Women’s rights are human rights. Women are humans, so women and girls are due the same fundamental rights, such as education, a life free of violence, a fair wage, or the vote. However, worldwide there are many humans being denied the human rights they are entitled to, simply because they are women and girls. Not a single country in the world has yet achieved gender justice. In many places, women are risking their lives by speaking up to assert their rights. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations drew up a resolution in 1948 which is intended to ensure the greatest possible protection of all human beings - without restriction or, as the Declaration states, "without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." This of course includes the prohibition of discrimination against people perceived as women. Yet every day, all over the world, women experience the most serious violations of these human rights: violence in the family, by an intimate partner or at work, denial of sexual and reproductive rights, forced marriages, trafficking of women, forced prostitution, targeted abortion of female fetus. In addition, discrimination against women leads to unequal chances in life: the female half of the population worldwide generally receives lower wages than the male half. Women often have no access to land, although they are the ones who mainly cultivate it. In many countries, girls attend school less often and for a shorter period than boys. If there is not enough food on the table, it is women and girls who eat at the end. Women are often not involved when decisions are made – in the family or in the community. In many cases, they are not even allowed to decide about their own bodies - the right to family planning and free choice of partners is denied to many. In recent years, improvements have been achieved in the discriminatory treatment of women in many countries of the world, but in general, women's access to education, health and politics has even deteriorated worldwide.
