A recent global study reveals that while some strides have been made in protecting women and girls through legal reforms over the past five years, progress remains slow, inconsistent, and increasingly under threat. The research, conducted by Equality Now, outlines how sex discrimination in laws continues to disadvantage women and girls, exposing them to systemic harm and offering limited legal recourse in many regions.
The report, titled Words & Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable In The Beijing+30 Review Process (6th Edition), highlights that despite the 1995 Beijing Platform’s commitment to gender equality, no country has achieved full legal equality for women. The Beijing Platform, adopted by 189 nations, calls for the revocation of all laws that discriminate based on sex. However, three decades later, laws and practices that restrict women’s rights continue to persist, obstructing progress toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality.
Antonia Kirkland, co-author of the report, stresses that full protection of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights for women and girls is essential. She advocates for the repeal of discriminatory legislation, the enshrinement of gender equality in constitutions, and the enforcement of comprehensive laws protecting the rights of women in all their diversity.
The report also documents alarming rollbacks in women’s legal rights. Governments in some regions have allowed discriminatory religious and customary laws to persist, while cultural and nationalist ideologies are being used to justify the revocation of rights. In Afghanistan, women and girls face complete exclusion from public life, education, work, and leisure. Similarly, in Iran, women opposing sex-discriminatory laws have been subjected to arrest, detention, and even death.
Elsewhere, legislative bodies in Bolivia and Uruguay are contemplating laws that would weaken protections for survivors of sexual violence. In The Gambia, an attempt to repeal the law banning female genital mutilation was blocked after strong opposition. Additionally, laws restricting LGBTQ+ rights continue to spread, with Russia and several other countries enacting legislation to suppress LGBTQ+ freedoms.
Attacks on reproductive rights are also on the rise. In the U.S., the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade has led to the criminalization of abortion in multiple states, with efforts to restrict access further intensifying. Poland has also removed one of the few remaining grounds for abortion, further restricting women’s rights.
The report also highlights discriminatory legal practices that persist in countries like Sudan and Yemen, where male relatives are granted sweeping authority over women, and women are legally bound to obey their husbands. In Saudi Arabia, a wife’s refusal to have sex or travel with her husband can result in the loss of financial support. These laws, alongside others that give husbands unilateral divorce rights and allow marital rape, continue to constrain women’s autonomy.
Globally, women remain disadvantaged in the workforce, facing barriers to employment, unequal pay, and limited access to property ownership and inheritance. These constraints contribute to their overrepresentation in low-wage, insecure jobs and unpaid care work. In countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, and Russia, women are prohibited from certain types of employment, though some progress has been made in recent years.
Nationality laws, too, remain discriminatory in countries like Bahrain, Brunei, and the U.S., where mothers are not granted the same rights as fathers to pass their nationality to their children. This legal imbalance exacerbates challenges such as statelessness, child marriage, and the risk of remaining trapped in abusive relationships.
Despite these setbacks, some countries are taking positive steps. Nations such as Colombia, Cuba, and Zambia have introduced laws banning child marriage, and others have repealed certain discriminatory employment restrictions. However, the report calls for urgent action from governments worldwide to review and amend laws that discriminate based on sex.
Kirkland concludes, “Governments must urgently eliminate sex and gender-based discrimination in the law. Equality Now urges every country to repeal discriminatory laws, prevent the rollback of legal rights, and establish constitutional or legal guarantees of equality for all women and girls.”
