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As far as women's rights are concerned, there is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights.... and to rights and duties of citizens in a democratic state. This is a matter of justice but also of necessity. (John Paul II, Letter to Women, 1995)  Women's civil and political rights are often obstructed because their economic, social and cultural rights are not respected. These economic and social rights are imperative to women's day-to-day lives and survival. Some of these are: the right to work, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to food and water, the right to own, inherit and control land and housing, and the right to accessible and affordable public services in health and education. The consideration of economic, social and cultural rights is critical to women because of the many ways in which denials of economic and social rights are gender-based and directly impact on the capacity of women to enjoy civil and political rights, hence the feminization of poverty and the growth of trafficking of women and children, and sometimes men, across national borders. Trafficking is a major violation of all human and womens' rights. Trafficking includes illicit and clandestine transport of persons for the purposes of exploiting their labor or sexuality, whether in the context of domestic work, sweat shops, "entertainment," prostitution, false marriage or false adoption. The use of false promises, deceit and/or coercion is a hallmark of all trafficking activities. The United Nations crime prevention agency estimates 700,000 to two million people are enslaved every year. There is a United Nations treaty for the Rights of Women up for ratification. This 22 year old UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is the only comprehensive international standard for eliminating discrimination against women. It addresses women's rights within social, political, cultural, economic and social life. The United States is one of the few countries who have yet to ratify the treaty. All are encouraged to write the Bush administration to insist on the treaty's ratification. [Excerpted from Education for Justice, Center of Concern]
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