By S. Mona Sinha, Global Executive Director, Equality Now
As I turn 60, I find myself reflecting less on the past and more on the future: a future that still feels out of reach for too many women and girls. From the ashes of war in Ukraine and Gaza to the villages of Afghanistan and the courtrooms of Alabama and New Delhi, one truth is clear: unless the global community reimagines how gender equality, rooted in legal equality, is achieved, it may never arrive.
We are witnessing the fracturing of the world order as we have known it – an unravelling reminiscent of the seismic shifts that followed past global crises. The United Nations, which underpins so much of Equality Now’s work, was forged in response to the devastation of two world wars, the global collapse of the 1930s, and the rise of fascism. That postwar, multilateral, commitment to human rights and dignity hit home for me in 1995, when, as a 30-year-old woman, I watched the world come together in Beijing to affirm at last, that women’s rights are human rights.
Today, I must ask: if the Beijing Platform for Action were proposed now, would it pass? I fear not.
With just five years left until the 2030 SDG deadline and a projected 300 years to reach global gender equality, something must change. Multilateral institutions that once championed human rights are being hollowed out, undermined by authoritarianism, shrinking civic space, and a coordinated backlash against women’s freedoms.
We cannot go back. But we can build forward.
A New World Structure: With Women at its Heart
The erosion of women’s rights is not accidental – it is strategic. From the criminalization of reproductive healthcare in the U.S. to legal impunity for marital rape in India and the Bahamas, the pushback is global. Patriarchal regimes understand that empowered women destabilize systems of control. As scholars Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks wrote in Foreign Affairs: “Fully free, politically active women are a threat to authoritarian leaders and so those leaders have a strategic reason to be sexist.”
If that’s true, I take heart. It means our movement is powerful.
We stand in a moment of opportunity. The fractures of our world aren’t only signs of decline, they’re openings for reinvention. And in that reinvention, the leadership of women and the centrality of legal equality must guide us.
Legal Equality as the Bedrock of Change
At Equality Now, our mission has always been to transform laws and to educate the world about how they hold women and girls back. We’ve spent over 30 years reforming discriminatory laws, from “marry your rapist” statutes to child marriage loopholes. But laws aren’t just text; they shape the conditions of life. Today, 135 countries still allow child marriage. In 76, women have fewer property rights. In 95, equal pay is not guaranteed.
Legal inequality is the invisible scaffolding of gender inequality. Concurrently, gender equality, while under-recognized, is a systemic solution to the world’s biggest challenges. Countries that are more gender-equal are less prone to conflict, more politically stable, and economically stronger. Allowing women to achieve their full potential could add trillions to the global economy.
So, legal equality cannot be siloed. It must be mainstreamed into every diplomatic forum, every trade deal, every multilateral accord. Imagine if trade agreements were conditional on repealing gender-discriminatory laws. That is not radical – it’s rational! But what can be done?
A Coalition of the Willing: Centering the Global South and Including Men
Power is shifting. We need a coalition of willing governments working with well-funded, women-led movements, to advance legal equality: inclusive of equal family law, digital rights, protection from sexual violence, and economic inclusion. The new centers of influence, from the Indo-Pacific to Latin America, the League of Arab States, South Asia to Africa are already modeling change. And men, men must be present and accounted for in these coalitions. We cannot move forward without male allyship.
Colombia’s recent ban on child marriage, The Gambia’s defense of its FGM ban, and Australia’s new global gender agenda are proof that solidarity and progress can prevail.
Civil society, particularly those representing the global majority, needs protection and investment. These are the organizations doing the hard work, often with dwindling support. If gender equality is a global good, then multilateral institutions must finance and empower those driving it.
My 60th Wish: Resolve, Not Accolades
I’ve often said I see myself as a bridge between the women who came before and the girls rising today. On this milestone birthday, I give myself a quiet gift: the knowledge that I did not need to be the son my parents once hoped for. I was strong simply by being who I was then and who I am now.
My path from Kolkata to Wall Street to the global human rights movement has been shaped by mentors, movements, and moments of reckoning. I carry them with me daily, through every challenge and quiet victory.
But legacy isn’t what we leave behind. It’s what we build.
Let us build:
- Legal systems that protect all women, regardless of caste, class, or geography.
- A digital future centered on safety, consent, and agency.
- Economic inclusion based on justice – not charity.
- And a movement rooted in joy, resilience, and solidarity.
I may not live to see all of this realized. But I know that what we do now will shape whether future generations inherit freedom or a fight.
So on this milestone, I do not wish for accolades – I wish for resolve.
I wish for a world that truly listens to women, learns from them, and includes men in dismantling the norms that hold us all back.
I wish for collective action grounded in dignity, courage, and compassion.
Because when women’s lives improve, the world does too.
We knew this in 1995.
We know it now.
And I still believe in the world we can build together
where girls aren’t married as children,
where consent is never optional,
and where justice is not a privilege,
but a promise.
This week I turned 60 and I can’t quite believe it. My wonderful family and friends have helped me celebrate (thank you to you all!) and reflect about what those 60 years have meant.
In my thirtieth year, I watched the world come together in Beijing to affirm at last, that women’s rights are human rights. Thirty years on, that world order and the commitment to human rights, and women, is fractured. But The fractures of our world aren’t only signs of the rise of authoritarianism, they’re openings for reinvention. And in that reinvention, the leadership of women and the centrality of gender equality must guide us.
In this piece, I share some of what I’ve learned, what gives me hope, and why I still believe in the gender equal world we can build — one shaped by dignity, courage, and collective action.
Thank you for reading, and for walking alongside me on this path.