The States Parties to the present Convention, Noting that the Charter of the
United Nations reaffirms faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person and in the equal rights of man and women,
Noting that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the
principle of the inadmissibility of discrimination and proclaims that all human
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is
entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction
of any kind, including distinction based on sex,
Noting that the States Parties to the International Covenants on Human Rights
have the obligation to ensure the equal right of men and women to enjoy all
economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights, Considering the
international conventions concluded under the auspices of the United Nations and
the specialized agencies promoting equality of rights of men and women,
Noting also the resolutions, declarations and recommendations adopted by the
United Nations and the specialized agencies promoting equality of rights of men
and women, Concerned, however, that despite these various instruments extensive
discrimination against women continues to exist,
Recalling that discrimination against women violates the principles of
equality of rights and respect for human dignity, is an obstacle to the
participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the political, social,
economic and cultural life of their countries, hampers the growth of the
prosperity of society and the family and makes more difficult the full
development of the potentialities of women in the service of their countries and
of humanity,
Concerned that in situations of poverty women have the least access to food,
health, education, training and opportunities for employment and other needs,
Convinced that the establishment of the new international economic order
based on equity and justice will contribute significantly towards the promotion
of equality between men and women,
Emphasizing that the eradication of apartheid, of all forms of racism, racial
discrimination, colonialism, neo-colonialism, aggression, foreign occupation and
domination and interference in the internal affairs of States is essential to
the full enjoyment of the rights of men and women,
Affirming that the strengthening of international peace and security,
relaxation of international tension, mutual co-operation among all States
irrespective of their social and economic systems, general and complete
disarmament, and in particular nuclear disarmament under strict and effective
international control, the affirmation of the principles of justice, equality
and mutual benefit in relations among countries and the realization of the right
of peoples under alien and colonial domination and foreign occupation to
self-determination and independence, as well as respect for national sovereignty
and territorial integrity, will promote social progress and development and as a
consequence will contribute to the attainment of full equality between men and
women,
Convinced that the full and complete development of a country, the welfare of
the world and the cause of peace require the maximum participation of women on
equal terms with men in all fields,
Bearing in mind the great contribution of women to the welfare of the family
and to the development of society, so far not fully recognized, the social
significance of maternity and the role of both parents in the family and in the
upbringing of children, and aware that the role of women in procreation should
not be a basis for discrimination but that the upbringing of children requires a
sharing of responsibility between men and women and society as a whole,
Aware that a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of
women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between
men and women,
Determined to implement the principles set forth in the Declaration on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women and, for that purpose, to adopt the
measures required for the elimination of such discrimination in all its forms
and manifestations,
For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "discrimination
against women" shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on
the basis of sex which 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.
States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, agree
to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating
discrimination against women and, to this end, undertake:
To embody the principle of the equality of men and women in their national
constitutions or other appropriate legislation if not yet incorporated
therein and to ensure, through law and other appropriate means, the
practical realization of this principle;
To adopt appropriate legislative and other measures, including sanctions
where appropriate, prohibiting all discrimination against women;
To establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis
with men and to ensure through competent national tribunals and other public
institutions the effective protection of women against any act of
discrimination;
To refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against
women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions shall act in
conformity with this obligation;
To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women
by any person, organization or enterprise;
To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or
abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute
discrimination against women;
To repeal all national penal provisions which constitute discrimination
against women.
States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political,
social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures, including
legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the
purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and
fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.
Adoption by States Parties of temporary special measures aimed at
accelerating de facto equality between men and women shall not be considered
discrimination as defined in the present Convention, but shall in no way
entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate standards;
these measures shall be discontinued when the objectives of equality of
opportunity and treatment have been achieved.
Adoption by States Parties of special measures, including those measures
contained in the present Convention, aimed at protecting maternity shall not
be considered discriminatory.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures:
To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women,
with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all
other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the
superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and
women;
To ensure that family education includes a proper understanding of
maternity as a social function and the recognition of the common
responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their
children, it being understood that the interest of the children is the
primordial consideration in all cases.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to
suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of
women.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country
and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right:
To vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for
election to all publicly elected bodies;
To participate in the formulation of government policy and the
implementation thereof and to hold public office and perform all public
functions at all levels of government;
To participate in non-governmental organizations and associations
concerned with the public and political life of the country.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure to women, on
equal terms with men and without any discrimination, the opportunity to
represent their Governments at the international level and to participate in the
work of international organizations.
States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change
or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither
marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during
marriage shall automatically change the nationality of the wife, render her
stateless or force upon her the nationality of the husband.
