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Introduction

At the August 2001 meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (the “Committee”), the U.S. government will present its initial report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which the U.S. ratified in 1994. The Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights welcomes this report, which comprehensively sets forth the history of civil rights laws in the U.S. However, this report only makes glancing mention to the experiences of women of color (women of non-European descent) under the heading of “Factors Affecting Implementation.” (page 20, para. 71) In light of the Committee’s General Recommendation on Gender Related Dimensions of Racial Discrimination, which was released in March 2000, The Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights (WILD) is presenting this paper to provide more information on “the disadvantages, obstacles and difficulties that women [in the United States] face in the full exercise and enjoyment of their civil, political, economic social and cultural rights on grounds of race, colour, descent and national or ethnic origin.” In particular, the laws and policies in the United States consistently fail to address adequately the unique forms of discrimination faced by women and girls of color. Women and girls of color often experience compounded or intersectional discrimination, in which their experience of gender discrimination intersects with racism and related intolerance.

• Women from ethnic and racial minorities, especially immigrants, are often the majority of employees in dangerous and usually unregulated industries such as domestic work and sweatshops.
• The intersection of racism and discriminatory views of women’s sexuality have led women and girls from ethnic and racial minorities to be more vulnerable to sexual violence.
• Female members of racial and ethnic minority groups, especially indigenous women, are often subjected to control of their reproductive rights as a method of population control.
• The absence of disaggregated data leaves many women and girls from racial and ethnic minorities consistently overlooked in the formation of policies that impact their lives.

Moreover, in light of the continuing discrimination against women of color in the United States, such women have little ability to impact their conditions through political participation. Women of color constitute 3.6 percent of state legislators, and they are an even lower percentage of statewide elective executive positions, representing 5.7 percent of women holding such offices.1 Of the 73 women serving
in the current Congress, 20 or 27.4 percent are women of color. There are no women of color in the U.S. Senate.

In order to end racial discrimination completely in this country and fulfill the U.S. government’s obligations under international law, the U.S. government must address and examine the intersections of race and sex that create a unique matrix of discrimination. This paper sets forth some of the key areas in which women of color continue to face barriers to success and well being, including economics, violence, health and asylum, in order to encourage the U.S. government to address gender, as well as age, class, and sexual orientation. Toward that end, we urge the CERD Committee to question the U.S. delegation on the condition and treatment of women of color in the U.S. and on government efforts to ensure that it is fulfilling its obligations under CERD vis a vis women and girls of color.

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Footnotes
1 Women of Color in Elective Office 2001, Fact Sheet, Center for the American Woman and Politics.