Equality Now

For all women and girls to enjoy substantive gender equality, both in law and in practice, governments must ensure that all laws, whether codified, religious, or customary, do not discriminate, and that equality is applied universally.

Equality Now works at every level, national, regional, and global, to ensure that sex-discriminatory laws are eliminated, while also advocating for the adoption and implementation of strong legal frameworks that promote universal equality. 

Practices like child, early, and forced marriages and unions (CEFMU), female genital mutilation (FGM), and bride kidnapping are human rights violations, primarily used to reinforce the subordination of women and girls. They are fueled by inequality, social norms, economic hardship, and deeply rooted patriarchal values.

The law is key to protecting women and girls from harmful practices and eliminating FGM and CEFMU. We advocate for legal reforms that prohibit harmful practices and adopt a comprehensive approach towards preventing and responding to harmful practices, and we strengthen the enforcement of existing laws.

Laws around the world are insufficient, inconsistent, not systematically enforced, and, in some instances, even promote and perpetuate sexual violence.

Equality Now supports justice actors from around the world to understand how a comprehensive, gender-sensitive investigation and prosecution, properly conducted, would lead to improved justice for survivors of sexual violence. We know that ending sexual violence everywhere requires good laws, effective implementation, and an intersectional approach. 

Sexual exploitation occurs when someone abuses another person’s vulnerability or their own position of power or trust for sexual purposes.

Equality Now addresses sexual exploitation across physical and digital spaces through survivor-centered legal advocacy in partnership and collaboration with diverse actors across civil society, activists, and the legal community. We combine international advocacy with regional and national campaigns to address the systemic and socio-cultural drivers of sexual exploitation and its manifestations in physical and digital spaces.