Revue des arts et des sciences sociales

Examining Women’s Right in a Multicultural World: The Case of China and Ghana

Abstract

Shirley Ayangbah

Perhaps, after the horrific horrors from the Second World War, the twentieth century lightened the world on the darkness of cruelty against humanity. A growing concern that every human being was important and deserved better grew in the hearts of many people of the world. This resulted in the birth of Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) which defined the content of human rights and was adopted on December 1948 by the United Nations (UN). The UN was committed to promote and respect the rights of every living soul. However, the UDHR didn’t quickly spread to cover the rights of women in the world as various forms of discrimination still persisted against women. But it is with the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in December 1979 that universal standards were set for Women’s equality. After CEDAW, the discrimination against women has immensely reduced. But there still exist some forms of discrimination against women in societies. Some groups of women face extra forms of discrimination based on their ethnicity, age, nationality, health status, religion, disability, socioeconomic status, marital status, education, among others. UN and other International Agencies have fought tirelessly to improve women’s rights in the world, but there still remain some gaps. Women’s right which includes economic, social, cultural, political, and civil has been greatly improved in most parts of the world. Women’s participation in political and economic activities is seen everywhere in the world although it differs from one country to another. To this end, this paper seeks to examine women’s right in a world of different cultures. The paper makes close reference to China and Ghana.