An opportunity
of a lifetime
for civil society
Dr Hoda Badran
The Beijing conference saw unprecedented participation of women’s rights activists, groups and networks determined to influence the process. What was it like to coordinate that engagement? Dr Hoda Badran, a co-founder of the Alliance for Arab Women (AAW), served as coordinater for civil society engagement for the Arab region at the Beijing conference. An experienced activist at national, regional and international level, Dr Badran has worked extensively on women’s and children’s issues across the world.
I had been working on women’s rights in the Arab world for years before Beijing. Five, maybe six years, spent navigating the regional landscape with UNICEF, focusing on the particular challenges faced by women in the Arab region. I knew the issues intimately. I knew the players. And yet, when I found myself suddenly thrust into a key coordinating role for the NGO activities at the 1995 Beijing Conference, it was something very unexpected.
It wasn’t supposed to be me. That role belonged to Manal Yunus, Secretary General of the Arab Federation for Women. But at the time, political circumstances in Iraq made it impossible for her to take up this demanding role. So, with little warning, I received a phone call from the United Nations, asking if I would step in. I was in New York at the time, attending a meeting as a participant. I had never imagined I would be the one leading coordination efforts for the Arab region at what would be a truly historic gathering.
It was a great honour, but I was also very happy to have that post. And I already had been working on the Egyptian level with NGOs trying to participate in the Shadow report for Beijing. I knew many of the international women’s rights advocates. My work as a founder of the Alliance for Arab Women and with UNICEF had taken me across regions, introduced me to voices from around the world. But Beijing was different. It was a milestone—both in scale and ambition.
A defining moment for women’s rights
Beijing marked a shift. The road to the conference had been long, with global meetings on women’s rights convened every five years: Mexico in 1975, Copenhagen in 1980, Nairobi in 1985. But Beijing came a full decade after Nairobi, and in those intervening years, activism had evolved. The momentum had grown, and the world was watching.
The sheer number of NGOs attending shows how the scale and level of organization had changed—three times as many as had gathered in Nairobi. The organizers, for all the meticulous planning, struggled to accommodate such a large presence. The government had designated a separate venue for the NGO meetings, miles away from where official government delegations convened. We had to travel by bus for nearly two hours. For the NGOs, the rationale was clear: governments feared the demonstrations, the spontaneous protests that tend to emerge when so many voices come together when discussions of this importance are held. The physical separation was meant to contain any disruption. It didn’t entirely succeed because these activists were determined to say their piece, and they did make an impact.
Despite logistical challenges, Beijing was groundbreaking. The NGO participation wasn’t just symbolic; it was substantive. Across regions, activists collaborated, strategized, and pushed forward a global agenda for women’s rights. Their work to achieve this meant working across The Arab delegation, despite the geopolitical tensions that often divided our nations—Algeria and Morocco, Iraq and Kuwait—worked together with remarkable cohesion. In our designated tent, Arab NGOs held exhibitions, panel discussions, and strategy sessions, proving that collaboration and a shared agenda could transcend politics.
The power of international pressure
The increase in the scale of Beijing was matched by the increase in its ambition. The Platform for Action talked about many vital issues for the very first time - violence against women, decision making, the girl child. This was really a big leap, a few more steps ahead from Nairobi. You could see it too in the government delegations attending, the quality of the speeches, the ministers, had to and were publicly engaging with the issues at hand. I remember Hillary Clinton’s speech vividly. She stood before the world and declared, “Women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights.”
This was just two years after the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, so linking Beijing to the human rights agenda was hugely significant.
I and many others in the room thought it was very positive to hear this from a government delegation - especially given that Clinton was much more than the First Lady, she was a substantial figure in her own right and within the administration. She didn’t just speak; she acted. She knew that implementation and review would be as important as anything agreed in Beijing. Her presence also reinforced a growing movement among First Ladies worldwide to engage directly with women’s issues—not just as figureheads but as active participants in policy and advocacy.
For Egypt, Beijing was a wake-up call. At the time, women’s rights were not a central issue on the government’s agenda. But our delegation, led by Egypt’s First Lady, saw firsthand how other countries—some even within the Arab world—were advancing policies that Egypt had yet to adopt. There was a sense of embarrassment, a realization that we were falling behind. The response was swift: upon returning, the government established the National Council for Women, signalling a newfound commitment to gender equality.
Progress and its limits
The years after Beijing saw significant changes, but also persistent challenges. Egyptian NGOs played a crucial role in the January 2011 revolution, with women standing shoulder to shoulder with men in Tahrir Square. It was an extraordinary moment—one that many around the world hadn’t expected. Women weren’t just present; they were leading. And yet, after the revolution, progress was uneven.
One of the greatest obstacles has been the lack of coordination—both among NGOs themselves and between NGOs and the government. The National Council for Women remained an elite institution, disconnected from grassroots activists. On the other side, the women’s movement in Egypt lacked the unified leadership necessary to push for sustained change. There was no singular feminist movement in the country, but rather fragmented efforts, each advancing important causes but struggling to build collective power.
Another major challenge was financial support. Human rights NGOs—those fighting for policy change rather than simply providing services—found little domestic funding. Egyptians were willing to donate to charities, to support orphanages and food programs. But funding a legal battle for women’s rights? That was a much harder sell. This meant that many organizations relied heavily on international funding, which, in turn, created competition rather than collaboration among NGOs.
The fight for legal reform
Legislation remains one of the most frustrating battlegrounds. After the revolution, Egypt drafted a new constitution, and for the first time, women played a role in shaping it. The language of the constitution was promising, emphasizing women’s rights more explicitly than before. But as history has shown, a constitution alone does not guarantee change.
Family law remains deeply problematic, built on outdated assumptions about gender roles—men as providers, women as dependents. Efforts to reform these laws have met resistance for over a decade. Even laws that do exist in favor of women’s rights, such as inheritance laws, are often disregarded in practice. Without enforcement, legislation is little more than words on paper.
The future: Rethinking the strategy
Looking back, Beijing was a defining moment, but it was not a finish line. The progress of the past three decades has been significant, but not enough.
One of the key lessons we’ve learned is that women’s rights cannot be addressed in isolation. Violence against women cannot be eradicated while violence is rampant in society at large. Gender equality cannot be achieved without addressing broader systemic inequalities—economic, political, and social.
We also need a shift in strategy. The approach of pitting women against men is counterproductive. The problem isn’t men; it’s the systems that perpetuate discrimination. Some of the most effective changes I’ve seen have come not from fighting men but from reforming institutions—education, labor, legislation.
There is reason for optimism. The younger generation of women in Egypt is different. Their aspirations have changed. Marriage is no longer their sole ambition; careers, independence, and leadership are on their minds. The age of marriage is rising. More women are prioritizing education and employment. This is progress.
But progress requires vigilance. It requires organization, not just activism. Women’s numbers give them power, but only if they are coordinated. And so, as we reflect on Beijing nearly 30 years later, the question remains: Are we doing enough? Are we using the right tools? If not, it’s time to adapt.
Beijing opened a door. It’s up to us to keep pushing forward.
“Activists were determined to say their piece, and they did make an impact.”
“Beijing was a defining moment, but it was not a finish line.”