An update on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and background information

History and Background

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

Often called an international "Bill of Rights" for women, the Treaty for the Rights of Women is the culmination of more than 30 years of work by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and its member countries and country states. 177 countries have consented to promote and protect the equal rights of women by ratifying the Treaty for the Rights of Women, as of June 2004. From Europe and the Americas, only the US and Monaco have failed to ratify. The creation of this Treaty was the first critical step in developing a standard for basic human rights for women. These standards address abuses (physical, sexual, economic, and political) of women and promote women's equality of rights and well-being.

In order for the United States to ratify an international treaty, two-thirds of the Senate must consent-that is 67 "yes" votes. No action by the House of Representatives is required for ratification of international treaties.

The Role of the United States

The United States was active in drafting the Treaty for the Rights of Women. President Carter signed the Treaty on July 17, 1980, and it was sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in November 1980 for a vote on ratification. A decade later, in the summer of 1990, the committee held hearings on the Treaty. In the spring of 1993, 68 senators signed a letter to President Clinton asking him to take the necessary steps to ratify the Treaty.

In June 1993, Secretary of State Warren Christopher announced at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna that the Clinton Administration would pursue the Treaty for the Rights of Women and other human rights treaties. In September 1994, the Treaty was reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee favorably by a vote of 13 to 5, with one abstention. This vote occurred in the last days of the Congressional session. Several conservative senators put a hold on it, thereby blocking the Treaty from a ratification vote on the Senate floor during the 103rd Congress.

When the Senate, under new Republican leadership, convened in January 1995, the Treaty reverted back to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Momentum for the treaty grew in 2002 under the leadership of Sens. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The treaty was voted favorably out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a bipartisan vote of 12 to 7 on July 30, 2002. However, an overcrowded fall session prevented the treaty from being considered by the full Senate.

Senate rules require that the treaty revert to the committee in the next Congress. The new committee chairman, Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), has indicated he is waiting for the Bush Administration to complete a review of the treaty. In early 2002, the State Department notified the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the CEDAW Treaty for the Rights of Women was "generally desirable and should be ratified." Nevertheless, the Administration has not yet taken a formal position on the treaty; it awaits a Justice Department review about what Reservations, Understandings and Declarations may be necessary.

With U.S. Senate action blocked, momentum for ratification has begun to come from the states. To date, legislatures in ten states have endorsed U.S. ratification: California, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Vermont. The Connecticut State Senate and the House of Representatives in Florida, South Dakota, and Illinois also have endorsed U.S. ratification.

The CEDAW Committee

Enforcement of the Treaty is left to individual governments. The treaty grants no authority to the United Nations or any other body. It requires only a periodic report and review process. Countries also can express "reservations, understandings, and declarations" where domestic laws diverge from the Treaty. U.S. federal and state laws are largely consistent with the Treaty for the Rights of Women, except where noted in the reservations, understandings, and declarations.

To consider and review progress on and roadblocks to implementation, the Treaty established a Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee). The Committee is composed of 23 experts, who are elected by those countries that have ratified the Treaty. Members of the Committee serve for a term of four years and may be re-elected. Though nominated by their governments, the experts serve in their individual capacities and not as delegates or representatives of their countries of origin. Since its inception, and with only one exception, the Committee has always been composed entirely of women.

Adapted with permission from Human Rights for All. © 2001 The Working Group on Ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

How the Treaty Helps Women Worldwide

The Treaty for the Rights of Women sets out "best practices" for ensuring basic human rights for women, but it does not impose any laws on governments. Domestic laws take precedence everywhere. But the Treaty has proven to be a valuable tool for governments wanting to improve their own laws by broadening the basic rights of women.

The Treaty for the Rights of Women calls on governments to remove barriers to substantive equality. This requires countries to examine the actual conditions of life for women and girls and to report on structures and customs that discriminate against them and on actions taken to eliminate those barriers. As a result of the Treaty, hundreds of laws have been put in place that improve the basic human rights of women around the world.

U.S. ratification of the Treaty will not require changes in our law. Ratification only requires nations to submit regular reports to an implementation committee. It could be a useful tool, however, for women continuing to fight for equality in the United States. In recent years, a number of studies show that women lawyers, scientists, journalists, congressional staff and other professionals lag behind their male counterparts. A variety of groups, from the American Bar Association to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, have even issued reports documenting a worsening of women's status in selected fields.

