In 1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a comprehensive international agreement, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), that addresses the basic human rights of women.
CEDAW provides an international standard for protecting and promoting women’s human rights and is frequently referred to as the “Bill of Rights” for women.
The United States remains the only industrialized western democracy that has not ratified the treaty.
In 2019, I sponsored an item on the Broward County Commission agenda creating an ordinance adopting the principles of CEDAW. This motion passed unanimously and was cosponsored by all eight of my colleagues. Broward’s ordinance requires our county auditor, in conjunction with the county Commission on the Status of Women, to gather data on gender equity within Broward County and to provide biannual reports to the County Commission.
Nan Rich is a Broward County commissioner. (Courtesy, Nan Rich)
Since that time, we have contracted with the Florida International University Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center to gather and provide data in the categories of economic development, health and safety and education. Professor Maria Ilcheva, the assistant director of planning and operations for the Metropolitan Center, has been our principal investigator, leading a research team of one research specialist and two research assistants in authoring these reports.
I encourage each of you to visit the Commission on the Status of Women website at broward.org/StatusofWomen/pages/default.aspx to see the reports for yourself.
In our 2025 CEDAW Report, we found that while gender pay gaps exist across nearly all industries in the private sector, for employees of county government, that gap has been less than half of 1% for 2023 and 2024, the most recent years for which we have data.
We also found out that heart disease is still the leading cause of death among men and women in Broward, but that men are almost 80% more likely to die of heart disease than women. We also found out that approximately one in eight Broward residents are living in poverty, yet a greater percentage of women are living in poverty compared to men.
This is why I must take exception to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent comments about Broward County supposedly overspending taxpayer dollars, specifically his citation of “$44,000 to support a UN treaty promoting gender equity, seeking to compel Americans to ‘accept gender quotas and unequal treatment in service of supposedly-equal ‘outcomes.’”
This apparently willful misunderstanding of CEDAW belies what is already obvious to so many, that the governor and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia’s audits of local governments are politically motivated.
Nothing in CEDAW or the county’s ordinance imposes “gender quotas” of any kind.
The data that we gather is descriptive, rather than prescriptive, and as a policymaker, I find this information to be incredibly important. This data about our residents helps inform my own decisions on how to allocate county resources to best help the most vulnerable members of our community.
The final lines of the 2025 CEDAW report state: “There is no single model on how communities assess gender disparities or what actions they take. Cross-sector collaborations, involving government, foundations, the business community, and others, will likely be important to achieve the most impactful outcomes. With the release of this third biennial report, Broward County now has a wealth of information that could direct further action for which many community stakeholders can find opportunities to be involved.”
That information helps us craft the best policies for our constituents based on the best data available. Our state government could learn a valuable lesson in how we tackle our budget priorities, but unfortunately, they made up their minds before they ever began the audit.
Broward County Commissioner Nan Rich represents District 1, which includes Miramar, Pembroke Pines, Southwest Ranches and Weston.
Originally Published: October 10, 2025 at 10:56 AM EDT