The Pushback On Women’s Rights Must Be Stopped: What Role For The Multilateral Setting?
Geneva, 31 January 2025 – On 30 January, activists, policymakers, and researchers from across the world gathered in Geneva for the official launch of the “Stop the Pushback on Women’s Rights” initiative. The event was organized by the independent civil society network Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2) and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation – Geneva Office, and hosted by the Geneva Graduate Institute in response to the alarming backlash of women’s rights in multilateral spaces and national policies.
Nicoletta Dentico from the Society for International Development and the Geneva Global Health Hub outlined the vision for the “Stop the Pushback on Women’s Rights” campaign to mobilize communities worldwide, collaborate with multilateral institutions, and advocate for transformative policies for real change on the ground. A statement translated in nearly 30 languages underscores the ambition of this initiative and the urgency for action.
The right-wing movements, under the guise of defending so-called communal identities and traditions, are coordinating counteroffensive against women’s rights achievements worldwide. But women continue to resist despite the mounting systemic violence and repression.
Sara Ibrahim Abdelgalil, a Sudanese pediatrician, highlighted the democratic struggles and humanitarian responses in the ravaging of wars. “Today women’s voices are being silenced, while rape and sexual violence are systematically used as weapons of war to render them invisible, producing mass suicides of women,” she said. Iranian women are another glaring example of leading the vanguard resistance in the name of freedom and justice. Parisa Nazari, from the Iranian diaspora in Europe, celebrating the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, shared how “Iranian women are driving a historic and transformative revolution for democracy and fundamental rights in a country that has endured over 45 years of religious control. We ask for global solidarity in the face of this current brutality.”
Patriarchal systems exploit the environment and ecosystems just as much as they exploit women. “These systems thrive on domination, whether over women’s bodies or the Earth’s resources”, commented Ruchi Shroff from Navdanya International. “Women and marginalized communities bear the brunt of these crises, but they are also the ones resisting, protecting life, and building alternatives, not just in my country, India.” On this, Ashka Naik of Corporate Accountability, emphasized the need to recognize women’s inherent power. “Women, even in the most remote areas of the world, do not need us to prescribe power for them—they already know what power means in their own lives. This power needs to be centered to create a world deeply rooted in solidarity, compassion, and love.”
Women agency should be the cornerstone of the Sustainable Development Goals. Investing in equality drives progress across multiple areas and all SDGs. Bettina Borisch, from The World Federation of Public Health Associations, emphasized that advancing women’s rights is not just a matter of justice but a crucial pillar of global stability, asserting that “the fate of nations is tied to the status of their women.”
The event also examined how anti-gender narratives are obstructing progress in global policymaking. Ruben Brouwer from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) highlighted the need for collective action guided by solidarity, asserting how “we must reclaim spaces lost to division and disinformation and work toward an inclusive vision of gender equality.” While Rafael Carrano Lelis, from the Gender Centre of the Graduate Institute, discussed the need for strong coalitions to resist gender-based attacks and political instrumentalization of women’s rights rhetoric, citing the Trump administration’s executive order on “defending women from gender ideology extremism.”
We are talking about a full-scale assault on all women’s rights across the globe. At this critical conjuncture, it is imperative to challenge this mounting wave of regression. The campaign aims to transcend borders and bring everyone together to stop the pushback on all women’s rights.
