The Gender Divide: Are Women’s Rights Being Rolled Back Globally?

For centuries, women around the world have organized, advocated, and resisted to secure greater autonomy, equality, and dignity.

While the modern women’s rights movement is often associated with 20th-century milestones, its origins stretch back far earlier—and its trajectory reflects a complex interplay of social, legal, economic, and political transformations across time and geography.

🇺🇸 In the United States

The women’s rights movement in the United States has unfolded across several historical periods, each characterized by distinctive demands, strategies, and achievements.

The long nineteenth century witnessed the earliest coordinated efforts for gender equality. The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention marked the formal beginning of organized advocacy, articulating women’s claims to legal and political rights, most notably the right to vote. Activists such as Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton laid essential groundwork for the suffrage campaign.

Although the movement spanned decades, it culminated in a landmark victory in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote nationally.

The mid-20th century ushered in the second wave of feminism, informed by postwar realities and the civil rights movement. Women demanded not only legal recognition but also economic opportunity and bodily autonomy. This era saw transformative legislative achievements: the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964), and Title IX (1972), which addressed discrimination in employment and education. The 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade expanded reproductive rights, while organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the emergence of feminist media shaped public discourse.

By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, women had made significant gains in professional fields, politics, and education. Yet persistent inequality and systemic barriers remained. The #MeToo movement, launched in 2017, revealed the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and violence, catalyzing global conversations about power and accountability. Despite this momentum, key legislative goals such as the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) remain unfulfilled.

In recent years, a resurgence of conservative legal and political forces has posed new challenges. The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) overturned federal abortion protections, reversing a cornerstone of reproductive autonomy. Online misogyny, anti-feminist rhetoric, and the criminalization of self-defense among survivors of violence have also contributed to a concerning pattern of regression.

Today, American women are more politically active, highly educated, and socially engaged than at any point in history. Yet the legal and cultural foundations of equality remain deeply contested.

🌍 International Developments

Globally, the women’s rights movement has taken diverse forms, shaped by region-specific histories, colonial legacies, religious traditions, and economic conditions. Nevertheless, a number of global patterns have emerged over the 20th and 21st centuries.

International instruments and frameworks have played a critical role. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979, remains the most comprehensive treaty on gender equality, although it has not been ratified by the United States. The Beijing Platform for Action, adopted in 1995, provided a bold global agenda for women’s empowerment across education, health, violence prevention, and political participation.

Many countries have made measurable gains in women’s literacy, school enrollment, and representation in government. Legal protections against domestic violence, gender-based discrimination, and child marriage have expanded across regions. In Latin America, a vibrant feminist movement—known as the “Green Wave”—has led to the decriminalization or legalization of abortion in countries such as Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia.

Key areas of progress:

• Expanded access to education and healthcare for women and girls

• Increased political representation through quotas and electoral reform

• Broader legal recognition of reproductive rights

• National legislation on domestic violence and harassment

However, these gains have not been universal, nor are they secure. In Afghanistan, the return of Taliban rule has resulted in the near-total erasure of women from public life. In Poland and El Salvador, abortion is nearly entirely banned. Even in countries with strong legal protections, customary or religious legal systems continue to undermine women’s autonomy—particularly in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East.

A growing “anti-gender” movement—often backed by far-right governments and religious institutions—has emerged as a powerful force globally. This movement seeks to roll back advances in sexual and reproductive health, LGBTQ+ rights, and gender education under the guise of protecting “traditional values.”

The digital landscape has further complicated the fight for equality. While social media has enabled rapid mobilization and cross-border solidarity, it has also facilitated the spread of online misogyny, disinformation, and targeted harassment. Influencers and networks that promote pro-male extremism have garnered massive followings, particularly among young men, contributing to an alarming cultural backlash.

🔄 The Movement Today: Interconnected, Intergenerational, and Globally Engaged

Despite mounting challenges, the global women’s rights movement is marked by resilience, adaptability, and innovation. Women are organizing across continents, ideologies, and generations—often leveraging digital tools to build coalitions, demand accountability, and reshape cultural narratives.

Youth-led campaigns are leading the charge in areas like climate justice, anti-violence work, and democratic reform. Feminist movements in the Global South are asserting their leadership, challenging Western-centric frameworks, and redefining what gender justice looks like in their own contexts.

Contemporary activism is characterized by both global solidarity and local specificity. Movements such as #MeToo, the Green Wave, and international protests against femicide have shown how grassroots efforts can transcend borders while staying rooted in community realities.

Digital platforms—despite their risks—have provided unprecedented visibility and connectivity. Feminist organizers have used them to document abuses, share resources, fundraise, and educate at scale.

The women’s rights movement today is not monolithic. It is a mosaic of intersecting struggles grounded in a shared pursuit of equity, dignity, and freedom. As reactionary forces seek to undo decades of progress, the task ahead is twofold: resist regression, and build systems that do not merely include women—but are transformed by them.

The arc of progress is real. But it is not inevitable. It must be defended, reimagined, and advanced by each generation in turn.

🔁 2025: A Global Inflection Point

But in 2025, that story is shifting—and not in the direction many had hoped.

Across the globe, hard-won legal rights for women are being rolled back, ignored, or eroded. In some countries, this regression has taken the form of sweeping, explicit reversals. In others, it manifests more subtly—through the undermining of enforcement, the persistence of discriminatory norms, or the slow erosion of political will. What unites these diverse examples is the growing influence of far-right, authoritarian, and religious nationalist movements that increasingly view gender equality as a threat to be neutralized.

This is not merely a stall in progress—it is an orchestrated backlash. And the consequences are far-reaching.

💡 In the next installment, we will examine what it really means to have rights.
We will look beyond the legal documents and declarations to expose the everyday realities of enforcement, access, and erasure. From customary laws that override constitutions to the quiet infantilization of women across courts, clinics, and culture—the next piece will unpack how control operates under the guise of protection.