The Paradox of progress and pushback: What UNGA 2025 tells us about the future of the rights of women and girls

The story so far

At this year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), governments were urged to recommit to equality, justice and sustainable development. The mood was cautiously hopeful: it was only the fifth time in history that a woman presided over the General Assembly, and UN Women pointed to 99 legal reforms in the past five years that advanced gender equality.

But look more closely, and the picture is mixed. Only 38 countries have set 18 as the minimum age for marriage without exceptions. In 61 countries, women are still barred from doing the same jobs as men. And in most of the world, rape is not defined in law as a lack of consent.

That’s the paradox of 2025: there is progress, but it remains fragile. At the same time as governments introduce new protections, others are pulling rights back. Behind the stagecraft of UNGA, an anti-rights movement is growing louder, targeting feminist organisations and questioning multilateral institutions themselves.

For Equality Now, the lesson is clear. Change comes when advocates, civil society and governments act together and when legal reform is treated not as a final flourish but as the foundation of equality. Our Words & Deeds reports have tracked a range of discriminatory laws for over two decades. Almost 60% of those flagged have since been amended or repealed. That is what progress looks like. But the gains were not inevitable: they came from pressure, persistence and partnership.

The question now is whether leaders will carry that urgency forward into the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women next March, and into laws and actions that change lives.

Key takeaways from UNGA

The progress is real, and it happens together

At this year’s Assembly, civil society energy was unmistakable. Governments recommitted to advancing women’s leadership, including supporting the election of a feminist woman Secretary-General in 2026. The lesson is clear: when activists, legal experts and policymakers push together, reforms do follow.

An emboldened, organised anti-rights agenda is here for the long haul

But progress has triggered a response. The Words & Deeds 2025 update catalogues how governments are rolling back rights, often under the banners of ‘family values’ or sovereignty. The anti-rights movement was visible at UNGA too, targeting feminist organisations and questioning the legitimacy of international frameworks.

This backlash is not isolated. It’s coordinated, global, and threatens decades of progress. The danger is not only regressive laws, but the erosion of trust in multilateral institutions themselves.

This is why government commitments still matter

Despite the headwinds, governments made strong pledges at UNGA. Commitments to legal reform and cooperation are more than words: they set a benchmark. They give civil society something to hold leaders accountable to, whether through budgets, legislation or political will.

The test is whether these declarations turn into durable laws that change lives. Without that follow-through, the speeches from UNGA will ring hollow.