Home > Our Work > Policy Initiatives > CEDAW >
CEDAW Implementation & Process

CEDAW is an international treaty that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and signed by then-President Jimmy Carter over twenty years ago.

Congress has not yet ratified it and the United States is thus not subject to its obligations. One hundred and sixty-six (166) other countries have ratified CEDAW, including all other industrialized member states of the United Nations and most so-called "third-world" countries. San Francisco's ordinance makes us the first-and still only-city in the United States to implement the underlying principles of CEDAW on a local level. The ordinance works to promote gender equity and equal access in (1) economic development and employment, (2) violence against women and girls, and (3) health care. The passage of this historic ordinance resulted from a unique public/private partnership between the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) and a consortium of community organizations spearheaded by WILD for Human Rights.

The ordinance is designed to eliminate discrimination, including violence, against women through implementing CEDAW principles within San Francisco. CEDAW broadens the definition of discrimination to protect women and girls' "human rights or fundamental freedom[s] in the political, economic, social and cultural, civil, legal or any other field." CEDAW expands the definition of human rights, giving formal recognition to the influence of culture and tradition. It recognizes that differences in life experiences often result in the social, economic, and political inequities for women and girls that permeate our society and determine how decisions are made. The CEDAW Ordinance broadly defines discrimination against women and girls as any, "Distinction, exclusion, or restriction made on the basis of sex that has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural civil or any other field." The definition of discrimination includes gender-based violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.

The ordinance requires City departments to undergo gender analysis to determine whether the departments are implementing the principles of CEDAW or discriminating against women and girls in their service delivery, employment practices, and budget allocation. The purpose in analyzing the operations of departments is to identify discrimination and, if identified, to remedy that discrimination. The aim is to integrate gender into daily operations so that women and men, as well as girls and boys are ensured adequate access to services and fairness in the workplace. The Task Force selected two departments to undergo the first gender analysis in 1999.

The CEDAW framework recognizes that all departments are interconnected and part of a unified whole. Thus, the actions of the selected departments impact other departments and private entities. Equally important, the CEDAW framework also recognizes that citywide policies, unions and/or the public set many practices and that external factors can influence the creation of an efficient or just environment within any single department. The Department of Public Works was selected for its large size, nontraditional employment opportunities for women, and provision of indirect services (services not provided directly to an individual person), such as street construction and building design. The Juvenile Probation Department provided an opportunity to examine service provision to an increasing population of diverse young women, and to delve into its community services.

The two departments underwent gender analysis in the summer of 1999. The analysis was conducted with the help of department staff, unions, and community representatives. The departments used the guidelines to conduct a self-analysis, based on the view that critical self-examination is essential for any long-term change. The guidelines provide a framework to document and address the differential impact of services, employment policies, and budget allocations on women and men in a three-step process: (1) gathering information, (2) assessing the situation, and (3) recommending what, if any, city practices and policies should change to promote gender equity. The ultimate aim was not to produce yet another departmental report but to put a process in motion that would encourage and institutionalize new ways of thinking about gender. Since then a number of Departments and Commissions have followed suite.

Some of the issues raised by the first two analyses appeared to be citywide problems (or solutions) that one department could not solve on its own. To further verify this trend and continue the gender analysis process the Task Force chose four other City departments, Adult Probation Department, Arts Commission, Department of the Environment, and the Rent Stabilization Board. In 2001, the ordinance was expanded to include the intersection of gender and race and the particular experiences faced by women and girls of color, with reference to the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) which the U.S. ratified in 1994. WILD for Human Rights published and submitted to the United Nations CERD Committee a shadow report entitled: The Treatment of Women of Color Under U.S. Law: A Report on U.S. Government Compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination**LINK to article in Publications**

As a last task, the CEDAW San Francisco Taskforce adopted a five-year strategic plan. It envisions that the local implementation of the United Nations Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) will result in women and girls fully exercising their human rights including an adequate standard of living, education, bodily integrity and health; while acknowledging the multiple identities of women and girls including race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexuality, nationality, age, family status and immigration status.

Full implementation of CEDAW would ensure dignity and respect for women and girls in both public and private spaces; and end systemic forms of discrimination and violence towards women and girls in the United States. This strategic plan is intended to provide a roadmap for moving expeditiously towards the implementation of CEDAW in the City and County of San Francisco. The overall vision is that, ultimately, all aspects of public and private sector will fully integrated CEDAW into their systems and structures; and everything that happens to San Francisco women and girls will be interpreted and acted upon using the CEDAW conceptual framework, analysis and language.