Finding a Voice for Women's Rights: The Early Days of CEDAW

This article is part of a series reviewing the first ten years of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the Women's Convention). It focuses on some of the difficulties the Convention and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) have faced and the steps taken to overcome these problems in order to become a respected and effective tool in the pursuit of women's rights. The article pays tribute to those who fought to have women's rights included on the UN agenda and who drafted the 1979 Women's Convention. The article is divided into three parts: Part I discusses the history, functions and composition of the Women's Convention and the CEDAW Committee; Part II the developing jurisprudence of the CEDAW Committee under Article 21 of the Convention and with regard to gender-based violence; and Part III concludes with how international law can be made to work for women.