Equality Now

Equality Now was founded in 1992 in New York by attorneys Jessica Neuwirth of the United States, Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and Feryal Gharahi. The founders believed that acts of violence against women were violations of the fundamental human rights guarantees as stated in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that the human rights movement to that point had neglected women's rights, dismissing these violations as "cultural" or "private." At the time, issues such as domestic violence, rape, female genital mutilation, trafficking, and reproductive rights were not part of the agendas of established human rights organizations.

Neuwirth, Pillay and Gharahi envisioned an organization that would work closely with grassroots women's organizations in every region of the world, sharing and receiving information on the status of women and violations of their rights, and mobilizing public protest in response. Immediately after the opening of its first office in New York, Equality Now began to identify groups whose work matched its own mission and to consider how to support and reinforce the actions those groups were already taking.

Equality Now helped to build public consciousness on women's rights as human rights and to channel concern into strategic action through the Women's Action Network, an alliance of organizations working to achieve their common goals. Supporters who joined the network received campaign briefings and were urged to take action against human rights violations against women and girls by writing letters of protest directly to government officials, sharing information about these violations within their communities and taking other steps to support the struggle to end violence and discrimination against women.

The founders also hoped to build the organization's presence around the world by setting up offices in different regions. They hoped this would facilitate stronger relationships with the local groups and regional networks best places to know the most effective actions to be taken to end violence and discrimination against women and girls in their communities. Equality Now opened its Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya in 2000. A London office followed in 2004 and the organization opened its fourth office in Beirut in 2019. The organization also has additional outposts in Amman, Jordan, Tbilisi, Georgia, Delhi, India and Washington, DC.

In 2011, Yasmeen Hassan, author of the first ever study on domestic violence in Pakistan,[2] became Global Executive Director of Equality Now. She led the organization for over a decade, quadrupling their income and staff during her tenure. Under her leadership Equality Now won the International Gender Equality Prize from the Finnish Government in 2019.

Equality Now works to achieve its mission of ending violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world across four broad areas.

In June 2018, it was announced Equality Now would partner with Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale to release the Hope Lives In Every Name Campaign.[13]

At the time of the campaign's release, Handmaid's Tale executive producer Warren Littlefield said, "We are honored to partner with Equality Now to help raise awareness of the vital work they do for women and girls around the world...Their efforts of addressing and helping correct inequality and injustice where it exists for girls and women especially resonates with the message of our show, and we are proud to be part of this campaign."

One year later, in June 2019, Equality Now unveiled its second partnership with The Handmaid's Tale, The World I Want To Live In, which ran in tandem the series' third season in the U.S. and the U.K.[14]

In August 2019, Equality Now revealed the organization had been selected as the official charity partner for the release campaign of Margaret Atwood's novel The Testaments, the highly anticipated sequel to The Handmaid's Tale.[15] In a statement, Equality Now said they were "honored" to serve as the event's charity partner and went on to say,[15]

The rollback of women’s rights is as relevant as ever, and we hope that this global movement around The Testaments continues the momentum to fight for gender equality around the world. Although Gilead and The Testaments are fictional, they hold a mirror up to the state of women’s rights today. Gilead depicts a dystopian future in which women are enslaved, married off, raped and denied their most fundamental human rights. The patriarchal and discriminatory practices of Gilead are the practices Equality Now tackles every day.

Through a statement, Atwood said she was "delighted" the events surrounding the novel's release would be working in partnership with the organization.[15]

• In March 2020, Equality Now released "Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing Review Process", highlighting sex discriminatory laws in place around the world.
• In January 2019, Equality Now released "Roadblocks To Justice: How The Law Is Failing Survivors Of Sexual Violence In Eurasia." The first report of its kind the report surveyed sexual violence laws in the 15 countries of the Soviet Union.[16]
• In May 2018, Equality Now released its report, "The State We're In: Ending Sexism In Nationality Laws." The report, which documented the consequences of discriminatory nationality laws toward women was subsequently sent to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.[17]
• In February 2017, Equality Now published its report "The World's Shame: The Global Rape Epidemic - How Laws Around the World Are Failing To Protect Women and Girls From Sexual Violence " which looked at rape and sexual assault laws in 82 jurisdictions in 73 UN member states.[18]
• In 2016, Equality Now was among the organization that campaigned for a woman to be named UN Secretary-General.[19]
• in 2004, Equality Now launched a campaign against sex tourism companies Big Apple Oriental Tours and G.F. Tours, calling on the US Attorney General to prosecute such companies under the Mann Act and Travel Act.[20]
• In 2003, the anthology Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium (2003) [21] included Jessica Neuwirth's "Globalization: A Strategic Advance for Feminism?"

• Human rights abuse
• Human rights
• Gender equality
• Equal Rights Amendment
• Feminism
• CEDAW
• List of women's organizations

• Equality Now
• U.S. End FGM/C Network