Contents

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Introduction to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

The United Nations CEDAW is one of the core international human rights treaties. It is often
referred to as the ‘women’s bill of rights’, because it specifically targets the promotion and protection of the fundamental human rights of women, and urges the empowerment of women so that they can claim and enjoy these rights.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in the United States

CEDAW is an international treaty that commits governments to removing barriers to women’s equality. Adopted by the United Nations in 1979, this Â“Treaty for the Rights of Women,Â” addresses the areas of legal rights, education, employment, health care, violence against women, politics and fi nance. (Albert, Sarah, Leila R. Milani and Karina Purushotma, eds. CEDAW: Rights That Benefi t the Entire Community, 2004, 8).

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women does not impose any laws on governments that ratify the treaty. It does require governments to examine their policies and practices in relation to women
and girls and to report periodically to an international committee on the status of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women implementation.

As of March 2005, 180 countries have ratified Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. But not the United States.

Text of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

PART I

Article 1. For the purposes of the present Convention, the term
“discrimination against women”shall mean any distinction, exclusion or
restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of
impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women,
irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and
women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic,
social, cultural, civil or any other field.

Article 2. States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its
forms, agree to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy
of eliminating discrimination against women and, to this end, undertake:
(a) To embody the principle of the equality of men and women in their
national Constitutions or other appropriate legislation if not yet
incorporated therein and to ensure, through law and other appropriate
means, the practical realization of this principle;
(b) To adopt appropriate legislative and other measures, including
sanctions where appropriate, prohibiting all discrimination against
women;
(c) To establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal
basis with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals and
other public institutions the effective protection of women against
any act of discrimination;
(d) To refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination
against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions
shall act in conformity with this obligation;
(e) To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against
women by any person, organization or enterprise;
(f) To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or
abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which
constitute discrimination against women;
(g) To repeal all national penal provisions which constitute
discrimination against women.

Article 3. States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the
political, social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures,
including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of
women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of
human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.

Article 4. 1. Adoption by States Parties of temporary special measures
aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women shall not be
considered discrimination as defined in the present Convention, but shall
in no way entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate
standards; these measures shall be discontinued when the objectives of
equality of opportunity and treatment have been achieved.

2. Adoption by States Parties of special measures, including those measures
contained in the present Convention, aimed at protecting maternity shall
not be considered discriminatory.

Article 5. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures:
(a) To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and
women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and
customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the
inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on
stereotyped roles for men and women;
(b) To ensure that family Education includes a proper understanding of
maternity as a social function and the recognition of the common
responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of
their children, it being understood that the interest of the children
is the primordial consideration in all cases.

Article 6. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including
legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of
prostitution of women.

PART II

Article 7. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in the political and public life of the
country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men,
the right:
(a) To vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for
election to all publicly elected bodies;
(b) To participate in the formulation of government policy and the
implementation thereof and to hold public office and perform all
public functions at all levels of government;
(c) To participate in non-governmental organizations and associations
concerned with the public and political life of the country .

Article 8. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure to
women, on equal terms with men and without any discrimination, the
opportunity to represent their Governments at the international level and
to participate in the work of International Organizations .

Article 9. 1. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to
acquire, change or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in
particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by
the husband during marriage shall automatically change the nationality of
the wife, render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of the
husband.

2. States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to
the nationality of their children.

PART III

Article 10. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with
men in the field of Education and in particular to ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women:
(a) The same conditions for career and vocational guidance, for access to
studies and for the achievement of diplomas in educational
establishments of all categories in rural as well as in urban areas;
this equality shall be ensured in preschool, general, technical,
professional and higher technical education, as well as in all types
of vocational training;
(b) Access to the same curricula, the same examinations, teaching staff
with qualifications of the same standard and school premises and
equipment of the same quality;
(c) The elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and
women at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging
coeducation and other types of education which will help to achieve
this aim and, in particular, by the revision of Textbooks and school
programmes and the adaptation of teaching methods;
(d) The same opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other study
grants;
(e) The same opportunities for access to programmes of continuing
education including adult and functional literacy programmes,
particularly those aimed at reducing, at the earliest possible time,
any gap in education existing between men and women;
(f) The reduction of female student drop-out rates and the organization
of programmes for girls and women who have left school prematurely;
(g) The same opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical
education;
(h) Access to specific educational information to help to ensure the
health and well-being of families, including information and advice
on family planning.

Conclusion

Notes

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Constitutions, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 2, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 3, Convention on the Rights of the Child Part 3, Conventions: Chronological Index 1971-1990, Education, Human Rights conventions, Human rights : a reference handbook, Human rights international conventions, International Organizations, International human rights law Part 37, International human rights law Part 45, Textbooks, country.

Human Rights Conventions: CEDAW – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women