A/HRC/41/43 14. The Working Group’s consultations confirmed that sexual harassment and genderbased violence is pervasive in all walks of life: at home, in educational institutions, at work, in sports, in markets, in public transport, in social gatherings, in cyberspace and in the community generally. Consultations revealed that demands for sexual favours in return for better work conditions are common and that sexual violence by security guards in the extractive industry is an endemic problem. Yet, of 189 examined economies, 45 do not have laws on domestic violence and 59 do not have laws protecting women from sexual harassment at work. 22 Multiple barriers, including fears of social stigmatization, job loss and further victimization, discourage women from reporting sexual harassment and genderbased violence. 15. In marketing and delivering products and services, many businesses tend to perpetuate gender stereotypes, normalize discriminatory social norms and objectify and sexualize women’s bodies, resulting in the commodification of women. The digital manipulation of women’s images in advertisements to create an unrealistic ideal of beauty, which puts pressure on women to use excessive cosmetics, resort to unhealthy dieting or undergo plastic surgery, illustrates this. 23 In some extreme forms, businesses play a role in trafficking of women for sexual exploitation, 24 including for production of pornography. 16. Women also tend to experience a disproportionate impact on their human rights in conflicts and post-conflict situations,25 settings that businesses may operate in, contribute to or benefit from. For instance, in conflicts, sexual violence is used as a tool to show male power and dominance. In addition, the adverse impacts on women’s human rights in conflicts are not meaningfully addressed in peacebuilding and transitional justice responses because women’s experiences are not adequately considered. 17. As trade and investment policies are often gender-neutral, they tend to exacerbate existing discrimination against women. Adverse impacts of the exploitation of natural resources, tax evasion, austerity measures 26 and the privatization of public services 27 are also experienced by women differently and disproportionately. Moreover, the “fourth industrial revolution” might affect women more adversely if regulatory responses are not gender-responsive, for example, as a result of automation of tasks that are predominantly conducted by women currently. 28 18. The impacts of environmental pollution, climate change and land acquisition are not gender-neutral either. If a water source is polluted by a business activity, this may mean a longer walk every day for the affected women in a rural area to fetch potable water. Similarly, when land is acquired for infrastructure and mining projects, or to build a dam, women dependent on such land for their livelihood and/or subsistence are rarely consulted or involved specifically in the decision-making processes. Consequently, they might not receive a fair share in the development project nor receive compensation for loss of livelihood. 19. Women affected adversely by business activities face additional barriers in seeking access to effective remedies.29 Even if affected women are able to access certain judicial, non-judicial or operational-level mechanisms, they are unable to enforce suitable remedies, because these remedial mechanisms typically adopt gender-neutral processes or, worse, operate within existing patriarchal norms. 20. Women human rights defenders – who play a vital role in challenging businessrelated human rights abuses and promoting and protecting human rights, including the right 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2018 (Washington, D.C.), pp. 19–20. See generally A/HRC/32/44, paras. 65–66. A/67/261, paras. 9–11. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/PeaceAndSecurity.aspx. See A/73/179. Danish Institute for Human Rights, Women in Business, pp. 32–40. See Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Women, Automation, and the Future of Work (2019). A/72/162, para. 30; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women’s access to justice, paras. 3, 8–10 and 13. 5