Global Issues on Gender Rights and United States

In many countries issues of women's rights have made high concerns such as human trafficking, slavery, and forced labor a high concern for congress in the United States. In 2010, California was the first state to bring Business Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act in to action. It's a fact in the law that forced labor and slavery is the worse out of child labor.

Congress woman Carolyn Maloney who was recognized in 1992  for her roll as a national leader with extensive accomplishments on financial services, national security, the economy and women's issues. She is also the first woman to represent New York's 12th Congressional District; the first woman to represent new York's City's 7th Councilmanic district. Her work to help women motivates her to keep on going.

Not only Carolyn Maloney's roll is in history books today, but, on her activism " anti - homosexuality" that she helped to pass the law on which was placed in  Ugandan parliament . She is also a leader of organizations such as Immigration Equality, The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch, and Human Rights First, as well as Reverene Eugene Calendar who is a former longtime pastor at St. James Presbyterian.

United States concentrated on global rights and gender equality and is concentrating particularly in Afghanistan where Women's rights and gender equality less there then the states. Organizations such as  American Association of University, American Equality Rights Association, American Heritage Girls and American Women Suffrage Association are some of the women's rights organizations that promote women equality in America as off today. 

Women's Rights and gender equality is focusing more on Afghanistan women in Pakistan Global Rights opened in Morocco for their first field office in March of 200. The organization is working on urban and rural non-governmental organizations (NGO ) in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. 

By Anastasia Khramova

[headlines] USA: Ratification vote for disability rights treaty falls short

Human Rights Watch: Senate Misses Opportunity on Disability Convention
(Washington, DC) December 4, 2012 – The United States missed an opportunity to display global leadership on disability rights on December 4, 2012, as the Senate failed to approve ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Senate vote was 61 in favor and 38 opposed, with 66 “yes” votes – two-thirds of the Senate in attendance – needed to consent to ratification.

The International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, which entered into force in 2008 and the United States signed in 2009, aims to promote, protect, and ensure full and equal enjoyment of all human rights for people with disabilities. By ratifying the disability rights treaty, the United States would have had an opportunity to strengthen its leadership on the rights of people with disabilities at home and abroad, Human Rights Watch said.

“US leadership has been influential in putting disability rights issues on the international agenda, but the Senate vote is a big step backward,” said Antonio Ginatta, US advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Ratifying the disability rights treaty would have built on the US commitment to the values embodied in the Americans with Disabilities Act and provided the framework to advance and promote the rights of people with disabilities globally.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark civil rights law enacted by Congress in 1990, was the first major piece of national legislation in the world to address systematically the discrimination, barriers, and challenges faced by people with disabilities. In that legislation, the US set out a vision for empowering people with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, full participation, and inclusion and integration into society.

The convention was inspired in part by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the US provided important technical assistance during the convention’s negotiation and drafting process. Like the ADA, the treaty embodies the basic principles of individual dignity and autonomy, non- discrimination, full inclusion and participation in society, equality of opportunity, accessibility, and respect for difference. The core protections of the treaty are the same as the protections in the US law, and the legal standards articulated by the treaty align with US disability law.

The treaty requires member countries to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities and support their dignity, autonomy, and full participation in society. When it was opened for signature in 2007, it was signed by 82 countries and ratified by one, the largest number of countries to sign a United Nations convention on its opening day. Currently, 126 countries have ratified the convention.

The Senate vote took place during the post-election (“lame duck”) session of Congress and included debate and votes by senators who will not return to the next Congress in January 2013. The Senate may choose to take up the treaty again when the new Congress convenes.

“The Senate vote was a round lost in the fight for the rights of people with disabilities,” Ginatta said. “This embarrassing outcome should energize the Senate to ratify this crucial convention in 2013.”
Human Rights Watch Press release



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HREA

An Introduction....

An introduction…

Writing to you from the US may seem questionable at first: A young woman in a society where the emancipated woman has become the norm, what can she possibly understand about oppression? Well, ladies, I would have to agree with you at first glance. It makes sense that America should be a woman’s haven: We have the right to vote, work and choose what we do with our bodies. Our role in the family has slowly turned around, and education has become widely accessible and encouraged for our gender. Yet there are some people of great power who, if they had their way, would put us back in a little box of chores, cooking and childrearing for good.

Fortunately for now I am ecstatic and proud to announce that, as you may know, president Obama has been re-elected for another four years in office. Had he lost presidency to Mr. Mitt Romney, his main opponent in the run, the world of women would have been turned back approximately 50 years: Reversing the progress feminists have made to a bare minimum.

This is an article that appeared in the New York Times newspaper not too long ago, on October 19th, stating the dangers of such a leader to women not only in America but world-wide:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/opinion/a-potential-world-of-harm-for-women.html

Apparently it isn’t enough that professionally speaking there are on average less women in leadership roles, and the ones that have made it up the corporate ladder are often few and far between; and though their work is as good as any other male counterparts’ they are still paid an average of 30% less.

So, the reason this information is relevant is to let you know that though our issues are not as urgent as the ones you are dealing with over there, issues still exist for women in the so called “first-world” and we’re right here beside you supporting you, and fighting for the day when no limitations will be imposed on us based on our gender.

I dare suggest aiming higher than equality with men, because that also limits us: Perhaps if left to blossom to our full potential we may reach farther than anyone ever before.

The famous American movie star Marilyn Monroe once said: “Women who strive to be equal to men are not ambitious enough.” And while ambition may mean different things to different women, though it may be stifled by the fear of survival and physical violence, it is important that as a woman to know you are an important part of society, and humanity as a whole: In the very least you have the power to give life. And how hopeful for us it is that our simplest biological function is in line with that of God?


By Teodora Cristea
You can follow me for more on twitter @teocristea