The Department primarily focuses on 4 program areas: Women’s Human Rights, Violence Against Women, Women in the Workplace, and Girls.
Women’s Human Rights
Women’s rights are human rights. The Department is committed to advancing women’s human rights in San Francisco through CEDAW, a UN anti-discrimination treaty, and by working against human trafficking.
- CEDAW
The Department on the Status of Women organizes its programs based on principles laid out in the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). San Francisco was the first city in the United States to adopt CEDAW as a local ordinance, in 1998, and the Department is responsible for ensuring its implementation. - Human Trafficking
The Department works closely with the San Francisco Collaborative Against Human Trafficking (SFCAHT). Launched in 2010, SFCAHT is committed to ending human trafficking through collaboration, education, outreach, advocacy, and supporting survivors of human trafficking by taking a zero tolerance stance on exploitation, violence, and human trafficking.
Violence Against Women
The Department has made ending violence against women a priority program area. In addition to providing resources and reports, the work of the Department in this program area comes in several forms:
- Violence Against Women Prevention and Intervention (VAW) Grants Program
Approximately three-quarters of the Department’s annual budget goes towards funding community-based organizations doing work to prevent or intervene in cases of violence against women and girls in San Francisco. - Justice and Courage
The Justice and Courage Project, a committee of the Commission on the Status of Women, seeks to end domestic violence by coordinating the system-wide response to this epidemic. - Family Violence Council
The Family Violence Council is a meeting body reformed in 2007 to address violence throughout the lifespan in San Francisco, including child abuse, domestic violence, and elder/dependent adult abuse.
Women in the Workplace
The Department is committed to advancing the rights of women in the workplace. We provide resources on topics such as sexual harassment and discrimination, recruitment of women in non-traditional fields, and the impact of the economic crisis on women. The Department also created the Gender Equality Principles Initiative (GEP).
- The Gender Equality Principles Initiative
The Gender Equality Principles (GEP) Initiative is a groundbreaking program that helps companies around the world achieve greater gender equality and build more productive workplaces.
The information above can be found on the official website of City and County of San Francisco – Dept on the Status of Women. For more details about the organization and to find out how you can volunteer, please visit their website: http://www.sfgov3.org/index.aspx?page=2006