CSW63 side event: Launch of Strategy on Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030

More than 2.5 billion women and girls around the world are affected in multiple ways by discriminatory laws and the lack of legal protections. The elimination of discriminatory laws is inherent to the achievement of gender equality—a requirement for realizing the transformative ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These far-reaching implications on gender equality require taking a hard look at the laws, policies, and norms that govern our societies; how they are enforced; and the ways in which laws and practices enable or hinder the rights of women and girls.

Towards this end, UN Women, African Union, the Commonwealth, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and Secretaría General Ibero-Americana have issued “Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030: A Multistakeholder Strategy for Accelerated Action” in close collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Equality Now, Global Citizen, Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, International Association of Women Judges, International Development Law Organization, Muslims for Progressive Values, and Women’s Learning Partnership to address persistent gender discrimination in law.

The strategy provides a framework for a concerted and multistakeholder approach aimed at fast-tracking the elimination of discriminatory laws and documenting experiences and lessons learned for scale up and replication.