Make Equality Reality: Together We Can

My fellow advocates, dreamers, and changemakers, together we are a powerful force for change. Women, who have bravely broken the silence to say ENOUGH to violence and misogyny. Men, who do not fear women’s leadership, loathe violence and shout out loud –  I stand with her. The next generation, who say we will create a different world from what we  see today.

This is Equality Now – we have over three decades been steadfast in delivering legal and lived equality for every  woman and girl and their loved ones in every corner of the world. With you, we are grateful to take these steps, together, shoulder to shoulder, pushing boundaries, challenging norms, and reimagining what’s possible for women and girls, and our “different” world.

In 2023 alone, we changed 14 laws in 12 countries. That’s 14 barriers to equality, gone – benefitting 40 million women and girls worldwide. That’s not just a number – that’s 40 million individual lives transformed. Here are some of them:

• In Bahrain, 200,000 women no longer have to face their rapists across the breakfast table because we overturned the prevalent  “marry your rapist” law. In the UAE, we’ve secured financial security for 900,000 widows, who would have previously seen their husbands estate automatically be given to a male family member sometimes three times removed.
• A new online safety bill will mean 7 million women in the UK can feel safer online, with new protections against online abuse.
• One of our recent reports featured a story about a girl who was sold in marriage for a total of $8 dollars – I repeat, 8 dollars.  Let’s be clear – child marriage is child rape, and it’s everywhere. So I am pleased to share that last year, in Zambia, Sierra Leone and right here, in Connecticut, Virginia, New Hampshire and Michigan we’ve helped 2 million girls avoid being repeatedly raped as children, masked under the legitimate guise of marriage.

We achieved all of this – together. Each victory, each life changed, each right sized law is a testament to the power of our collective action.

Our work is far from over. The road ahead is long and bumpy. But remember this – each step no matter how small, is a step forward towards a more just world for our mothers, our daughters, our wives, our sisters, our friends and, for our brothers, husbands and sons as well. The work is exhausting but the results are invigorating and every action makes a dream of a just world all the more real. It is not just a dream, it’s a plan and we can achieve it together. Together, we can and together, we will.