WASHINGTON, July 30 — The Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee, over the objections of the Bush administration, approved an international treaty today that is intended to eliminate discrimination against women. The vote set up a politically divisive floor fight pitting women's rights groups against religious and social conservatives.

The treaty, known as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, or Cedaw, requires member nations to reduce barriers against women in housing, politics, employment, health care and legal systems.

The convention requires that women have equal rights to work, pay and benefits. It also guarantees safe working conditions and prohibits discrimination based on a woman's political activities.

But conservative groups have asserted that the treaty could be used by feminists to impose their agenda — from abortion rights to employment quotas — on sovereign nations, including the United States.

Under fierce pressure from conservatives, the Bush administration — which has said it supports the treaty's broad goals — had asked the Senate to postpone the vote to allow the Justice Department time to review the pact. But Democrats rejected those pleas, intent on scheduling a floor vote before the midterm elections, when they hope pressure from women will force moderate Republicans to support the treaty.

"The treaty is a means to an end, a tool which strengthens the ability of the United States, as well as women's advocates around the world, to press nations to expand rights for women," said Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democrat from Delaware who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

The treaty's supporters acknowledged that it still faced an uphill battle. Ratification requires 67 votes in the Senate, meaning supporters will have to find at least 16 votes among the Republicans. In the vote today, 2 Republican Senators — Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Gordon H. Smith of Oregon — joined the committee's 10 Democrats in supporting the pact.

Treaty supporters said their initial vote counts indicated that they were still at least 3 votes shy of 67. Some Democrats said that if ratification was not assured, they would not want to bring the treaty to the floor this fall — meaning it would be sent back to committee for action next year.

But Eleanor Smeal, president of Feminist Majority, an advocacy group for women's rights, said there would be pressure on Republicans, including President Bush, to support the treaty if it reached the floor.

"Our biggest obstacle is delay," Ms. Smeal said outside the committee room today. "It's pretty hard to say you're not for women's rights."

President Carter signed the treaty as he was leaving office in 1980, but Presidents Reagan and Bush declined to seek ratification. In 1994, at President Clinton's urging, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended passage, but the treaty was never brought up for a full Senate vote.

Scott McClellan, a spokesman for the White House, said the administration "strongly supports the goals" of the treaty, but has serious questions about whether it might infringe on the country's laws.

In a letter to Mr. Biden on July 8, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell expressed concerns about several reports issued by a committee created to monitor compliance with the treaty. One report criticized Belarus for establishing a Mother's Day.

Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, who is recovering from heart surgery and was not present today, accused the compliance committee in a letter of having a "radical agenda."

"There can be no doubt that Cedaw supporters are attempting to use this treaty to advance a radical abortion agenda," Mr. Helms wrote.

Lester Munson, the spokesman for the Republican minority on the committee, said Mr. Helms expected to return to the Senate in time to fight ratification on the Senate floor, and he predicted a fierce lobbying battle. "We need to hear from the grass roots to let their voices be heard on this matter," he said.

Some 170 countries have ratified the treaty, including most of Europe, Japan, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Given that Mr. Bush's signature would be required for ratification, Senate Democrats said they would be willing to discuss adding conditions to the treaty to make it acceptable to the Republicans.

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

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