Gender
‘To every human rights violation there is a gender element.’
(Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan)
Members of minorities and indigenous communities often suffer from marginalisation or discrimination. Minorities and indigenous peoples are frequently stereotyped by majority communities but the effects of this discrimination can be different for women and men. For example, stereotypes of the Batwa community as immoral and possessing magical powers have lead to a general perception that sex with a Batwa woman cures backache. This results in increased risk of rape and HIV infection for Batwa women across the Great Lakes region of Africa. Gendered racial discrimination can also negatively affect minority boys; for example, in the US and UK, black boys may be perceived as unruly or disruptive and are disciplined or expelled from school in disproportionate numbers.
Although men are affected, frequently it is minority and indigenous women who experience the most disadvantages as a result of both their belonging to a minority or indigenous group and their sex.
- Minority and indigenous girls tend to have lower rates of school enrolment, higher dropout rates and lower literacy levels than minority and indigenous boys, majority girls and majority boys
- They frequently have higher levels of unemployment or are paid less for their labour than both minority men and majority men and women
- Minority and indigenous women and girls are vulnerable to sexual violence from majority men (especially during ethnic or religious conflicts), targeted as way of humiliating minority men whose role is seen to be protecting ‘their’ women
Minority or indigenous women can face discrimination from outside the community from majority men and women and also from within the community from minority men.
What is gender?
Gender captures the ascribed, social nature of distinctions between women and men – the cultural baggage or signifiers associated with biological sex. ‘Gender’ draws attention to aspects of social relations that are not based on differences based on sex, but are rooted in cultures and attitudes which are socially constructed and can accordingly change over time.
Intersectional discrimination
This occurs when an individual experiences discrimination on more than one ground – eg sex, race, age, disability, sexual orientation, class. These multiple levels of discrimination intersect and reinforce each other resulting in increased negative impacts on the individual.