Women and girls’ rights in Asia

An overview of women’s rights in Asia

Across South and Southeast Asia, women continue to face legal inequalities, gender-based violence, and systemic barriers to justice. Despite obligations under international human rights treaties, many countries maintain discriminatory nationality laws, inadequate protections against sexual violence, and weak enforcement mechanisms. Harmful practices such as FGM and child marriage persist, undermining women’s rights and bodily autonomy.

Barriers to justice for survivors of sexual violence

Survivors of rape across Asia face systemic challenges in seeking justice:

• Marital rape loopholes: Many countries, including India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, fail to fully criminalize marital rape, leaving women vulnerable
• Judicial and police bias: Survivors frequently face victim-blaming, case dismissals, and societal stigma, deterring them from reporting crimes

Recommendations for governments across the region:

• Strengthen enforcement of sexual violence laws, ensuring survivor protections and swift legal proceedings
• Improve access to justice for survivors, including gender-sensitive police training and legal aid services.
• Criminalize marital rape in all circumstances, removing legal loopholes.

> Learn more about sexual violence in South Asia in Sexual Violence in South Asia: Legal and Other Barriers to Justice for Survivors, last updated in 2024.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) in Asia

FGM is a critical human rights issue across South and Southeast Asia, affecting 80 million women and girls across 10 countries, despite international condemnation. Without strong laws, policies, multi-sectoral collaboration, and community engagement, the practice will continue to thrive in silence.

• Indonesia: Over 50% of girls under 11 have undergone FGM, with medical professionals often involved
• Singapore: FGM is medicalized and widely practiced among Malay Muslim communities, yet remains legally unaddressed
• Thailand: FGM is still practiced in southern regions, but no explicit legal ban exists
• India: FGM is documented among Bohra Muslim communities, yet authorities have not outlawed the practice

Recommendations for governments across the region:

• Recognize FGM as a critical human rights violation and develop concrete actions to address the practice.
• Explicitly ban FGM and enforce penalties for those who perform it.
• Introduce a zero-tolerance approach to FGM
• Provide national data on the extent and nature of the practice
• Adequately fund efforts to tackle this regionally neglected problem

> Explore our 2025 report, The Time is Now: End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, An Urgent Need for Global Response 2025.

Legal Discrimination in Nationality and Family Laws

Some Asian countries maintain gender-discriminatory nationality laws that deny women equal rights to confer citizenship, including, for example:

• Thailand: Women face barriers to passing their nationality on to their foreign spouses on an equal basis with men.
• Nepal: The Constitution and Citizenship Act prevents Nepali women from conferring nationality on their children and spouses on equal terms with men
• Malaysia: Malaysian women cannot automatically pass citizenship to children born abroad, while men can

Discriminatory family laws also persist, including, for example:

• Sri Lanka: The Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) allows child marriage, polygamy, and gender-unequal divorce rights
• India: Personal laws governing marriage, divorce, and inheritance often favour men, restricting women’s rights

Recommendations for governments:

• End gender discrimination in nationality laws, allowing women to confer citizenship equally.
• Reform laws to address exceptions to 18 as the minimum age of marriage and criminalise marital rape. 
• Recognise women’s equal rights in property, marriage, and divorce.
• Harmonise statutory, customary, and religious law, ensuring family codes align with regional and international standards to protect all women and girls

Equality Now in Asia

Equality Now works with partners across Asia, particularly South Asia and Southeast Asia, to address harmful practices like FGM and improve access to justice for survivors.  We are co-founders of the South Asia Movement for Accessing Justice (SAMAJ).