y"> s view
.1 The Commission on the Status of Women
Nations commitments to the advancement of women began with the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945. Of the 160 signatories, only four were women - Minerva Bernardino (Dominican Republic), Virginia Gildersleeve (United States), Bertha Lutz (Brazil) and Wu Yi-Fang (China) - but they succeeded in inscribing women s rights in the founding document of the United Nations, which reaffirms in its preambleВ« faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of Nations large and small В». Commission on the Status of Women first met at Lake Success, New York, in February 1947. At that session, all of the 15 government representatives were women - giving the Commission the unique character it was going to maintain throughout its history by gathering a majority of women delegates. From its inception, the Commission also forged a close relationship with nongovernmental organizations. Several international women s organizations addressed the Commission at the first session, and from then on, non-governmental organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC were invited to participate as observers.the beginning the Commission members also built close working relationships with the international human rights treaty bodies, the Commission on Human Rights, the Social Commission and the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, and specialized agencies such as UNESCO and UNICEF.the period 1946 -1962, the Commission focused its attention on promoting women's rights and equality by setting standards and formulating international conventions aiming at changing discriminatory legislation and fostering global awareness of women s issues. However, the codification of the legal rights of women needed to be supported by data and analysis of the extent to which discrimination against women existed, not only in law but also in practice.Commission made women s political rights a high priority in the early years of its work. In 1945, only 25 of the original 51 United Nations Member States allowed women equal voting rights with men. In his 1950 report to the Commission on discrimination against women in the field of political rights, the Secretary General noted that in 22 countries women still did not have equal rights to vote or hold political office, and that in some countries where women held such rights , these were not put into practice. After an extensive debate, the Convention on the Political Rights of Women, drafted by the Commission, was adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 1952. It was the first international law instrument to recognize and protect the political rights of women everywhere...
