Legal Issues

By Alexandra Mazzeo*

Yesterday, The Opportunity Agenda and the U.S. Human Rights Network hosted a telebriefing on two key human rights treaties and efforts toward U.S. ratification.

 Working America and the AFL-CIO recently launched the 2010 Ask a Working Woman survey. A similar survey has been done every 2 years, and in 2008, the survey illicited 12,000 responses - a number Working America and AFL-CIO would like to match this year.

By Kyla Bender-Baird

Last week, the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) launched a new global index and ranking of women’s economic opportunity. The pilot report builds on the United Nations Development Programme’s Gender-Related Development Index and the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Index. According to EIU,

By Allie Bohm*

As a colleague recently reminded me, our system of government was developed not to pass laws, but to make change slowly. Take, for example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the international treaty dedicated to gender equality. Although the U.S. played a major role in drafting the treaty and signed it in 1980, it still has not been ratified by the Senate. We’re hoping to change that this year.

By Rylee Sommers-Flanagan*

This post originally appeared on the Health Justice Blog associated with the Health Justice Division of the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

The United States remains one of only seven countries that have not ratified CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).  CEDAW is an international agreement on basic human rights for women and the most broadly endorsed human rights treaty within the United Nations, having been ratified by over 90% of UN member states. CEDAW outlines human rights such as the right to live free from violence, the ability to go to school, and access to the political system.

By Margot Baruch* 

Before CEDAW there was no international legal mechanism in place that called on states to assess gender inequalities in their country. The Convention draws attention to 30 articles that deal with discrimination on the basis of being a woman. The treaty is divided into six parts - all related to ensuring that women are able to enjoy their “fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,” as stated in the preamble of the UDHR [Universal Declaration of Human Rights].  

By Linda Tarr-Whelan*

NCRW asked leading research and policy expert Linda Tarr-Whelan to weigh in on the status of CEDAW. In addition to her responses, below is an excerpt from a previously published commentary from Linda featured on Women’s eNEws and The Huffington Post.

On Dec. 18, 1979, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, making it a watershed day for women around the globe.

In those heady days, I was deputy assistant to President Jimmy Carter for women's concerns. We expected speedy action after he sent the treaty to the Senate.