Project Syndicate: What’s at Stake for Women’s Rights in 2020?
Françoise Girard, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition

“…This year marks the 25th anniversary of the United Nations’ Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which recognized women’s rights as human rights and established gender equality’s place on the global agenda. Since the platform’s creation, activists have used it to hold governments to their commitments on a wide range of issues, including maternal mortality, child marriage, gender-based violence, political participation, and reproductive rights. Feminist activists will continue this work at the Beijing+25 Generation Equality Forum, convened by Mexico and France, in Mexico City in May and Paris in July. … The U.S. presidential election in November will be particularly consequential. For better or worse, the U.S. has an outsize impact on how the rest of the world addresses issues ranging from climate action and foreign aid to diplomacy and human rights. If Trump loses the election, the U.S. could again set a positive example, reviving multilateral cooperation, renewing support for U.N. agencies working on health and human rights, and ensuring that key government and judicial posts are once more occupied by qualified individuals who support human rights and the rule of law. But, whatever happens, one thing is certain: the feminist movement and its progressive allies will not give up” (1/29).