World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

UNITED STATESDiscrimination against Women, neither the administration nor the Senate movedtoward ratification. The US now stands as one of only seven nations that have notjoined the treaty. A bill to enhance US efforts to combat violence against womenglobally gained momentum in 2010, but remained pending in Congress at thiswriting.In the workplace, women continue to make 77 cents for every dollar earned bymen. The US is one of only a handful of countries that have no guarantee of paidmaternity leave and pregnancy discrimination claims have risen sharply. Womenremain significantly underrepresented at all levels of government, including in theUS Congress, where they constitute just over 17 percent of members.Women experiencing violence in the US face barriers to safety and justice.Thousands of requests for emergency shelter and transitional housing fromdomestic violence survivors go unmet every year, with federal funding for suchservices falling short of targeted levels. In July Human Rights Watch released areport showing that up to 80 percent of rape kits (DNA evidence collected from avictim’s body) in the state of Illinois may never have been tested. The state isattempting to address this problem: Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill contemporaneouslywith the release of the Human Rights Watch report requiring local lawenforcement officials to send rape kit evidence for testing, making Illinois the firststate in the nation to do so.Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and GenderIdentityUS law offers no protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation orgender identity. The Uniting American Families Act, which would allow same-sexrelationships between a US citizen and a foreign national to be recognized forimmigration purposes, did not advance in Congress. The Defense of Marriage Act(DOMA), which prohibits the federal government from recognizing the relationshipsformed by same-sex couples, remains in force.There have been steps at the state level to better protect the rights of lesbian,gay, bisexual, and transgender people. A federal district court in Massachusettsdeclared unconstitutional the DOMA provision that prohibits the federal govern-623