Yesterday, more than four years after the letter-writing campaign, the first victory occurred for United Methodist Women and advocates of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
After senate hearings and delays in the committee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12 to 9 to allow the United Nations convention to go before the whole Senate for a vote this fall.
The 1979 convention requires nations to give equal rights to women for housing, employment, politics, healthcare, and legal systems.
President Carter signed the treaty as he was leaving office in 1980, but the Senate did not ratify it. In 1994, President Clinton recommended that the treaty be brought to the Senate for a full vote, but it never happened. Over the past two decades, 170 countries have ratified the document. The United States has been the only country in the Western Hemisphere that has refused to ratify the convention.
It’s been a long battle for supporters of the convention.
This year, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings about the convention. Proponents of the convention say that heightened media attention to women’s issues – oppression under the Taliban, female genital mutilation, vulnerability to AIDS in Africa – gave the treaty publicity.
And on June 13 at Senate hearings, Representative Lynn Woolsey gave United Methodist Women’s efforts publicity as she talked about the ongoing groundswell of support from the grassroots.
"CEDAW supporters, including Church Women United and United Methodist Women, delivered more than 10,000 individually hand-written letters to Senators urging ratification of the treaty. That’s 10,000! Needless to say, this has been a long battle for CEDAW supporters," said Representative Woolsey.
In 1998, ten thousand United Methodist Women wrote letters at their quadrennial Assembly in Orlando, advocating for United States ratification of the treaty. That same year, the Women’s Division presented the letters to Senators at a women’s right-to-vote celebration in Seneca Falls, New York.
The organization also has sponsored women to come to the United Nations and observe their nation’s reporting on the implementation of CEDAW. After hearing their country’s report, these grassroots women write "shadow reports" that may give other realities and viewpoints. Then, they develop plans to pressure the government to continue implementing all parts of CEDAW.
The battle for ratification of the women’s treaty will continue into the fall when the convention comes before the full Senate.
United Methodist Women are looking for a second victory as they begin calling U.S. Senators and asking them to ratify the convention.
The work of United Methodist Women is based on a 1988 resolution from General Conference – the legislative-making body of the Church. The resolution urges United Methodists to work through local and national organizations to encourage their governments not only to ratify, but to implement, the Convention.
United Methodist Women is a one-million member organization whose purpose is to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders, and advocate for social justice. Members raise more than $20 million dollars a year for programs and projects related to women, children, and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world.
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