Equality Now, Inc.

Equality Now is an organization that advocates for the human rights of women and girls around the world by raising international visibility of individual cases of abuse, mobilizing public support through our global membership, and wielding strategic political pressure to ensure that governments enact or enforce laws and policies that uphold the rights of women and girls.

Equality Now employs a social change model that links high level international and legal advocacy to specific cases of women and girls to ensure change at all levels.

-International advocacy, including through mobilization of our network
-Awareness-raising through highlighting individual cases of violations and use of traditional and social media
-Partnerships and coalition-building with grassroots level women's rights groups
-Strengthening international and regional human rights law and mechanisms to better address the rights of women and girls
-Conducting strategic litigation at national, regional and international levels to establish legal precedents
- Mobilizing financial and capacity-building support

Legal advocacy is necessary for the creation of sustainable and systemic change for women and girls; by publicizing individual stories, while at the same time providing support and legal advice to the partners and networks who take on cases, Equality Now has a proven track record of contributing to breakthrough results.

Equality Now is composed of 35 staff members, led by the Global Executive Director. Each of Equality Now's regional offices—Africa, the Americas, Middle East and Europe—is led by a regional director. The staff collectively has a strong background is human rights law, legal advocacy, and international and regional frameworks. The global Board of Directors consists of individuals with diverse expertise and geographic perspectives. Board member skills and areas of knowledge include international policy and women's and human rights; finance, organisational management and strategic planning; and communications, marketing and fundraising. Each member also serves on at least one official committee: Executive, Audit, Finance, Development and Communications, Governance, Nominations, or Program.

In 2019, A landmark decision by the ECOWAS Court of Justice, declaring Sierra Leone’s banning of pregnant adolescent girls and young mothers from attending school to be discriminatory, and ordering the government to lift it with immediate effect. In Tanzania, the High Court upheld a ruling declaring marriage under the age of 18 to be illegal, sending a clear message that child marriage is a human rights violation and governments are responsible for protecting girls. The CEDAW Committee ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in two domestic violence cases in Russia, and called on the government to change its laws and procedures to protect women from domestic violence. We opened our first office in the Middle East and held convenings in Beirut and Tunisia, bringing together activists from 19 countries to promote women’s rights in the region.

This year we are launching a campaign to reform the family laws that continue to allow child marriage, enforce male guardianship, and prevent access to marital property and custody of children. We are calling attention to rampant forced pregnancies of adolescent girls in Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina, and will continue to support the first case brought under anti-sex trafficking law in Malawi. Here in the U.S., we expect Virginia to be the 38th and final state needed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and are currently working to eliminate the ratification deadline to pave the way for constitutional equality in the U.S. at long last!