By: Carolyn A. Dubay, Associate Editor, International
Judicial Monitor
There is no doubt that women play a central role in any
society. Even so, gender discrimination persists in many forms throughout the
world today. In developed and wealthy countries, discrimination may surface in
the form of hard-to-discover pay differentials, as alleged in Lilly Ledbetter’s
Equal Pay Act claim that made it all the way to the United States Supreme
Court. In oppressive societies, discrimination may take a violent turn, as in
the case of Malala, the Pakistani girl shot by Taliban militants in response to
the teenager’s advocacy for education for girls.
Regardless of the wealth, politics, or religion of any
single nation, the United Nations has for decades been at the forefront of
promoting women’s rights and equality. Indeed, the Preamble to the Charter of
the United Nations establishes as a preeminent goal “the equal rights of men
and women." Other international agreements also stress the importance of
women’s rights as human rights. For example, the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all
prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in the rights and responsibilities
they promote.
The process for drafting a comprehensive treaty
specifically targeting women’s rights began in 1963, when the United Nations
General Assembly invited the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to prepare
draft international standards regarding gender equality. The CSW was
established in 1946 as a sub-commission of the U.N. Commission on Human
Rights. The early work of the CSW resulted in a number of important
declarations and conventions that protect and promote women’s rights. These
conventions include the 1952 Convention on the Political Rights of Women, the
1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, the 1962 Convention on
Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages,
and the 1965 Recommendation on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage
and Registration of Marriages.
In its first effort to produce a comprehensive
international agreement on women’s rights, the CSW prepared the Declaration on
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which the United Nations
General Assembly adopted in 1967. Because the Declaration was only
aspirational in nature, in 1972, the CSW sought support from the United Nations
to draft a binding treaty to create affirmative obligations to end gender
discrimination among signatory nations. This support was immediately
forthcoming, and the General Assembly went on to declare 1975 as International
Women’s Year, organized the first World Conference on Women in 1975 in Mexico
City, and further declared 1976 to 1985 to be the United Nations Decade for
Women.
The CSW’s work culminated in the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted by
the United Nations General Assembly in 1979. At the second World Conference
on Women, held in 1980 in Copenhagen, 64 States signed the Convention, and on
September 3, 1981, CEDAW entered into force. To date, 187 out of 193 countries
have ratified the treaty. Only six countries have not yet ratified CEDAW - the
United States, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Palau and Tonga. With respect to the United
States, while President Jimmy Carter signed CEDAW, the Senate has never
ratified it. Despite efforts of subsequent presidents to re-initiate CEDAW
ratification, future Senate action seems remote. Opposition from conservative groups
persists as they express concerns about the impact of CEDAW on states’ rights,
the Convention’s reporting requirements, and the jurisdiction of the CEDAW
Committee that oversees implementation of the Convention.
International
Judicial Monitor