Advocacy & Lobbying
This article by Mia Abeyawardene originally appeared on Groundviews, an award-winning citizen journalism website in Sri Lanka. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
In a country where abortion remains criminalised under colonial-era laws dating back to 1883, Sri Lanka has long denied women the fundamental right to make decisions about their own bodies. The recent proposal to amend these laws, allowing for pregnancy termination in cases of unviable fetal abnormalities, has been welcomed by many, including the Sri Lanka Safe Abortion Coalition (SLSAC). However, this limited reform is far from sufficient, and it exposes deeper systemic issues: the exclusion of women from decision making, the medicalisation of a fundamentally human rights issue and the persistent stigma and patriarchal control over women’s reproductive choices.
The SLSAC has cautiously welcomed the proposal, recognising it as a potential first step toward a more just and compassionate legal framework. Yet the coalition is clear in its stance: the proposed amendment is far too narrow. Limiting access to abortion solely on the grounds of fatal fetal abnormalities does not address the broader reality of why women seek abortions, including cases of rape, incest, lack of access to contraception, economic hardship or simply the choice not to continue a pregnancy.
Full article published here.
By Raby S. Diallo and Stéphanie Manguele
While Sub-Saharan African countries have made progress on gender equality and significant strides in education, girls’ schooling remains a major challenge. Millions of young girls still lack the opportunity to attend school. Even when they do, they rarely complete their studies. Nearly 32.6 million girls of primary and lower secondary school age are currently out of school. This number rises to 52 million at the upper secondary level. Yet it is well established that women’s empowerment drives economic growth, which cannot be achieved without ensuring inclusive access to education.
The persistence of socio-cultural barriers
Girls’ education in Africa cannot be reduced to a mere issue of school access; it must address structural inequalities and patriarchal norms that hinder their progress. Gender biases are deeply entrenched in many societies in Africa and are perpetuated within social structures, including schools. These biases make it difficult for girls to envision themselves in roles beyond those traditionally assigned to them. Educational materials often reinforce these gender disparities: women are rarely depicted in leadership roles and are typically shown only in domestic ones. A recent memo issued by certain national departments in Senegal allowing women to leave work early during Ramadan to handle household chores illustrates this contradiction. Far from trivial, this example reflects the persistent gendered division of labor, relegating women to domestic roles while men occupy strategic decision-making positions in organizations.
Truly inclusive education requires gender-sensitive policies that ensure girls have a safe and supportive learning environment. It is therefore critical to revise educational content to break stereotypes and encourage girls’ participation in science and technical fields.
Full article published here.
In the aftermath of Bangladesh’s historic student-people's uprising in July 2024 that led to the removal of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the promise of democratic reform and gender justice has begun to unravel. Amid escalating violence and a surge in reactionary politics, women who once stood at the forefront of protest are now facing censorship, threats, and state complicity. At the heart of this regression is Nadira Yeasmin, a feminist academic and vocal advocate for equal inheritance rights, who has become a prime target of Islamist backlash.
Since the formation of the interim government on August 5, 2024, the country has witnessed a troubling rise in criminal activities, fuelled by the deteriorating law and order mechanisms in the country. Violence against women has escalated alarmingly, with a surge in sexual assault, cyber abuse, and mob justice. Many of the women who once led the charge in last year's anti-Hasina protests are now being systematically sidelined, scapegoated, and silenced. The collective hope for a more just and democratic future that once fuelled the streets has given way, for many, to fear.
Full article published here.
UN Women, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP), has concluded a one-day Post-CSW69 National Dialogue in Liberia, outlining concrete national actions to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing+30 Action Agenda and address critical issues confronting women and girls across the country.
The dialogue, held on Friday, July 11, 2025, at the Ministry of Gender conference room at the Ministerial Complex in Paynesville, Congo town, brought together stakeholders from government, civil society, international partners, and grassroots women’s organizations.
The event served as a platform to review progress made since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, identify persistent challenges such as gender-based violence and economic inequality, and develop a strategic priorities roadmap to inform Liberia’s national commitments ahead of the global review process next year.
Full article available here.
For the first time, gender equality ranks alongside healthcare and climate change as a top global concern. Gen Z and Millennials, the generations shaping our workplaces, our politics, and our online spaces, have sounded the alarm and put the spotlight on gender equality.
But while nearly a third of young people rank gender equality as urgent – 29 per cent of Gen Z and 28 per cent of Millennials – the majority (58 per cent) says they don’t know how to support it. Here are three ways to start: at home, at work, and in digital spaces.
These recommendations are based on Team Lewis Foundation’s latest data in support of HeForShe, the UN Women solidarity movement for gender equality.
