A Timeline of CEDAW in the United States

1979: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a treaty to address all forms of discrimination against women was created and sent to countries for ratification.

July 1980: President Jimmy Carter signs CEDAW and submitted it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before leaving office, but it was not passed during his term.

1980-1990: Under the Reagan and Bush Senior Administrations, the treaty stalled in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee not going anywhere.

1990: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing about CEDAW.

1993: The United States finally announces its intention to ratify CEDAW at the UN World Conference on Human Rights.

1994: The Clinton Administration expresses support of CEDAW; CEDAW passed in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with a 13-5 vote; despite the Committee's recommendation for ratification, a group of conservative senators put a hold on the treaty, preventing it from passing in Senate and reverting it back to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where it stalled again.

1995: The United States makes a commitment to ratify CEDAW by 2000 at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women (unfortunately this is not achieved).

1996: Many state legislatures have already passed resolutions supporting CEDAW; this year marks the first whereby state counties and cities start to pass pro-CEDAW resolutions, but the nation as a whole is still not passing it.

1998: The city of San Francisco becomes the first to adopt a CEDAW ordinance within the city, they undergo a critical gender analysis of all government activities in order to implement new policies that reflect nondiscriminatory practices in public life, their efforts show how even the most simple ordinances which seemingly have nothing to do with gender can have unintended implications which need to be addressed.

2002: The Bush Administration takes an initial position in support of CEDAW, quoted, as calling it is "generally desirable"; under the chairmanship of Joe Biden, Democrat from Delaware, and with growing Congressional support. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passes CEDAW with a 12-7 vote, but it is never debated in Senate.

2002-2008: It stalled many times between the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the State Department for the review of RUDs.

March 2009: President Obama sent the treaty to the State Department where the document was reviewed with the 2002 Senate Foreign Relations Committee's RUDs by an Interagency Working Group.

Post by Sara

All information from:

“Understanding CEDAW: A Timeline.” Physicians for Human Rights. 27 April 2011. .