The world is undergoing a transformative shift, fuelled by unprecedented challenges. Systematic efforts by anti-rights actors continue to threaten the rights of women, girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals and other marginalised groups around the world. Global threats such as climate change – made more complex by the rise of digital activism and harassment – are redefining the fight for equality.
The Equalities Resource Hub is a new tool designed to help tackle these challenges. The Hub is designed to support civil society organisations and grassroots activists, officials and decision-makers, researchers and academics – and any other stakeholders working to advance gender equality and social inclusion. It spotlights groundbreaking research, evidence, and practical guidance to support action and activism for change.
Following the recent launch of the Equalities Resource Hub, we’re taking a look at three issues that pose the most significant challenges to gender and equalities work: the global rollback of women’s and girls’ and LGBTQIA+ rights; the ongoing climate crisis; and the complex role of digital and online spaces in the fight for equality globally.
Rollback of rights
Recent years have seen significant rollback of women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights around the world, both driven by broader anti-gender ideology that views the advancement of women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights as threatening patriarchal power and norms – from increasingly restricted access to abortion in the US, to the criminalisation and legal persecution of LGBTQIA+ people in Uganda.
Anti-rights movements are increasingly well-resourced and coordinated, building in many cases on colonial-era legislation and fuelled by the rise of right-wing (in person and online) populism that restricts women’s, girls’, and LGBTQIA+ people’s freedoms.
Bold steps are being taken to advance individual and collective rights, and to tackle rollback – often by grassroots organisations led by the very people whose rights are under attack – yet the scale of the problem means more (and more creative) solutions are needed.
The Hub is committed to spotlighting research and strategies that focus on understanding and addressing the rollback of rights globally. It includes resources on technology-facilitated and online violence; on the challenges and opportunities of rights-focused work in post-conflict settings; and on the state of efforts to prevent violence against women and girls across the sector. It also features resources focused on how to effectively work with and fund grassroots organisations, which are often chronically underfunded despite their central role in combatting efforts to roll back rights in many contexts.
Climate change
Climate change disproportionately impacts groups already facing social and economic exclusion. For example, people with disabilities are more likely to be impacted by climate change due to the fact that 80 percent of people with disabilities live in lower- and middle-income countries that are particularly impacted by climate change. Historically excluded or minoritised groups – including people with disabilities, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ people, older people, young people, and indigenous peoples and minority ethnic and religious groups – may face heightened social, economic and/or physical challenges in guarding against and responding to extreme weather events and the impacts of food scarcity and air pollution.
Equitable and just climate action requires dismantling the structural, social, and institutional barriers that create and sustain exclusion within societies.
It also requires ensuring equitable access to land, finance, education, employment, and healthcare, based on intersectional, community-led solutions. The Hub platforms high quality research and tools that can be used to ensure equality and inclusion are at the heart of efforts to tackle climate change. This includes a climate diagnostic and marker tool to inform climate investments; a literature review focused on youth-inclusive intersectional climate adaptation; and a factsheet on women’s economic empowerment and disability inclusion in future cities programming.
Digital technology and advocacy
Digital technology is revolutionising global and local approaches to advocacy and information access. Campaigns like “Bring Back our Girls” (2014), “Me Too” (2017) and “Black Lives Matter” (2020) have mobilised millions around systemic issues like gender inequality and racial injustice, while online learning platforms are playing an increasingly central role in supporting access to education in out-of-school settings.
Yet despite these benefits, the rise of digital technology presents complex and often unanticipated challenges. Already marginalised groups often have less access to the internet, meaning they are unable to access important online resources and spaces.
Online violence and harassment is widespread, and existing protection and response mechanisms – including reporting systems, legislation, due diligence processes, and guidance – are severely lacking.
Children, adolescents, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and politicians and activists from marginalised groups, are all common targets of technology-facilitated violence. The rise of AI poses additional challenges, the extent of which are still largely unknown.
The Hub spotlights emerging evidence on both the challenges and opportunities presented by the rise of digital technology. It includes resources that assess the prevalence and societal impact of online violence against women and girls, and evidence and promising practice around tackling online violence against LGBTQIA+ individuals. It also features promising practice on expanding access to technology as part of an overall approach to women’s economic empowerment.
Join the conversation
The Hub will continue to be updated with the latest research, evidence, and guidance on wide-ranging issues relating to gender and equalities work. To stay connected with the Hub, sign up for our newsletter, where you can learn more about new additions to the website and upcoming events. For any enquiries, feedback, or general information, please get in touch with us via our Contact Page.