30 years of (mostly) broken promises on gender justice
Looking back at progress for gender equality and the challenges ahead.
Thirty years ago, 199 countries adopted The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which promised to be a pioneering blueprint for advancing women’s rights.
Today, many of the promises of the declaration are broken and unfulfilled. A new wave of right-wing, religious, and conservative actors is capitalising on persistent crises to bring back “traditional family values,” which, in reality, is just bringing back racist and sexist narratives.
In this week’s Bulletin, we look at the evidence from Oxfam and UN Women’s latest reports, which paint a grim picture of how anti-rights movements risk eroding the hard-won gains of feminists.
Gender justice backlash in numbers
Slow progress. In their report, the UN sets out stark figures on progress for gender equality since 1995 (the year the Beijing Declaration was adopted). The proportion of women in parliaments has more than doubled but almost 3/4 of parliamentarians are still men. There have been 1,531 legal reforms around the world to advance gender equality, but women still have only 64% of the legal rights of men. 63% of women are in the labour force compared to 92% of men, and women do 2.5 times more unpaid care than men. There has been progress, but it has not gone fast or far enough.
Women’s rights are being weakened. UN research found that nearly one in four countries reported a backlash on women’s rights in 2024. Two billion women and girls live in places without any social protection coverage. Oxfam found that half of countries with shrinking or insufficient social protection budgets give little or no support to mothers with newborns and that one in three women (1.3 billion) live in countries that do not prohibit the dismissal of pregnant women workers. The world’s top 10 billionaires make more on average in 3 days than go to women’s rights organizations annually. Women’s rights are overlooked, underfunded, and under prioritised.
A new wave of anti-rights agenda. New laws and policies are rolling back rights and progress made by feminist and queer activists. Barriers to abortion have risen; women can face criminal prosecution for having an illegal abortion in 63% of countries. There’s been a spike in gender-based violence, for example, a 15% increase in female genital mutilation since 2016. It feels like we’re being pulled back into the Dark Ages by a vocal minority with a lot of wealth and power behind them.
Funding hate. Anti-rights groups are receiving a funding bonanza. Just three anti-LGBTI organizations received more funding in 2021-2022 than all 8,000+ LGBTI globally in the same time period.
Online misogyny. Social media is enabling hyper-masculine influencers within the ‘manosphere’—a network of websites, blogs, and online forums that promote misogyny and oppose feminism. A study in the UK found that within 30 minutes of being online, 11 to 14-year-old boys are exposed to harmful (particularly misogynistic) content, and 59% are led to this content from unrelated searches due to AI algorithms.
Progress has been and can be made. Parity has been achieved in girls’ education. Maternal mortality has fallen by a third. 1,583 legislative measures across 193 countries have been introduced to curb violence against women. Progress can be made and has been made. The unravelling of decades of hard-won progress must be stopped by resisting the anti-rights movements seeking to divide for personal gains.
Rebuild the social contract. Governments must uphold their commitments by investing in gender justice, safeguarding rights, and ensuring bodily autonomy. Public services and social protection are essential, especially for women and LGBTQIA+ individuals, who face the brunt of exploitation in our neoliberal economy. Taxing the rich is a demand that is equally important here —it’s a necessity to fund these critical systems.
But beyond policy, our power lies in solidarity. Feminist and queer movements are holding the line for gender justice. Stand with them. Support them. The fight for equality depends on all of us.
Something to read and listen to
Listen to the latest Equals podcast with David De Jong about how some of Germany's wealthiest families, who control major brands like BMW and Volkswagen, had deep ties to the Nazi regime.
Watch Oxfam’s Amina Hersi speak to the Igniting Change podcast.
Read the Global Resources Report on the state of global funding for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) issues.