Congressional women, UMW urge ratification of U.N. treaty
9/14/1998 NOTE: Photographs are available with this story.
WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Several female members of the U.S. House of Representatives have joined in urging senators to ratify a United Nations resolution on the rights of women.
Their support was announced at a Sept. 10 press conference called by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.). Afterward, members of United Methodist Women (UMW) and the Women's Division staff of the Board of Global Ministries delivered 10,000 letters of support for the treaty to senators. The letters, written at the UMW Assembly in May, were sorted and given to the individual senators representing each writer.
Speakers repeatedly noted that the treaty, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, was passed by the U.N. General Assembly almost 20 years ago. Subsequently, all the Western democracies except the United States have agreed to it.
Woolsey declared that 162 nations have ratified the document, but the "one glaring exception is the oldest democracy in the world." She attributed that holdup to Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, which he chairs. His committee has refused to allow the matter to go to the floor for a vote. Woolsey has more than 60 cosponsors for a House resolution asking the Senate to vote on ratification.
"This inaction sends a message to women in our own nation and all over the world," Woolsey said. "Failure to ratify it is an insult to all women."
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) observed that the economic future of so many countries of the world depends on women. "For the United States, which cares so much about its economic security, to not recognize this is wrong," she said.
"Violence and discrimination against women ... hold back whole societies," said Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.).
Rights for women is an issue for everyone, said Rep. Connie Morella (R-Md.). "Ratification is long overdue." She urged that letters to the editor be sent to local newspapers throughout the country.
"How can we claim to be a leader in women's rights if we don't ratify this treaty?" asked Anna Rhee, director of the Washington Office of the Women's Division. The convention addresses the rights of women socially, politically, economically, culturally and in family life, she said. It specifically requires countries to guarantee voting and legal rights for women.
"As United Methodist Women, rights of women around the world is part of our mission," Rhee declared.
The current constitutional debate regarding impeachment makes ratification of the U.N. treaty, with its promise of rights for all people, especially timely, said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). Such rights are what the U.S. constitution is all about, she said.
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