Defending 4 Billion Women: CEDAW’s Mandate hijacked – Let’s Protect Biological Women’s Rights

 

 

For over 40 years, the CEDAW Convention was the global standard protecting women — defined as biological females— from discrimination and ensuring equality in every sphere of life. Today, however, the Committee charged with safeguarding this treaty has overstepped its mandate, replacing “sex” with “gender identity” in its guidance. By doing so, it has redefined what it means to be a woman, undermining protections for billions of biological women worldwide, including 1.1 million in Sri Lanka.

This ideological drift is not a minor policy change; it is a direct threat to female-only spaces, healthcare, maternity rights, sports, shelters, and the proud social status women have held since civilization. Silence is complicity, and the time has come for the world’s women to reclaim their rights — grounded in biology, law, and reality. Women & Men must complement each other in the journey of life not be in competition or compete over identity. Men must respect women’s space & rights just as women must respect men’s space & rights.

 

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

(not men identifying as women)

 

1. CEDAW’s Original Mandate is Sex-Based

• CEDAW 1979:Focused on biological sex, not gender identity.
• Article 1:Defines discrimination as any distinction on the basis of sex.
• Purpose:Protect women as a biological class (female).
• Fact:The Convention does not mention gender identity.
• Number of State Parties:As of now, 189 countries have ratified the CEDAW Convention.
• Sri Lanka:Ratified CEDAW on 12 July 1981 with reservations on Article 29(1)
• Sri Lanka did not accept binding dispute settlementunder Article 29(1).
• It retained the right to handle disputes on CEDAW obligations within its national discretion, rather than through international arbitration (we had great officials then)

 

Implication:

Redefining “woman” to include males who self-identify as female exceeds the Committee’s legal authority (ultra vires).

Soon men identifying as women will even be representing women internationally & locally. This is usurping the role & rights of women.

 

2. Committee Overreach via General Recommendations (GRs)

• GRs are interpretative guidance, not treaty amendments.
• From GR No. 28 (2010) onwards, the Committee shifted from sex to gender identity, redefining “woman.”
• Legal problem:GRs cannot override the treaty text; only States Parties can amend CEDAW.
• Vienna Convention Articles 31–33:Treaties must be interpreted in good faith according to text, context, purpose.
• Effect:Committee is effectively legally rewriting a ratified treaty without consent of States Parties.
• Question: Why are State Parties silent?

 

3. Breach of Object and Purpose

• CEDAW’s object: Protect women from discrimination, ensure equality, safeguard female-specific rights (maternity, reproductive rights).
• Present Problem:Gender-inclusive reinterpretation:
  • Destroys the legal category of “woman.” – impacts world 4billion women.
  • Undermines female-only protections (sports, shelters, prisons).
  • Violates principle of effet utile(treaty must effectively achieve purpose).
  • Not only creating a new category of men identifying as women but giving them the same rights given to biological women.

 

4. Procedural Illegality

• GRs on gender identity: No State Party consensus, not ratified as amendments.
• Committee issued GRs 28, 33, 35 unilaterally.
• Effect:Procedurally invalid, non-binding, yet politically and morally influential.

 

5. Legal Certainty & Discrimination Principles

• Confusing sex and gender creates:
  • Ambiguity over who qualifies as “woman.”
  • Conflicts between female privacy and male self-identification.
  • Discrimination against biological women, violating Articles 1–2 – discriminates worlds 4billion women & 1.1million women in Sri Lanka.

 

6. Reasons for Silence and Compliance

• Political pressure, ideological conformity, funding influence, reputational risk.
• Members may lack legal literacyon treaty interpretation.
• Committee operates independently, with minimal State oversight.
• States that nominated members may lack mechanisms to correct misinterpretations.

 

7. Consequences for the World’s 4billion Biological Women

• Loss of exclusive access to women-only spaces (shelters, sports, prisons).
• Exclusion from female-specific policies (healthcare, maternity).
• The role and status women held since civilization is being undermined & violated.

 

8. Proposed Solution: A New Sex-Based Entity

If CEDAW Committee refuses to return to ratified treaty terms & clauses all women should boycott it & create a new entity solely for the biological woman.

 

Purpose: Restore protections for biological women.

 

Proposed Name- ideas:

• International Convention for the Protection of Biological Women (ICPBW)
• Alliance for Female Rights (AFR)

 

Goals:

• Defend biological female-only spaces, protections, and data collection.
• Ensure policies are grounded in biological reality.
• Give women leadership in defining their biological rights.

 

Pillars of Action:

1. Awareness:Educate public and governments on sex vs. gender.
2. Advocacy:Lobby for sex-based protections and CEDAW reform.
3. Organization:Build global coalition of female-led NGOs, legal experts, activists.

 

Practical Steps for Global Women’s Organizations: 4billion women should not be silent or be silenced.

• Draft a manifesto for biological women’s rights.
• Build an online platform and campaigns.
• Form partnerships with female-led organizations.
• Present policy proposals to UN bodies and national governments.
• Launch awareness campaigns on harms caused by conflating sex and gender.

 

CEDAW has exceeded its legal mandate by redefining “woman” to include gender identity.

Global female rights are at risk if sex-based protections are ignored.

Women must act independently to create a legally and socially enforceable platform protecting biological women.

 

The Committee’s reinterpretation of CEDAW is ultra vires, procedurally invalid, and in violation of the treaty’s object and purpose.

If CEDAW refuses to return to ratified mandate & treaty clauses – the best option is to allow CEDAW to only cater to men who identify as females & for the biological females to set up an entity that will protect their rights & role.

 

Global women can no longer rely solely on an institution that ignores the legal distinction between sex and gender and is subtly replacing women with men who identify as women. This is a direct affront to the 4billion biological women on whose shoulders the future rests.

 

It is time for 4 billion biological women to rise:

It is time for the 1.1million biological women in Sri Lanka to rise.

 

• Educatetheir governments and communities on the difference between sex and gender.
• Advocatefor the restoration of sex-based protections.
• Organizea global coalition to establish a new platform — whether ICPBW or Alliance for Female Rights (AFR)— dedicated to safeguarding only biological female rights, spaces, and leadership.

The future of women’s rights cannot be dictated by ideology or political correctness. It must be reclaimed by women themselves, for women themselves, for the billions of lives that depend on legal, social, and cultural recognition of biological womanhood.

 

The world needs both men & women to continue fulfilling their natural roles. That is how the world will continue – not to be replaced by those identifying themselves as the opposite sex.

 

It is time for women’s movements globally to unite and stand against CEDAW’s mandate violation, reclaiming protections for biological women and petition the 189 States party to CEDAW Convention to immediately address this breach.

 

 

 

Shenali D Waduge