18th December 2025
Progress and pushback: Gender equality in 2025
17 min read
From courtrooms to parliaments, from local advocates to global bodies, 2025 was a year of meaningful progress for gender equality, even in the face of growing backlash and anti-rights movements. Legal barriers were dismantled, new protections were enshrined in law, and hard-fought reforms were won. Around the world, women’s rights advocates continued to push governments to act. And in many cases, they succeeded.
At Equality Now, we work to ensure that the law is a tool for justice. And 2025 reminded us that legal change is possible, even in difficult political climates. Here’s a look at some of the key moments and milestones that defined the year.
In 2025, we saw a wave of new legislation that strengthened protections for women and girls, particularly in areas like child marriage and gender-based violence.
In the Americas, countries took decisive steps to end child marriage. In the United States, our work supporting partner Unchained at Last to eradicate exceptions to child marriage laws continued, contributing to reforms in Maine, Missouri, Oregon, as well as Washington D.C., and, where the minimum age of marriage was raised to 18 without exception. These changes reduced the number of states with child marriage exemptions from 37 to 34, and helped reaffirm that child marriage is a human rights violation and that no exceptions should remain in law.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, Bolivia eliminated all exceptions to its child marriage law, firmly setting 18 as the minimum age for all. This offers new protection to 2.2 million girls, around 20% of whom were previously at risk of child marriage. In Grenada, similar legislation passed, closing legal gaps that had previously enabled the harmful practice.
Meanwhile, Italy made history by officially recognising femicide as a distinct crime. This legal shift not only reflects the gravity of gender-based killings but also acknowledges the systemic patterns behind them.
In Africa, the Central African Republic ratified the Maputo Protocol, becoming the 46th African Union member state to do so. This commitment to advancing women’s rights adds strength to the regional framework for gender equality, and means that the government of CAR can now be held accountable for domestication and implementation of the Protocol’s provisions through national laws and policy action.
And in a major constitutional development, at the beginning of the year, President Biden formally recognised the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This marks a historic moment in the century-long fight for explicit gender equality under US law. The ERA affirms that rights cannot be denied or abridged on the basis of sex, and its universal recognition could strengthen legal protections against discrimination and help advance gender justice through the courts. While further legal and political steps are still needed to secure full implementation, this acknowledgement is a major step forward for constitutional gender equality in the US.
Progress in 2025 wasn’t just about new laws; it was also about how justice is defined and delivered.
In Kyrgyzstan, legal reforms increased penalties for sexual violence against persons with disabilities, enhancing protection for an estimated 108,000 women and girls. At the same time, the government adopted a National Action Plan incorporating a consent-based definition of rape and new commitments to train law enforcement in survivior centred management of sexual violences cases and combat child marriage. These changes aim to strengthen protection for the 183,000 girls and adolescents most at risk of sexual violence.
Additionally, in January, Kyrgyzstan’s revised Labour Code came into force, removing outdated bans that had prevented women from working in over 400 professions. This reform is expected to expand economic opportunity for 1.9 million working-age women across the country.
In Mexico, the state of Oaxaca reformed its Criminal Code to introduce a consent-based definition of sexual offences. The law removes the requirement for survivors to prove physical violence or resistance and clarifies that the absence of freely given consent is enough to prosecute. This reform is expected to improve access to justice for an estimated 1.1 million women and girls across the state. Progress is also underway in Sonora, where lawmakers are advancing similar legal changes to ensure justice systems respond more effectively to sexual violence.
A landmark regional law was also introduced in the East African Community to end female genital mutilation (FGM), a move that has the potential to transform how governments across the region prevent, prosecute, and respond to this harmful practice.
Importantly, 2025 also brought a growing recognition of unpaid care as a human right. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, governments began formally acknowledging care work in national frameworks, a shift that could redefine economic policy through a feminist lens.
