introducing cities for cedaw

Tuesday September 24, 2014

WELCOME TO THE MOVEMENT TO END DISCRIMINATION

IN YOUR CITY


Is There DiscriminationIn Your Town?


Indicators of Sex DiscriminationMore than 20% of women students have and will experience a completed and/or

attempted rape during their college career.

Two million U.S. women report injuries from current or former partners and one in five

US women will be the victim of gender-based violence in her lifetime.

The economic gap between men and women continues, with women earning only 77¢

for every dollar a man makes.

Over a 40 year career, an average woman will earn $434,000 less than her male

counterpart and in retirement receive a proportionately smaller pension or social

security check.

Unlike all other developed nations, the maternal death rate in the U.S. is rising

One in five pregnant women are without health insurance.

Despite a net gain in the number of women in congress, the U.S. ranking has dropped

to 83rd on the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s census of women in national legislatures

globally.


The U.S. Constitution

does not grant equal rights to women

and U.S. law does not adequately and

consistently define discrimination


CEDAWProvides a clear, comprehensive and internationally recognized legal definition of DISCRIMINATION,* currently lacking in U.S. jurisprudence and law:

"...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."

*This legal definition of discrimination is consistent with that encoded into the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.


CEDAW is the acronym for the United Nations’ Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

CEDAW is an international human rights treaty that went into effect as

international law in 1981.

U.N. Member States (countries) that participate in the treaty are

obligated to integrate CEDAW’s provisions for eliminating

discrimination into their national constitutions and laws, their

structures and procedures of governance, and court rulings.

What Is CEDAW?


By adopting CEDAW, countries commit to undertake measures to end

discrimination against women in all forms, including:

• Adopt principle of equality of men and women in the legal system, abolish all

discriminatory laws and adopt laws prohibiting discrimination against women;

• Establish boards and public bodies to ensure protection of women against

discrimination; and

• Ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons,

organizations or enterprises.

What Does CEDAW Accomplish?

Although 187 Countries have already done so . . .


You don’t need to be a nation state to adopt CEDAW

Over 40 cities and towns have passed resolutions endorsing CEDAW

ratification;

Over 20 state legislatures have passed resolutions endorsing CEDAW;

San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland (OR) and Berkeley (CA) have all

adopted CEDAW as municipal law.

“Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places,

close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen

on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the

individual person; the neighborhood

he lives in; the school or college he

attends; the factory, farm

or office where

he works.”

Eleanor Roosevelt, remarks delivered at the United Nations in New York on March 27, 1958


While the CEDAW Treaty operates at the

International level, the San Francisco

municipal CEDAW Ordinance

adopted in 1999

brings accountability for gender equality into the

hallways, conference rooms, sidewalks, and

streets of local city and county government.


CEDAW’S History in the U.S.

1980

• President

Jimmy Carter

signed

CEDAW

1994

• Approved by

the Senate

Foreign

Relations

Committee

with bipartisan

support

2002

• Again

approved by

the Senate

Foreign

Relations

Committee

with bipartisan

support

2010

• Senator

Durbin held a

hearing on

CEDAW in a

Senate

Judiciary

Subcommittee

2011

• Senators

Boxer and

Casey held a

hearing on

Women and

Arab Spring

which

highlighted

CEDAW

But CEDAW has still not been adopted nationally.


On June 24th, 2014 Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee chair Senator

Barbara Boxer held a hearing, featuring testimony by an unprecedented

number of women senators, who called for action on CEDAW and VAWA to

stem the tide of violence against women and girls across the globe.

But no action was taken on a national level.

Senate Hearing Reignites Hope For CEDAW and I-VAWA


Why not?

Hundreds of civic, religious and labor organizations have endorsed CEDAW

ratification.

All established social science methods for predicting human rights treaty

ratification indicate that the U.S. would have ratified CEDAW decades ago.

In her book "Defying Convention" author Lisa Baldez highlights why the U.S.

Senate has not ratified CEDAW including:

The deeply partisan nature of women's rights initiatives in the US

Basic disagreements about how treaties work

Inertia


Women must act to end discrimination

NOW

• We cannot wait any longer.

• Cities and towns can adopt municipal ordinances implementing

CEDAW’s standards of discrimination and accountability measures,

bypassing the Senate’s inertia.

• We can learn from these local innovations in improved service

delivery, budgetary allocations and staffing practices,

• While creating a better future for today’s children and the planet.


The Goals of the Cities for CEDAW Campaign are Clear:

• 100 Mayors speak out for CEDAW by June 2015;

• 100 municipal CEDAW ordinances adopted by January 2016;

• Improve the lives of millions of women;

• Build critical mass at the grassroots for national ratification.


WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Raise awareness of the issues

Propose solutions

Create the political will within Civil Society to effect change


Apply CEDAW to Local Municipalities

Every municipal ordinance may be unique in responding to local governmental

structures and culture.

However, we’ve learned from those cities that have already adopted CEDAW

that effective implementation requires:

• Active support from local government leaders;

• Gender analysis to ensure gender responsive allocation of public resources;

• Relevant data collection to enable gender analysis and implement measures;

• A mechanism for funding these activities;

• Partnership with civil society groups and individual women in the community.


How CEDAW is making change in San Francisco

San Francisco adopted a CEDAW implementation ordinance in 1999.

Since then:

• Public Works placed greater street lighting for better safety.

• Department of Juvenile Probation Created a “girls unit” providing

gender-specific, trauma-focused services for girls.

• Increase in female employment in professional jobs within the city of

San Francisco

• Gender Equality Principles Initiative to expand gender analysis.

• Reduction in domestic violence


TALK WITH YOUR FRIENDS

AND NEIGHBORS ABOUT

HOW CEDAW CAN ADDRESS

DISCRIMINATION

IN YOUR TOWN


Then What? Stay connected by signing up for our mailing list at

http://citiesforcedaw.org

Use the resources on our website to learn more about CEDAW and

about the 100 Cities for CEDAW Campaign

When you’re ready to start, form a local coalition

Investigate discrimination as it is happening in your town

Design a local ordinance that will address these concerns using CEDAW’s

definition of discrimination and a human rights approach

Give as generously as you can to keep this campaign on track!

Remember: 100 U.S. Cities for CEDAW by January 2016

http://citiesforcedaw.org/


Thank youfor your interest in the

Cities for CEDAW Campaign. We look forward to working with you to

end discrimination in your city.

Copyright 2014, Nancy Rock and Laura Roskos.

Our heartfelt gratitude to Ione Biggs and Billie Heller for starting this work and our special thanks to Mary Sue Barnett, Rachel Crosby, Krishanti Dhamaraj, Nancy Munger, Emily Murase and Soon-Young Yoon for their assistance with this presentation.

introducing cities for cedaw

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