Government Relations Action Alert

Urge Your Senators to Support the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CEDAW!

ACTION NEEDED

NASW has been a long supporter of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This issue is recognized in NASW’s Women’s Policy Statement.

Fax, email, or call your Senators and the White House by dialing the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and encourage them to support hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and vote to ratify CEDAW.

Take Action Now!

What is Congress Web?

Sample Phone Script

As your constituent, a professional social worker and member of the National Association of Social Workers, I am calling today to urge Senator _________ to support the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women or CEDAW.

I feel strongly about CEDAW because this treaty is the only international legal instrument that comprehensively addresses women's rights within political, cultural, economic, educational, and social spheres at the local, national, and international levels. The treaty, when ratified by the United States Congress, will strengthen existing domestic laws pertaining to women.

Senator __________support for CEDAW, and the ratification by the entire US Congress, will bolster the United States' position as a worldwide human rights leader.

If your Senator already supports ratification make sure you thank them for their support on CEDAW

BACKGROUND

The treaty for the rights of women seeks to eradicate gender-based discrimination by setting a basic international standard for the treatment of women. When ratified, the treaty will strengthen existing domestic laws pertaining to women. Additionally, ratification will bolster the United States’ position as a worldwide human rights leader.

Since the treaty’s creation, 169 countries have ratified it. The treaty for the rights of women is the only international legal instrument that comprehensively addresses women’s rights within political, cultural, economic, and social spheres at the local, national, and international levels.

The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in December 1979. The United States, an active participant in the writing of the Convention, signed the treaty at the UN Mid-Decade Conference for Women in July 1980. In November 1980, the treaty was transmitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Since then, the closest the Convention has come to ratification was in September 1994 when the 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 CEDAW, thereby blocking it from a Senate floor vote during the 103rd Congress.

When the new Senate convened in January 1995, the Convention reverted to the Committee for action, where it remains. In order for the U.S. to ratify the treaty, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee must report the treaty out of Committee with a majority vote and, once on the Senate floor, CEDAW must receive a 2/3rd majority vote (67 senators) to pass.

Unlike many other countries, the United States has a strong record on human rights. In fact, U.S. laws reflect most of treaty’s principles. However, to make a meaningful contribution in the area of human rights, the U.S. must work to ensure that fundamental human rights are guaranteed to women here and abroad. As long as it remains one of the few nations that have failed to ratify CEDAW, the United States compromises it credibility as a world leader in human rights.