Equality Now

Equality Now is an international nonprofit organization founded in New York in 1992 to promote and protect the human rights of women and girls. The organization was established by attorneys Jessica Neuwirth, Navanethem Pillay, and Feryal Gharahi, who argued that violence and discrimination against women should be treated as human-rights violations rather than dismissed as private matters or defended as cultural practices. Its work combines legal advocacy, public-policy engagement, research, strategic litigation support, regional partnerships, and grassroots mobilization. The organization focuses on four broad areas: ending sexual violence, ending harmful practices, ending sexual exploitation, and eliminating discrimination in law. Its sexual-violence work addresses legal gaps involving rape, marital rape, survivor protection, victim re-victimization, and unequal penalties. Its harmful-practices work includes campaigns against child marriage and female genital mutilation or cutting. In the area of sexual exploitation, Equality Now addresses trafficking and other forms of coercion and abuse involving women and girls. Its discrimination-in-law program examines legislation that denies women equal nationality, family, citizenship, economic, political, or personal rights. A significant part of Equality Now's model is the conversion of research into public action. Through its Women's Action Network and related campaigns, the organization has encouraged supporters to contact public officials, circulate information, support reform initiatives, and press governments to meet international human-rights obligations. It has also produced comparative legal research intended to expose the gap between governmental commitments and laws still in force. Equality Now expanded beyond its original New York base with the opening of an Africa regional office in Nairobi in 2000, a London office in 2004, and a Beirut office in 2019. It has also maintained a presence or outposts in locations including Amman, Delhi, Tbilisi, and Washington, D.C. The organization works through regional and national partners rather than relying solely on a centralized operating model. Its publications have examined discriminatory nationality laws, rape and sexual-violence legislation, sex-discriminatory laws, and the global response to female genital mutilation or cutting. Equality Now has participated in international networks and coalitions addressing FGM/C, trafficking, gender equality, and implementation of instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The organization has also used cultural partnerships to broaden public awareness. In 2018 and 2019 it collaborated with Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale on campaigns linking the show's fictional depiction of gender oppression with real-world legal and social inequalities. It later served as an official charity partner connected with the release of Margaret Atwood's novel The Testaments. Equality Now remains an active advocacy organization rather than a commercial consumer brand. Its principal outputs are campaigns, legal research, policy recommendations, coalition work, public education, and support for legal reform. S. Mona Sinha became Global Executive Director in 2022, succeeding Yasmeen Hassan, who had led the organization for more than a decade.

Equality Now was founded in New York in 1992 by attorneys Jessica Neuwirth, Navanethem Pillay, and Feryal Gharahi. The founders challenged the tendency of governments and parts of the human-rights movement to treat violence against women as a private or culturally specific issue. They framed such abuses as violations of universal human rights and built an organization focused on changing the laws and institutions that permitted them. One of Equality Now's early organizing mechanisms was the Women's Action Network. The network connected supporters with information about abuses affecting women and girls and encouraged practical action, including contacting government officials, sharing campaign materials, and supporting reform efforts. This approach allowed the organization to combine expert legal analysis with public pressure and international solidarity. The organization broadened its geographic reach in the 2000s. It opened an Africa regional office in Nairobi in 2000 and a London office in 2004. By 2019, it had established a further office in Beirut and maintained additional presences in Amman, Delhi, Tbilisi, and Washington, D.C. These offices and partnerships supported advocacy adapted to regional legal systems while retaining a global focus. Equality Now's substantive agenda developed around four linked themes. It campaigns against sexual violence, including discriminatory rape laws, marital-rape exemptions, inadequate survivor protections, and legal provisions that reduce accountability for perpetrators. It works to end harmful practices, especially child marriage and female genital mutilation or cutting. It addresses sexual exploitation and trafficking, and it challenges discriminatory laws affecting nationality, citizenship, family life, political participation, and other areas of women's equality. Research and reporting have remained central to the organization's strategy. Its reports have examined rape laws in dozens of jurisdictions, discriminatory nationality laws, sexual-violence laws across Eurasia, and the continuing existence of sex-discriminatory legislation. The recurring Words and Deeds reporting project compares formal governmental commitments with the laws and practices that women and girls encounter in daily life. Equality Now has also contributed to international campaigns connected with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Sustainable Development Goals. Equality Now became involved in efforts to strengthen the global response to female genital mutilation or cutting. In 2013 it joined a coalition that issued recommendations for identifying, recording, and reporting FGM in the United Kingdom. In 2019 it participated in the launch of a Global Platform to End FGM/C, and in 2020 it worked with U.S. and European FGM/C networks on a report calling for global action by 2030. The group has periodically used popular culture and publishing partnerships to reach audiences beyond conventional human-rights networks. In 2018, it partnered with Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale on the Hope Lives In Every Name campaign. A second collaboration, The World I Want To Live In, accompanied the show's third season in 2019. That year Equality Now was also selected as the official charity partner for the release campaign for Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. Leadership changed in 2022 when S. Mona Sinha became Global Executive Director, succeeding Yasmeen Hassan, who had held the position since 2011. Equality Now continues to operate as a global advocacy nonprofit whose principal tools are legal reform, public-policy engagement, coalition building, research, and supporter mobilization.

• 2022

  S. Mona Sinha becomes Global Executive Director

  [1]Equality Nowen.wikipedia.org

  Sinha succeeded Hassan as global executive director.

• 2019

  Beirut office opens

  [1]Equality Nowen.wikipedia.org

  Equality Now added a Middle Eastern office to its international network.

• 2011

  Yasmeen Hassan becomes Global Executive Director

  [1]Equality Nowen.wikipedia.org

  Hassan assumed the organization's global executive leadership.

• 2004

  London office opens

  [1]Equality Nowen.wikipedia.org

  Equality Now established a European office in London.

• 2000

  Africa regional office opens in Nairobi

  [1]Equality Nowen.wikipedia.org

  The organization expanded its regional infrastructure in Africa.

• 1992

  Equality Now founded in New York

  [1]Equality Nowen.wikipedia.org

  Jessica Neuwirth, Navanethem Pillay, and Feryal Gharahi established the organization to advance women's human rights through legal and public advocacy.

Women's and girls' rights advocacy centered on changing discriminatory laws, strengthening legal protection, and holding governments accountable.

• Legal research report series · 1999

  Words and Deeds

  A recurring research and accountability series documenting sex-discriminatory laws and comparing governments' stated commitments with legal provisions and implementation affecting women and girls. Equality Now has issued editions in connection with reviews of progress under the Beijing Platform for Action.

• Legal research report · 2017

  The World's Shame

  A 2017 global review of rape and sexual-assault laws, examining how legal systems in numerous jurisdictions fail to protect women and girls or provide effective access to justice.

• Legal research report · 2018

  The State We're In

  A 2018 report examining the consequences of sex-discriminatory nationality laws and documenting how unequal citizenship rules affect women, their children, and families.

• Regional legal research report · 2019

  Roadblocks To Justice

  A 2019 study of sexual-violence laws in the fifteen countries of the former Soviet Union, focusing on legal barriers and institutional failures that prevent survivors from obtaining justice.

• Policy report · 2020

  Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Call For A Global Response

  A 2020 report produced with partner networks that calls for coordinated global action against FGM/C and links elimination efforts to the Sustainable Development Goals' 2030 horizon.

• 2019The World I Want To Live In

  United States · United Kingdom

  A second collaboration with The Handmaid's Tale connected the show's third-season promotion with advocacy for a world free from gender-based oppression.

  Source
• 2019Global Platform to End FGM/C

  Global

  Equality Now joined organizations working to end FGM/C in launching a global platform at the Women Deliver conference.

  Source
• 2019The Testaments release partnership

  Global

  Equality Now served as official charity partner for the release campaign surrounding Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, using the fictional world of Gilead to encourage attention to real-world gender discrimination.

  Source
• 2018Hope Lives In Every Name

  United States · United Kingdom · Global

  Equality Now partnered with Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale to raise awareness of gender inequality and the organization's work for women and girls.

  Source
• 2013Tackling FGM in the UK

  United Kingdom

  Equality Now joined professional and labor organizations in publishing recommendations for identifying, documenting, and reporting female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom.

  Source
• 2004Campaign against sex-tourism companies

  United States

  Equality Now campaigned against Big Apple Oriental Tours and G.F. Tours, urging U.S. authorities to investigate and prosecute companies allegedly facilitating sex tourism under federal laws.

  Source

• 2020

  Call for coordinated global action against FGM/CStrategy

  Background

  Equality Now and partner networks identified female genital mutilation or cutting as a continuing global human-rights and gender-equality issue.

  Action taken

  The organization co-published a report urging governments and international actors to coordinate elimination efforts by 2030.

  Source

• 2018

  Use popular culture partnerships for public educationStrategy

  Background

  The Handmaid's Tale provided a high-profile cultural framework for discussing gender oppression and women's rights.

  Action taken

  Equality Now partnered with Hulu and the show's producers on public-awareness campaigns in 2018 and 2019.

  Aftermath

  The partnership extended the organization's messaging to audiences beyond conventional human-rights and policy networks.

  Source

• 2000

  Expand through regional officesStrategy

  Background

  The organization sought to support locally grounded advocacy while maintaining an international focus.

  Action taken

  Equality Now opened its Africa regional office in Nairobi and later added offices in London and Beirut, along with other regional presences.

  Aftermath

  The organization developed a broader multinational operating network for legal and policy advocacy.

  Source

1. 1Equality Nowen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Equality Now official websiteequalitynow.org