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Mona Sinha: Demands Equality Now for Women and Girls
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Show Notes:
Dr. Nancy welcomes Mona Sinha, CEO of Equality Now, who shares her journey from growing up in India and volunteering with Mother Teresa’s all-girls orphanage, to learning the value of women supporting women at Smith College, to leading a global organization that drives the legal and systemic change needed to end violence and discrimination against all women and girls. Sinha discusses the rising challenges and systemic backlash against women’s rights globally, emphasizing the urgent need for collective action and collaborative leadership to protect women and girls, and the importance of building strong legal frameworks that promote universal equality. Through her inspiring work and vision for the future, she calls on everyone to listen, learn, support each other, and demand equal rights in their communities.
“Equality is foundational,” Sinha says, explaining how laws work to protect women and enable them to participate in society. Today, hard-won rights are being withdrawn—and Sinha argues it’s no accident. It’s a well-funded, deliberate strategy to remove women from leadership worldwide. She describes six pressure points, including the rise of authoritarian politics, where centralized governments see gender equality as a threat to power, and discrimination in economic laws that keep women impoverished. Across the board, the systems that protect equality are being dismantled through reduced funding, disregard for existing treaties, and a weakened infrastructure that once protected and valued women’s rights. Sinha urges everyone to get involved and work harder for equality in what is a “test for democracy.”
Equality Now changed 15 laws last year, impacting over 60 million women and girls worldwide. As Sinha reminds us, “The impact of even one law changing reverberates through society.” Follow Sinha’s guidance and commit to “listen, learn, and support each other.”
About Mona Sinha:
Mona Sinha is the Chief Executive Officer of Equality Now, where she leads worldwide efforts to reform laws that discriminate against women and girls — to date, having helped change over 130 laws worldwide. With 25+ years of cross-sector experience, she has supported 90+ organizations to advance social justice. She is the former Board Chair of Women Moving Millions and serves on the Advisory Boards of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, Columbia University’s Tamer Institute of Social Enterprise, and Reykjavik Global. Her leadership has earned recognition from Forbes, Apolitical, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.