Equality Now

Equality Now is a non-governmental organization founded in 1992¹ to advocate for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls. Equality Now works through public policy channels to create a just world for women and girls. Through a combination of regional partnerships, community mobilization and legal advocacy the organization works to encourage governments to adopt, improve and enforce laws that protect and promote women and girls' rights around the world. Equality Now's four main issue areas are ending sexual violence, ending harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation, ending sexual exploitation including the trafficking of women and girls, and ending discrimination in law, including the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the United States. the organization has offices in New York, United States, Nairobi, Kenya, Manchester, United Kingdom, and Beirut, Lebanon. Gloria Steinem served as the chair emeritus of the board until 2026.

Equality Now is a non-governmental organization founded in 1992 to advocate for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and girls. Equality Now works through public policy channels to create a just world for women and girls. Through a combination of regional partnerships, community mobilization and legal advocacy the organization works to encourage governments to adopt, improve and enforce laws that protect and promote women and girls' rights around the world. Equality Now's four main issue areas are ending sexual violence, ending harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation, ending sexual exploitation including the trafficking of women and girls, and ending discrimination in law, including the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the United States. the organization has offices in New York, United States, Nairobi, Kenya, Manchester, United Kingdom, and Beirut, Lebanon. Gloria Steinem served as the chair emeritus of the board until 2026.

Sexual violence

Sexual violence is perpetrated around the world on girls and women of all ages and all backgrounds. Systemic and structural inequality leaves women and girls particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. Many countries have discriminatory laws around sexual violence, including: A legal provision in Bolivia which imposes lesser penalties for perpetrators whose victims are between 14- and 18-years-old 'Marry-your-rapist' laws which exempt a rapist from punishment if they marry their victim, for example in Iraq Marital rape exemptions leaving women with no access to justice if they are raped by their husband, for example in India Equality Now works to end such violence by advocating for strong laws and practices in line with international standards, including non-discriminatory implementation, as well as legal systems that support survivors and prevent re-victimisation.

Child marriage

Child marriage is defined as a formal marriage or informal union before the age of 18 and disproportionately affects girls around the world. Every year 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. It is a human rights violation that legitimizes abuse and denies girls' autonomy under the guise of culture, honor, tradition and religion. When young girls are forced to marry, they are essentially subject to state-sanctioned rape and are at risk of increased domestic violence, forced pregnancy and negative health consequences while being denied education and economic opportunity.

Female genital mutilation (FGM)

It is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women around the world have undergone genital mutilation. At least two million girls are at risk every year. The cutting, which is generally done without anesthetic, may have lifelong health consequences including chronic infection, severe pain during urination, menstruation, sexual intercourse, and childbirth, and psychological trauma. Some girls die from the cutting, usually as a result of bleeding or infection. In November 2013, a coalition of Royal Colleges, trade unions and Equality Now launched a report at the House of Commons titled, "Tackling FGM in the UK: Intercollegiate recommendations for identifying, recording and reporting". In 2019, Equality Now joined with other organisations working to end FGM at the Women Deliver conference to launch the Global Platform to End FGM/C. In 2020¹, Equality Now, in partnership with the U.S. End FGM/C Network and the End FGM European Network, released Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Call For A Global Response, a comprehensive report calling for global action to end FGM/C by 2030¹ in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Equality Now also sits on the steering committee of the U.S. End FGM/C Network.

Discrimination in law

The fight for civil and political rights, and for economic, social and cultural rights, all relate to the underlying struggle for justice and equality. Equality Now's work in this area addresses the organization's goal of reforming discriminatory laws and practices, and bringing justice and equality to women and girls. Equality Now leads and participates in a range of activities and campaigns that aim to hold governments accountable to the pledges they have made to protect the fundamental rights of women and girls around the world. Every five years since 1999 Equality Now has released their Words and Deeds report, highlighting a selection of the sex discriminatory laws still in place around the world. Their latest report was released in March 2020. Equality Now has expressed its outrage at the Donald Trump administration military trans exclusion memo.

Additional publications

In March 2020, Equality Now released "Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing Review Process", highlighting sex discriminatory laws in place around the world. In January 2019, Equality Now released "Roadblocks To Justice: How The Law Is Failing Survivors Of Sexual Violence In Eurasia." The first report of its kind the report surveyed sexual violence laws in the 15 countries of the Soviet Union. In May 2018, Equality Now released its report, "The State We're In: Ending Sexism In Nationality Laws." The report, which documented the consequences of discriminatory nationality laws toward women was subsequently sent to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In February 2017, Equality Now published its report "The World's Shame: The Global Rape Epidemic - How Laws Around the World Are Failing To Protect Women and Girls From Sexual Violence " which looked at rape and sexual assault laws in 82 jurisdictions in 73 UN member states. In 2016, Equality Now was among the organization that campaigned for a woman to be named UN Secretary-General. in 2004, Equality Now launched a campaign against sex tourism companies Big Apple Oriental Tours and G.F. Tours, calling on the US Attorney General to prosecute such companies under the Mann Act and Travel Act. In 2003, the anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium (2003) included Jessica Neuwirth's "Globalization: A Strategic Advance for Feminism?"

See also

Human rights abuse Human rights Gender equality Equal Rights Amendment Feminism CEDAW List of women's organizations

References

External links

Equality Now U.S. End FGM/C Network

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1378674195 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.