We work with governments & parliaments

Equal laws create stronger, more prosperous societies

Since 1992, Equality Now has worked to eliminate all barriers to legal and systemic gender equality through expert advocacy, strategic litigation, partnerships, and grassroots collaboration. As a recognised international human rights expert, convener and reformer, we shape laws, unite powerful movements, and hold power to account—delivering enduring change to the benefit of all.

Around the world, laws still fall short of guaranteeing gender equality. We inform and advise national and local governments and parliamentary bodies, supporting them to align their legal systems with international human rights law and best practice. 

How we support governments and parliaments

Legal analysis & frameworks

Legal analysis and model legislative frameworks: from sexual violence to family law, female genital mutilation to tech-facilitated gender based violence. 

Technical assistance

Technical assistance on international and regional human rights obligations: including the Maputo Protocol and the Belem do Para Convention, to United Nations Treaty Body obligations. 

 

Policy development

Context-specific policy development informed by our global expertise: guided by our global expertise and grounded in local realities. 

 

Our impact: Transforming policy into action

Over 30 years, we’ve helped reform more than 120 discriminatory laws across the globe transforming the lives of millions of people for generations to come.

In 2024 alone, we contributed to legal reform in 10 countries, strengthening protections for over 52 million women and girls. In past years, our work informed reforms in Nepal, Mexico, Uzbekistan, the USA, and Bolivia – ensuring gender-sensitive legislation and enforcement systems across regions.

Everything we do at Equality Now is based around our four strategic aims, all of which are defined by key drivers of global (in)equality.

Explore the issues we work on: 

When laws treat everyone equally everyone benefits.

The impact of legal inequality is felt most directly by girls, women, and their families, but the wider economic and social consequences affect everyone. Research has shown that if women were to achieve full parity in the workforce, the global economy would increase by $7 trillion USD.

Securing legal equality for women and girls unlocks the full promise of gender equality – and with it, a more stable, prosperous, sustainable future for everyone.

Learn.

Use our women’s rights around the world resource to explore legal gaps and how your government can lead the change. 

Connect.

Partner.

Partner with us to align your laws  with global standards of equality and justice, to build a just world for everyone.

Explore more resources

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Ibero-American Model Protocol for the investigation of sexual violence cases

A regional protocol offering practical guidance to investigate sexual violence cases with a consent-based, victim-centred, and intersectional approach.

Statement by Equality Now (Observer Status No. 281) on Agenda Item 5 of the 87th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR

As the African Commission adopts a new Advocacy Framework to strengthen implementation of the Maputo Protocol, a parallel effort to introduce a regressive Charter risks undermining decades of progress. Equality Now calls for decisive action to safeguard existing protections, ensure accountability from Member States, and work collaboratively with community leaders to advance a future where the rights of women and girls are fully realised.

Intervention on the Activity Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons

Equality Now’s shadow report calls for urgent reform of discriminatory nationality laws across Africa that deny women equal rights to confer citizenship to their children and spouses. These laws heighten the risk of statelessness, poverty, family separation, and violence, undermining the fundamental right to nationality.

Grounded in regional advocacy and human rights standards, the report urges African Union Member States to enshrine gender equality in nationality laws, centre affected communities in reform processes, and sign and ratify the AU Nationality Protocol without delay.

Latest News & Insights

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7th May 2026

7 mins

Contradictions in child marriage laws undermine protection for girls in South Asia

Press Releases

7th May 2026

12 mins

Thinking of a gift for Mother’s Day? Support equal nationality rights for mothers for the well-being of African families

Press Releases

6th May 2026

5 mins

Where you’ll find Equality Now at the 87th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, Gambia

News and Insights

29th April 2026

15 mins

Connecticut lawmakers pass bill to ban female genital mutilation

Press Releases

29th April 2026

14 mins

Legal protections are failing to protect girls in Africa from child marriage and FGM, report warns

Press Releases

29th April 2026

11 mins

Q&A with Qamar Naseem from Blue Veins Pakistan on child marriage and the latest bill passed by the Punjab Assembly 

News and Insights

28th April 2026

20 mins

From Colombia to Connecticut: The urgent need to end FGM in the Americas

News and Insights

27th April 2026

8 mins

I Am SAMAJ: Seejan Lamichhane, Grants Officer, Visible Impact, Nepal

Stories

23rd April 2026

12 mins

From viral content to real-world toxicity: What ‘Louis Theroux: Inside The Manosphere’ tells us

Culture Club

Latest event

Resisting the Conflation of FGM/C with Gender-Affirming Care

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