March 17, 1998 -- United Methodist Women (UMW) plan to promote an international treaty to end discrimination against women and take their message to United States senators this week. Their advocacy comes after UMW leaders from around the United States heard Pat Rengel of Amnesty International, USA, speak on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at a meeting prior to the 28th annual interfaith legislative briefing in Washington, DC, on Saturday, March 28.
CEDAW, also known as the women's human rights treaty, was adopted by the United Nations in 1979, and is a comprehensive document addressing the rights of women socially, politically, economically, culturally, and in family life. Members of United Methodist Women have written thousands of postcards over the last several years urging their senators to ratify this important treaty.
"CEDAW is a simple idea. Women deserve and society needs to recognize the rights of women. Rights that need to be protected," said Ms. Rengel, citing health care, employment, equal pay, and special needs for rural women. Ratification of CEDAW by the US Senate becomes a tool for promoting human rights for women, she says.
The United States is the only country in the western hemisphere that has not ratified CEDAW and that has UMW briefing participants concerned. They meet with their legislators on Tuesday about these concerns.
The CEDAW Working Group, based in Washington, DC, has initiated a Campaign of Commitment to urge Senators to take a stand for women. Detractors of the treaty are communicating misinformation about the treaty. "We're dealing with a deep-seated discrimination and fear within our country," says Ms. Rengel. At the same time, she stresses that violence against women is real and we need to look at what governments are not doing for women, and should be doing. "Governments need to re-define the strata of human rights and what they should do to include women," she continues.
CEDAW helps the human rights of women in their communities as they struggle against discrimination. The treaty was the basis of a Botswanan woman's success in changing her country's citizenship law. Until recently the government of Botswana only recognized the children of Botswanan men as citizens. If a child was born in Botswana to a foreigner and a Botswanan woman, the child was not given Botswanan citizenship. One woman's efforts, joined by many others, changed the law and ended discrimination against women in this area.
Ms. Rengel pointed to the situation in Afghanistan as including possibly the worst human rights violations against women in the world today. "The United States should ratify CEDAW, and urge other countries of the world to implement it and recognize women's rights as human rights, " she said.
United Methodist Women members received a list of senators supporting and opposing ratification of CEDAW. Many of the participants plan to speak directly with senators about support of CEDAW. "Rights of women around the world is part of our mission," said Anna Rhee, executive secretary for public policy of the Women's Division, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church.
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 $25 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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