The Community and Economic Development Committee met 04/28/2021. The majority of the meeting was taken up with Resolution #4-R-21 regarding the United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
The concluding paragraphs of the resolution say:
“NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council of the City of Appleton affirms the principles of fundamental human rights and equality for women in our community and the elimination of political, social economic and cultural discrimination against women; and
“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Common Council of the City of Appleton encourage city staff and elected officials to become familiar with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and advise the Council of any changes in policy or practices they feel would help the City of Appleton align with the tenets of this convention; and
“BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Wisconsin’s U.S. Congressional Delegation expressing our support of the United States’ ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).”
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) was the main sponsor of the resolution and reviewed some of the history of CEDAW. It was adopted by the UN in 1979 and is called the Bill of Rights for Women. She said it was the most comprehensive international agreement on the basic human rights of women and provides an international standard for protecting and promoting women’s human rights. The U.S. signed the treaty in 1980 but never ratified it. And we’re not in great company here. The only other U.N. members who haven’t ratified CEDAW are Iran, Polau, Somalia, Sudan, and Tonga. This resolution process in Appeton was initiated by Katie Constanza who is a student at Lawrence.
Alderperson Fenton said that, specific to Appleton, the resolution speaks to the almost $10,000 difference in median income between men and women in our community. She noted the poverty rate of 39% in households headed by unmarried women with children compared to 9% for married couples with children and 17% for unmarried men with children. She also mentioned that March 24th was Equal Pay Day which denotes how far into the new year women must work to be paid what men were paid the previous year. March 24 is for women generally, but for Black women it’s August 3, for Native women it’s September 8, and for Latina women it’s October 21.
She said she was proud of the work Appleton does, but we should always continue to examin our policies to make sure that we continue to eliminate discrimination. The resolution asked the city to commit to that work.
She finished up by stating, “We often hear that cities don’t have a role in advocating for national policy, but I propose that we have a role in advocating for policy at any level that helps our constituents,” and said that passing this resolution would show people who are considering living, working, or studying in our community that we understand the importance of living up to our belief statement.
None of the other resolutions co-sponsors made statements.
Three members of the public spoke
Sandi Rohde was a representative for the Appleton Mid-Day Women’s Alliance. They consider the ratification of CEDAW to be fundamental to achieving their mission, since it’s very difficult for women to realize their potential when they face challenges of unequal pay, violence against women, discrimination in education and on the job, and limited access to necessary healthcare. She said our economy, our society, and our world would benefit from eliminating all forms of discrimination against women, and said that by passing this resolution Appleton would be following in the footsteps of Madison and Milwaukee which have already done that.
Jeanne Roberts is the President of the League of Women Voters of Appleton. (https://my.lwv.org/wisconsin/appleton) She said the League has long been a supporter of CEDAW at the nation, state, and local levels. In regards to what the ratification of CEDAW has to do with the Appleton Common Council, she said that real transformation happens locally. When we work with our neighbors to facilitate change that affects us not only locally but statewide and nationally. Change trickles up–not down. CEDAW provides the basis for creating equality between men and women by ensuring women’s equal access to and equal opportunities in political and public life, including the right to vote and stand for election. Passing the resolution would send a message to state and national elected officials that the city of Appleton believes in women’s rights and in the elimination of all forms of discerimination against women.
Rebecca Linekin, also of the Mid-Day Women’s Alliance but speaking for herself, said she’s led 150 girls aged 12-18 on empowerment weekends. Those weekends help them learn how to be empowered and speak up for themselves in today’s society. They do not lack the energy, the brilliance, the strength, and the courage to be empowered, but they need help from allies. Passing the resolution shows the women of the community that we don’t see this as simply a woman’s issue but as a community issue. Women deserve the respect of men and of the entire society. She thought that to be one of only six countries to not ratify it was embarrassing and wanted to see the United States take a step in the right direction. She finished up by saying that action starts locally and that was why she was asking them to vote for CEDAW.
The floor was then opened up to Council members not on the committee.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) said that she thought it was honorable to bring a resolution to help eliminate descrimination against women in the city of Appleton.
She wanted to clarify some of the language in the resolution that does not parallel CEDAW verbiage and also to express her concerns and the concerns of some of her constituents regarding the final clause of the resolution.
Based on her research regarding CEDAW and international law she thought there were some clauses in this resolution that currently refer to “gender” but ought to refer to “sex”. She suggested that the 3rd, 4th, and 6th whereas clauses be amended to replace “gender” with “sex”.
Those clauses read as follows:
“WHEREAS, CEDAW provides a comprehensive framework for governments to examine their policies and practices in relation to women, girls, and others who identify as female and to rectify discrimination based on gender”
“WHEREAS, although women have made gains in the struggle for equality in many fields, much more needs to be accomplished to fully eradicate discrimination based on gender and its connection and intersectionality with other forms of discrimination”
“WHEREAS, city government has an appropriate and legitimate role affirming the importance of eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and those who identify as female and to rectify discrimination based on gender”
Of her second concern, Alderperson Hartzheim stated, “I’ve done extensive research on the topic of ratification of this treaty by the U.S. The conclusions I’ve drawn have made it impossible for me to see how ratification of this treaty would not fundamentally alter U.S. Constitutional law and therefore perhaps greatly alter for the worse society and, indeed, the rights of women in the United States.” She said that many of the issues CEDAW addresses such as access to healthcare and education are already addressed in U.S. legislation far beyond the requirements laid out by CEDAW. She was also concerned about the international enforcement of a treaty and did not think it was the place or responsibility of the United Nations and their selected experts to set social policy in the United States.
