Definition of Gender

WORLD : UNITED NATIONS

2018

Comments to the Draft Crimes Against Humanity Convention

24 Special Rapporteurs, Chair-Rapporteurs and Independent Experts express their concern to the International Law Commission regarding art. 3(3) of the draft of the CAH which gives a definition of gender based on the outdated and opaque definition of gender from the Rome Statue which states “it is understood that the term gender refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society”. The authors of the comments underline that international human rights law recognizes gender as the social attributes associated with being male and female, an evolving social and ideological construct that justifies inequality and provides a means to categorize, order and symbolize power relations. Accordingly, gender should not be confused with sex. They usefully give fourteen examples of their use of gender in their thematic reports. They conclude their comments by asking the International Law Commission either to remove the definition of gender in art. 3(3) of the draft or to insist on the social construction of gender.
Direct link to the comments (ohchr.org)