Abstract
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted by the United Nations in 1979, has been called “a bill of rights for women.” We would suggest that it is far more than that: it is a comprehensive set of guidelines for governments as to their responsibilities to protect, promote, and fulfill the human rights of half the world’s population. With 189 ratifications, it is a near-universal framework for achieving equality between women and men in all aspects of family, community, civic, and economic life. Its monitoring body, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), engages ratifying governments in a continuing effort to achieve substantive equality – equality in fact as well as in law.
Marsha A. Freeman has retired.
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Freeman, M.A. (2019). The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. In: Reilly, N. (eds) International Human Rights of Women. International Human Rights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4550-9_7-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4550-9_7-1
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