Full article available here.
As UN Women marks its 15th anniversary this year, the world has seen important progress in gender equality that has changed the lives of women and girls across the globe. While this is cause for celebration, the push for equality is losing ground.
A survey from March 2025 shows a 60 per cent increase in concern about the lack of progress on gender equality. UN Women data from more than 150 government reports confirm why: nearly one in four countries is seeing a backlash against women’s rights. Gender-based violence is rising. The gender digital divide is widening. And over 600 million women and girls now live near conflict zones.
Full article available here.
A core component of the three-year regional OECD-MENA Transition Fund project on “Promoting women’s participation in parliaments and policy-making,” is conducting a country-based, peer-reviewed assessment of the existing opportunities and current challenges faced by women candidates. The purpose of this report is to present the findings of this assessment, with a view to identifying targeted policy recommendations that can be implemented to accelerate progress towards gender equality and women’s political empowerment in Jordan. Recommendations are based on findings of the assessment and international good practices.
This report presents both the enabling factors and obstacles in the election of more women to parliament and municipal councils. A second assessment analysed the parliament’s workplace operations, processes, internal procedures and policy-frameworks through a gender lens. The report reviews Jordan’s current legal framework, including adherence to international standards, and assesses the existence and effectiveness of the country’s institutions in promoting women’s political participation. Legal, institutional and social norms that serve as barriers to women’s political participation are highlighted in chapters 1, 2 and 4.
Click here to access the report.
Violence against women politicians is increasingly recognized as an issue that undermines women’s presence in politics. Latin America has been at the vanguard of this global discussion. In 2012, Bolivia became the only country in the world to criminalize “political violence and harassment against women.” Several other countries have similar legislation in the works. What explains the emergence of these bill proposals? This article argues that the creation of these bills is the result of three processes: activism at the local level used international norms to propose an innovative solution to a problem; women politicians and “femocrats” worked within the state apparatus to overcome resistance; and international actors worked to foster connections among activists and politicians across the region. In this process, international norms have been transformed, with important implications for women’s political representation.
Click here to access the article.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) in digital contexts is not a new phenomenon, however it has rapidly escalated in the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic as women’s lives shifted online for work, education, access to services, and social activities. While there continue to be significant gaps in data, one global report suggests that prevalence ranges from 16 per cent to 58 per cent.
Online VAWG occurs as part of a continuum that is often connected to offline violence and can encompass many forms including sexual harassment, stalking, zoom bombing, and these continue to multiply in a context of rapidly expanding digitalization. The impact of online VAWG can be as harmful as offline violence with negative effects on the health and wellbeing of women and girls as well as serious economic, social and political impacts.
This paper provides a brief overview of the existing data and evidence on online and technology facilitated VAWG, outlines some of the key developments, gaps, challenges, and emerging promising practices, and makes recommendations to be considered by governments, international organizations, civil society organizations, and the technology sector.
Click here to access the report.
- Gender equality has suffered since the pandemic began.
- It will now take an estimated 135.6 years to close the worldwide gender gap between men and women.
- However, progress is being made in areas including science and politics.
- Improving paternity policies and representation of women will help.
There is still a huge amount of work to do to achieve gender equality around the world.
The time it will take to close the gender gap grew by 36 years in just 12 months, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021. This means it will now take an estimated 135.6 years for men and women to reach parity, according to the report, which assesses areas including economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and political empowerment.
Click here to read the full article published by The World Economic Forum on 3 March 2022.
This report and accompanying policy brief is intended to trigger a UN ‘rethink’ about women’s participation in transitional justice at both the policy and programme levels.
Fundamentally, ‘meaningful’ women’s participation in transitional justice does not only involve women being present—instead, it involves the convergence of several elements and manifests when women from diverse backgrounds: have the ability to enter; are present; possess self-efficacy; deploy their agency; and exert influence over transitional justice processes.
It recommends several adjustments for UN policy and programming—both in general and in relation to the updating of the UN Secretary-General’s 2010 Guidance Note on transitional justice—to better promote women’s meaningful participation in transitional justice.
Click here to access the report.
This report assesses women’s access to justice and women’s political participation in parliament, local councils and civil society organisations in Colombia. It examines existing legal, political and institutional frameworks in order to better understand successes, challenges and implementation gaps in the government’s pursuit of access to justice and gender equality. The report also offers examples of different approaches in OECD member and partner countries to support Colombia in closing gender gaps. Based on this analysis, the report proposes actionable solutions to help Colombia design and deliver policies that effectively promote women’s political participation and access to justice, including for survivors of gender based violence.
Click here to download the full report published by the OECD on 11 July 2020.