Legal guarantees of women's cultural and social rights

Abstract

Women's rights are part of the human rights that cannot separate from it, therefore, the protection of these rights means the protection of society. Moreover, the defense of women's rights is necessary to deter all forms of abuse or violence against women. Accordingly, community’s views of women are different according to the nature and culture of these communities and the extent of their advancement. Where it is widely accepted, that the development of societies can be measured by the extent to which women enjoy rights, especially in social and cultural aspects, which are no less important than civil and political rights of women. In this regard, international conventions have played a major role in promoting equality between men and women in social and cultural rights, because the discrimination against women is considered as a violation of the principle of equal rights as well as a violation of the human dignity. In Iraq, Iraqi women faced great suffering related to discrimination between them and men in the Iraqi constitutions before 2003. However, the current Iraqi constitution of 2005 includes many texts that recognize women's rights and freedoms which are classified according to the social perspective and citizenship rights. But Iraqi laws were uneven in the protection of women's social and cultural rights, as some of these laws have destroyed some of these rights, such as the Iraqi Penal Code and the Personal Status Code.