Every major advance in gender equality over the past century — from women's suffrage to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, from the Beijing Platform for Action to the Women, Peace and Security agenda — has been driven by civil society. Governments ratify treaties; civil society makes them real.
What Civil Society Does
Civil society organizations working on gender equality perform multiple, overlapping functions that are difficult to replicate through other means.
Agenda Setting
Civil society organizations identify emerging issues, document abuses, and bring them to the attention of policymakers and the public. The global movement to end female genital mutilation, the campaign for paid parental leave, and the push for gender-responsive climate policy all began with civil society organizations naming a problem and demanding a response.
Accountability
Civil society organizations monitor whether governments and international institutions honor their commitments on gender equality. Shadow reports to treaty bodies, parallel monitoring of national action plans, and public scorecards on SDG progress all depend on civil society capacity.
Movement Building
Perhaps the most important function of civil society is building the social movements that create the political conditions for change. The #MeToo movement, the Women's March, and the global campaign for gender-responsive COVID-19 recovery all demonstrate the power of civil society to mobilize public opinion.
The Shrinking Space Challenge
The CIVICUS Monitor tracks civic freedoms in 197 countries; its latest report found that only 3.1% of the world's population lives in countries with fully open civic space.
Many governments have enacted laws restricting NGO registration, foreign funding, and advocacy activities. International funding for civil society organizations working on gender equality has declined in real terms over the past decade.
Building Resilient Civil Society
Governments must protect and expand civic space as a matter of legal obligation under international human rights law.
Donors must provide flexible, multi-year core funding that enables civil society organizations to plan, innovate, and respond to changing circumstances.
Civil society itself must invest in organizational resilience: digital security, legal protection for staff, coalition building, and knowledge management.
Nkechi Okafor-Williams is the Civil Society Engagement Director at the Women's Congress UN Forum Hub.