In a pivotal vote in the right-dominated Senate on Wednesday, the French government’s attempt to codify the “freedom” to have an abortion in the constitution is to be challenged. Last year, President Emmanuel Macron promised to include the right to an abortion which has been lawful in France since 1974 in the constitution following the US Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to remove the procedure’s 50-year legal protection and provide states the authority to outlaw or restrict abortion. Making abortion a “guaranteed freedom” was approved by an overwhelming majority of both left-wing opposition parties and members of Macron’s centrist minority alliance in late January’s lower chamber of the National Assembly of France.
The Urgency of awareness
The Senate, which is dominated by the right, must still support the idea since a number of influential senators are against the reform. A joint vote of both houses of parliament on amending the constitution may only take place next month if the upper house accepts the government’s precise language on Wednesday afternoon. If not, it will be returned to the National Assembly for more discussion.
Every human being is “born free and equal in dignity and rights,” according to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, regardless of gender, everyone has the right to liberty, dignity, and equal rights. However, discrimination against women and girls persists, and these human rights are gravely violated on a daily basis, everywhere in the globe. In addition to having less or no access to healthcare and being disregarded when it comes to land or property ownership, women are more likely than males to be impoverished and live in need.
Patterns of oppression
Human rights are privileges bestowed upon us just for being human. These don’t depend on things like gender, nationality, skin tone, or religion, for instance. That is to say, they are applicable to everyone, making them universal. The basic right to life is one of these human rights, along with the rights to food, health, employment, education, and liberty. Human rights include rights for women.
Since women are human, they should have the same basic rights as men, including the ability to vote, an education, a life free from violence, and a decent salary. But because they are women and girls, a large number of people around the world are not granted the human rights to which they are entitled. Globally, not a single nation has attained gender justice yet. Women are putting their lives at danger all across the world by standing up for their rights. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and it consists of thirty articles. Different freedoms and rights are established by these articles, and they all have the same standing.
Backlash against Progress
Following the atrocities of World War II, the world community aimed to provide all individuals with full protection, irrespective of their gender, socioeconomic position, national and ethnic origins, religion, or political beliefs, by establishing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Fundamental political, economic, social, and cultural rights are established by the declaration. Among these are the freedoms from violence and discrimination, the ownership of property, the right to vote, the right to health care and education, and the right to equal compensation for equal labor. Unmistakably, the goal of the first international accord to ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was to establish legal equality for men and women. But achieving this goal was still a long way off.
Attacks on women activists
Women were not inherently included in the early human rights declarations, such as the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Since the French word “homme” at the time meant “man,” and since men had to be active citizens by definition, only males were entitled to these early civic and human rights. Women did not deserve equal rights since they were not viewed as having equal value. The male writers of the declaration did not think it necessary to include them in the civil rights since they were seen to be a part of the personal realm. Before long, opposition to the rights reserved for males was being voiced.
Wrap Up
In conclusion, the voices included those of the first women’s clubs, founded during the French Revolution, who were now calling for women to be given the same rights as men, including the ability to vote and full citizenship. Olympe de Gouges, a feminist, was one of the founding members. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, she stated, “Woman is born free and remains equal to man in rights.”
