The resources below are to galvanize, inform and support local CEDAW efforts. They include tools for advocacy and implementation, as well as background reading to situate such efforts within broader legal and sociopolitical contexts.

Advocacy Tools

At CEDAW Rising, we believe that each CEDAW measure should reflect the unique priorities and constituencies of its local jurisdiction. At the same time, proponents of gender justice should not need to “reinvent the wheel” when advocating for or drafting CEDAW legislation. Therefore, we have developed an array of tools for use in advocating for cities or counties to adopt and effectuate CEDAW measures.

These advocacy tools include:

• Model CEDAW ordinances—customizable to meet the needs of each jurisdiction
• Briefing papers—explaining the history, legal implications and various types of local CEDAW implementation
• Step-by-step advocacy guides
• Compendia of concrete actions for local government departments—facilitating CEDAW implementation and gender mainstreaming at the departmental level.
• Proposals for a CEDAW private sector initiative—providing a set of comprehensive Gender Justice Principles for business
• Directories of local CEDAW advocates—to facilitate coalition-building within cities and counties

For security reasons, these tools are not posted on our website; please reach out to us directly.

Bibliography

To explore the movement for local CEDAW implementation in greater depth, please refer to the following readings: [Click on each title to open the reading.]

Media Articles

1. Gaea Morales & Anthony Tirado Chase, With nation-states retreating, cities can take the lead on human rights, Open Global Rights (2024).

2. Julia Spiegel, Advancing Global Human Rights Locally, Just Security (2023).

3. Mary Hansel, Local Implementation of CEDAW Is at an Inflection Point, Ms. Magazine (2022).

4. Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi & Mary Hansel, Dispelling the Myths About San Diego County’s Gender Justice Ordinance, The Times of San Diego (2022).

5. Heidi Nichols Haddad, The U.S. hasn’t signed the world’s foremost women’s rights treaty. Activists have gotten local versions passed instead. The Washington Post (2020).

Scholarly Works

1. Edward F. Kammerer Jr. & Malliga Och, Understanding CEDAW Cities: A Descriptive Analysis, Human Rights Review (2025).

2. Manisha Desai, ‘Making the global local’: Insights from the cities for CEDAW (C4C) campaign in the United States, Journal of Human Rights (2024).

3. Susanne Zwingel, Women’s Rights Close to Home? The Miami-Dade County CEDAW Ordinance as Local Practice, Politics & Gender (2023).

4. Anne Sisson Runyan & Rebecca Sanders, Prospects for Realizing International Women’s Rights Law Through Local Governance: the Case of Cities for CEDAW, Human Rights Review (2021).

5. Caroline Bettinger-López, Developing a National Plan of Action on Violence against Women and Gender Violence: A Human Rights Approach, The Politicization of Safety (2020).