States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the
nationality of their children.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in
the field of education and in particular to ensure, on a basis of equality of
men and women:
The same conditions for career and vocational guidance, for access to
studies and for the achievement of diplomas in educational establishments of
all categories in rural as well as in urban areas; this equality shall be
ensured in preschool, general, technical, professional and higher technical
education, as well as in all types of vocational training;
Access to the same curricula, the same examinations, teaching staff with
qualifications of the same standard and school premises and equipment of the
same quality;
The elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women
at all levels and in all forms of education by encouraging coeducation and
other types of education which will help to achieve this aim and, in
particular, by the revision of textbooks and school programmes and the
adaptation of teaching methods;
The same opportunities to benefit from scholarships and other study
grants;
The same opportunities for access to programmes of continuing education
including adult and functional literacy programmes, particularly those aimed
at reducing, at the earliest possible time, any gap in education existing
between men and women;
The reduction of female student drop-out rates and the organization of
programmes for girls and women who have left school prematurely;
The same opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical
education;
Access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health
and well-being of families, including information and advice on family
planning.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure,
on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:
The right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings;
The right to the same employment opportunities, including the
application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment;
The right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to
promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service and
the right to receive vocational training and retraining, including
apprenticeships, advanced vocational training and recurrent training;
The right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal
treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of
treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work;
The right to social security, particularly in cases of retirement,
unemployment, sickness, invalidity and old age and other incapacity to
work, as well as the right to paid leave;
The right to protection of health and to safety in working conditions,
including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction.
In order to prevent discrimination against women on the grounds of
marriage or maternity and to ensure their effective right to work, States
Parties shall take appropriate measures:
To prohibit, subject to the imposition of sanctions, dismissal on the
grounds of pregnancy or of maternity leave and discrimination in
dismissals on the basis of marital status;
To introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social
benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social
allowances;
To encourage the provision of the necessary supporting social services
to enable parents to combine family obligations with work
responsibilities and participation in public life, in particular through
promoting the establishment and development of a network of child-care
facilities;
To provide special protection to women during pregnancy in types of
work proved to be harmful to them.
Protective legislation relating to matters covered in this article shall
be reviewed periodically in the light of scientific and technological
knowledge and shall be revised, repealed or extended as necessary.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure,
on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services,
including those related to family planning.
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article, States
Parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connexion with
pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services
where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and
lactation.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order
to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in
particular:
The right to family benefits;
The right to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit;
The right to participate in recreational activities, sports and all
aspects of cultural life.
States Parties shall take into account the particular problems faced by
rural women and the significant roles which rural women play in the economic
survival of their families, including their work in the non-monetized
sectors of the economy, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure
the application of the provisions of this Convention to women in rural
areas.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis
of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from
rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right:
To participate in the elaboration and implementation of development
planning at all levels;
To have access to adequate health care facilities, including
information, counselling and services in family planning;
To benefit directly from social security programmes;
To obtain all types of training and education, formal and non-formal,
including that relating to functional literacy, as well as, inter alia,
the benefit of all community and extension services, in order to
increase their technical proficiency;
To organize self-help groups and co-operatives in order to obtain
equal access to economic opportunities through employment or
self-employment;
To participate in all community activities;
To have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities,
appropriate technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform
as well as in land resettlement schemes;
To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to
housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and
communications.
States Parties shall accord to women equality with men before the law.
States Parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity
identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that
capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude
contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all
stages of procedure in courts and tribunals.
States Parties agree that all contracts and all other private instruments
of any kind with a legal effect which is directed at restricting the legal
capacity of women shall be deemed null and void.
States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with regard
to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose
their residence and domicile.
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family
relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and
women:
The same right to enter into marriage;
The same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage
only with their free and full consent;
The same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its
dissolution;
The same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their
marital status, in matters relating to their children; in all cases the
interests of the children shall be paramount;
The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and
spacing of their children and to have access to the information,
education and means to enable them to exercise these rights;
The same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship,
wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions
where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the
interests of the children shall be paramount;
The same personal rights as husband and wife, including the right to
choose a family name, a profession and an occupation;
The same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership,
acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and disposition of
property, whether free of charge or for a valuable consideration.
The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and
all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a
minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an
official registry compulsory.
For the purpose of considering the progress made in the implementation of
the present Convention, there shall be established a Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women (hereinafter referred to as the
Committee) consisting, at the time of entry into force of the Convention, of
eighteen and, after ratification of or accession to the Convention by the
thirty-fifth State Party, of twenty-three experts of high moral standing and
competence in the field covered by the Convention. The experts shall be
elected by States Parties from among their nationals and shall serve in
their personal capacity, consideration being given to equitable geographical
distribution and to the representation of the different forms of
civilization as well as the principal legal systems.
The members of the Committee shall be elected by secret ballot from a list
of persons nominated by States Parties. Each State Party may nominate one
person from among its own nationals.
