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37. In Karen Tayag Vertido v. The Philippines35, the CEDAW Committee stressed that court should not create “inflexible standards” of what women should be or have done, when confronted with a situation of rape.

38. Judges can play a significant role in ridding the justice system of harmful stereotypes. They have an important responsibility to base their decisions on law and facts in evidence, and not engage in gender stereotyping. This requires judges to identify gender stereotyping, and identify how the application, enforcement or perpetuation of these stereotypes discriminates against women or denies them equal access to justice. Stereotyping might compromise the impartiality of a judge’s decision and affect his or her views about witness credibility or the culpability of the accused person.36As a judge of the Canadian Supreme Court remarked:

“Myths and stereotypes are a form of bias because they impair the individual judge’s ability to assess the facts in a particular case in an open-minded fashion. In fact, judging based on myths and stereotypes is entirely incompatible with keeping an open mind, because myths 32Supra, p. 17.

33The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly; it is sometimes described as an international bill of rights for women. The CEDAW Committee is set up under Article 17 of CEDAW.

34V.K. v. Bulgaria, Communication No. 20/2008, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/49/D/20/2008 (2011) (CEDAW) 35Karen Tayag Vertido v. The Philippines, Communication No. 18/2008, UN Doc. CEDAW/C/46/D/18/2008 (2010) (CEDAW), para. 8.4.

36 Simone Cusack, Eliminating Judicial Stereotyping, Paper submitted to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2014), p. 22.

and stereotypes are based on irrational predisposition and generalization, rather than fact.”37