In 2026, the United Nations’ International Women’s Day theme is Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls. This year’s theme is thus a call for action to demand and promote equal rights, as well as to disturb and dismantle discriminatory legislation that harms women and girls around the world. This virtual special issue showcase work that has been published on Politics & Gender with a focus on analyses of gender justice and the law. The articles explore activism and mobilization for gender justice, implementation and effectiveness of laws for gender justice, and limitations of legal reforms.
The first group of articles analyze paths to equal justice, focusing on women’s movements and coalition-building around the globe. Strong women’s movements can influence constitutional changes and gender equality, as Aili Mari Tripp shows happened in Kenya and Somalia after periods of civil unrest and conflict. Rose Ndengue, Atsem Atsem, and Maveun Maveun highlights how Cameroonian women disrupted patriarchal orders and revived a radical and transnational African feminist legacy after the targeting and death of Mirabelle Lingom. Nana Akua Anyidoho, Gordon Crawford, and Peace A. Medie discuss how women’s movements engage in the process of implementation of women’s rights laws by examining Ghana’s Domestic Violence Coalition and the passage of Ghana’s Domestic Violence Act in 2007.
Looking at the case of Guatemala, Erin Beck discusses the strategic power of women’s movements in struggles for policy reform and violence against women legislation. Mariela Daby and Mason W. Moseley explain how the Ni Una Menos (Not one [woman] less) movement in Argentina served as a foundation to the decriminalization of abortion in the country. Kimala Price’s piece on political intersectionality and cross-movement alliances and the role of queer activism in search of reproductive justice in the United States. And Sara Louise Niner and Hannah Loney explore how, despite remaining challenges, the East Timorese women’s movement allowed for the introduction of egalitarian laws and policies.
The second group of articles discuss gender justice laws and their implementation. Assessing both the presence and absence of gender equality in the constitutions of 191 countries, Adèle Cassola, Amy Raub, Danielle Foley, and Jody Heymann explore the role of constitution building, the strengthening and implementation of gender protections and women’s equality, and the advancement of women’s rights. Centering the role of regional governance and national contexts, Elisabeth Jay Friedman analyzes the passage of domestic violence laws, focusing on the cases of Chile and Brazil.
Hana Hanifah, Jacqui True, Astghik Mavisakalyan, and Asher Flynn investigate implementation of policy to address violence against women in Indonesia, with a specific focus on subnational governments’ adherence to local regulations. Taking equal access to political participation into account, Christie Marie Arendt explores how the interests of political parties can shape the design and effects of gender quota laws in Africa and effects on women’s empowerment. Kate Hunt and Mike Gruszczynski link the liberalization of abortion laws to whether a state has ratified CEDAW without reservations.
The last group of articles considers the limitations and fragilities of legal systems in protecting gender equality efforts. Examining the interaction of gender justice with the culpability principle, Liana Georgieva Minkova raises concerns about meaningfully pursuing gender justice through the International Criminal Court. Chao-ju Chen stresses the limits of law when connecting the absence of the #MeToo movement in Taiwan to a possible undermobilization of the country’s laws to combat sexual violence, which could indicate restricted capability of the law in producing changes.
Analyzing increasing constraints on family planning organizations, Candis Watts Smith, Rebecca J. Kreitzer, Kellen A. Kane, and Tracee M. Saunders show how changes to Title X rules in the U.S. negatively impact people’s access to affordable and confidential contraception, with people of color and poor people being the most affected. Discussing gender quotas, Kristin Wylie and Pedro dos Santos also emphasize the feebleness of laws and legislation reform in inducing significant change in the nomination and election of women in Brazil.
- Beatriz Carvalho, Rutgers University, Politics & Gender graduate editorial assistant