Political Science

It has been for long perceived by very many people that women rights are an issue only in typical religious countries where religion is law. Other still, to make it worse perceive women rights as not being a major issue. However, going contrary to theses beliefs, women rights are a very important issue in the contemporary world used as a measure of the comprehension of the global well being of mankind. Gardam (1998), states that human rights reports indicate how womens rights have not been observed. In some countries, though women rights policies may be present, they are changed in such a way that at the final end they are still violated. Religion and traditional beliefs has been a major barrier to the implementation of womens rights. Some governments though they have implemented women rights policies, are not honoring their promises. In other countries, these rights are greatly upheld (Gardam, 1998). The United States is a very good example of the countries that have upheld the womens rights. Though womens rights policies are being established in every corner of the world, they are still faced by a major challenge of violation.

Violation of women rights
According to Gardam (1998), women in the past and also the modern world have been faced by a lot of circumstances that violate their rights. Some of these include being denied a chance to participate in decision making for matters that directly affect them, lack of fair political representation, denied ownership of property, poor working conditions and wages, domestic violence, and restricted provision of basic amenities

Violation of womens rights at the work place
Women have in the past constituted the highest percentage of the most hardworking people. The type of work done by women ranges from simple office work to the very difficult household chores. A lot of agricultural products in the world market are produced by women, yet they have been receiving little if any credit for this. The world has adopted a trend of giving women jobs that are of low status as compared to men. The types of jobs that have been in the past assigned to women are more precarious with few social benefits and little security. As a result, a lot of women end up being underpaid (Pickup, Williams, and Sweetman, 2001).

Violation of womens rights in property ownership
According to Benschop (2004), women have not only been earning less as compared to men but also have owned few assets. Financial house hold constraints and little salaries have both contributed to lack of capital to invest by women. Traditions have been the major hindering block for ownership of properties by women. Many traditions do not allow inheritance of properties by women. In some communities, if a woman owned something before she was married, that property automatically becomes her husbands property the moment they get married. This greatly violates the rights of women to own property (Benschop, 2004).

Gender discrimination
According to Pickup, Williams, and Sweetman (2001), gender discrimination in some communities starts even before a child is born. Some of these communities have greater preference for boys than girls. As a result, they end up killing girls before they are born. Others still do not educate their daughters. During adolescence, the girl child in some community experiences a lot of violence. These range from female genital mutilation, premature marriage, sexual abuse and trafficking. During their old age, women suffer in the hands of abusive men and governments that at times do not look at their plight. Poverty, a major human disaster is mostly experienced by women (Pickup, Williams, and Sweetman, 2001).

Womens rights
The basic human rights of women are addressed in the treaty for the rights of women. They are aimed at reducing brutality and prejudice against the girl child. They do this by ensuring the girl child has equal access to all basic requirements in life as the boy child. These requirements include proper health provision, quality education and security from any form of abuse. Women rights have been a major tool for use by women in the world in the process of fighting against violence and discrimination. Some of the womens rights include reproductive rights, gender equality, right to choose to stay at home, right to security,
Reproductive rights

According to Gandhi (2003), it is the rights of women to be allowed to participate in matters of family planning, healthcare and other reproductive health related matters. The government should make sure this right is upheld by providing more health facilities that will attend to womens matters pertaining reproductive health. David (2004), states that the Government should also develop policies that do not hinder improvement of women health and family planning.  In a family setting, a woman should be given a chance to contribute in family planning. This will play a very great role in minimizing poverty mostly brought about by a large number of children. Allowing women to access to information on reproduction will enable them make concrete decisions in family planning. This will greatly help the government in controlling population growth. The freedom of women to control their reproduction according to Gandhi (2003) is a great contributor to socioeconomic success of not only the family but also the government. It is the right of women to be accorded security towards sexual and workplace harassment, sexual assault and matrimonial harassment. Women have the right to choose their partner. In case of an unplanned pregnancy, a woman has the right to decline and refuse any coercion to have an abortion from her partner or any other person (Gandhi, 2003).

Gender equality
Women have in the past faced discrimination and disempowerment in all aspects of their life. Considering the fact they play the major part in child rearing, this disempowerment have negatively affected the well being of children and the whole community. Observance of gender equality has great benefits to both women and children, these benefits later trickle to the community. Families should empower women in order to overcome poverty and increase general productivity of the family. Empowering women will give children a chance to live to their potential. Development of productive families will in turn lead to growth and development of the nation (Gandhi, 2003).

There are three major sectors of life where gender equality is a major issue. These are household, work place, and political sectors. According to David (2004), universal declaration of human rights affirms that women should be given equal chances to take part in economic, social, and political development. Women should also be given an equal share of the developments of the world. It is the right of women to have equal access to employment as well as equal salary for the same job. The presence of women in the work place should not be generally regarded as gender equality. Gender equality requires that women be given the same jobs as men if they have the qualifications required. Promotion of gender equality and empowering women will play a major role in the attainment of other development goals like alleviation of hunger, reduction of childrens death, improvement of maternal health, tackling of HIVAIDS pandemic, and safeguarding the environment (Pickup, Williams, and Sweetman, 2001).

Right for women to choose to stay home
Women have achieved a lot in their fight to integrate the labor force. However, this does not mean that all women should be forced to work against their wish. Women have the right to choose whether to join the labor force and provide for the family or not. If a woman chooses to stay at home, it does not give her partner the mandate to mistreat her or take her work for granted. Even if the household work is not paid for, she has the right to this lifestyle as long as it is fulfilling to her (Gardam, 1998).

Political rights for women
Davis and Go (2009), states that women have the right to stand for election and to vote. The issue of gender equality has been politicized so much by men who see women as a threat to their political gains. This makes gender equality a very sensitive political matter. It has been proposed that in order to have equal representation of women in the political arena, some seats should be reserved for them. However, this has raised a major debate as to whether seats should be reserved for them or let them battle it out with men in the field. Some argue that if women are for gender equality, then why accept reservation of some positions (Davis and Go, 2009).

Governments mandate to fight against discrimination towards women
The governments around the globe have undertaken the responsibility of ensuring that women human rights are upheld and all forms of gender discrimination are abolished. The government makes sure that it supports the implementation of the exciting human rights frameworks in order to ensure that the rights are impacted and realized. It is the mandate of the government to take special consideration on vulnerable groups particularly the poor women. The government has the mandate of ensuring that all frameworks that respond to cases of violation of womens human rights are working. It is the duty of the government to make and respect policies that uphold gender equality (David, 2004).

Conclusion
It is high time people stopped perceiving womens human rights as an issue only in typical religious countries and realize how important the matter is in our day to day life. Human rights policies though they have been implemented by numerous countries, much need to be done to ensure these policies are followed to the latter. Some governments and countries like the United States though have done a commendable job concerning womens rights. Womens rights have suffered violation at work place, at home, in property ownership and gender discrimination. Much has been done in order to reclaim the lost glory of womens rights in terms of fighting for gender equality, reproductive rights political freedom and rights to make their own decision. The government has not been left behind in the process of implementing womens human rights. The government has implemented policies that make sure women are not discriminated by men in whatever circle of life.