International Women's Day 2026 arrived with a somber recognition this year: a pervasive and escalating global backlash against gender justice. As the world marked this pivotal day, attention turned to New York, where the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) commenced, bringing together global leaders, civil society, and activists. Against this backdrop, Amnesty International has issued a forceful call for stronger, more robust efforts to protect and advance the rights of women and girls worldwide, highlighting that decades of progress are actively being rolled back.
This year's International Women's Day, March 8th, served as a poignant reminder of both the achievements and the precariousness of gender equality. UN Women's International Women's Day 2026 Report starkly warned that women and girls have “never been closer to equality, and never closer to losing it.” The global conversation is increasingly shaped by alarm rather than celebration, as rights groups describe the past few years as one of the sharpest reversals for gender equality in decades. This pushback is not incidental; it is often “well-organised and well-funded,” driven by anti-rights movements gaining ground across continents.
The manifestations of this backlash are diverse and deeply troubling:
- Legal Erosions: Laws are being rewritten in many places to restrict women's freedoms, silence their voices, and allow abuse to go unpunished. Shockingly, nearly 70 percent of countries still maintain discriminatory legal frameworks, with women possessing only 64 percent of the legal rights enjoyed by men globally.
- Escalating Violence: The toll of conflict in regions like Sudan and Ukraine sees women facing rising sexual violence, displacement, and collapsing healthcare systems. Globally, nearly one in three women has experienced intimate partner or sexual violence in their lifetime.
- Digital Dangers: As technology outpaces regulation, women and girls confront growing digital violence in a climate of impunity.
- Reproductive Rights Under Attack: Battles over abortion access, such as those continuing in the United States, are reshaping reproductive rights and healthcare access. Furthermore, the Trump administration's expansion of the Global Gag Rule in January 2026 is cited as a disastrous assault on human rights, particularly affecting women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people.
- Societal Pushback: A significant number of men, 52% across 29 countries, believe that the push for women's equality has “gone too far” and is discriminating against men. This sentiment contributes to a climate that normalizes discrimination and undermines women's participation in public life.
From March 9 to 19, 2026, the United Nations Headquarters in New York is hosting the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70). This year’s priority theme, “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and addressing structural barriers,” could not be more pertinent. The session provides a crucial platform for Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations to address these urgent issues.
As UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous noted at a multi-stakeholder hearing in January, civic spaces are constrained, resources are withdrawn, conflicts are ramped up, and pushback on rights is loud and unashamed. For far too many women, discriminatory laws remain in force, impunity reigns, and justice is either unequal or out of reach.
Amnesty International is a prominent voice at CSW70, with a delegation led by Secretary General Agnès Callamard. On March 9, 2026, Amnesty released a new briefing, “Humanity Must Win: and it does when we stand together for gender justice,” underscoring the collective power of communities in defending and advancing gender justice even when states fail.
Callamard highlighted the urgency of CSW70, noting that gender justice is under attack globally, with many women human rights defenders and feminist organizations facing obstacles, even in entering the United States. She explicitly called out “well-funded, highly coordinated anti-rights movements, directly supported or emboldened by the United States, Russia and too many other governments,” which are actively working to roll back decades of progress. These powerful states, she added, are weaponizing gender to justify repression, while corporate and non-state actors spread hateful narratives and disinformation, aiming to control women's bodily autonomy and shrink civic space.
Amnesty International's calls at CSW70 are clear and comprehensive:
- Robust Protection: More robust efforts from states to protect and advance the rights of women and girls.
- Access to Justice: Strengthened access to justice for survivors of gender-based violence, ensuring that accountability mechanisms function without fear or favor.
- Sexual and Reproductive Rights: Protection of sexual and reproductive rights, which are integral to EU values of fundamental rights and gender equality, yet face serious disparities in access.
- Human Rights Defenders: Stronger safeguards for women human rights defenders who are increasingly targeted with smear campaigns, criminalization, and violence.
- Addressing Systemic Issues: Naming and actively organizing against the forces and actors behind the systemic attacks on gender justice.
- Criminal Justice Reform: Urgent action to protect women in prisons and curb over-criminalization, recognizing that women in detention face heightened risks of violence and inadequate healthcare.
