What is this petition from CEDAWinLAW about?
A Campaign for Women who have lived the system and know it was never neutral.
Justice is not given. It is built.
If you are a woman born in the 1950s, you have lived through promises that were never fully kept.
You were told:
●Equality would come with time
●Fairness would follow participation
●Progress would trickle down
Instead, many of you experienced:
●Work without equal pay
●Caring without recognition
●Policy designed about you, never by you
●Retirement rules changed without consent
●Decisions made after you had already carried the cost
This campaign begins with a simple truth:
What is not written into institutions does not last.
Why This Moment Matters to You
●Artificial intelligence, automation, and economic restructuring are accelerating change. But for women who are already economically exposed, the real danger is not technology — it is being invisible in decision-making once again.
●History shows that when systems are redesigned:
●Women are consulted last
●Equality is promised later
●And “neutral” policy quietly preserves male advantage
That is why moral appeals are not enough.
Justice does not arrive through goodwill. It arrives through law, representation, and enforcement.
You Already Have a Legal Tool and it is being underused. The United Kingdom ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (#CEDAW) decades ago. This is not symbolic. It is binding international law.
#CEDAW exists for one reason:
To ensure women are not left waiting for fairness in systems designed without them.
What General Recommendation 40 Changes:
#CEDAW’s General Recommendation 40 makes something explicit that women have known intuitively for generations:
Women must lead the design, implementation, and monitoring of policies that affect their lives.
Not advise
Not observe
Lead
This recommendation recognises that:
●Equality fails when women are absent from decision-making
●Consultation without authority is performative
●Policies that outlast governments must be co-designed by those most affected
This is not about asking for permission.
It is about claiming governance space.
Temporary Special Measures:
Not Favouritism - *correction*
One of the most misunderstood tools in #CEDAW is Temporary Special Measures.
Let us be clear:
#CEDAW Temporary Special Measures are not advantages. They are *corrections*.
They exist because:
Systems were built without women
Outcomes reflect that bias
Neutral rules preserve unequal results
Temporary Special Measures are lawful mechanisms that allow:
Guaranteed representation
Reserved decision-making roles
Gender-balanced parliamentary committees
Women-led oversight bodies
They remain in place only until equality is structurally embedded.
They are not permanent privileges.
They are institutional scaffolding.
Why Parliament Matters - even when trust is low
You may feel that Parliament has failed you before. That instinct is rational. But abandoning parliamentary mechanisms leaves power exactly where it already sits.
Temporary Special Measures can be:
Written into parliamentary standing orders
Applied to economic, AI, pensions, and welfare committees
Used to mandate women’s leadership in oversight roles
Protected across electoral cycles
This is how policy survives changes in government.
Justice that depends on who is in office is not justice.
Justice that is written into rules is.
Why Women of your generation are essential. You are not starting from zero.
You carry:
Institutional memory
Lived evidence of policy harm
Credibility born of experience
And clarity that comes from seeing cycles repeat
#CEDAW General Recommendation 40 recognises that solutions must come from women themselves, not intermediaries speaking on their behalf.
This moment requires:
Women-led councils
Women-headed decision bodies
Women shaping economic safeguards before systems lock in again
You are not being asked to protest.
You are being asked to govern.
The core message of this campaign
This campaign is not about outrage.
It is about architecture.
It says:
Stop waiting for fairness to arrive naturally
Stop accepting consultation without power
Stop trusting future promises without present mechanisms
Instead:
Demand Temporary Special Measures in Parliament
Demand women-led decision-making bodies
Demand policies designed to outlast political cycles
Because what is not built into institutions will be dismantled the moment attention shifts.
A Final Word:
You were told to be patient.
You were told change takes time.
You were told progress was inevitable.
But equality has never been inevitable.
It has always been constructed.
Justice is not given.
It is built - deliberately, lawfully, and collectively.
This campaign exists to ensure that this time, women are not waiting at the end of the process.
This time, women are writing the rules.
Join us at #CEDAWinLAW for your seat at the decision table where decisions about your future are currently being made without your consent.
#Mediation with a Top 500-ranked team of Mediators on standby to be considered for the neutral role
Sign-up here by signing this petition and follow CEDAWinLAW on Facebook!
See also: Links to TUESDAY 16th December 2025, Salford City Radio 94.4FM Broadcast
Find the links below and listen to the Honorary Guests hosted by Ian Rothwell. What an Inspirational Radio Broadcast from “CEDAWinLAW” & Guests for ALL 1950’s Women!
If you missed it then here is again for you to listen:
1st Recording is from Joanne our Founder, CEDAWinLAW speaking from inside the House of Commons on Tuesday 16th December 2025 with an uplifting message for all Members & beyond going into 2026! Thank you Joanne!
Joanne Welch radio broadcast
2nd Recording is from the wonderful Award-winning Westminster Journalist David Hencke with his investigative and interesting findings on 1950sWomen injustice. Thank you David!
David Hencke radio broadcast
3rd Recording is from the Hon Dr Jocelynne Scutt AO (Barrister & Human Rights Lawyer) who has supported CEDAWinLAW for many years now and who presided over the CEDAW People’s Tribunal 2021 (Author of the President’s Report out of the Tribunal). Dr Scutt was also ‘Judge and author of the CEDAWinLAW’s People’s Tribunal 2022. Thank you Dr Scutt!
Hon Dr Jocelynne Scutt AO radio broadcast
Please feel free to share the above links to all 1950s Women and others.
Sign and share this petition!