3.2. Every Human Being

23. Every human being possesses this dignity, as affirmed by the Declaration in which almost every article begins with expressions such as "every human being", "every member of the human species", "every human individual without any distinction", etc. The enumeration of the rights and duties which the Declaration includes thus offers both juridical and ethical guidelines that make it possible to focus on many human situations, both those which existed at the time the Declaration was written, and those brought about by the subsequent social changes and innovations introduced through the development of technology, the economy, and political institutions within States.

24. Everything that is stated about the dignity, rights and duties of the human being holds equally for men and for women. The common dignity of men and women and their reciprocity is the authentic basis for affirming their complete dignity. Reciprocity implies in fact that there is neither a static and undifferentiated equality between men and women, nor an inexorable and irreconcilable conflictual distinction.²⁸