International Women’s Day 2024: Out of the Margins
Every year on 8 March, we mark International Women’s Day: celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and raising awareness of the barriers and discrimination they still face around the world.
Today, we would like to highlight and celebrate the work we are doing as part of the Out of the Margins project, aimed at supporting lesbian, bi and trans women (LBT+ communities) globally.
Across the globe, LBT+ communities are excluded by international movements and the systems that should serve them. The Out of the Margins project strives to promote and protect the rights of LBT+ women across the world, through strengthening the capacity of local civil society organisations. This work is informed by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), developed in 2015 to create achievable steps towards peace and prosperity for people and the planet by 2030.
Out of the Margins draws on three specific SDGs: ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages; achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls; and promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Using these SDGs as a framework highlights how the experiences of LBT+ women are inextricably linked to other issues happening globally - this is not often accounted for in international development programs.
LBT+ women experience multiple inequalities across gender equality, health, human rights and development spaces, resulting in high levels of stigma, discrimination and violence. For example, LBT women are more likely (31%) than gay, bi, and trans men (21%) to experience food insecurity.
There is also a high prevalence, and specific experiences of violence, against LBT+ women including intimate partner violence, family violence, sexual violence, and police violence. In recent times this has been exacerbated by the global anti-rights movement working to diminish the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people globally.
Out of the Margins was established in 2017, with the support of FCDO, to advance LBT+ rights through research centred on the SDGs and rooted in local communities, using network-building and advocacy.
In 2024, we have reactivated this network to tackle the impacts of the anti-rights movement and the rollback of LBT+ rights, and to seize opportunities of the SDGs in the lead-up to 2030. With three partners in the Caribbean, Southern Africa, and Eastern Europe, we will develop innovative local strategies to counter anti-rights movement tactics, focusing on SDGs priorities to advance LBT+ rights.
Local learnings will be shared with the global network through an interactive digital platform and peer learning events, to strengthen technical and legal knowledge and skills across civil society organisations. This will create a sustained network of informed, enabled community leaders linked globally on advancing LBT+ rights, and ensure they are part of development initiatives.
This network will share resources and toolkits to increase participation, effectiveness and impact of LBT+ organisations and across civil society globally. Their advocacy will raise awareness of LBT+ needs, and promote positive action by governments, donors and multilaterals to commit to LBT+ rights through the SDG 2030 opportunities.
Together, we’re fighting for a world where lesbians, bi women and trans people are fully included in their societies, and finally brought Out of the Margins.