Pittsburgh and Mountain View Move Ahead on Human Rights

Kudos to Pittsburgh, PA, which on December 6 joined San Francisco and others as the latest US CEDAW City!  In a unanimous vote, the city council agreed to establish a commission to affirmatively review city agencies for gender bias.  The local legislation follows CEDAW and gives the city a methodical approach to identifying and redressing gender bias in city operations.

One week later, on December 13, the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View passed a resolution to become a Human Rights City.  The city had considered such an action for more than a year, but press reports suggest that divisive statements made by President-elect Trump during and after the election finally created momentum to move ahead. "At this time, we need to stand up and say that human rights are very important," said the Mountain View Mayor during consideration of the measure. 

Kudos to Professor Francisco Rivera and the Santa Clara Law School international human rights clinic, which provided important technical assistance to move the effort forward.