'Understanding CEDAW Cities: A Descriptive Analysis'

The Global Studies Seminar presents “Understanding CEDAW Cities: A Descriptive Analysis” by Denison University’s Associate Professor of Politics and Public Affairs Malliga Och and Edward Kammerer from Idaho State University.

The United States is only one of eight countries, and the only Western democracy, that has not ratified the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Due to the failure of the US to ratify CEDAW, the Cities for CEDAW campaign encourages US municipalities to adopt the CEDAW framework locally through municipal ordinances and resolutions. This article provides a descriptive overview of CEDAW cities. Their descriptive approach will provide a comprehensive and accurate account of CEDAW cities and serve as an important and essential step for more in-depth analysis of CEDAW cities in the future. First, they identify a total of 61 CEDAW cities. Next, they ask if CEDAW cities share common characteristics. Their analysis shows that while Cities with ordinances are larger and tend to lean more Democratic, the entire universe of CEDAW cities contains significant variation. 

Och’s research focuses on women and politics in advanced industrialized countries as well as the localization of human rights in the United States. She is the coeditor of The Right Women: Republican Activists, Candidates, and lawmakers (Praeger Press 2018) and the editor of Women and Politics: Global Lives in Focus (ABC-CLIO 2023). Her research has appeared in varied academic outlets including Politics & Gender, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, and The Journal of Human Rights Practice. Her commentary and analysis have appeared in the Conversation, UN Women Working Papers, Gender & Development, Ms Magazine, USA Today, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, among others. Beyond academics, she has advised the work of the Cities for CEDAW campaign, Political Parity, and the Reflective Democracy Campaign. Och received her Doctor of Philosophy in International Studies from the University of Denver in 2016.