Stopping violence against women:

• In Colombia, the courts ruled in 1992 that the absence of legal recourse then available to a female victim of domestic violence violated her human rights to life and personal security. The state now ensures protection for all such women.1
• In Uganda, the state and cities have created programs and policies to campaign against domestic violence, using state funds for the purpose.1
• In Costa Rica, the courts are authorized to order an abusive spouse to leave the home and to continue providing economic support. Training and programs to combat sex crimes are being established, and women officials must handle rape investigations and prosecutions.1

Promoting girls' education:

• Slovenia and Switzerland have changed their school admission policies to benefit girls.1
• Pakistan introduced coeducation in primary schools in 1996-97 after treaty ratification, and saw sharp increases in female enrollment, especially in rural areas.1
• India universalized its Integrated Child Development Services program in 1997, after treaty ratification, and girls now account for nearly half of all pre-schoolers.1

Improving health care:

• Australia launched efforts to promote awareness and prevention of breast and cervical cancer, including postcards reminding 3 million women to get pap smears.2
• Israel allocated funds to pay for mammograms for women ages 50 to 74.2
• Argentina developed a program to prevent teen pregnancy and provide necessary care when it does occur, particularly for homeless girls.2
• The Philippines set up a new nationwide maternal and newborn health care program.2
• Argentina, Mexico, and Australia instituted programs to provide health care to indigenous and migrant women.2

Ensuring women's legal rights:

• Laws to advance women's participation in decision-making have been adopted in 22 of the 168 countries that have ratified the Treaty.
• In Tanzania, the Supreme Court invalidated a customary law that barred women from inheriting clan property, citing the Treaty for the Rights of Women and other rights treaties as "a standard below which any civilized nation will be ashamed to fall."1
• Zambia ratified the Treaty for the Rights of Women in 1985 and in 1991 extended its Bill of Rights to cover sex discrimination.1
• Women proposing revisions for the Ugandan constitution in 1995, referred to the Treaty for the Rights of Women for guidance, and now many of its provisions reflect Treaty standards.2
• Since 1989, legislation in China has highlighted equality between men and women. Women are now guaranteed joint ownership of marital property and equal inheritance.1
• A Botswana appeals court cited the Treaty in overturning a law that gave citizenship to children of men married to foreigners but not to those of women married to foreigners.1

Improving women's lives at work:

• Germany, Guatemala, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have improved maternity leave and child care for working women in accord with Treaty provisions.1
• In Australia, the government cited its treaty obligations in passing national legislation against sexual harassment in the workplace.1

1. Landsberg-Lewis, Ilana, ed., "Bringing Equality Home," United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), New York, NY, 1998. 2. Milani, Leila Rassekh, ed., "Human Rights for All," Working Group on Ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Washington D.C., 2001.

Summary of Treaty Provisions

Despite the use of language such as "mandates," "requires," and "obligates," the treaty grants no enforcement authority to the United Nations or any other body. It requires only a periodic report and review process. Countries also can express "reservations, understandings, and declarations" where domestic laws diverge from the Treaty. U.S. federal and state laws generally comply with the Treaty for the Rights of Women, which is also compatible with the U.S. Constitution, except where noted in the reservations, understandings, and declarations.

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 countries 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 countries take action in all fields-civil, political, economic, social, and cultural-to guarantee women's human rights.

Article 4: Permits countries 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 countries to take measures to suppress trafficking in women and the exploitation of prostitution of women.

Article 7: Mandates countries to end discrimination against women in political and public life and to ensure women's equal rights to vote, to be eligible for election, to participate in the formulation of policy, to hold office, and to participate in associations and non-governmental organizations in these arenas.

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 countries to end discrimination in education, including in professional and vocational training, access to curricula, and other means of receiving an equal education and 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 and to have access 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 ends discrimination on the grounds of marriage or maternity.

Article 12: Requires steps to eliminate discrimination in 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 of rural women, including participation in development planning and access to adequate living conditions and health care, credit, and education.

Article 15: Obligates countries 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, including equal rights with men to choose marriage freely; equal rights and responsibilities toward children, including the right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of children and to have the means to do so; and the same rights to property.

