Tomorrow marks the end of Women’s History Month. At the same time as we’re honoring women’s past contributions, new chapters in history are being written. In America, the most recent achievement for and by women was the passage of healthcare reform. What else will 2010 hold for women? There are high hopes for the US’ ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Also known as The Treaty for the Rights of Women, CEDAW sets a universal standard for women’s equal political, civil, economic, cultural and social rights. It was adopted by the UN in 1979 and as of March 2010, 186 countries have ratified it. The US is only one of seven countries – including Sudan, Somalia, and Iran – to have not ratified the treaty. After years of stalemate, President Obama put CEDAW back on the international treaty agenda. However there is widespread agreement that ratification will require overcoming huge legislative challenges in the Senate. An effort is currently underway by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights to ensure that the treaty is ratified in 2010.

By asimoni
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 7:36 am and is filed under Women's Rights, asimoni. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.