Legal momentum in 2025 extended beyond national borders. In the international arena, key policy wins were secured through sustained advocacy, and governments took steps that reinforced global standards on women’s rights.
At the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Iran, several of Equality Now’s recommendations on gender justice were adopted. While serious gaps remain, including continued neglect of issues such as female genital mutilation, the outcome represents a meaningful step toward accountability for systemic rights violations.
Canada also strengthened its regional and international commitments by signing the Belém do Pará Convention, an important framework for preventing and addressing violence against women and girls. Moves like this help build a stronger global legal consensus that gender-based violence is a human rights violation requiring clear state action.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights also made history this year by issuing its first-ever advisory opinion on climate change and human rights. In response to a request by Colombia and Chile, the Court found that states have legal obligations to respond to the climate crisis, particularly to protect those most affected, including women and girls. This is a landmark moment in global jurisprudence, reinforcing that environmental harms are inseparable from gender justice.
In the United States, the Take It Down Act passed, creating new federal obligations for tech companies to remove intimate content, including AI-generated deepfakes, within 48 hours of notification. While a national law, it represents an important step in the global momentum to regulate tech platforms in ways that protect survivors of tech-facilitated gender based violence: the act sets a precedent for how states can regulate technology to protect women and girls from online sexual exploitation and abuse. Once implemented, it is expected to offer greater protection to an estimated 42 million women and girls across the country, and offers a legal model that could influence similar measures around the world.
At the regional level, the Inter-American Model Law to Prevent, Punish, and Eradicate Gender-Based Digital Violence against Women was developed by the Committee of Experts of the MESECVI and approved at the Conference of States Parties in December. Aligned with the principles of the Belém do Pará Convention framework, the Model Law recognises digital violence as part of the continuum of violence that affects women, adolescents, and girls in differentiated and disproportionate ways. It establishes obligations for both States and digital platforms and internet intermediaries, promoting transparency, shared responsibility, and the reduction of technological gaps. The Model Law is part of a broader international effort to protect the rights of women and girls in digital environments.
Beyond these global and national commitments, governments also removed specific legal provisions that reinforced impunity. In Kuwait, for example, the repeal of Penal Code Article 182 ended a loophole that had allowed perpetrators of kidnapping, often accompanied by sexual violence, to escape prosecution by marrying their victims. This reform is expected to strengthen legal protections for all 1.9 million women and girls in the country.
In Saudi Arabia, a new Personal Status Law was introduced that offers some new protections for women. While significant gaps remain, this development indicates that change, however incremental, is possible.
And in Malaysia, a constitutional amendment granting women greater nationality rights was officially gazetted, following its passage in late 2024. While not yet in force, the amendment represents a significant step toward ending gender discrimination in nationality law and ensuring that Malaysian women can confer citizenship to their children on an equal basis with men.
Together, we have contributed to 14 legal changes in 2025, which stand to benefit an estimated 51 million women and girls worldwide. In a year marked by backlash and political resistance, these wins are proof that legal advocacy, when sustained and strategic, can deliver real change.
Even as harmful laws and rhetoric gain ground, strong feminist movements have pushed back. In Latvia, public pressure forced a rethink on withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention, while a challenge to The Gambia’s anti-FGM law remains pending before the Supreme Court, though activists and survivors successfully defended the country’s anti-FGM law before Parliament last year. These moments show the power and resilience of collective action for gender equality.
But progress remains uneven, and our work will continue into 2026 and beyond. Across regions, we are seeing increased restrictions on fundamental rights, shrinking civic space, and efforts to roll back protections. The need for action is urgent and ongoing.
As we look ahead to 2026, our work continues: holding governments to account, amplifying the voices of survivors, and advancing legal reform that ensures justice for all women and girls.
You can help us keep the momentum going. Explore more of our latest news and advocacy wins, or make a donation to support the next phase of our work.
Because equality under the law is not just a goal, it’s a foundation for lasting justice, peace, and progress.
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