27th February 2023

Testimony for the USSenate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on the ERA, 28 February 2023

Our Global Executive Director, S. Mona Sinha, submitted the below written testimony for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on 28 February 2023, The Equal Rights Amendment: How Congress Can Recognise Ratification and Enshrine Equality in Our Constitution.

Key recommendations

Equality Now has seen the pervasive damage done to women and girls wrought by legal inequality, including the promotion of gender-based violence (GBV) in discriminatory laws. Conversely, we have seen the tremendous benefits gained by countries that have embraced equality in the law, including in their constitutions, the supreme law of the land.

We strongly believe that the Equal Rights Amendment will bring about further positive legal and social change, as it has in other countries, and make an enormous difference in the lives of all American women and girls, their families, and their communities. It could provide further protection from gender-based violence, including sexual and domestic violence, child marriage, FGM, and other forms of violence and discrimination.

Having been ratified by the requisite number of states, all constitutional requirements have been met for the ERA to be codified and become the supreme law of the land. Please support S.J. Res. 4 and call for the urgent incorporation of the Equal Rights Amendment into the United States Constitution.

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Advancing digital rights and legal reforms to end technology-facilitated gender-based violence and protect women and girls in Southern Africa

Equality Now and AUDRi, in partnership with the Southern Africa Youth Forum, co-hosted a side event on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) at the Southern Africa People’s Summit on 16 August 2025 in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The discussion centred on how advancing digital rights for women, girls, and other marginalised groups through legal reforms can help end TFGBV, with a particular focus on tackling online sexual exploitation and abuse.

Recommendations to SADC heads of State and Government on strengthening protection and support mechanisms for survivors of child marriage

Equality Now, together with the Stop Violence – Stop Child Marriage Project, YWCA Madagascar, Plan International, SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), convened a side event at the Southern Africa People’s Summit on 15 August 2025 under the theme “Strengthening Protection and Support Mechanisms for Survivors of Child Marriage.”

The state of gender equality in the US: A Universal Periodic Review shadow report

This shadow report outlines how the U.S. is failing to meet international human rights obligations on sex equality, child marriage, FGM/C, and online sexual abuse, urging action ahead of its 2025 Universal Periodic Review.

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