CEDAW is the United Nations Women's Equality Treaty. The United States is the only industrialized nation that has not ratified it. Louisville is part of a national movement called Cities for CEDAW that aims for local implementation of the principles of the treaty. There is so much work to be done to protect and empower girls and women in Louisville, in Kentucky, in the U.S. and all around the world. Contact Rev. Mary Sue Barnett to endorse the coalition and to join the movement.

1. CEDAW:
The Treaty for Women’s Equality

3. On December
18th,1979, CEDAW
was adopted by the
United Nations
General Assembly. It
entered into force as
an international
treaty on September
3rd, 1981 after the
20th country had
ratified it.

4. CEDAW explicitly
acknowledges that
extensive
discrimination
against women
continues to exist
and emphasizes that
such discrimination
violates the
principles of
equality of rights
and respect for
human dignity.

5. How CEDAW Works

6. 187 countries have ratified CEDAW
7 have not
and The United States
2 small Pacific Islands
( Palau and Tonga)
Iran
Sudan
Somalia
South
Sudan

7. The U.S. Should Ratify CEDAW Now
CEDAWwill strengthen the
United States as a global leader in
standing up for equality for women
and girls.

8. CEDAW has Improved Women’s
Lives on the Ground
“CEDAW has improved women’s literacy levels, labor force
participation rates, and parliamentary representation – and in
some cases has reduced absolute gender inequalities.”
-World Bank Report, 2012
• In ratifying countries, women
have partnered with their
governments to change their
laws and policies, creating
greater safety and opportunity
for women and their families

9. CEDAW PROMOTES
THE ADVANCEMENT
OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS
IN THE U.S
 While American
women enjoy
opportunities and
status not available
to most around the
world, few would
dispute that more
progress is needed

10. CEDAW WOULD
PROVIDE AN
EFFECTIVE CATALYST
FOR CHANGE IN THE
U.S.
CEDAW would provide an opportunity for national
dialogue on persistent inequalities in the U.S.
Each country determines how to bring its policies
in line to eliminate discrimination against women
and girls.

11. U.S. Human Rights Record
RATIFIED BY THE U.S.
 International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR)
 Convention on the Elimination
of all forms of Racial
Discrimination (CERD)
 Convention Against Torture
(CAT)
 Convention Against Genocide
(CAG)
NOT RATIFIED BY THE U.S.
• International Covenant on
Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights (ESCR)
• Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC)
• Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
• Convention on Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW)

12. The United States
Journey to Ratify
CEDAW

13. CEDAW’S History in the U.S.
1980:
President
Jimmy
Carter
signed
CEDAW
1994:Voted out
of the Senate
Foreign
Relations
Committee
with bipartisan
support
2002: Again voted
out of the Senate
Foreign Relations
Committee with
bipartisan support
2010: Senator
Durbin held a
hearing on
CEDAW in a
Senate
Judiciary
Subcommittee
(image)
2011: Senators
Boxer and
Casey, held a
hearing on
Women and the
Arab Spring,
which
highlighted
CEDAW

14. CEDAW
SENATE
•
•
•

15. Senate Hearing Reignites Hope For CEDAW and I-VAWA
On Tuesday, June 24th, 2014 a Senate Foreign Relations
Subcommittee chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer held a
hearing, featuring testimony by an unprecedented number of
women senators, who called for action on CEDAW to stem the
tide of violence against women and girls across the globe.

16.  Cities, counties, and states across the
country have taken steps to support, adopt
and/or implement CEDAW locally.
 Local adoption of CEDAW:
o allows for the development of pro-active
legislation to protect women and girls in
your community
o sends a strong message to your senators
that U.S. ratification is important to their
constituents.
SUPPORTING CEDAW
LOCALLY

17. Cities for CEDAW Campaign
was launched at the
United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women
in March 2014.

18. Soon Young Yoon is
Korean-American.
She first envisioned
a grassroots
movement for
CEDAW
implementation on
the local level.
She is the Chair of
the NGO Committee
on the Status of
Women, New York

19. Beginning in 1995, women’s
rights advocates in the Us passed
resolutions endorsing CEDAW
ratification in over 40
municipalities, 20 counties and 15
states.

20. Inspired by the 1995 UN 4th World Conference on
Women in Beijing, San Francisco became the 1st
municipality in the world to adopt a local
ordinance reflecting the principles of CEDAW and
they established the Department on the Status of
Women.

21. WHY CITIES?
o As of 2008, 82% of Americans live in
cities.
o By 2050, nearly 80% of the world’s
women and girls will live in urban areas.
o CEDAW provides a framework for
women’s human rights that impacts
women at the grassroots level.

22. LOUISVILLE
CEDAW
COALITION
FOUNDED APRIL 7, 2014
The Louisville CEDAW
Resolution “precedes an
Ordinance that eliminates
discrimination against women
and girls in the city of Louisville
and sends a statement that we
will not tolerate violence against
women, unequal pay and uneven
academic and economic
opportunities.”
A. Holland Houston
Attorney at Law

23. A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING CITIES FOR CEDAW INITIATIVE BY THE
LOUISVILLE METRO COUNCIL AND SUPPORT OF INDIVIDUAL CITIES PASSING
RESOLUTIONS AND ORDINANCES TO IMPLEMENT THE PRINCIPLES OF THE
UN CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
WOMEN AT THE LOCAL LEVEL.
SPONSOR: Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh
WHEREAS, The Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) was
adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly on
December 18 1979, became
an international treaty as of
September 3, 1981, and 187 UN
member nations, have agreed
to be bound by CEDAW’s
provisions; and
WHEREAS, Although women
have made gains in the
struggle for equality in many
fields, much more needs to be
accomplished to fully
eradicate discrimination based
on gender and to achieve one
of the most basic human rights,
equality; and
WHEREAS, Louisville, Kentucky, is the
largest International Compassionate
City in the USA, and with knowledge
that girls and women make up 52% of
Louisville Metro’s population, and with
a desire to ensure these women and
girls who live in Louisville Metro enjoy
all the rights and privileges and
remedies that are bestowed on all
people in the US, no matter race,
national origin, gender or religious
belief, and with a purpose to claim
worldwide that Louisville, Kentucky is a
city within which women can thrive
and a city that will not tolerate
discrimination against women and
girls or violence perpetrated against
them in any form, by any hand; and
WHEREAS, CEDAW provides a
comprehensive framework for
governments to examine their policies
and practices in relation to women
and girls and to rectify discrimination
based on gender; and
WHEREAS, City and County
governments have an appropriate
and legitimate role affirming the
importance of eliminating all forms of
discrimination against women in
communities as universal norms and
to serve as guides for public policy;
and
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL OF THE
LOUISVILLE/JEFFERSON COUNTY
METRO GOVERNMENT (THE
COUNCIL) AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION I. Louisville Metro
Government is committed to
eliminating all forms of violence
against women and girls, to
promoting the health and safety
of women and girls, and to
affording them equal academic,
economic and business
opportunities in Louisville,
Kentucky.
SECTION II. A resolution is the first
step toward adopting a future
ordinance that would call for: a
gender analysis of all Louisville
Metro departments and
commissions; the designation of
an oversight body; and resources
to support these actions.

24. Resolution Authors:
Tina Ward-Pugh, Victoria Markell,
Delores Delahanty.
Chair of Louisville CEDAW Coalition
Rev. Mary Sue Barnett
Slide Show assembled by:
Anja Arsenovic, M.S. Barnett

25. Join us! Go to:
www.CEDAW2014.org