The statistics paint a stark picture of the challenges facing gender justice in 2026:
| Area of Inequality | Global Statistics (as of March 2026) ## Amnesty International at CSW70: Confronting the Global Backlash Against Gender Justice on International Women's Day 2026
International Women's Day 2026 arrived with a somber recognition this year: a pervasive and escalating global backlash against gender justice. As the world marked this pivotal day, attention turned to New York, where the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) commenced, bringing together global leaders, civil society, and activists. Against this backdrop, Amnesty International has issued a forceful call for stronger, more robust efforts to protect and advance the rights of women and girls worldwide, highlighting that decades of progress are actively being rolled back. [1, 2]
This year's International Women's Day, March 8th, served as a poignant reminder of both the achievements and the precariousness of gender equality. UN Women's International Women's Day 2026 Report starkly warned that women and girls have “never been closer to equality, and never closer to losing it.” [3, 4] [3, 4] The global conversation is increasingly shaped by alarm rather than celebration, as rights groups describe the past few years as one of the sharpest reversals for gender equality in decades. [1] [1] [1] This pushback is not incidental; it is often “well-organised and well-funded,” driven by anti-rights movements gaining ground across continents. [1, 2] [1, 2] [1, 2] [1, 2]
The manifestations of this backlash are diverse and deeply troubling:
- Legal Erosions: Laws are being rewritten in many places to restrict women's freedoms, silence their voices, and allow abuse to go unpunished. Shockingly, nearly 70 percent of countries still maintain discriminatory legal frameworks, with women possessing only 64 percent of the legal rights enjoyed by men globally. [1, 4] [1, 4] [1, 4] [1, 4] [1, 4]
- Escalating Violence: The toll of conflict in regions like Sudan and Ukraine sees women facing rising sexual violence, displacement, and collapsing healthcare systems. Globally, nearly one in three women has experienced intimate partner or sexual violence in their lifetime. [1] [1] [1] [1] [1]
- Digital Dangers: As technology outpaces regulation, women and girls confront growing digital violence in a climate of impunity.
- Reproductive Rights Under Attack: Battles over abortion access, such as those continuing in the United States, are reshaping reproductive rights and healthcare access. Furthermore, the Trump administration's expansion of the Global Gag Rule in January 2026 is cited as a disastrous assault on human rights, particularly affecting women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people. [5] [5] [5] [5] [5]
- Societal Pushback: A significant number of men, 52% across 29 countries, believe that the push for women's equality has “gone too far” and is discriminating against men. This sentiment contributes to a climate that normalizes discrimination and undermines women's participation in public life. [8] [8] [8] [8] [8]
From March 9 to 19, 2026, the United Nations Headquarters in New York is hosting the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70). This year’s priority theme, “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and addressing structural barriers,” could not be more pertinent. [11, 12] [11, 12] [11, 12] [11, 12] [11, 12] The session provides a crucial platform for Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations to address these urgent issues. [9, 14] [9, 14] [9, 14] [9, 14] [9, 14]
As UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous noted at a multi-stakeholder hearing in January, civic spaces are constrained, resources are withdrawn, conflicts are ramped up, and pushback on rights is loud and unashamed. For far too many women, discriminatory laws remain in force, impunity reigns, and justice is either unequal or out of reach. [13] [13] [13] [13] [13]
Amnesty International is a prominent voice at CSW70, with a delegation led by Secretary General Agnès Callamard. On March 9, 2026, Amnesty released a new briefing, “Humanity Must Win: and it does when we stand together for gender justice,” underscoring the collective power of communities in defending and advancing gender justice even when states fail. [2, 5] [2, 5] [2, 5] [2, 5] [2, 5]
Callamard highlighted the urgency of CSW70, noting that gender justice is under attack globally, with many women human rights defenders and feminist organizations facing obstacles, even in entering the United States. She explicitly called out “well-funded, highly coordinated anti-rights movements, directly supported or emboldened by the United States, Russia and too many other governments,” which are actively working to roll back decades of progress. [2] [2] [2] [2] [2] These powerful states, she added, are weaponizing gender to justify repression, while corporate and non-state actors spread hateful narratives and disinformation, aiming to control women's bodily autonomy and shrink civic space. [2] [2] [2] [2] [2]
Amnesty International's calls at CSW70 are clear and comprehensive:
- Robust Protection: More robust efforts from states to protect and advance the rights of women and girls.
- Access to Justice: Strengthened access to justice for survivors of gender-based violence, ensuring that accountability mechanisms function without fear or favor.
- Sexual and Reproductive Rights: Protection of sexual and reproductive rights, which are integral to EU values of fundamental rights and gender equality, yet face serious disparities in access.
- Human Rights Defenders: Stronger safeguards for women human rights defenders who are increasingly targeted with smear campaigns, criminalization, and violence.
- Addressing Systemic Issues: Naming and actively organizing against the forces and actors behind the systemic attacks on gender justice.
- Criminal Justice Reform: Urgent action to protect women in prisons and curb over-criminalization, recognizing that women in detention face heightened risks of violence and inadequate healthcare.
The statistics paint a stark picture of the challenges facing gender justice in 2026:
| Area of Inequality | Global Statistics (as of March 2026)}
- downtoearth.org.in
- amnesty.org
- michaelwest.com.au
- wildhunt.org
- amnestyusa.org
- unwomen.org
- ipsos.com
- developmentaid.org
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