Beijing 30 years on: The global rollback of women's rights

Mona Sinha is the Global Executive Director, Equality Now.

In 1995, nearly all countries signed a landmark agreement to advance women’s rights. Thirty years on, the reverse is happening. Rights are being eroded, and women’s hard-won gains are being rolled back across the world.

The groundbreaking ambitions of the U.N. Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which set out concrete steps to bring change for women and girls, are far from being achieved. And the progress made since the agreement is being unpicked by increasingly authoritarian leaders.

I’m heartened by the many advances that have been achieved over the past three decades. Abortion has been liberalised in 60 countries. Recent examples of progress include Uzbekistan, which in 2022 adopted a law against gender-based violence, while in 2023, Sierra Leone passed a law prohibiting gender-based discrimination at work.

Child marriage has been banned in Colombia, Sierra Leone, and Zambia, but over 135 countries still permit marriage under the age of 18.

As Equality Now’s new report,  Words & Deeds, highlights, too many countries retain laws that discriminate on the basis of sex. Especially troubling is witnessing politicians table new legislation to restrict and revoke women’s rights.

Since 2021, the Taliban have drastically curtailed women’s participation in public life in Afghanistan.

Forty U.S. states have passed laws that undermine LGBTQ+ rights and abortion is illegal in 14.

In The Gambia, conservative MPs have repeatedly tried to overturn the countries ban on female genital mutilation - thankfully these efforts have been thwarted by civil society.

Despite calls for reform, marital rape remains legal in countries such as The Bahamas and India, while in Kuwait and Libya, a rapist can escape punishment by marrying his victim.

This is all happening against a backdrop of shrinking spaces for civil society and cuts to aid budgets. India, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan are among countries which have recently introduced laws restricting international funding for civil society groups, severely curtailing their ability to carry out human rights work.

Last week, the UK became the latest major donor to cut its aid budget, from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3%, shortly after the U.S. suspended its overseas aid budget and the Netherlands eliminated overseas support for women’s rights initiatives.

Creating a gender equal world feels like a distant dream. At the current rate of progress, the U.N. predicts that it will take 300 years to achieve full gender equality, despite member states promising to do so by 2030 under the Sustainable Development Goals.

The sad truth is that many countries remain far from achieving the Beijing Platform, so we need to use this 30th anniversary year to set a new course. It is time to rethink how to work in the face of this mounting opposition.

Key to this is forging more partnerships with and between women-led groups. Research shows that strong independent women’s movements are powerful drivers of change. Investing in and uplifting women-led coalitions is the smartest way to drive meaningful, lasting progress toward gender equality. Engaging men and boys to appreciate and welcome the partnership of women and girls will go far to challenge harmful social norms.

New funding streams must be found so organizations are not reliant on government aid and the whims of politicians. We need committed long term funders of gender equality as the solution to many other man-made problems such as conflict and climate change.

We need to see more women in decision-making roles, including at the highest level at the U.N. We’ve waited long enough. A feminist woman secretary-general would strengthen efforts to end inequalities and provide a counter to the authoritarian “strong men” who are dominating debate.

And, crucially, we must shout from the rooftops that gender equality is essential and will benefit everyone. Allowing women to achieve their full economic potential could add trillions of dollars to the global economy.

When women’s lives improve, the world does too. We knew this 30 years ago, and we know it now. Let’s recommit to do all we can to make change happen.