The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 1979. It entered into force on 3 September 1981 following ratification by the twentieth state party. The Convention’s monitoring body, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was established in 1982.
The Convention established an international bill of rights for women and an agenda for action by countries to guarantee the enjoyment of those rights. “The spirit of the Convention is rooted in the goals of the United Nations: to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, [and] in the equal rights of men and women.”
There is one optional protocol to the Convention. State parties that ratify the Optional Protocol recognize the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction.