Dear John,

Every five years since 1999, Equality Now has highlighted explicitly sex-discriminatory laws that need to be reformed in our Words & Deeds reports. As we approach 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action at the 4th World Conference on Women in 1995, we have produced a series of focused briefs that update on progress - this week, we published the fourth and last in that series, exploring the impact of sex discrimination in laws related to personal status and what still needs to change.

• Sex Discrimination In Marital Status Laws
• Sex Discrimination In Violence Laws
• Sex Discrimination In Economic Status
• Sex Discrimination In Personal Status

According to the Women, Business and the Law 2023 report by the World Bank, women globally still have only three quarters of the legal rights of men, and nearly 2.4 billion women of working age still do not have the same legal rights as men. Furthermore, the progress toward gender equality in the law has decelerated to its slowest pace in 20 years. Indeed, since Equality Now’s Words & Deeds report in 2020, women’s status in law and in practice in some countries has significantly worsened or stagnated.

Where do we go from here? 

We and our partners keep pushing! Yes, there has been backsliding, but advocates for equality are standing strong. And we’ve made so much progress since 1995: from the Dominican Republic banning child marriage to women gaining the right to vote in Kuwait, and an end to “marry your rapist” laws and improvements in nationality rights in several countries - governments around the world have shown that it is possible to amend and repeal sex and gender discriminatory laws, and in doing so, improve everyone’s lives. 

There are some big opportunities coming up in 2023 for governments to support each other in making positive changes and to learn more from civil society and other stakeholders about what still needs to happen.

We are looking forward to playing an active role in both the Global High-Level Summit on Achieving Gender Equal Nationality Laws in Geneva in June, and at the Women Deliver Conference in Kigali in July, including leading a session on "Family Law Reform:  A Crucial Feminist Issue for Achieving Gender Equality", and at the UN General Assembly in September; and we hope that governments will take advantage of these opportunities for learning and collaboration to challenge themselves to finally fulfill the commitments made almost  30 years ago and make equality a reality.

In Solidarity,

Antonia Kirkland 
Global Lead, Legal Equality & Access to Justice, Equality Now

PS: Share our latest brief on sex discrimination on personal status laws within your networks on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.