International legal standards of women's rights: genesis and current state

Golovinov Aleksandr Viktorovich ORCID: 0000-0001-8493-2902 PhD in Philosophy Golovinov Alexander - Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Constitutional and International Law, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Lenin str., 61 alex-golovinov@mail.ru

Golovinova Yuliya Vladimirovna ORCID: 0000-0001-6190-4511 PhD in History Golovinova Yulia - Candidate of Historical Sciences Associate Professor, Department of Law and Methods of Teaching Socio-Economic Disciplines, Altai State Pedagogical University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, M. Prudskoy str., 48A yu.golovinova@mail.ru

 Introduction

The international legal consolidation and comprehensive development of the principle of gender equality and the system of women's rights derived from it had, as is known, for the period after the Second World War.

Having passed a long way of formation, international legal standards for the rights of female representatives have found clear consolidation in numerous acts of the United Nations.

At the same time, this process is not exhaustive at the present time. The constructions of legal equality of the sexes are constantly being improved. Therefore, in order to understand the vectors of modern legal innovations in the sphere of increasingly ensuring the rights of female representatives, it seems relevant to turn to the genesis of the formation of the source base of the so-called international legal standards of women's rights. It also seems to us that the relevance of the study of gender issues, often directly reduced to a system of ensuring measures for the totality of women's rights as the most vulnerable group in society, is due to the fact that there is no consensus on the definition of gender equality at the universal international legal level. In the modern science of international law, the problem of the "women's issue" also remains debatable. Both in the domestic and foreign doctrine of international public law, studies of the problems of ensuring and implementing international standards of women's rights remain relevant ^[1-4].

Results and their discussion So, turning to the historical genesis of the inclusion of women's rights in the letter of international legal acts, we note that the normative function of the UN was of key importance for the implementation of the policy of gender equality and the protection of women's rights.

Since 1945, that is, from the very moment of the formation of this authoritative international organization, in addition to law-making, the UN has also secured a control function that allows monitoring the bona fide implementation of contractual obligations assumed by various states.

The decisive struggle against gender asymmetry came at the initial stage of the formation of an organization that aims at world peace. By the mid-1940s, the UN included 51 national states. It is noteworthy that only 30 of them granted political and, in particular, electoral rights to women. Therefore, already at the first couple of the formation of the principle of gender equality, it was found that the tilt of asymmetry tends towards the vulnerable position of female representatives. The situation in which women could not fill government posts at the same level as men turned out to be egregious ^[5]. Therefore, there was an objective need to consolidate the category of "women's rights" in international documents.

Doctrinally, the international legislator did not consider women's rights in isolation from men's and provided for the construction of equal identical rights for representatives of both sexes. It is noteworthy, for example, if we turn to Article 3 of the UN Charter, we will see the very first universal international legal provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. From the perspective of the universal development of human rights, the role of the UN in international cooperation was also indicated. As follows from the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, this role is revealed "in the promotion and development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction ..., gender ..." (Article 3) ^[6]. As we can see, the category of "women's rights" is directly related to the priority of human rights and the denial of any discriminatory actions. Later, in 1948, in the famous act – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they finally consolidated and proclaimed "the equality of all people from birth in their dignity and rights without any distinction, including with regard to gender" (Article 2).In the future, UN experts have repeatedly recorded a problem in the "women's issue".

At this time, in particular, almost total illiteracy of the female population was recorded. This circumstance was regarded as a brake and a serious obstacle to emancipation. In addition, as the modern author notes, women of the post-war period of the history of the state and law received only 1/10 of all total income and owned 1/10 of all total property ^[7].

Of course, these circumstances have further pushed the UN to develop and concretize "women's rights" in the context of the right to education, family and maternity protection and broad economic rights. The progressive detailing of the construction of the rights of female representatives became the culmination in the 1960s. Finally, women's rights were consolidated in a whole group of documents.

In this sense, such international legal acts as the "Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on December sixteenth, 1966 ^[8], as well as the "Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights", which has been in force since December nineteenth, 1966, have acquired fundamental importance ^[9]. Even a cursory hermeneutic analysis of these universal contractual acts makes it possible to fix the inadmissibility of discriminatory actions based on gender differences.

Thus, a whole base of international legal standards has been created, which logically includes the noted international Covenants and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

At the same time, in the 1950s, specialized international regulations were actively developed and adopted for the development of women's rights. Of particular importance is the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, adopted by the UN General Assembly. By the way, our state was one of the first to adopt this document into its own legal system by an act of ratification. Referring to the text of the Convention, one can see the proclamation of women's suffrage. Also, in the system of political rights of representatives of the beautiful half of humanity, the opportunity to hold positions in public and public service was secured. As we can see, further emphasis on the prohibition of any discrimination has continued.

Implementing a consistent strategy for the development of legislation on women's rights, the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women was adopted in 1957. It is quite clear that here the category of "women's rights" perfectly correlates with the Institute of family and maternity protection. The Convention contains three main provisions concerning the nationality of a married woman. Citizenship is not subject to automatic change upon a woman's marriage, dissolution of marriage or change of citizenship by her husband during marriage. The acquisition by the husband of the citizenship of another State is not an obstacle for the wife to retain her citizenship. Also, a foreign wife has the right to obtain her husband's citizenship in a special simplified procedure, if the granting of such citizenship does not contradict the interests of state security or public order ^[10]. 

A qualitatively new stage in the development of international regulation of women's rights occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. Of particular note is the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of 1967. Subsequently, the act in question was transformed into a conventional source ^[11].

