Treaty | Be a Seed for Change


	Advance the Rights of Women & Girls Worldwide



	Tell your Senator to support CEDAW and to ask Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Senator John Kerry, to put CEDAW on the path towards ratification.

I DON’T believe in the basic rights of women and girls worldwide — the right to live free from violence, the right to go to school, or the right to participate in the political system.

How many Americans would agree with that statement? None that I know — and I’m sure none that you know.

Yet the United States continues to be one of only seven countries in the world that has not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) — a landmark international agreement that affirms principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women around the world.

It’s time to ratify CEDAW and show that Americans believe in the basic rights of women and girls worldwide.

Today, for the first time in EIGHT years, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing focused solely on the importance of ratifying CEDAW — a momentous step forward in our push to ratify this important treaty. This hearing will underscore the importance of U.S. ratification of the treaty to strengthen our standing as a leader for women’s rights and human rights, and it’s an important first step towards a full Senate vote on CEDAW. The National Women’s Law Center has been at the forefront of working for the ratification of CEDAW, and today our Co-President, Marcia Greenberger, will testify at the Committee hearing about the importance of CEDAW for women and girls worldwide.

We are within striking distance of CEDAW ratification, but the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the committee with jurisdiction over this international treaty. In order for the U.S. to ratify CEDAW, he needs to use his leadership to move it forward.

We urgently need your help — tell your Senators to support CEDAW and ask Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Senator Kerry, to move CEDAW forward for a vote.

Sincerely,