or displays their gender”. This treats gender as natural or innate characteristics and therefore something which cannot be challenged. It also allows the UN to include men in the category of women if we reduce women down to “gender expressions”. We call on the CEDAW to resolve this contradiction.