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At Equality Now we use the power of the law to dismantle deep rooted discrimination and inequality and build a just world for women and girls.

Overview

Every day, women and girls around the world face violence and discrimination. Sexual exploitation, violence, harmful cultural practices, and systemic inequalities violate their human rights and prevent them from reaching their potential.

Equality Now uses regional and international human rights law to hold governments accountable for their promises and to bring local issues to the attention of human rights bodies.

Equality Now’s work at a glance

Overturning sex discriminatory laws. Almost 60% of the discriminatory laws we’ve highlighted since 1999 have been fully or partially reformed.

Highlighting the urgent need for family law reform. Unafraid of difficult issues, we’re working with activists committed to tackling inequalities in family law, including distribution of marital wealth, child marriage, divorce, and custody. 

Ending impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence. From Georgia and Kenya to India and Bolivia, we work with partners to hold states accountable to their international obligations and ensure they enact and effectively implement laws that protect and promote the rights of women and girls to live free from sexual violence.

Achieving Legal Equality

A lack of legal equality promotes violence and discrimination, yet almost every country in the world has laws that treat people differently on the basis of sex.

Ending Sexual Exploitation

Sexual exploitation, a form of sexual abuse, is when someone abuses or attempts to abuse another person’s vulnerability or their own position of power or trust for sexual purposes.

Ending Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is a human rights violation that predominantly affects women and girls as a consequence of systemic and structural inequality.

Ending Harmful Practices

The term ‘harmful practices’ covers forms of violence or ritual discrimination, primarily committed against girls and women, that have become culturally normalized.

Our work

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Key resources

Words and Deeds: Sex Discrimination in Economic Status Laws

The 4th UN Conference on Women in 1995 was the birth of The Beijing Platform for Action, the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights. Governments around the world pledged to change or remove their …

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Words and Deeds: Sex Discrimination in Violence Laws

The 4th UN Conference on Women in 1995 was the birth of The Beijing Platform for Action, the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights. Governments around the world pledged to change or remove their existing …

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Words and Deeds: Sex Discrimination in Marital Status Laws

The 4th UN Conference on Women in 1995 was the birth of The Beijing Platform for Action, the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights. Governments around the world pledged to change or remove their …

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None of us can afford to sit back and wait for equality to arrive – we need to act now. Only by working together will we achieve the legal and systemic change needed to address violence and discrimination against women and girls.


Take action

Stop Female Genital Mutilation in Washington State! 

FGM is recognized by the federal government as violence and a form of child abuse and internationally as a human rights violation, constituting torture and an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. In 2016, the …

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Call on Sierra Leone to criminalize female genital mutilation

Following yet another tragic death in Sierra Leone due to female genital mutilation (FGM), add your voice to our campaign calling on the Government of Sierra Leone to criminalize FGM and protect women and girls from …

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Eliminate the ERA Deadline

Surprisingly, women are not protected by the U.S. Constitution. Join our campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment by calling on your Senators to support the elimination of the ERA deadline. Take action today and tell Congress there is #NoDeadlineOnEquality …

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