The Zonta International Website now has a significant body of material for clubs to use.

To access this material, go to the ZI website:  www.zonta.org  then click on Member Resources and Tools.  You will find LAA Tools on both the left and the right side of the page.  Most of the material for US clubs focuses on CEDAW.  You will find information about CEDAW, letter templates that members can use to send Senators urging their support for CEDAW ratification, and templates that clubs and Districts can use if they want to propose that their club or district adopt CEDAW ratification as an LAA priority.  The website also suggests various ways you might contact Senators to urge their support for CEDAW.    

There is also extensive information about CEDAW that can be accessed by clicking on www.cedaw2011.org;  and on the right side of the webpage by clicking on  CEDAW 2010-2012.  In addition, there are examples of District efforts to ratify CEDAW from District 11 and  Colorado.     By clicking on CEDAW 2010-12 – you will access more information about CEDAW that you can use in advocating for CEDAW ratification.   This material also includes myths and facts about CEDAW; and how CEDAW works to change women’s lives, etc.

Also posted on the website are actions taken by Zonta International during the Fall Hearing on CEDAW by the Senate Sub-Committee. The document Recognizing Rights and Promoting Progress summarizes the positive impact CEDAW has had on women/girls in nations that have ratified CEDAW.  This information can also be used to emphasize why the U.S. should ratify this important treaty.

 While visiting the Zonta International website you might also want to take note of additional LAA opportunities such as the new UNICEF document calling for efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation. Additional information about FGM will be posted before long.  If you have any questions about other strategies or possible advocacy efforts, please share them.  In the meantime, please review the existing LAA documents re. what clubs can and cannot do and why.  It is extremely important that we follow the “rules” of Zonta International as we adopt advocacy projects and engage in our advocacy efforts.

 There are numerous other options for members to advocate for equal pay for women, advancing opportunities for girls and women in Science, Engineering, and math, and for those states that have still NOT ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, to mount a campaign to get their state to ratify the ERA and put us one step closer to ensuring that women will enjoy the same Constitutional guarantee of equal rights and opportunities that men have taken for granted since the founding fathers ratified the U.S. Constitution.  We only need 3 more states to ratify the ERA to ensure that our daughters and grand-daughters will have the same right to equality under the Constitution that our sons enjoy.