But, her primary issue with the final clause was that she didn’t feel that the Common Council of the City of Appleton as a body should be putting pressure on Wisconsin’s congressional representatives to ratify an international treaty. She thought the second to last “Be It Resolved” paragraph was an excellent way for Appleton to support the rights of women in the city and something that she could fully support. She asked that the final “Be It Resolved” clause be removed from the resolution.
No other non-committee members wanted to speak so the discussion was opened to committee members. Committee Chair, Alderperson Matt Reed (District 8), was the only one who wanted to speak.
He said, “I will tell you up front that I am not in support of this. I also will tell you that I have a wife and three daughters and I’m very much in favor of equal rights and the opportunities for women, so that’s not the issue at all. It’s the fact that I think there’s some misplaced priorities if you will with this.”
Alderperson Reed’s first point was that he did not think CEDAW was necessary, and he read from some testimony before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law in the Committee on the Judiciary From 2010 to explain his point. In that testimony, Steven Groves stated “Only if U.S. membership in CEDAW would advance the cause of women’s rights domestically and further US national interests in the world should the United States consider ratification of the treaty. Domestically, ratification of CEDAW is not needed to end gender discrimination or advance women’s rights.” In the testimony he listed, beyond the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th Amendment, many of the other laws the United States already has to combat sex-based discrimination including:
- “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of, inter alia, sex and has been interpreted to prohibit sexual harassment or the creation of a hostile working environment;
- “The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, enacted in 1978, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and childbirth;
- “The Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in regard to the compensation paid to men and women for substantially equal work performed in the same establishment;
- “The Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of housing on the basis of, inter alia, sex;
- “Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs or activities;
- “The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, enacted in 1974, which prohibits discrimination against credit applicants on the basis of, inter alia, sex;
- “The Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which was intended to improve criminal justice and community responses to acts of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; and
- “The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which revised the statute of limitations requirements in equal-pay lawsuits to assist women in recovering wages lost due to discrimination.”
Alderperson Reed’s second point of concern was that CEDAW places our national sovereignty, our laws, and our culture in the hands of an unelected, unaccountable international body that has priorities that don’t necessarily line up with our national interests. Quoting from Steven Groves’s testimony again, “it is difficult to determine how U.S. national interests would otherwise be advanced by participating in the central activity required by the treaty—reporting to the CEDAW Committee every four years regarding the U.S. record on women’s rights. The CEDAW Committee has for 30 years established a consistent record of promoting gender-related policies that do not comport with existing American legal and cultural norms and has encouraged the national governments of CEDAW members to engage in social engineering on a massive scale.”
His third concern was that the CEDAW committee has a long record of actually working against women’s rights. He read from the testimony in which Steven Groves gave examples of the committee devaluing the role of women as mothers and caregivers, of holding views about prostitution that were harmful to women, of promoting policies that demand equal outcomes instead of equal opportunity, and of regularly instructing member states of ease restrictions on abortion. Per Steven Groves, “Instead of seeking membership in CEDAW, the U.S. Congress and American civil society should continually review the implementation of existing laws barring gender discrimination in all spheres of domestic life. Those entities are far better positioned to conduct such a review than a committee of supposed gender experts from 23 foreign nations.”
Alderperson Reed’s fourth concern was that the CEDAW committee’s record shows it to be in direct opposition to U.S. First Amendment freedoms, particularly in the exercise of religion. He quoted from an article from the Heritage Foundation entitled How U.N. Interference Threatens The Rights of American Women. “The Committee regards religious communities and individuals — particularly conservatives — as a threat to women’s freedom. It regularly recommends that state parties to the convention be vigilant in monitoring such threats, instructing Slovakia, for example, to ‘adequately regulate the invocation of conscientious objection by health professionals so as to ensure that women’s access to health and reproductive health is not limited.’ In other words, if a Slovakian doctor invokes a conscientious objection to performing an abortion or prescribing a contraceptive, the Slovakian government must ‘regulate’ the invocation of such an objection. The committee wants Slovakia to require doctors to perform abortions regardless of their moral or religious beliefs. The committee expects religious principles and cultural values to accommodate the convention — and the committee’s recommendations — not vice versa.”
To him that flies in the face of our country’s founding freedoms, the way our laws are structured, and our national sovereignty.
Going back to the resolution itself, he pointed out the two places where the phrasing those “who identify as female” was used. He said those phrases and concepts are not listed in the original CEDAW language. He thought that the transgender movement has to, out of it’s very nature, work against the cause of women’s rights and he said it was a fact that the transgender movement is pushing for things that invade the privacy of women, and the rights of women. He said he was seeing the disintegration of women’s sports. He thought that was a very bad thing.
He also did not think it was the role of local government to tell the federal government to ratify this or any other treaty. Individual citizens had that right and responsibility and he urged anyone who supported or opposed CEDAW to talk to their representative and voice their opinions.
Alderperson Reed went on to make two motions.
The first was to remove the word “gender” throughout the resolution and replace it with “sex” and also to strike out the language about “those who identify as female”.
The second was to remove the paragraph that stated “BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Wisconsin’s U.S. Congressional Delegation expressing our support of the United States’ ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).”
Both of his motions failed for lack of a second.
The committee voted on the resolution and voted to recommend it for approval to the Common Council by a vote of 4-1.
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=846599&GUID=BEB5A256-5CE8-405B-A7ED-332EAC4E7894&Options=info|&Search=
Be the first to reply