Dear John
When I stepped into the role of Global Executive Director at Equality Now in January 2023, I knew we were at an inflection point. We stood on a human rights legacy shaped by over three decades of courageous advocacy and legal victories, while facing a world that felt increasingly uncertain.
Three years later, the urgency of our mission is sharper than ever.
We are living through an era of backlash. Gender equality is being politicized, rolled back, and, in many places, deliberately undermined. Civil society is shrinking. Authoritarian regimes are gaining ground. Gender is being weaponized as a tool of control.
But here is what I know to be true: the backlash is loud, but it is not everywhere. Its reach is amplified by fear and disinformation. It is not the whole story.
Across communities, cultures and continents, I see people working every day to build a different future. I see girls refusing to be silent. I see lawyers, journalists, lawmakers, artists, mothers and fathers rising up. I see a global movement refusing to give up. The 43 laws we’ve helped reform in just the past three years are a testament to what this global resistance can achieve when fueled by clarity, skill, and grit.
Looking back, I want to reflect on what feminist leadership has required and how we must continue to center legal change as the foundation, not the ceiling, for true equality.
Leading within political complexity: Be multilingual in strategy
One of the key challenges of feminist leadership today is staying principled while working across political and cultural divides. I’ve learnt that courage and diplomacy are not opposites but are partners in the pursuit of justice.
At Equality Now, we work in countries with a wide range of political systems, legal traditions, and cultural norms, from liberal democracies to authoritarian regimes. Progress rarely comes from a single approach. It requires persistence, pivots, and strategic pressure.
Sometimes we mobilize from outside through media, litigation and global coalitions. Other times we work quietly behind the scenes, supporting reformers inside government or amplifying survivor voices who cannot safely speak out.
We often operate in spaces where feminist ideals are misunderstood or deliberately mischaracterized. We don’t walk away. We remain engaged, not to compromise our values, but to move them forward precisely where they are most under threat.
That means being multilingual not only in language, but in approach. We bridge legal advocacy with cultural understanding, knowing that real change demands navigating disagreement with care and skill.
We elevate voices across regions and generations. We connect across law, technology, faith and economics because women’s rights are central to solving global challenges. We invite those who may not always see themselves in the conversation, especially men, youth and allies from other justice movements, because our work cannot be siloed. We’ve learned that staying in the work, especially where it’s uncomfortable, is how justice moves forward.
Feminist leadership begins from within
Leadership also means turning the mirror inward.
In the past three years, I’ve been proud to help build not only a legal advocacy organization, but a workplace rooted in feminist values. We’ve taken deliberate steps to center care, equity, and sustainability in how we lead ourselves and each other.
We are soon launching our next five-year strategic plan through a global, participatory process. We have reimagined the structure of the organization to create space for career growth, operational excellence, and improve inter-departmental and regional relationships. We have introduced professional development budgets for every staff member across all regions.
We have invested our financial reserves with a 100% gender lens to ensure mission alignment.
These are not just policies, they’re signals of what we believe leadership should look like: sustainable, equitable, and aligned with our deepest values.
