Kilden’s annual conference 2025: Rights in reverse? – The global fight for gender equality 30 years after Beijing
«Never forget that it only takes a political, economic or religious crisis for women's rights to be called into question. These rights are never acquired. You will have to remain vigilant for life».
– Simone de Beauvoir
Welcome to Kilden’s annual conference 2025!
Date: 26 November 2025
Time: 10.00–17.00
Place: National Museum / Online
Link to registration form
About the conference
In 2025, we mark three anniversaries that have shaped the global movement for gender equality:
- 1975: The UN International Women’s Year put women’s rights on the global agenda.
- 1995: The Beijing Platform recognised gender equality as a universal human right.
- 2000: The platform laid the groundwork for the UN Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security.
A great deal has already been achieved. Far more girls now attend school and take higher education, more women participate in politics and working life, and international frameworks have strengthened women’s rights in peace and security issues.
At the same time, we are seeing considerable setbacks. Reproductive rights – in particular the right to abortion – have been undermined in several countries. Violence against women is increasing during war and conflict, and the rights of queer people, indigenous peoples and minorities are under pressure. Anti-rights movements are attacking gender research, gender equality policy and rights, also in Norway, and democratic setbacks mean that the progress we thought we had secured can no longer be taken for granted.
At Kilden’s annual conference 2025, we will ask:
- Where does the global fight for gender equality stand today?
- What can research tell us about developments in the field, and how can this knowledge be used to understand and address the backlash?
- What are the arguments for and against holding a fifth global women’s conference now?
From historical legacy to the fight ahead
The UN International Women’s Year in 1975 marked the beginning of a global commitment to women’s rights. The following decade, marked by major world conferences, established networks of organisations and activists that laid the groundwork for the Beijing Platform in 1995. This platform recognised gender equality as a universal human right, and it paved the way for Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security five years later.
Now, three decades on, we have to ask whether these tools are still fit for purpose. Kilden’s annual conference brings researchers, activists, politicians and decision-makers together to share knowledge, raise awareness and chart the way forward. Join us for one of the year’s most important debates on gender equality and democracy.
Programme
Master of Ceremonies: Aksel Kjær Vidnes, Forskning.no
10.00 The doors open
10.30 Welcome
10.40 Keynote: The Role of Feminism in a time of Authoritarianism: Thirty Years After Beijing (Engelsk)
Mona Eltahawy, Egyptian-American journalist and author. She writes for publications worldwide about Islam, women’s rights, and politics and society in the Middle East.
11.30 Lunch (food will be served)
12.15 Greeting from the Minister of International Development, Åsmund Grøver Aukrust (Labour Party)
12.30 Professor emerita Anne Hellum takes us on a historical journey – from the UN International Women’s Year and Beijing to the development of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and today’s political and legal challenges.
12.50 Keynote: The movements, money and machinery behind the digital churn of online misogyny and anti-gender ephemera ved Tina Askanius, Professor of Media and Communication Studies, Malmö University. (English)
13.20 Break
13.40 Research Relay: 30 Years Since Beijing – What Now?
Researchers provide insight into rights under pressure and what is needed to meet the counterforces.
- Anti-Gender Movement: What’s beyond the anti-LGBTIQ+ backlash? (Engelish)
By Haley McEwen, researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. - Women, Peace and Security: An Agenda with Yield?
By Torunn Tryggestad, Deputy Director, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). - Backlash and Institutional Resilience: The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2025.
By Marie Hulthin, PhD candidate at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (SMR). - Limits to the Illiberal Turn? The Russian and Polish Debate on Domestic Violence.
By Jørn Holm Hansen, Senior Researcher at OsloMet.
14:40 Break (coffee, tea, and snacks).
15:00 Beijing+30: Reclaiming Feminist Agendas Beyond Colonial Structures
by Salma Nims from the Jordanian Women’s Union (JWU). (English)
15:20 Panel Discussion: “Is It Time for a New Global Women’s Conference?” (English)
Three decades after Beijing, we ask: How can women’s voices – especially from the Global South – gain greater influence in international decision-making? What are the arguments for and against a new global women’s conference?
Panelists:
• Mona Eltahawy, Egyptian-American journalist and author.
• Salma Nims, from the Jordanian Women’s Union (JWU).
• Anne Hellum, Professor Emerita of Public Law at the Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo.
• Khansa Ali, Director of the MiRA Resource Centre for Black, Immigrant and Refugee Women
• Sidsel Bleken, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Moderator: Kristin Engh Førde.
16:10 Youth Appeal Relay: The Future of the Fight for Gender Equality
- Gender Equality in Higher Education and Academia
By Nora Marie Hager, Welfare and Gender Equality Officer, Norwegian Student Organization (NSO). - Real Equality Requires Real Participation
By Ask Stenseth-Kilstad, First Deputy Leader, Press – Save the Children Youth. - Towards a More Inclusive Fight for Gender Equality!
By Maria Lie Jordheim, Junior Youth Delegate for Gender Equality, Norwegian Children and Youth Council (LNU). - Patrick Habiyambere, Agenda X, Anti-Racist Center.
- The Role of Young Women in the Fight for Gender Equality
By Solveig Hagen Strand, Norwegian Women’s Lobby.
16:45 Closing
Read more about all the speakers here:
Kilden's Annual Conference
Kildens Annual Conference is a meeting place for researchers, civil society, policymakers, and anyone interested who signs up. It is free and open for everyone to participate, either physically or digitally.