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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2002

News Release

CEDAW Finally Passed by Foreign Relations Committee

Full Senate Vote Comes Next

Washington, D.C. - Just one more bridge to cross.

The National Education Association applauds the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for finally passing CEDAW, an international treaty assuring the rights and well-being of girls and women worldwide. Despite being held hostage by committee conservatives for 23 years, Tuesday's 12-7 vote in favor of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, reaffirms our country's role as an outspoken advocate for human and civil rights worldwide.

The NEA would like to thank all the Committee's Democratic members and Republican senators Lincoln Chaffee (Rhode Island) and Gordon Smith (Oregon) for voting for CEDAW. And it implores members of the full U.S. Senate to vote for this battle worn treaty when it reconvenes this fall. If approved by two-thirds of the Senate, CEDAW, already ratified by 170 other nations, would become the law of our land. CEDAW supporters expect the full Senate to vote on ratifying the treaty sometime this fall.

So far, CEDAW has played a significant and positive role in developing legal, inheritance and political rights for women in Uganda, Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, Tanzania and Costa Rica. It changed domestic violence laws for women in Turkey and Nepal, Korea and the Ukraine. If adopted worldwide, it would hopefully bring an end to abusive practices like female genital mutilation, a horrific practice still use by some cultures to control young girls.

NEA resolutions call for all nations "to respect and protect the basic human and civil rights of every individual" and state that "all persons, regardless of gender, must have equal opportunity for employment, promotion, compensation...and leadership." Women in the U.S. are already assured all of the rights guaranteed by CEDAW. With our country's support, CEDAW will become an equal rights standard for women worldwide.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.