Originally published on the CGS blog on April 13, 2009.
All over the world, millions of women are denied equal access to property, legal action, civic life and public participation on a daily basis. Seventy percent of the poorest people in the world are female. Of a total of 771 million illiterate adults, two-thirds are women. One out of three women will experience physical abuse or violence and one out of five will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women [CEDAW], seeks to help change these unacceptable statistics. The international agreement forms standards for basic women’s rights and is widely supported around the world. Out of the United Nations members, 185 have already ratified, making up over ninety percent. President Carter signed CEDAW in 1980; however, it was never ratified in Congress. Currently, only seven other nations have yet to ratify.
CEDAW signatories commit to the improvement of the status of women and the end of discrimination against women worldwide. It would also establish legal functions to protect the rights of women and create a system for accountability to the United Nations. Committees would monitor reports made every four years regarding the steps each nation has made to comply with the treaty.
As a leading industrialized nation, the United States’ failure to ratify appears to other countries as indifference. The nation fails to acknowledge that these rights are universal and that they deserve advancement and enforcement through international law. Ratifying the Convention would give the U.S. credibility in the international community regarding women’s rights and it would answer the calls of the over 200 leading advocacy organizations. The nation would lend its global influence to furthering the cause of women’s rights, putting an end to discrimination against women around the globe.
With the recent passing of a Shia law in Afghanistan , which will require women to ask the permission of a male relative before leaving the house and will allow her husband to have intercourse with her even if she refuses, women’s rights have been forced into the spotlight. While the United States has already expressed its objection to the law, such an occurrence makes the ratification of CEDAW in the U.S. and the enforcement of the treaty on a global level that much more urgent.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a vocal advocate of the treaty, said, “CEDAW is essential to advancing the status of women around the world. It establishes rights for women in realms never before subject to global standards, such as political participation, legal protections, and access to jobs, education and health care.” President Obama plans to push for ratification of the treaty, which will restore the United States’ standing as a leader in the international community.
