Current Actions

• Raise your Voice and Support CEDAW

  On September 19, 2011, Secretary Clinton, along with other women world leaders participated at an event on women’s political participation at the United Nations just prior to the convening of the General Assembly.

  The Joint Statement on Advancing Women’s Political Participation was signed by Secretary Clinton and mentioned by President Obama in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly.  The Joint Statement reads in part:

  "We call upon all States to ratify and fulfill their obligations under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and to implement fully Security Council Resolution 1325  (2000) on Women  and Peace and Security and other relevant UN resolutions.”

  CEDAW: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, is a landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world.

  Please contact Secretary Clinton and thank her for her continued support for U.S. ratification of CEDAW.
  

• Raise Your Voice and Support CEDAW

  Please ask President Obama to make CEDAW: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women a priority.

  Time and time again, President Obama has declared his support for women worldwide and announced that the ratification of the CEDAW Treaty was an important priority. Now we need him to show leadership in advancing women and girls’ rights around the world. As women and men who believe in the basic rights of women and girls worldwide – the right to live free from violence, the ability to go to school, and access to the political system – we need President Obama to send a strong and urgent signal to the Senate that ratification of CEDAW this year is vital.

  CEDAW strengthens the United States as a global leader in standing up for women and girls. The CEDAW agreement affirms that women’s rights are human rights and offers a practical blueprint for achieving progress for women and girls.

  We are within striking distance of CEDAW ratification, but the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. We cannot allow the United States to continue to be one of only 7 countries in the world that has not ratified CEDAW. CEDAW works! Several countries, including Australia, Brazil, Morocco, South Africa, and Uganda have incorporated provisions in the CEDAW treaty into their constitutions and domestic legal codes. Additionally, Egypt, Jordan, Nicaragua, and Pakistan have all seen significant increases in literacy rates after improving access to education for girls and women.

  Tell President Obama that the women and girls of the world can’t wait any longer – we need CEDAW now!

• Raise your Voice and Support CEDAW

  	"Ratifying CEDAW remains among the unfinished business of the civil rights movement." - - Dorothy I. Height April 13, 2010
  Dorothy I. Height (1912-2010)

   

  Please ask your U.S. Senators to support CEDAW: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. 
  
  The United States is the only democratic nation that has not ratified CEDAW: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. It is also the only nation that signed the Women’s Treaty but has not ratified it.

  Ratification by the U.S. Senate will take a two-thirds vote (67 Senators).

  Tell your Senators that the time is now to ratify CEDAW.

  Women’s rights are key to achieving broad U.S. goals such as reducing poverty, increasing democratic governance, and promoting economic growth. Ratification of CEDAW would allow the U.S. to nominate an expert to sit on the CEDAW committee, to which country reports are made, giving the U.S. more international leverage on women’s equality around the world.
• Raise your Voice and Support CEDAW

  CEDAW: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, is a landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world.

  This Thursday, November 18th, for the first time in EIGHT years, the United States Senate will hold a hearing focused solely on the importance of ratifying CEDAW – a momentous step forward in our push to ratify this important Treaty. One of the witnesses at the hearing will be an international activist who uses CEDAW in her home country of Afghanistan to push for progress for women and girls – and she will express her frustration that the U.S. has yet to ratify this important human rights treaty. This hearing underscores the importance of the U.S. ratifying the Treaty and remaining a world leader on human rights issues and is an important first step towards holding a VOTE on CEDAW!

  Please support CEDAW and ask Senator Kerry to hold a Vote now!

  We know that when the United States ratifies CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) it will strengthen us a leader in standing up for women and girls around the world. We know that Women’s Rights are Human Rights! We know that we need action from our leaders in Washington, D.C., not just talk. That’s why we won’t let this CEDAW hearing be the end, but instead the beginning. Contact your Senators and ask them to urge Senator Kerry to hold a VOTE on CEDAW now!