Political Quotes

“nearly two decades ago, President Carter submitted to the Senate the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, known in shorthand as the ``Womens' Convention.'' In the two decades since then, the Committee on Foreign Relations has acted on the Convention only once. In 1994, the Committee voted to report the treaty by a strong majority of 13 to 5. Unfortunately, the 103rd Congress ended before the full Senate could act on the Convention. Since then, not one hearing has been held in the Committee on Foreign Relations. Not one. It is a great mystery to me that a treaty that calls for the international promotion of civil and human rights for women would not be considered by the Senate. Over 160 nations have become party to this treaty, which entered into force in 1981. To its great discredit, the United States stands outside this treaty with a just handful of other nations. There is hardly anything revolutionary about this treaty. It contains a specific set of obligations calling on member states to enact legal prohibitions on discrimination against women--prohibitions which, in large part, the United States has already enacted. In fact, if the United States becomes a party to the treaty, we would not need to make any changes to U.S. law in order to comply with the treaty. So what are the opponents of this treaty supposedly concerned about?”