

Global progress on gender equality is under threat. We are living in an age where major political and social shifts are resulting in new forces that are visibly pushing back to reverse the many gains made for women’s rights and to shrink civic space.
This timely six-year programme of work aims to create much needed new knowledge of these complex phenomena, and to identify opportunities for women’s rights organisations and other gender justice defenders to counter backlash and address the erosion of gender justice objectives within development.
Recent work
events
We are delighted to invite you to attend the IDS launch of The Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health (LCGGH) report. The rollback in gender rights and challenges to global health organisations around the world threatens to reverse decades…
15 April 2025
news
From the 10 to 21 March, people from all over the world will gather in New York for the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), which marks the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the…
11 March 2025
news
Significant progress on gender equality has been made in past decades, but in recent years gender and sexual rights have become increasingly under threat from a global wave of backlash. [caption id="attachment_108213" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Image: Angelina Bambina/Shutterstock[/caption] In this special…
06 March 2025
events
The very ideas – let alone the possibilities – of gender and social justice are under attack the world over. These attacks are becoming increasingly acute, multi-layered, and globally resonant, seeking to erase language, movements, legal frameworks, and even entire…
19 February 2025
publications
This toolkit is produced by the IDS-hosted Countering Backlash programme. The programme carries out engaged research, generate new debates, and build capacity across networks and strategic partnerships with women’s, LGBTQ+ and other human rights organisations, activists, academics and policymakers, regionally…
29 November 2024
events
Violence against women and girls remains a global human rights violation, with the UN reporting that almost 1 in 3 women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence. Along with the ever-growing forces catalysing backlash against gender justice worldwide,…
04 November 2024
Opinion
The Bangladesh national elections in January 2024 had dashed any hopes for political reform as the Awami League party's power remained unchallenged and civic space, including the space to seek greater gender equality, was shrinking daily. Now that the Awami…
27 August 2024
Opinion
Reaching and engaging your audience is more difficult than ever in today’s world of information overload. As communications specialists, we have to come to grips with constant and confusing changes to social media platforms. Therefore, making your messages stand out…
05 June 2024
People