Draft:Cities for CEDAW

Cities for CEDAW is a human rights movement to promote intersectional gender justice at the local level.[1] The movement began in 2014 as a campaign under the auspices of the Women's Intercultural Network and other human and civil rights organizations.[2]

"CEDAW" is an acronym for the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the core human rights treaty focused on gender.[3] CEDAW has been ratified by every country in the world, except for six: Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Palau, Tonga and the U.S.[4] Although President Carter signed CEDAW in 1980, the U.S. Senate has never approved the treaty by a two-thirds majority, as the Constitution requires for ratification.[5] In response to the U.S.’s failure to ratify the treaty, advocates have focused on passing city and county measures embodying CEDAW's key principles, while also addressing salient local issues.[6]

The stated mission of Cities for CEDAW is "to foster gender justice and strengthen the rights of women and girls, in all their diversity, through local adoption and implementation of the principles set forth in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)."[7] Specifically, the movement provides technical expertise and resources to support communities, grassroots advocates and government officials in passing and effectuating CEDAW measures in U.S. cities and counties.[8] These measures "offer evidence-based, data-driven frameworks for asserting and advancing the rights of women and girls" and "galvanize local policies and practices to dismantle systemic barriers, address intersectional inequalities and ensure equal opportunities for all."[9]

As scholars and advocates have observed, CEDAW measures have brought about important strides in gender justice and helped cultivate local human rights awareness.[10] The movement has shown demonstrable impacts in CEDAW jurisdictions.[11]

References

1 Cities for CEDAW, https://citiesforcedaw.org/

2 Cities for CEDAW, https://citiesforcedaw.org/background/

3 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination-against-women

4 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Status of Ratifications, https://indicators.ohchr.org/

5 Hansel, Mary, "Local Implementation of CEDAW Is at an Inflection Point," Ms. Magazine (Mar. 10, 2022), https://msmagazine.com/2022/03/10/cedaw-los-angeles-united-nations-convention-to-eliminate-all-forms-of-discrimination-against-women/

6 Hansel, Mary, "Local Implementation of CEDAW Is at an Inflection Point," Ms. Magazine (Mar. 10, 2022), https://msmagazine.com/2022/03/10/cedaw-los-angeles-united-nations-convention-to-eliminate-all-forms-of-discrimination-against-women/

7 Cities for CEDAW, https://citiesforcedaw.org/

8 Cities for CEDAW, https://citiesforcedaw.org/

9 Cities for CEDAW, https://citiesforcedaw.org/

10 Hansel, Mary, "Local Implementation of CEDAW Is at an Inflection Point," Ms. Magazine (Mar. 10, 2022), https://msmagazine.com/2022/03/10/cedaw-los-angeles-united-nations-convention-to-eliminate-all-forms-of-discrimination-against-women/

11 Haddad, Heidi Nichols, "The U.S. hasn’t signed the world’s foremost women’s rights treaty. Activists have gotten local versions passed instead." Washington Post (Mar. 8, 2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/08/us-hasnt-signed-worlds-foremost-womens-rights-treaty-activists-have-gotten-local-versions-passed-instead/