Introduction. «Women’s Rights are Human Rights!» Gender and Society Thirty Years After Beijing

Thirty years have passed since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing marked a significant turning point in the global agenda for gender equality, clearly establishing that women's rights are human rights, and that equality between genders is a matter of global concern and benefits everyone.Indeed, between the 4 th and the 15 th of September 1995, more than 17.000 participants -representatives of 189 governments, United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations such as the European Union and League of Arab States, as well as activists and organizations from across the world -attended what has been hailed as one of the most significant symposiums to date in the struggle for gender equality and adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for Gender Equality, thus ratifying their commitment to address civil, political, social, economic and cultural inequalities.Nevertheless, thirty years after "Beijing 1995", a patriarchal culture made of discrimination, prejudice, and violence endures and permeates institutions, public spaces, and public discourse, shaping the living conditions of millions of women who find themselves in a disadvantaged position in terms of access to political and economic power and -more generally -to the public sphere, but not only.In 2025, women continue to face discrimination also in the private sphere, frequently becoming victims of gender-based violence or experiencing the denial of their self-determination through practices -grounded in patriarchal gender roles -that restrict their freedom to choose over Introduction.«Women's Rights are Human Rights!» Gender and Society Thirty Years After Beijing