United Nations (UN) Charter of 1945 was the first international document to inscribe the equal rights of men and women as part of fundamental human rights. This foundation of gender equality in UN charter can be attributed to Bertha Lutz, an exceptional Brazilian diplomat.
Born in Sao Paulo in 1894, Bertha Lutz was a Brazilian diplomat and Zoologist. She was sent to the conference by president Getulio Vargas to defend women rights in UN charter. With her effective diplomatic skills and game-changing actions during the conference, she was successful to reinforce global feminism.
Surprisingly, the initial draft of UN charter had no mention of Lutz. Bertha’s contribution has been brought to light recently by two University of London researchers, Elise Dietrichson and Fatima Sator. The conclusion of their findings is quiet contrary to the western claims.
According to the researchers, Latin-American diplomats had the most progressive positions unlike the ‘white’ representatives. San Fransisco conference of 1945 was primarily dominated by men. Only 3 percent of 160 delegates were women, as per the official documents and memoirs written by few women present at the San Fransisco conference.
Just like every other thing, west has credited another white woman, this time wife of an assassinated American President, Eleanor Roosevelt for championing women’s rights at the United Nations. But University of London researchers Elise and Fatima has revealed that Eleanor Roosevelt wasn’t involved in drafting the U.N. Charter. She was only appointed as a delegate to the United Nations in 1946 by President Harry Truman, who succeeded her husband, Franklin Roosevelt.
Thus, contrary to what the world thinks, the idea of gender equality has not come from the West. Moreover, when Lutz and other Latin-American diplomats were defending the specific mention of women rights in the UN charter, American and British diplomats strictly opposed to it. During the conference, Lutz stated:
“There will never be an unbreakable peace in the world until women help to make it.”
Described as a complex figure of exceptional energy and talent, Bertha was the force behind inclusive of Article 8 as well as a reference to non-discrimination on the basis of sex in UN charter. It is due to her efforts that today article 2 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads:
“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
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