CEDAW--convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women

[niyad]

(please note that the US is STILL not signatory to the convention)


INTRODUCTION

On 18 December 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It entered into force as an international treaty on 3 September 1981 after the twentieth country had ratified it. By the tenth anniversary of the Convention in 1989, almost one hundred nations have agreed to be bound by its provisions.

The Convention was the culmination of more than thirty years of work by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, a body established in 1946 to monitor the situation of women and to promote women's rights. The Commission's work has been instrumental in bringing to light all the areas in which women are denied equality with men. These efforts for the advancement of women have resulted in several declarations and conventions, of which the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the central and most comprehensive document.

Among the international human rights treaties, the Convention takes an important place in bringing the female half of humanity into the focus of human rights concerns. The spirit of the Convention is rooted in the goals of the United Nations: to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity,v and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women. The present document spells out the meaning of equality and how it can be achieved. In so doing, the Convention establishes not only an international bill of rights for women, but also an agenda for action by countries to guarantee the enjoyment of those rights.

In its preamble, the Convention explicitly acknowledges that "extensive discrimination against women continues to exist", and emphasizes that such discrimination "violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity". As defined in article 1, discrimination is understood as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made o.1 the basis of sex...in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field". The Convention gives positive affirmation to the principle of equality by requiring States parties to take "all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men&quot article 3).

. . . .

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm

[DURHAM D]

1. I think it would be appropriate to add this:

We owe her so much...

During the inaugural meetings of the UN General Assembly in London in February 1946,
Eleanor Roosevelt, a United States delegate, read an open letter addressed to “the women
of the world”:

“To this end, we call on the Governments of the world to encourage women
everywhere to take a more active part in national and international affairs, and
on women who are conscious of their opportunities to come forward and share in
the work of peace and reconstruction as they did in war and resistance.”

On 21 June 1946, the Sub-Commission formally became the Commission on the Status of
Women (CSW), a full-fledged Commission dedicated to ensur ing women’s equality and
to promoting women’s rights. Its mandate was to “prepare recommendations and reports
to the Economic and Social Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic,
civil, social and educational fields” and to make recommendations “on urgent problems
requiring immediate attention in the field of women’s rights.”3 Shortly thereafter, the
Section on the Status of Women of the United Nations Secretariat—which would become
the Division for the Advancement of Women in 1978—was established in the Human
Right’s Division of the United Nations to provide secretariat functions.

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/CSW60YRS/CSWbriefhistory.pdf

[niyad]

2. yes, thank you so much for adding this. she was truly a remarkable woman.

[DURHAM D]

3. Ok - I just read her wiki entry and now I am crying.

damn

I thought this really interesting:

"Eleanor held 348 press conferences over the span of her husband’s 12-year presidency. Men were not welcome into these meetings because female journalists were so heavily discriminated against. Roosevelt felt that her information should only be available to those who were not seen as fit to hear information from a man. These conferences encouraged women to think in a broader spectrum, one that was outside of their overwhelming domestic lifestyle."

Hard to imagine First Ladies having pressers.

Edit: Its past time for Meryl Streep to do Eleanor.

[niyad]

4. you are right--meryl definitely should do her. far more interesting than maggie.

eleanor was truly amazing, and caught bloody hell for it, too.

[niyad]

5. kick for morning crowd