Abstract:

The United States projects itself as a leader in human rights. If this is the case, why has the state not ratified the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which is otherwise known as the International Bill of Rights for Women? The country is one of six member states to the United Nations that have not ratified the treaty, and CEDAW is the only treaty that comprehensively addresses women’s specific needs for rights in the private and public spheres. There is extensive academic and political work dedicated to analyzing why the US is not a member to the treaty, and the most common approach politicians and scholars take to analyze non-ratification is through the lens of the country’s constitution. However, in my paper I redirect readers attention to how US cultural stereotypes of the heterosexual nuclear family structure is a barrier to our ratification. I do not write this paper to oppose the structure; I write it to make visible, deconstruct, and criticize how the structure is framed through expectations of the division of labor between sexes. Whether parents or not, females and males are socialized from birth to value these roles and to aspire to embody them and the division of labor they entail. This gendered division of labor in parenthood, and in the private and public spheres, prevents women from accessing much needed rights. I interrogate the value of women’s labor both economically and socially, and I question when and where women have control over their bodies and identities.

Keywords:

CEDAW, women’s bodies, women’s rights, motherhood, the public sphere and private sphere, domestic violence, gender roles, appropriation.