March/April 2015
25
Kentucky and you see a police
department that has investigated a
h
igh number of rapes. It is actually a
good thing when you have a univer-
sity that reports, accurately, a high
number of rapes. If you are a parent
doing tours with your child on col-
lege campuses, and you ask how
many rapes there were on campus,
and the person says 'zero,' that's an
unsafe place for your child." Low
numbers are only good if they are
accurate, she said.
Moving Forward
with CEDAW
Moving forward from this event, the
Louisville Coalition for CEDAW is
dedicated to continuing its engage-
ment with the community. Coalition
founder Mary Sue Barnett, shared
future plans for the coalition's work
in Louisville: "Our next big step will
be the writing and passing of a
Louisville CEDAW ordinance.
Beyond that, the coalition will
expand our local educational cam-
paign." Mary Sue also expressed
excitement about the Louisville
Coalition for CEDAW's presence at
the upcoming UN CSW: "To be
speaking on a panel at the UN pre-
senting for Cities for CEDAW, less
than a year after forming the
Louisville Coalition, says a lot about
who we are as a city in terms of our
commitment to gender equality and
empowerment for women and girls.
"The city of Louisville can be
proud of this movement. The resolu-
tion opened a gateway, and a diverse
group of people united in solidarity
to carry forward the vision found in
CEDAW."
Sariena Sampson is a former West
Africa Peace Corps Volunteer, a public
high school English teacher in
Louisville, Kentucky, and an advocate
for women's human rights.
Notes
1. Violence Policy Center, "When Men Murder
Women: An Analysis of 2012 Homicide Data"
(Washington, DC, 2014), 9; www.vpc.org/stud-
ies/wmmw2014.pdf.
2. "Annual Report of Kentucky Child Victims of
Human Trafficking" (2014), 4; http://chfs.ky.gov
/NR/rdonlyres/26908E11-F99D-41BE-BFB9-
4D54C8BD8C46/0/HumanTraffickingReport20
14.pdf.
3. Rachel Wallace, "By the Numbers: A Look at
the Gender Pay Gap," AAUW, September 2014;
on line at www.aauw.org/2014/09/18/gender-
pay-gap; accessed February 20, 2015.
4. Ibid.
5. UN Women, "Text of the Convention," 2009;
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.ht
m, accessed February 20, 2015.
6. Louisville Metro Council, "Resolution No. 121,
Series 2014"; www.louisvillecedaw.org
/uploads/4/4/6/1/44619099/res_121_2014.pdf;
accessed February 20, 2015.