The initial election shall be held six months after the date of the entry
into force of the present Convention. At least three months before the date
of each election the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall address a
letter to the States Parties inviting them to submit their nominations
within two months. The Secretary-General shall prepare a list in
alphabetical order of all persons thus nominated, indicating the States
Parties which have nominated them, and shall submit it to the States
Parties.
Elections of the members of the Committee shall be held at a meeting of
States Parties convened by the Secretary-General at United Nations
Headquarters. At that meeting, for which two thirds of the States Parties
shall constitute a quorum, the persons elected to the Committee shall be
those nominees who obtain the largest number of votes and an absolute
majority of the votes of the representatives of States Parties present and
voting.
The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years.
However, the terms of nine of the members elected at the first election
shall expire at the end of two years; immediately after the first election
the names of these nine members shall be chosen by lot by the Chairman of
the Committee.
The election of the five additional members of the Committee shall be held
in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this article,
following the thirty-fifth ratification or accession. The terms of two of
the additional members elected on this occasion shall expire at the end of
two years, the names of these two members having been chosen by lot by the
Chairman of the Committee.
For the filling of casual vacancies, the State Party whose expert has
ceased to function as a member of the Committee shall appoint another expert
from among its nationals, subject to the approval of the Committee.
The members of the Committee shall, with the approval of the General
Assembly, receive emoluments from United Nations resources on such terms and
conditions as the Assembly may decide, having regard to the importance of
the Committee's responsibilities.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall provide the necessary
staff and facilities for the effective performance of the functions of the
Committee under the present Convention.
States Parties undertake to submit to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, for consideration by the Committee, a report on the legislative,
judicial, administrative or other measures which they have adopted to give
effect to he provisions of the present Convention and on the progress made
in this respect:
Within one year after the entry into force for the State concerned;
and
Thereafter at least every four years and further whenever the
Committee so requests.
Reports may indicate factors and difficulties affecting the degree of
fulfilment of obligations under the present Convention.
The Committee shall normally meet for a period of not more than two weeks
annually in order to consider the reports submitted in accordance with
article 18 of the present Convention.
The meetings of the Committee shall normally be held at United Nations
Headquarters or at any other convenient place as determined by the
Committee.
The Committee shall, through the Economic and Social Council, report
annually to the General Assembly of the United Nations on its activities and
may make suggestions and general recommendations based on the examination of
reports and information received from the States Parties. Such suggestions
and general recommendations shall be included in the report of the Committee
together with comments, if any, from States Parties.
The Secretary-General shall transmit the reports of the Committee to the
Commission on the Status of Women for its information.
The specialized agencies shall be entitled to be represented at the
consideration of the implementation of such provisions of the present Convention
as fall within the scope of their activities. The Committee may invite the
specialized agencies to submit reports on the implementation of the Convention
in areas falling within the scope of their activities.
Nothing in this Convention shall affect any provisions that are more
conducive to the achievement of equality between men and women which may be
contained:
In the legislation of a State Party; or
In any other international convention, treaty or agreement in force for
that State.
States Parties undertake to adopt all necessary measures at the national
level aimed at achieving the full realization of the rights recognized in the
present Convention.
The present Convention shall be open for signature by all States.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is designated as the
depositary of the present Convention.
The present Convention is subject to ratification. Instruments of
ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United
Nations.
The present Convention shall be open to accession by all States. Accession
shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of accession with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations.
A request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any
time by any State Party by means of a notification in writing addressed to
the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The General Assembly of the United Nations shall decide upon the steps, if
any, to be taken in respect of such a request.
The present Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after
the date of deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the
twentieth instrument of ratification or accession.
For each State ratifying the present Convention or acceding to it after
the deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession, the
Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date of the
deposit of its own instrument of ratification or accession.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall receive and circulate to
all States the text of reservations made by States at the time of
ratification or accession.
A reservation incompatible with the object and purpose of the present
Convention shall not be permitted.
Reservations may be withdrawn at any time by notification to this effect
addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall then
inform all States thereof. Such notification shall take effect on the date
on which it is received.
Any dispute between two or more States Parties concerning the
interpretation or application of the present Convention which is not settled
by negotiation shall, at the request of one of them, be submitted to
arbitration. If within six months from the date of the request for
arbitration the parties are unable to agree on the organization of the
arbitration, any one of those parties may refer the dispute to the
International Court of Justice by request in conformity with the Statute of
the Court.
Each State Party may at the time of signature or ratification of this
Convention or accession thereto declare that it does not consider itself
bound by paragraph 1 of this article. The other States Parties shall not be
bound by that paragraph with respect to any State Party which has made such
a reservation.
Any State Party which has made a reservation in accordance with paragraph
2 of this article may at any time withdraw that reservation by notification
to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The present Convention, the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and
Spanish texts of which are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the
Secretary-General of the United Nations. IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned,
duly authorized, have signed the present Convention.
