Melanne Verveer: “Our failure to ratify has denied women and girls around the world U.S. leadership on the implementation of CEDAW.”

These values are strongly supported by the American public, and U.S. law, as I believe all have said, is consistent with the principles set out in CEDAW.

It will be a demonstration to our own women and girls that the United States officially stands behind their advancement at home.

All those benefits of women's full economic participation I mentioned earlier--stronger, more stable societies--are also in our national interest.

It is a powerful tool, and I hope that the United States can finally put it in our human rights arsenal as well.