The six-part, 30 Article Convention was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on 18 December 1979. Discrimination against women is defined as - “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.