Martha Burk is a political psychologist and director of the Corporate Accountability Project for the National Council of Women's Organizations.
The saber-rattling against Iran by President Bush and Secretary of State Rice last week—as part of the hype for sending 21,500 more Americans to Iraq to become more roadside-bomb fodder, and the push-back from Democrats and Republicans alike—overshadowed another official warning, this one against Sudan. U.S. special envoy Andrew Natsios, as he appealed to the Chinese for help with the genocide in Darfur that has killed 450,000 people to date, said on Friday, "If we find that the Sudanese government is stonewalling ... then we will go to a more coercive strategy."
But wait. The Bush administration actually agrees with both Iran and Sudan on one thing: Women’s rights aren’t important. The U.S. stands virtually alone with these countries against the rest of the civilized world in failing to ratify the international women’s human rights treaty known as CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).
CEDAW was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations, and President Carter signed it in 1980, sending it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for ratification. There it remains. The United States is the only holdout in the industrialized world in this massive failure to ratify and recognize the fundamental principles of equality for women worldwide.
Even though W has given lip service to women’s human rights in the past , he’s not about to go there now. His conservative base considers CEDAW an international abortion rights treaty, even though it does not even mention abortion and, in fact, guarantees rights for married women and mothers. But never mind—it’s a good fund-raising tool and red meat for the right wing. The Friday Fax, a weekly screed from the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, was cranking up the rhetoric even before the election, warning in the direst of terms of the catastrophe that awaits if the United States signs on to this simple declaration that women and girls are equal human beings with men and boys.
Democratic presidential hopefuls smell blood in the Republican political waters, and are jumping into the fray on both Iran and Sudan. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was in Sudan last week to try and broker a cease fire and persuade Sudanese President Omar al Bashir to allow U.N. peacekeepers. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., co-sponsored legislation adopted unanimously last month by the Senate, strengthening sanctions against the government of Sudan, and both she and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., are now advocating more diplomacy with Iran. It should be a no-brainer for all of these unannounced candidates to come out early and strong urging the U.S. to show its opposition to anti-woman policies in both countries on women’s human rights, and push for ratification of CEDAW.
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who has already declared his candidacy for the presidency, now heads the Foreign Relations Committee, where the treaty has been held hostage for 26 years. He says he’s in favor of ratification, and most women’s rights advocates believe he is sincere. And he’s one presidential aspirant who can actually do something substantive. What better time than now to hold hearings and spring the treaty from the committee and send to a vote in the Senate in time for March 8—International Women's Day?
Senate Republicans are splitting with the President on the “new” war plan in Iraq. They should be given the chance to split with him on women’s human rights and side with the rest of the world against Iran and Sudan on more than weapons of mass destruction and state-sponsored terrorism. And if they don’t, let the voters decide in 2008. To paraphrase Jesse Jackson: If not 2007 for women, when? And if not Democrats running for president, who?
