Our impact over time: Building the foundations of equality

Without equality in law, there can be no equality in life. In 2025, we contributed to 17 legal changes, securing rights and improving access to justice for an estimated 69 million women and girls worldwide. Since 1992, those numbers exceed 137 laws and possibly a billion individuals. And we’re really only just getting started. Two key moments from last year illustrate this continuous and continuing effort to change the world, one law at a time.

Kuwait becomes the eighth country to repeal so-called ‘marry your rapist’ laws since 2014

In our work to end sexual violence by strengthening laws and supporting their effective implementation, we have consistently targeted reforming so-called ‘marry your rapist’ laws, which allow perpetrators to escape punishment by marrying their victims.

The first such change linked to our advocacy took place in Morocco in 2014, following extensive work with partners in the region. Since then, we have supported repeals in Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon in 2017, Palestine and Malta in 2018, and Bahrain in 2023.

Then in May of last year, following years of advocacy by our partner Abolish 153, regional convenings of Members of Parliament and civil society, joint submissions to the UN, and work linked to our Words & Deeds report, Kuwait officially repealed its own ‘marry your rapist’ provision, which is expected to strengthen legal protections for all 1.9 million women and girls in the country.

This puts us one step closer to eradicating these unjust laws everywhere. But there is still much work to be done, with provisions effectively remaining in place in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Algeria.

Central African Republic becomes the 46th Member State of the African Union to ratify the Maputo Protocol

The Maputo Protocol is a comprehensive, legally binding African regional treaty adopted in 2003 that guarantees extensive rights to women, including equality in marriage, reproductive health choices, and protection from gender-based violence and harmful practices like FGM.

The Central African Republic’s ratification in 2025 brings total ratifications of the Maputo Protocol to 46 of the 55 African Union states, giving CAR’s 2.8 million women and girls greater legal protection for all forms of human rights violations.

This advances long-standing efforts by Equality Now and partners through the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), a coalition of more than 70 civil society organisations working in over 33 countries towards a vision of all African women fully enjoying their rights as provided for under the Protocol.

We are proud to have played a central role in establishing SOAWR back in 2004 and currently serve as part of its Secretariat. Together, we train government officials, publish monitoring reports, and provide tools to help countries uphold their commitments and implement the Maputo Protocol in full.