The Circle of Empowerment: Twenty-five Years of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

by Kofi Annan, Hanna Schöpp-Schilling (Editor), Cees Flinterman (Editor)

Overview

Adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is the most important human rights treaty for women ever created. The United States is the only industrialized country that has yet to ratify it.

Essays and personal reflections written by 42 former and current members of CEDAW's Committee and five UN staff members reveal the profound impact this Convention has had on women's lives around the world. With examples and moving reminiscences from Korea to Egypt, from Russia to the Caribbean, this book addresses CEDAW's impact on women in personal status laws, labor markets, migration, human trafficking, politics, as well as the obstacles created by cultural stereotypes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558615632
Publisher:	Feminist Press at CUNY, The
Publication date:	12/01/2007
Series:	Mariam K. Chamberlain Series on Social and Economic Justice Series
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling, a member of the CEDAW Committee since 1989, is currently a lecturer and consultant on human rights in Europe and Asia. She has made contributions to various functions of the Committee, making it the strong and well-respected human rights organization that it is recognized as today.

Cees Flinterman, member of the CEDAW Committee since 2002, is a professor of international law at Utrecht Universityin The Netherlands. He served on the Dutch delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women and was heavily involved in the formulation and adoption of CEDAW's Optional Protocol.

Table of Contents

Message on Cedaw's Twenty-Fifth Anniversary   Kofi A. Annan     1
Introduction and Acknowledgments   Hanna Beate Schopp-Schilling     3
Personal Reflection     7
In Celebration   Rachel N. Mayanja
The Convention as a Living Instrument
The Nature and Scope of the Convention   Hanna Beate Schopp-Schilling     10
Personal Reflection     30
Interpreting the Convention   Silvia Rose Cartwright
Relationships with un Conferences, Specialized Agencies, Programs, and Funds   Ivanka Corti     36
Overarching Challenges
Universalizing Women's Human Rights Through Cedaw   Savitri Goonesekere     52
Culture, Religion, and Cedaw's Article 5 (A)   Frances Raday     68
Personal Reflections     86
In the Muslim World   Emna Aouij
From the Arab Region   Naela Gabr
Education and Legal Literacy   Silvia Pimentel     90
Personal Reflections     104
Persistent Discrimination   Christine Kapalata
Private Global Enterprises, International Trade, and Finance   Elizabeth Evatt     106
Specific Challenges
Poverty, Prostitution, and Trafficking   Elvira Novikova     124
Personal Reflection     141
Rethinking Prostitution and Trafficking   Krisztina Morvai
Unfinished Battles: Political and Public Life   Francoise Gaspard     145
Impediments to Progress: The Formal Labor Market   Hanna Beate Schopp-Schilling     159
Personal Reflection     179
Opportunities and Traps-The Informal Labor Market   Pramila Patten
The Female Face of Migration   Rosario G. Manalo     183
Women's Health: Accommodating Difference   Carmel Shalev     196
Rights of Rural Women: Examples From Latin America   Aida Gonzalez Martinez     212
Cedaw and Violence Against Women: Providing the "Missing Link"   Heisoo Shin     223
Women in War and Its Aftermath: Liberia   Charlotte Abaka     234
The Work of the Committee
The Nature and Mandate of the Committee   Hanna Beate Schopp-Schilling     248
Personal Reflections     262
Support by the un Division for the Advancement of Women   Ingeborg Creydt
The Early Years   Luvsandanzangyn Ider
Challenging Governments   Marie Caron
The First Twelve Years   Desiree Patricia Bernard
The Middle Years   Salma Khan
Outreach and Impact   Norma Monica Forde
Dual Perspectives   Mervat Tallawy
Working for Equality   Meriem Belmihoub-Zerdani
Achievements and Obstacles   Victoria Popescu
Challenges and Impacts   Konigt Sinegiorgis
Progress and Obstacles   Philomena Kintu
On Twenty Years of Involvement   Jane Connors
Strengthening Women's Human Rights Through Individual Complaints   Cees Flinterman     286
The Juarez Murders and the Inquiry Procedure   Maria Regina Tavares da Silva   Yolanda Ferrer Gomez     298
Personal Reflection     309
The Circle of Empowerment   Aurora Javate de Dios     309
From Global to Local: The Involvement of Ngos   Shanthi Dairiam     313
Personal Reflections     326
Achieving Fruitful Results   Feng Cui
A Lawyer's Perspective   Miriam Estrada-Castillo
Th Finnish Act on Equality   Pirkko Makinen
A Source of Inspiration   Sjamsiah Achmad
An Important Part of History   Ryoko Akamatsu
Spreading the Convention's Norms Through Education   Hadja Assa Diallo Soumare
Remaining Challenges and the Way Forward
Personal Reflections     340
Thoughts on the Committee's Past, Hopes for its Future   Feride Acar
Important Changes and Further Reforms Needed   Goran Melander
Reflections on the Future   Dubravka Simonovic
Works Cited      352
Contributors' Biographies     367
Text of the Convention     377
Text of the Optional Protocol to the Convention     389
Summary List of General Recommendations     395
Index     396

Editorial Reviews

This book is a significant contribution to the history of women’s human rights internationally. It is eminently readable, moving . . . every facet of women’s lives is covered, including the worldwide plague of violence against women. It will become a classic, required reading for lawyers, students, and those interested in international affairs or international jurisprudence. Yet once into it, one can’t stop reading, for despite the differences among women, a common humanity and sympathy is revealed that transcends world politics and provides hope for the future.” —Arvonne Fraser, co-founder and director, International Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW)

“This book is essential reading for those interested in moving the agenda forward on women's equality. Written by an extraordinary group of CEDAW experts, it provides invaluable insights into the global challenges of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women.” —Rebecca J. Cook, Faculty Chair in International Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

“This collective account by former and current CEDAW experts underscores the key accomplishment of the CEDAW Committee: moving the focus of the gender discussion from development and empowerment to rights and equality. This has made all the difference for millions of women in the last twenty-five years and will continue to do so for decades to come.” —Marsha A. Freeman, director, International Women's Rights Action Watch, University of Minnesota Human Rights Center

“This insightful collection brings together the wide-ranging expertise of the CEDAW Committee in taking on long-standing and deep-seated obstacles to women's equal rights—economic, political, social, and cultural—as well as critical new challenges to those rights brought by globalization. Now celebrating its twenty fifth year, the Convention has been ratified by nearly every nation in the world. UNIFEM has supported CEDAW and its Committee since its inception, and will be there to help it reach new heights over the next twenty five.” —Noeleen Heyzer, executive director, UNIFEM

"Essential reading . . . and a sobering reminder to U.S. women of how their country's failure to ratify the Women's Convention has resulted in their exclusion from a vital international conversation." —Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania

"This book . . . sheds invaluable light on one of the great milestones in the history of human rights." —Philip Alston, New York UniversityLaw School

"The volume is well edited and accessibly written, covers a broad spectrum of policy, and pulls a few punches in evaluating the work of the committee, the responses of national governments, and the constructive or obstructive roles of NGOs. Summing up: Highly recommended." —M.M. Ferree, University of Wisconsin

"Written in accessible prose [The Circle of Empowerment is a] welcome and timely arrival for any ratification debate in the U.S. Senate. . . .[it is] an excellent candidate for inclusion in courses on women's rights, international human rights, and international organizations women's studies/gender studies, law, political science, sociology and cultural studies." —Professor Isabel Marcus, School of Law, State University of New York at Buffalo

From the Publisher