• Background
• Current Status see also Washington Report article: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves CEDAW Treaty(7/30/02)
• Factsheet (7/02), Talking Points, and "Myths and Realities"(8/02)
• Importance of US Ratification
• Treaty Summary
• Partial List of Organizations That Have Endorsed CEDAW
• For Additional Information
• Letters from Amb. Luers to Senator Biden and other Members of the Committee on Foreign Relations(7/23/02)

“…it is long past time for America to become party to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.”
--Secretary of State Madeleine Albright March 12, 1997

“Violence and discrimination against women don’t just victimize individuals; they hold back whole societies…Guaranteeing human rights is a moral imperative with respect to both women and men. It is also an investment in making whole nations stronger, fairer, and better.”
--From the official US Government statement to the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, Austria, 1993

On December 18, 1979, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The call for a Women’s Convention emerged from the First World Conference on Women in Mexico City in 1975. Until 1979, when the General Assembly adopted the Women’s Convention, there was no convention that addressed comprehensively women’s rights within political, cultural, economic, social, and family life.

CURRENT STATUS

See Washington Report article:Senate Foreign Relations Committee Approves CEDAW Treaty (7/30/02)

In June 1997 the Clinton Administration informed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of its priorities for ratification of international treaties in the 105th Congress. The Women’s Convention is the only human rights treaty listed in Category 1: “Treaties for which there is an urgent need for Senate approval.”

As of December 1997, 161 countries had ratified the Convention. The United States was active in drafting the Convention and signed it on July 17, 1980. It was transmitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in November 1980. In the summer of 1990, the Committee held hearings on the Convention. In the spring of 1993, sixty-eight senators signed a letter to President Clinton, asking him to take the necessary steps to ratify the Women’s Convention. In June 1993, Secretary of State Warren Christopher announced at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna that the Administration would move on the Women’s Convention and other human rights treaties.

In September 1994, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported out favorably on the Convention, by a vote of 13 to 5 (with one abstention). Unfortunately, this occurred in the last days of the Congressional session, when several senators put a hold on the Convention, thereby blocking it from the Senate floor during the 103rd Congress. When the new Senate convened in January 1995, the Convention reverted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for action, where it remains.

In April 1996, Senators Snowe, Feinstein, Jeffords and Pell sent a “Dear Colleague” to the other 96 Senators urging them to ratify the Convention. The Senators’ letter included an appeal for prompt Senate action that was signed by 111 national organizations.

Sixty-seven “yes” votes are required for the Senate to consent to ratification. Action by the House of Representatives is not required for ratification of international treaties. To date five states, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York and South Dakota, have endorsed US ratification in their state legislatures.

The Convention provides a universal definition of discrimination against women so that those who would discriminate on the basis of sex can no longer claim that no clear definition exists.

Women in all parts of the world lack basic legal rights or protection of their rights under law. The cry that women’s rights are human rights originates from consideration of the plight of women. As a leading advocate for human rights, the United States has a compelling interest to improve conditions for women. Yet, as one of the few nations that has failed to ratify the Women’s Convention, the United States compromises its credibility as a leader for human rights. The fact that the United States was heavily involved in the drafting of the Women’s Convention also lends weight to its obligation to ratify.

Ratification of the Convention is called for in the concluding documents of the Fourth World Conference on Women, the UN Conference on Human Rights, and the Vienna/Helsinki agreements of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The United States was a signatory to these documents. The United States also made ratification of the Women’s Convention one of its public commitments at the UN Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995.

Ratification of the Women’s Convention would also entitle the US to join the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),which monitors reports of progress in the treatment of women from the countries that have ratified the Convention.

Article 1: defines discrimination against women as any “distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of marital status, on the basis of equality between men and women, of human rights or fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil, or any other field.”

Article 2: mandates States Parties to condemn discrimination in all its forms and to ensure a legal framework, including all laws, policies and practices that provide protection against discrimination and embody the principle of equality;

Article 3: requires that States Parties take action in all fields -- civil, political, economic, social and cultural -- to guarantee women’s human rights;

Article 4: permits States Parties to take “temporary special measures” to accelerate equality;

Article 5: declares the need to take appropriate measures to modify cultural patterns of conduct as well as the need for family education to recognize the social function of motherhood and the common responsibility for raising children;

Article 6: obligates States Parties to take measures to suppress traffic in women and the exploitation of prostitution of women;

Article 7: mandates the States Parties to end discrimination against women in political and public life, and to ensure women’s equal rights to vote, be eligible for election, participate in the formulation of policy, hold office, and participate in associations and non-governmental organizations in these spheres;

Article 8: requires action to allow women to represent their governments internationally on an equal basis with men;

Article 9: mandates that women will have equal rights with men to acquire, change, or retain their nationality and that of their children;

Article 10: obligates States Parties to end discrimination in education, including in professional and vocational training, access to curricula and other means of receiving an equal education; as well as to eliminate stereotyped concepts of the roles of men and women;

Article 11: mandates the end of discrimination in the field of employment, including the right to work, to employment opportunities, to equal remuneration, to free choice of profession and employment, to social security, and to protection of health, including maternal health, and also in regard to discrimination on the grounds of marriage or maternity;

Article 12: requires steps to eliminate discrimination from the field of health care, including access to services such as family planning;

Article 13: requires that women be ensured the same rights as men in all areas of social and economic life, such as family benefits, mortgages, bank loans, and participation in recreational activities and sports;

Article 14: focuses on the particular problems faced by rural women, including the areas of women’s participation in development planning, access to adequate health care, credit, education, and adequate living conditions;

Article 15: obligates States Parties to take steps to ensure equality before the law and the same legal capacity to act in such areas as contracts, administration of property, and choice of residence;

Article 16: requires steps to ensure equality in marriage and family relations, including equal rights with men freely to choose marriage, equal rights and responsibilities toward children, including the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of children and the means to do so, and the same rights to property;

Article 17: calls for the establishment of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which will evaluate progress made in implementation of the Convention.

Article 18: establishes a schedule of reporting on progress by ratifying countries;

Article 19: establishes the ability of CEDAW to adopt rules of procedure and sets a two-year term for its officers;

Article 20: Sets annual CEDAW meetings to review States Parties’ reports;

Article 21: directs CEDAW to report annually to the General Assembly through ECOSOC, and to make suggestions and general recommendations based on the States Parties’ reports;

Article 22: allows for representation of the specialized agencies of the UN and for CEDAW to invite reports from them;

Articles 23-30: set forth elements of the operation of the treaty, including the manner by which the treaty comes into operation, the limits on the scope of permissible reservations, and the way in which disputes between States Parties can be settled.

See the text of the treaty

For Additional Information
For additional information, contact the co-chairs of the Working Group on the Women's Human Rights Treaty:

Pat Rengel, Amnesty International, U.S.A.
tel: (202) 675-8577, fax: (202) 546-7142, E-Mail: prengel@aiusa.usa.com

 Kit Cosby, Bahá'ís of the U.S.
tel: (202) 833-8990, fax: (202) 833-8988, E-Mail: usnsa-oea@usbnc.org

 United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

or

Treaty for the Rights of Women

UNA-USA gratefully acknowledges the Bahaí'ís of the United States for providing this backgrounder on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.