July 18, 1998 --
It was a simple idea: men and women are created equal. And in 1848 at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Seneca Falls, NY, 300 people ratified a document that demanded equal rights for men and women.
150 years later, at the same chapel, United Methodist Women are continuing their history of advocacy for equal rights and presenting nearly 10,000 personally written letters to a Congressional delegation stating that women are entitled to the same social, political, economic and cultural rights as men.
Most people like the idea. Every Western democracy in the world has adopted it--except one.
The United States has not yet ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), also known as the women’s human rights treaty.
On Saturday, July 18, at the historic Seneca Falls site, United Methodist Women members are asking why.
"Women around the world have been oppressed for so long that it’s time the world recognizes that men and women are equal. The way women are treated in each society should reflect this equality. Our U.S. failure to ratify CEDAW directly limits the ability of those working to protect the human rights of women to use the treaty for chances in their own countries," says one letter to Senator Alfonse D’Amato.
"We are concerned that we are the only Western democracy not to have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discimination Against Women [and about] the instances of domestice violence, rape in peace and war, forced prostitution, [and] economic discrepancy," says another letter to Senator David Patrick Moynihan.
In New York, Senator D’Amato is undecided on whether he supports the ratification of CEDAW. Senator Moynihan has said that he will vote for the ratification of the convention.
"The United States is a leader in human rights and women’s rights, so there is no reason why they should not be signing this treaty," said Anna Rhee, executive secretary for public policy of the Women's Division, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church, which represents the one-million member organization of United Methodist Women. Ms. Rhee has coordinated the letter-writing campaign.
"How can they look to us for leadership if we don’t ratify this?" she continues.
CEDAW 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.
"It requires countries to guarantee equal rights and treatment in regard to voting rights, access to the political system, citizenship rights and legal rights. It also enables women to marry who they want," says Ms. Rhee. "As United Methodist Women, rights of women around the world is part of our mission."
Members of United Methodist Women (UMW) have already been involved with CEDAW in several ways.
At the end of April, members advocated for ratification of the convention with their senators in face-to-face meetings at an ecumenical briefing in Washington. In mid-May, more than 10,000 United Methodist Women members gathered for a four-day event at the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, FL. During the event, which combined music, worship, prayer, advocacy and justice education, women personally wrote the letters to U.S. senators requesting U.S. ratification of the treaty.
Also, in the past several weeks, countries who ratified the convention have been giving reports at the United Nations on their efforts to carry out CEDAW. Five observers supported by "Project CEDAW," an ecumenical organization of 21 churches, have been observing their countries’ reports, writing "shadow reports" that give other viewpoints on the efforts of CEDAW in their country, and developing plans to take back to their own grassroot organizations to pressure the government to continue to implement all parts of CEDAW. The organization of United Methodist Women has sponsored a woman from Brazil to observe the presentations this year.
It’s been ten years since the denomination urged members to support the treaty, yet the United States has still not responded. "We call upon The United Methodist Church to support the ‘United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,’ and urge United Methodists to work through local and national organizations to encourage their governments not only to ratify but also to implement the Convention," said an adopted resolution at the denomination’s 1988 General Conference.
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 $23 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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