The U.S. Is 1 of 8 Nations in the World Not to Sign International Treaty for Rights of Women

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Fri Aug-24-07 05:50 PM
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The U.S. Is 1 of 8 Nations in the World Not to Sign International Treaty for Rights of Women

As of March 2007, 185 nations had signed the international “Treaty for the Rights of Women”, leaving the United States as one of eight nations in the world and the only industrialized nation that hasn’t signed it. The only other nations that haven’t yet signed it are Sudan, Somalia, Qatar, Iran, Nauru, Palau and Tonga. The formal name for the treaty is “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” (CEDAW). In February of this year the Bush administration indicated that it was “not pressing for ratification at this time.”

About the treaty

Human rights organizations call the Treaty “the most complete international agreement on basic rights for women”. It puts forth the view that human rights for women should be universal across all cultures, nations and religions, and thus it is often described as an “international bill of rights for women”. In that respect it is very similar to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, except that it applies specifically to women. It specifically addresses the following areas:

Legal right to not be discriminated against
The convention 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 their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.

Therefore, nations that sign the treaty commit to the principle of gender equality in their legal system by abolishing discriminatory laws and establishing laws that prohibit discrimination against women. Paramount among the legal rights that the treaty addresses are the rights to vote and hold office, to own and inherit property and otherwise be free of economic discrimination, and to obtain an education.

Reproductive rights
The preamble to the document states that “the role of women in procreation should not be a basis for discrimination.” It proclaims adequate maternal health care and child care as essential human rights. It is the only human rights treaty that addresses family planning issues, proclaiming that participating nations:

are obliged to include advice on family planning in the education process and to develop family codes that guarantee women's rights "to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights".

Protection against violence and sexual exploitation
The treaty strives to prevent violence against women and girls, domestic or otherwise, including the widespread cultural practice of genital mutilation. It requires participating nations to take steps to eliminate the sexual exploitation of women:

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.

Yet, at the same time it encourages the decriminalization of the act of prostitution, which enables prostitutes to come forward to expose their exploitation without having to fear imprisonment for doing so.

Today’s international status of women and girls with respect to violence, health and education

Violence and health
Amnesty International has disseminated many statistics on violence against women and health problems specific to women:

Internationally, approximately one third of all women are exposed to violence during their life, and approximately one fifth are raped. In the United States, approximately 350,000 women are raped each year. Rape is frequently used as a weapon of war. Much of the violence against women is attributable to the lack of law enforcement against these crimes. For example, in most countries in the world marital rape is not even recognized as a crime, and the practice of forced marriages forces many women into violent domestic situations.

In today’s world, approximately 60 million women or girls are “missing” because of sex selective abortions or inadequate medical care due to the widespread cultural attitude that women and girls are less important than men and boys. Approximately 135 million women have undergone forced genital mutilation. Millions of women are victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, but these issues are often off of society’s radar screen.

Education
Lack of education due to sex discrimination has been reduced in recent years, though it is still a major problem. Thirty years ago girls constituted 38% of primary school enrollments in low income countries, and that rose to 48% by 2005. Between 1999 and 2004 the world-wide number of children not in school declined from 100 million to 77 million. By 2005, the percentage of children not in school who were girls had declined to 57%.

Why it’s important that the United States sign the treaty

First and foremost it’s important that the United States sign and ratify the treaty because it is a moral imperative. Failure of the United States to participate in the Convention sends out the message that we don’t care that much about human rights for women, thereby impairing our ability to influence other countries to improve their human rights records and reducing the chances for the success of the Convention.

Amnesty International talks about how the Treaty has improved the lot of women throughout the world so far:

Women around the world have used the Treaty to achieve important reforms in their country that reduce violence and discrimination. Measures have been taken against sex slavery, domestic violence and trafficking of women; millions of girls are now receiving primary education that were previously denied access; women's health care services have improved, saving lives during pregnancy and childbirth; and millions of women have secured essential loans and the basic right to own or inherit property.

Treaty ratification commits nations to take concrete action to improve the status of women and to reverse discrimination and end violence against women in their own country and around the world.

Furthermore, enhancing the rights and the status of women is one of the best, if not THE best way to control world-wide population growth, which poses a great threat to our planet. The reason for this does not primarily relate to abortion rights – in fact, enhancing the education and status of women tends to lead to a decrease in abortion.

Increasing the education rates of girls causes them to reduce their out-of-marriage pregnancy rates and to get married later in life; that in turn substantially decreases birth rates and leads to healthier babies as well; it also leads to more women entering the workforce, leading to greater national economic productivity and less poverty and disease, thereby increasing the education rates of future generations and leading to a self-enforcing cycle of education, economic growth, fewer but healthier children, an overall substantial reduction in population growth, lowered worldwide consumption of resources, more food per population and better living standards, less global warming and other pollution of our environment, and therefore an enhanced capability for avoiding worldwide catastrophe.

What we can do

You can use the information and tools provided here to call or write to urge your Senator, pResident Bush or Secretary of State Rice to support the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. And, you can join a delegation or apply to lead a delegation to meet at your Senator’s office to discuss this issue.