Why?

CEDAW is the most comprehensive international agreement on the basic human rights of women and girls. The U.S. is one of only seven countries that has failed to ratify CEDAW, and the only industrialized nation. This renders the U.S. unable to credibly demand that other nations protect women's human rights, nor participate in the international CEDAW committee.

Ratifying CEDAW has led to tremendous changes around the world. It could also lead to great changes in our own country. Not to be stopped by three decades of lollygagging in the Senate, the city of San Francisco was the first U.S. city to adopt an ordinance obligating itself to the principles of CEDAW. We can assume that the expansion of justice for women in San Francisco under CEDAW strongly suggests what would happen in our entire country after ratification.

We could see:

• Harsher sentences for domestic violence
• More flexible work schedules (and therefore more women and men with families entering the workforce)
• More women occupying senior-level government appointments
• Crackdowns on discrimination against women consumers
• The creation of a cabinet-level office to address discrimination against women

The real question is why not? Why won't the U.S. acknowledge women's rights as human rights?