Scrutinizing US Resistance to CEDAW

Why is the US among a small handful of countries that has not ratified CEDAW?  At this summer’s meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), the winner of the Victoria Schuck award for best book on women and politics was Defying Convention: U.S. Resistance to the U.N. Treaty on Women’s Rights, by Lisa Baldez.  In making the award, the APSA called the US failure to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) a “neglected puzzle” and praised Baldez for laying out clearly “what is at stake and the consequences of non-ratification for women in the U.S. and women around the world.” Feminist historian Eileen Boris has posted a review here. 

For the time being the United States is holding company with Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and two small Pacific Island nations (Palau and Tonga) which have also failed to ratify CEDAW.  However, US cities are moving ahead, getting the job done despite federal inaction.  In the past few weeks, both Santa Monica, California and Miami-Dade County, Florida, adopted the principles of CEDAW.  More cities — Honolulu?  Washington, D.C.? — are in the pipeline.  At some point, federal representatives will see which way the wind is blowing.  Maybe by then, they will realize that their failure to act isn’t a show of federal strength, but an act that weakens the country.