[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 142 (Wednesday, September 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       RATIFY THE CONVENTION TO END DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

  (Ms. HARMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, at the U.N. Fourth Conference on Women, it 
was the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, who said there is no one formula 
for how women should lead our lives.
  I was there as a member of the bipartisan U.S. congressional 
delegation, and her remarks rang true to a crowd as diverse and 
multihued as it was experienced and dedicated. The label radical may 
fit a few--very few--attendees, but it does not fit the conference. The 
tenor was all business, and the conversation was realistic about the 
conflicts between work and child-bearing and about building on the 
substantial record created by previous U.N. gatherings.
  Building on a record means action for the United States, as well as 
China and other countries, and the first action the United States must 
take here is to ratify CEDAW, the Convention to End Discrimination 
Against Women, which was submitted for ratification in 1980 and has 
been pending in the U.S. Senate for 15 years.
  Yesterday a group of us called on the Senate to act now. It is 
embarrassing that 144 countries around the world, including all 
industrialized countries, have ratified CEDAW and we have not. Act now. 
Ratify CEDAW.

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