Women's Rights

The tragic situation of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban was a vivid reminder to all Americans that women's lives in many places around the world are threatened every day. International partnerships are essential to advancing and protecting the rights of women. Yet for more than 20 years, the United States, along with a handful of small countries, including Afghanistan, has failed to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the most comprehensive international agreement on the basic rights of women.

This Treaty for the Rights of Women, as it is commonly called, has been ratified by 169 nations and has become an important tool for advancing women’s human rights. It serves as an important framework for remedying laws and policies that disadvantage women and girls in many settings, limiting their access to education, healthcare and other basic rights of citizenship, including the right to protect themselves from violence and abuse. OSI-Washington supported efforts to increase awareness of this important treaty and to create a political and social climate in which the United States will eventually ratify it.