The CEDAW Assessment Tool
In 2002, CEELI developed the CEDAW Assessment Tool as a resource
to measure the status of women through the lens of the Convention on
the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW). As of February 28, 2006, 181countries have ratified CEDAW,
making it the second most ratified United Nations treaty.
The CEDAW Assessment Tool examines a nation's laws and measures
the degree to which these laws protect the rights of women as
mandated by CEDAW.
Designed to uncover the legal obstacles that frustrate the
achievement of greater gender equality, the tool separately measures
the degree to which women, in practice, are accorded the rights and
status guaranteed to them under CEDAW. For this reason, a major
focus of this assessment tool is on "real life" impediments to
equality, many of which are not necessarily the product of poor or
non-existent legislation. The assessment tool generates a wealth of
information that is essential to comprehensive analysis of the
status of women's rights in a country.
To date, CEELI has conducted the CEDAW Assessment Tool in
Armenia, Georgia, Russia, and Serbia. An assessment using the tool
is currently being conducted in Moldova.
The process of conducting the CEDAW Assessment Tool has proved to
be an important capacity-building exercise for local nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs). Additionally, the results of the CEDAW
Assessment Tool have served as the basis for a constructive dialogue
between the NGO community and governmental officials on concrete
steps these two sectors can take to increase compliance with CEDAW,
and, by doing so, improve the quality of women's lives.
For more information about the CEDAW Assessment Tool, contact
Gender Issues Focal Area Co-Coordinators Michael Maya at <mmaya@abaceeli.org> and
Jennifer Denton at <jdenton@abaceeli.org>.
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