Article 17: Calls for establishment of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) that will evaluate progress made in implementation of the Treaty.

Article 18: Establishes a schedule for ratifying countries to report to the committee on progress.

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 countries' reports.

Article 21: Directs CEDAW to report annually to the General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and to make suggestions and general recommendations based on the countries' reports.

Article 22: Allows for specialized agencies of the UN to be represented 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 countries can be settled.

Chronology: The Road to Ratification

The Treaty for the Rights of Women, which President Jimmy Carter signed in 1980, has never come before the full U.S. Senate. A two-thirds majority-67 votes-is needed for ratification. No further action by the House or the President is necessary for the Treaty to go into effect in the United States, and it will require no changes in U.S. domestic law.

• 1975: The First UN World Conference on Women in Mexico City calls for a Women's Convention to promote equal rights for women worldwide.
  
  
• December 18, 1979: United Nations approves the Treaty for the Rights of Women (formally known as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women-or CEDAW).
  
  
• July 17, 1980: President Jimmy Carter signs the Treaty as he is leaving office. The Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations decline to seek ratification.
  
  
• 1990: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing on the Treaty.
  
  
• 1993: Sixty-eight senators write to President Bill Clinton requesting treaty ratification.
  
  
• 1993: The United States commits itself at the U.N. World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, Austria, to ratification of the Treaty for the Rights of Women, among others.
  
  
• 1994: The Clinton administration recommends ratification with four reservations, three understandings, and two declarations on issues including private conduct, combat assignments, comparable worth, paid maternity leave, federal-state implementation, freedom of speech, and health care financing.1
  
  
• September 1994: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes 13-5 with one abstention to recommend treaty passage by the full Senate. But several senators put a "hold" on it for the duration of the 103rd Congress.
  
  
• August 1995: At the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, the United States makes treaty ratification a primary commitment to be achieved before 2000.
  
  
• 1998: San Francisco, Calif. approves a local ordinance implementing treaty principles. Similar actions occur in Iowa.
  
  
• March 16, 1999: The CEDAW Committee approves an Optional Protocol that provides a process for complaints of treaty violations that lets women appeal directly to the United Nations.
  
  
• 1999: Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and nine other senators call for a new hearing and treaty ratification but are rebuffed by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
  
  
• May 2000: The House International Relations Committee holds an informational hearing on the Treaty: A total of 168 nations have ratified it, and 62 have ratified the Optional Protocol.
  
  
• May 2002: Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has announced his intention of scheduling a hearing on the Treaty for the Rights of Women (CEDAW) in summer 2002.
  
  
• June 13, 2002: Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, holds a hearing on the Treaty for the Rights of Women (CEDAW)
  
  
• July 30, 2002: The treaty was voted favorably out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a vote of 12 to 7.
  
  
• Fall 2002: The Senate adjourned in 2002 without time for a vote on ratification. The treaty reverts back to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under the leadership of new chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN).
  
  
• June 2004: A total of 177 nations have ratified the treaty.

1. The reservations state that the United States is not obligated to any of the following: "Assigning" women to all units of military service (although women are free to participate in any); mandating paid maternity leave (article 11-2-b); legislating equality in the private sector (articles 2, 3, 5); and ensuring comparable worth (equal pay for work of equal value). The understandings say that state and federal implementations will be made according to the appropriate jurisdiction; that no restrictions will be made to the freedom of speech, expression, or association under the Convention (articles 5, 7, 8, 13); and that any free health services to benefit women will be determined by states and not automatically mandated by U.S. ratification (article 12). Declarations made are that the convention is "non self-executing" and that disputes about interpretation of the Convention will be handled case by case (articles 29-2, 29-1).

Facts vs. Fiction

The Treaty for the Rights of Women is often described as an international "Bill of Rights" for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

The Treaty requires regular progress reports from ratifying countries but it does not impose any changes in existing laws or require new laws of countries ratifying the treaty. It lays out models for achieving equality but contains no enforcement authority.

Opponents of U.S. ratification have distorted the facts of the Treaty and raised unfounded fears about the ways it might affect U.S. policies. In fact, the experiences of other countries-acquired over the past 20 years-demonstrate that this apprehension is misplaced. None of the concerns listed below have become reality for the 170 countries that have ratified the Treaty.

