Double Take

Dateline: 5/31/00

Sometimes, simply putting two articles side by side offers more illumination and insight on a topic than several paragraphs of commentary: A "double take" on international women's rights.

International Women's Rights
Kuwait High Court to Rule on Women's Suffrage 5/29/00 - CNN.com A Kuwaiti court on Monday referred to the nation's highest tribunal the question of whether women should vote and run for office, a decision women's rights activists hailed as a victory. The ruling came moments after another court rejected a case in which women demanded suffrage. Activists filed several cases, a strategy that paid off when one was sent to the Constitutional Court. Influential tribal and fundamentalist forces in Kuwait view the bids to give women a greater role in policy making as a threat to traditional and religious values. Nonetheless, Kuwait is the first Persian Gulf Arab state to appoint a woman as an ambassador to an Arab country, and Kuwaiti women hold some top posts, including rector of Kuwait University. Conservative tribal and fundamentalist Muslim lawmakers in the all-male 50-seat legislature joined forces last year to defeat a suffrage bill, a week after the house voted down an identical decree by the emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah.	International Treaty a Threat to Mother's Day 5/4/00 - Chicago Tribune The House International Relations Committee is finally considering the 20-year-old U.N. Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1979, requires that women have equal rights to work, pay, benefits and safe working conditions, and prohibits discrimination against women in political activities; 165 nations have ratified it. Mother's Day could be threatened by international enforcers if the U.S. ratifies a global treaty on women's rights, Rep. Christopher Smith said Wednesday. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) called it an "an absolute embarrassment" that the United States has not ratified the treaty. Opponents say the convention promotes abortion, could override the U.S. Constitution and could force social engineering by dictating the roles husbands and wives will have in their own families.
For more information about International Women's Rights, see: Women's Issues - 3rd World Third-world Women's Issues Guide Cecil Marie Cancel covers progress for - and abuses of - women around the world. Women's Rights Human Rights Guide Kevin Reid's comprehensive collection of links to organizations concerned with international women's rights. Women's Human Rights Amnesty International's Women’s Human Rights Program focuses on promoting women’s human rights within Amnesty's mandate. Ratify the Women's Rights Treaty Amnesty International provides a "take action" page for you to contact your legislators to urge them to ratify CEDAW.

International Women's Rights

Kuwait High Court to Rule on Women's Suffrage
5/29/00 - CNN.com
A Kuwaiti court on Monday referred to the nation's highest tribunal the question of whether women should vote and run for office, a decision women's rights activists hailed as a victory. The ruling came moments after another court rejected a case in which women demanded suffrage. Activists filed several cases, a strategy that paid off when one was sent to the Constitutional Court.

Influential tribal and fundamentalist forces in Kuwait view the bids to give women a greater role in policy making as a threat to traditional and religious values. Nonetheless, Kuwait is the first Persian Gulf Arab state to appoint a woman as an ambassador to an Arab country, and Kuwaiti women hold some top posts, including rector of Kuwait University.
Conservative tribal and fundamentalist Muslim lawmakers in the all-male 50-seat legislature joined forces last year to defeat a suffrage bill, a week after the house voted down an identical decree by the emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah.

International Treaty a Threat to Mother's Day
5/4/00 - Chicago Tribune
The House International Relations Committee is finally considering the 20-year-old U.N. Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1979, requires that women have equal rights to work, pay, benefits and safe working conditions, and prohibits discrimination against women in political activities; 165 nations have ratified it.

Mother's Day could be threatened by international enforcers if the U.S. ratifies a global treaty on women's rights, Rep. Christopher Smith said Wednesday.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) called it an "an absolute embarrassment" that the United States has not ratified the treaty.

Opponents say the convention promotes abortion, could override the U.S. Constitution and could force social engineering by dictating the roles husbands and wives will have in their own families.

For more information about International Women's Rights, see:

Women's Issues - 3rd World

Third-world Women's Issues Guide Cecil Marie Cancel covers progress for - and abuses of - women around the world.

Women's Rights

Human Rights Guide Kevin Reid's comprehensive collection of links to organizations concerned with international women's rights.

Women's Human Rights
Amnesty International's Women’s Human Rights Program focuses on promoting women’s human rights within Amnesty's mandate.

Ratify the Women's Rights Treaty
Amnesty International provides a "take action" page for you to contact your legislators to urge them to ratify CEDAW.

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