Who is Equality Now?

We are coalition builders, system disruptors, and unapologetic feminists who know that the only way to achieve substantial equality is through structural change and addressing the root causes of oppression.

Our global network of lawyers, activists, and supporters hold governments responsible for their international obligation to prohibit all forms of violence and discrimination against women. And we are stronger with you by our side.

The law is a powerful tool that can either perpetuate inequality or combat it. At Equality Now, we work around the clock to ensure that it does the latter. In cooperation with local, national, regional, and international partners we use the power of the law to:

• Establish 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 and/or gender.

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

• End 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.

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