The UN and Women's Rights
How the United Nations has advanced gender equality, from CEDAW to Women, Peace and Security, and the persistent gaps between commitments and reality.
Building the Framework
The UN has been central to the global women's rights agenda. The Commission on the Status of Women, established in 1946, was one of the first functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council. CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women), adopted in 1979, is often called the international bill of rights for women. It has been ratified by 189 countries, making it one of the most widely ratified human rights treaties. The United States is notably among the few countries that have signed but not ratified CEDAW.
The 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women and its Platform for Action marked a turning point. It identified 12 critical areas of concern, from poverty and education to violence against women and women in armed conflict. The Beijing Declaration's call for 'gender mainstreaming,' integrating a gender perspective into all policies and programs, became standard practice across the UN system. Two decades later, the SDGs included a standalone goal on gender equality (SDG 5) and gender dimensions across multiple other goals.