Source: Martin Dimitrov / Getty
A new study conducted by the United Nations shows that women in the US are not receiving the rights they need and deserve.
After a 10-day tour of the United States, the delegation made shocking claims against America’s treatment of women:
US women do not take their rightful place as citizens of the world’s leading economy, which has one of the highest rates of per capita income. In the US, women fall behind international standards as regards their public and political representation, their economic and social rights and their health and safety protections.
Some noted failures on the part of our government, is the inability to follow through with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was implemented to ensure the protection of women’s rights.The US is one of only seven countries who have not ratified CEDAW.
Another blip in the equality radar, is our lack of representation in government. Women hold 19.4% of Congressional seats. The delegation attributes this representation gap to the difficulties women face in raising money for their campaigns. As we are well aware of, having women fill these seats is becoming more and more crucial as politicians fight over our rights to affordable healthcare, and our right to choose.
On the healthcare front, the group of experts were concerned that women in the labor force were not granted reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, post-natal leave, and persons with care responsibilities. Despite the Affordable Care Act, a third of people living in poverty are still uninsured, particularly African Americans.
The experts went on to detail the wide 21% gender wage gap that continually leaves women behind without the proper income to take care of their families.
As a minority population, we are aware that any issues affecting women nationwide, often hit our communities hardest.
We hope these gender disparities being brought to light by an objective council will spring our leaders into action. But ultimately, it will take us voting for women and running for office to change the hostile political landscape that seems to be pitted against us.
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A United Nations Report Shows America Is Not Here For Women Like It Should Be was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
