Community Services Department

STAFF REPORT

TO: Human Relations Commission

FROM: Minka van der Zwaag DEPARTMENT: CSD

Manager, Office of Human Services

DATE: February 2, 2018

SUBJECT: Agenda Item #1: Review and consider ad hoc committee report to Council on an
ordinance related to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
against Women.

Action at this meeting:

The Human Relations Commission (HRC) is being asked to consider whether or not to forward a
recommendation to the City Council in favor of a local CEDAW ordinance.

Background:
In response to Council Resolution #9653 – Reaffirming Palo Alto’s Commitment to a Diverse, Supportive,
Inclusive and Protective Community – the HRC, aided by the efforts of an ad hoc committee, has been
exploring ways to address issues related to gender equity in the community, with possible policy
recommendations to the City Council. One avenue that the ad hoc committee has been exploring, by
means of recommending a local ordinance, is in relation to an international human rights agreement
called the Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). To
assist the HRC in its analysis of this option, staff is providing the following overview of CEDAW.

CEDAW advocates for the rights and opportunities of women in all areas of society. The treaty was
adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1979. To date, 187 of the 193 UN member states have ratified
CEDAW. Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Palau, United States (US), and Tonga have not ratified the treaty. It should
be noted that several of the countries who are signatories to CEDAW do not offer the rights and/or
protections for women already included in US Law.
In the absence of a US signature on CEDAW and stalled efforts in the US Senate, there is a country wide
campaign called Cities for CEDAW whose aim is to encourage local cities and counties to pass local
legislation establishing the principles of CEDAW. According to Cities for CEDAW, the “principles
embodied in CEDAW are fully in accord with American laws, principles and values. The U.S. Constitution
already protects women’s rights to due process and equality under the law, and numerous laws on both
the federal and state level also protect women–prohibiting sex discrimination in employment,
education, housing and credit; providing for family and medical leave and child care; and combating
domestic violence and human trafficking….” However, they state that “American women enjoy
opportunities and status not available to most of the world’s women, yet few would dispute that more
progress is needed. CEDAW provides an opportunity for dialogue on how to address persistent gaps in
women’s full equality, particularly regarding closing the pay gap, reducing domestic violence, and
stopping trafficking.”

Volunteer supporters from the Cities for CEDAW campaign have addressed the City Council and HRC
during oral communications, requesting that the City consider enacting a local CEDAW ordinance. An
ordinance is essentially a local law.

According to Cities for CEDAW, becoming a “CEDAW City” generally involves the following first step
measures.

 Commitment to conducting a gender analysis of city operations (e.g., workforce, programs,

budget);
 Establishment of an oversight body to monitor the implementation of a local CEDAW ordinance,
(e.g., Commission on the Status of Women, Human Rights Commission, etc.); **
 Provide funding to support the implementation of CEDAW principles.

**Suggested members include representatives from the HRC, City budget staff, City Human Resources
Director, health care, violence against women, women’s issues, international human rights.

However, it should be noted that while these steps are stated, but there is no official oversight
body/organization for CEDAW that regulates what individual Cities/Counties do in relation to
language/commitments included in their local ordinances.

According to the Cities for CEDAW website, at present, nine cities/counties in the United States have
passed local ordinances to become CEDAW cities; San Francisco, Berkeley, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Los
Angeles, Miami-Dade County and Pittsburgh, San Jose and Santa Clara County. The City of Berkeley
(population around 120,000) is the city closest in population to Palo Alto (population around 64,000)
which has passed a CEDAW ordinance; all other entities are large cities and/or counties. Is should be
noted that the City of Berkley already had a Commission on the Status of Women, which was designated
to serve as the CEDAW oversight body. Its CEDAW ordinance does not include specific outcome goals,
but reiterates city policy and commitments in regards to core CEDAW principles. Around 25-30
cities/counties have passed local CEDAW resolutions. In 2002, the Palo Alto City Council passed
Resolution #8217 to go on record in support of an effort for United States ratification or accession to
CEDAW (Attachment A).

The HRC is being asked to consider forwarding a recommendation regarding a local CEDAW ordinance to
Council. While staff strongly supports gender equality and the sentiment driving the request for a
CEDAW ordinance, the commitment of HRC and staff time needed to implement the initial and ongoing
work connected to the ordinance are not completely known and look to be quite significant which could
draw HRC and Human Services staff away from other core functions and priorities. If the HRC forwards
a recommendation to Council on CEDAW, staff asks that the HRC discuss the question of whether the
“Task Force” mentioned in the ad hoc CEDAW committee should be a task force reporting to the HRC or
Council. If the prior, not only would HRC commissioner(s) serve on the Task Force, but the HRC would
be responsible for overseeing the work of the task force; to conduct the gender analysis, analyze the
results, and prepare a report and recommendations for Council review.

Staff encourages the HRC to discuss and consider the following questions during their deliberations:

 What are the HRC’s goals in regards to gender equality and is CEDAW is the right mechanism to
reach these goals?
 Does the HRC have the “bandwidth” to fully commit to the initial and ongoing work associated
with a CEDAW ordinance as well as other core and special projects?
 If a recommendation on CEDAW is forwarded to Council, does the HRC want to recommend that
the Task Force suggested in the ad hoc committee’s report to report to the HRC or not?

Attachments:
Attachment A – City of Palo Alto Resolution #8217 (2002)