How We Work
Transforming Global Spaces
Global spaces are gatherings where advocates, decision-makers, experts, and others come together to tackle international issues and shape the future. These forums, meetings, and multilateral bodies are crucial for setting narratives, standards, commitments, and action plans. They act as key moments and catalysts that drive progress on important issues by fostering a sense of global community and shared purpose. This sense of unity is essential for addressing the complex and deep-rooted problems that underpin gender inequality.
Especially now, as threats to humanity mount — from assaults on bodily autonomy, to the climate crisis, to the rise of authoritarianism — global spaces are crucial for upholding and advancing gender equality worldwide. The way gender inequality intersects with global conflicts, health crises, and the climate crisis shows that security, health, environmental, gender, and rights issues cross all borders and need global solutions. Even national issues can benefit from international standards set through global forums. However, two major issues face global spaces:
- Lack of Representation: Global spaces have traditionally been dominated by people from the global minority1 who don’t fully understand the complex challenges most adolescent girls and women face worldwide. To make these spaces effective, we need to rethink and influence their power structures. This means changing who is in the room, whose voices are heard, and how decisions are made.
- Infiltration by Anti-Rights Actors: Global spaces are vital for promoting gender equality, but they are increasingly being infiltrated by anti-rights actors, making progress harder. If we don’t protect these spaces, they could be used to undermine progressive, rights-based agendas at regional, national, and community levels. This isn’t just about blocking progress locally; if anti-rights actors take over global spaces, they could set regressive standards that trickle down and negatively impact all other levels, ultimately harming girls and women worldwide.