Seventy-five years voicing women's rights.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: Inter-American System - Includes related article on gender violence

Many people think of "women's issues" as the subject matter of magazines with lanky models on the covers. For the Inter-American Commission of Women (known by its Spanish acronym, CIM), women's issues cover the full range of hemispheric concerns--from trade and globalization to peace and security.

Does poverty today typically have a feminine face? How does war affect women? Do gifts enjoy the same educational opportunities as boys? Is the justice system responsive to victims of domestic violence? How can women participate more fully in democratic leadership? These are the types of questions the CIM asks every day, as it works to improve the lives of women in the Americas.

It's a daunting task, one begun seventy-five years ago when a group of women, tired of being excluded from the big intergovernmental hemispheric meetings, demanded a seat at the table. They showed up in force at the Sixth International Conference of American States, which had convened in Havana, Cuba. Of the twenty-one countries represented at this Pan American Union conference, not one had an official female delegate. Women arrived from all over the Americas to campaign not only for participation but also for the adoption of an Equal Rights Treaty, which had been drafted by Alice Paul of the National Women's Party in the United States.

They didn't get the treaty, but they finally did get a voice at the conference--and, with the creation of the CIM, a permanent voice for women's civil and political rights. In a speech at the OAS earlier this year, Yadira Henriquez, the Dominican Republic's Secretary of the Status of Women and current CIM President, recognized these women's efforts.

"We must pay tribute to the pioneers who undertook the struggle for our rights, the brave women who defied tradition and prejudices and who have left us, and future generations, an enormous legacy of courage and action," she said. "As we recognize, with great feeling, the extraordinary progress we have made in these years, we must also affirm that there is much that remains to be done to achieve the and equitable society that we desire for all inhabitants of the hemisphere."

In 1928, the year of the Havana conference women in only two countries in the Americas--first Canada, then the United States--had full suffrage. However, women had been mobilizing for the vote throughout the region for several years and had even formed their own political parties in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Panama. Women in Ecuador became the first to win the vote in Latin America, in 1929.

During its early decades, the CIM supported and advanced female suffrage. It provided data on the status of women in all the member countries and served as an international forum where governments made international commitments to...