The Convention explicitly enshrines the concept of "discrimination", in particular in relation to women. According to Article 1 of the Convention, "any distinction, exclusion or restriction based on gender that is aimed at weakening or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, regardless of their marital status, on the basis of equality of men and women, human rights and fundamental freedoms in political, economic, social, cultural, civil and any other area" ^[11].

In the text of this document, women's rights are traditionally considered in the context of the relationship with anti-discrimination regulations. Thus, part 3 of Article 2 of the Convention establishes "the legal protection of women's rights on an equal basis with men." For the first time, the normative content of this source defined the elimination of any manifestations, and even latent forms of discrimination. It can be considered significant that the analyzed legal act clearly established the legal responsibility of the States that ratified the Convention. Such guarantees were the very first obvious example of legalizing mechanisms and means of protecting the entire range of women's rights. However, as the authoritative scientist S.V. Polenina notes, these regulations do not work effectively in the national legal system in all countries. "For almost a century," the modern author states, "since then, our country has not only not moved forward on this issue, but has also given way to many other states" ^[12].

Further steps and initiatives to achieve gender equality and women's rights have already occurred in the new millennium. Thus, in the summer of 2000, the United Nations prepared and organized a specialized project "Women in 2000: gender equality, development and peace in the XXI century". This project was highlighted and a session was held in June of this year ^[13]. As a result of the work of the New York session, it was decided to establish a Commission on the Legal and socio-economic status of Women. The human rights activities of this organization have now acquired a permanent basis. Currently, sessions are held annually.

Thus, the vector of the latest approach to the international legal regulation of the institution of women's rights is constructive attempts to strengthen the legal status of women in modern society. The experience of the 59th session of the Commission is noteworthy. The outcome of the commission's work culminated in the adoption of a Political Declaration dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Thus, since March 2015, the Governments of the States participating in the session have committed to accelerate the implementation and full effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. During the events, a declarative strategy was developed suggesting that by 2030 equality of men and women will be ensured in all spheres of life. 

In addition, the leitmotif of the implementation of modern approaches to improving the legal status of female representatives was the official announcement and proclamation of the UN of the XXI century as the century of democracy and women. In fact, the international legal standards of women's rights have not radically changed their normative content at the present time.

Currently, a special role in ensuring women's rights is played by a specially established in 2010 structural unit under the auspices of the United Nations – "UN-Women". Having set a goal to improve the situation of female representatives, this structure is guided by the principle that gender equality is at the very heart of human rights and humanistic values of the UN. Thus, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, in her report in March 2021, noted the main directions of the latest approach in international legal ensuring gender equality. The following were attributed to the system of activities of the noted international organization: transformation and transformation of laws, elimination of gender-based violence, promotion of equal participation of women and men in all spheres of life, etc. ^[14]. 

It is obvious that the progressive movement of political and legal emancipation of women continues in the general tone of tactics and constructions of international legal regulation of human rights, which started in the previous century. All the most precious achievements in the field of women's rights vt. gender. The XX century. The United Nations is systematically and consistently developing in its activities.

In particular, the repeatedly identified problems of the economic situation of representatives of the female population are actively trying to solve today. UN Chief Ban Ki-moon at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2016 announced the creation of a high-level Group to address the implementation of, in particular, women's economic rights. It was stated that this group will take a number of measures aimed at eliminating gender inequality prevailing throughout the world.

At the same time, difficulties in the difficult task of implementing and ensuring international standards of women's rights for objective reasons arose in connection with the COVID-19 Pandemic. The current UN Secretary–General Antonio Guterres, during 2020 - 2021, undisguisedly stated that the pandemic had seriously exposed and exacerbated the problem of gender inequality. UN experts have stated that women and girls have felt the socio-economic consequences of a cornovirus infection much more strongly.

Diverse UN agencies operating in the field of human rights, such as the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, began to carry out their activities taking into account the unfavorable situation. As the director of the Heidelberg Institute notes  Professor A. Peters, Max Planck, emphasized the principle of unity and indivisibility of all human rights in the work of these bodies, the legal requirements for declaring a state of emergency by national governments were voiced ^[15]. As can be seen, the strategy of international legal regulation of human rights is being considered today in accordance with the need to combat pandemics based on the comprehensive protection of human rights. However, from the point of view of a domestic researcher  The UN Security Council, which has experience in recognizing epidemics as a threat to peace and security, reacted with a delay caused by the sensitivity of the permanent members. ^[16]. Despite the obvious difference in the assessments of the activities of the United Nations structures in ensuring human rights and women's rights as the most vulnerable group in an epidemiological situation, the focus of the formal legal approach can be noted that the adoption by the UN General Assembly of resolution 74/270 of April 2, 2020 determined the key role of the UN in the fight against the pandemic, taking into account the need to respect human rights.

ConclusionSumming up the above, it can be stated that since the second half of the XX century, the process of developing international legal acts in the field of women's rights protection has developed in the world community.

Progress in determining the essence and content of women's rights proceeded naturally and evolutionarily. International conventions and covenants in this area have been progressively adopted. Ultimately, women were equalized in rights with men. Anti-discrimination international legislation was actively developed. On the way to achieving gender equality on a global scale, international acts increasingly required States to implement the principles of equality of men and women in their constitutions and the current legal system.

The current state of international legal regulation of the institute of women's rights as a whole is developing according to the scenario laid down in the vt. gender. XX century . In modern international human rights law, as well as in the law-making and human rights activities of the UN, there is a tendency to more detailed regulation of certain social, economic, cultural, political and other rights of women on a democratic basis.