Fiction: Ratification would give too much power to the international community, with treaty provisions superseding U.S. laws and. sovereignty.

• Fact: Despite language "mandating" various changes, the Treaty grants no enforcement authority to the United Nations or any other body. It requires only a periodic report and review process. Countries also can express "reservations, understandings, and declarations" where domestic laws diverge from the Treaty. U.S. federal and state laws generally comply with the Treaty for the Rights of Women, which is also compatible with the U.S. Constitution, except where noted in the reservations, understandings, and declarations.
  
  
• Fact: Treaties adopted in the United States, including this one, are "non-self-executing." This means that legislation to implement any treaty provision would come before the House and Senate in the same way any other bill does. To be in compliance with the Treaty, the United States would not be required to change any domestic laws.
  
  
• Fact: U.S. ratification would give the United States far more leverage in the international community regarding women's rights issues than it has now.

Fiction: The United Nations' CEDAW Committee will demand or force changes in U.S. law.

• Fact: The Committee's formal "Conclusions" are only recommendations about how countries can move forward on women's equality. No changes in U.S. domestic law would be required for the United States to be in treaty compliance.

Fiction: The Treaty is unnecessary in the United States because it defines "discrimination" too broadly and would lead to unwise laws and frivolous lawsuits.

• Fact: The Treaty is non-self executing and would not authorize any lawsuit not already allowed under U.S. law.
  
  
• Fact: The Treaty would urge that the same "strict scrutiny" apply to U.S. claims of unintentional sex discrimination as now applies to claims of race discrimination. In fact, the Treaty terms resemble those of the U.N. Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which the United States ratified in 1994 with no resulting flurry of frivolous suits. There is no reason to expect them on this treaty either.

Fiction: The Treaty will destroy traditional families by redefining "family" and the roles of women and men.

• Fact: The Treaty does not seek to regulate family life. It only urges governments "to adopt education and public information programs [to] eliminate prejudices and current practices that hinder the full operation of the principle of the social equality of women."

Fiction: The Treaty will require the United States and other countries to send women into armed ground combat.

• Fact: The Treaty does not require countries to send women into combat. In fact, there is no reference in the Treaty to women in the military or women in combat. In addition, the 1997 CEDAW Committee report urging "full participation of women in the military" is not a requirement but an observation that women's absence in military decision-making councils hampers diplomacy, negotiations, and peacekeeping and peace-making efforts and neglects to take note of the effect upon women and families of military decisions in times of conflict.

Fiction: The Treaty will interfere in the proper role of parents in child-rearing.

• Fact: The Treaty calls only for recognition of the "common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children" and "to promote what is in the best interests of the child." This is consistent with U.S. law.

Fiction: The Treaty will threaten single-sex schools and require "gender-neutral" textbooks.

• Fact: Single-sex schools are not prohibited. Educational equality language refers to the need for equal educational facilities, texts, and other materials for girls and boys, whether taught in single-sex or mixed schools.

Fiction: The Treaty promotes abortion by promoting access to "family planning."

• Fact: The Treaty intentionally does not address the issue of abortion. Many countries where abortion is illegal have ratified it, such as Ireland, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda. The U.S. State Department says the Treaty is "abortion neutral." In 1994, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee added an "understanding" to the Treaty noting that it does not include a right to abortion.

Fiction: The Treaty could lead to sanctioning same-sex marriages.

• Fact: The Treaty's terms are clearly aimed only at sex-based discrimination against women. The Treaty would not compel the United States to change any laws or pass same-sex marriage laws. In addition, the majority of countries that have ratified the treaty currently ban same-sex marriages.

Fiction: The Treaty will require legalization of prostitution.

• Fact: The CEDAW Committee has called for the decriminalization of prostitution in specific countries such as China where prostitution and trafficking in women and children are rampant, not for all countries in general. Regulation would allow victimized women to come forward without fear of repercussions for treatment to prevent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, to obtain health care and education, and to halt trafficking and sex slavery practices.

For info: www.cedaw.org or www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw and for a Senate update: http://www.cedaw.org/senateupdate.htm
Updated September 2004