A/67/287 I. Introduction 1. Resolutions 10/23 and 19/6 of the Human Rights Council, establishing, initially as an independent expert, and renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, recognize the right of everyone to take part in cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its application. Both resolutions recall that no one may invoke cultural diversity to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law or limit their scope, and call for the integration of a gender perspective into the work of the Special Rapporteur. The present report focuses on existing challenges to and opportunities for ensuring the right of women and girls to take part in cultural life on the basis of equality. 2. The notion that culture is restricted to certain areas of life, in particular those areas unregulated by the State, and that it is of greater relevance in some societies than in others is a misconception. Culture permeates all human activities and institutions, including legal systems, in all societies across the world. Culture is created, contested and recreated within the social praxis of diverse groups interacting in economic, social and political arenas. It is manifested in individual and collective self-expression, understanding and practices. Delinking culture from the historical processes and contexts in which it is embedded essentializes cultures, which are then presumed to be static and immutable, homogenous and monolithic, apolitical and detached from prevailing power relations. 1 3. Gender, culture and rights intersect in intricate and complex ways. The tendency to view culture as largely an impediment to women’s human rights is both oversimplistic and problematic. By attributing self-propelling agency to “culture” independent of the actions of human beings, it diverts attention from specific actors, institutions, rules and regulations, keeping women subordinated within patriarchal systems and structures. It also renders invisible women’s agency in both reproducing and challenging dominant cultural norms and values. Nevertheless, many practices and norms that discriminate against women are justified by reference to culture, religion and tradition, leading experts to conclude that “no social group has suffered greater violation of its human rights in the name of culture than women” 2 and that it is “inconceivable” that a number of such practices “would be justified if they were predicated upon another protected classification such as race”. 3 The use of discourses of cultural relativism to challenge the universal legitimacy and applicability of human rights norms is a serious concern (A/HRC/4/34, in particular paras. 19, 42 and 68). 4. The Special Rapporteur wishes to stress that “the critical issue, from the human rights perspective, is not whether and how religion, culture and tradition prevail over women’s human rights, but how to arrive at a point at which women __________________ 1 2 3 4 See, in particular, Uma Narayan, “Essence of Culture and a Sense of History: A Feminist Critique of Cultural Essentialism”, Hypatia, vol. 13, No. 2 (Spring 1998) and the report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences (A/HRC/4/34), para. 6. Arati Rao, “The Politics of Gender and Culture in International Human Rights Discourse”, in Women’s Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives, Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper, eds. (New York and London, Routledge, 1994), p. 167. Berta Esperanza Hernández-Truyol, “Out of the Shadows: Traversing the Imaginary of Sameness, Difference and Relationalism — A Human Rights Proposal”, Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal, vol. XVII, No. 1 (Spring 2002), p. 142. 12-45930