The Norwegian Women’s Lobby (NWL) works for the human rights of girls and women in all their diversity, to eliminate all forms of discrimination against all girls and women and to promote a gender equal society.
NWL brings together feminist and women’s rights NGOs and experts on women’s human rights in Norway. NWL works on the basis of the CEDAW Convention, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and other human rights instruments and policy frameworks concerning women’s human rights and gender equality. NWL monitors the implementation of the CEDAW Convention in Norway and works to promote the convention’s visibility and relevance in society. In line with the legal interpretations of the CEDAW Committee and international human rights norms, NWL adopts an intersectional approach to understanding and addressing discrimination against girls and women.
Background
NWL was founded in 2014 on the initiative of the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights (NKF), Norway’s oldest and preeminent women’s rights NGO, that was founded in 1884. It brings together the main feminist and women’s rights NGOs and the leading experts on women’s human rights in Norway. NWL has a key function in monitoring the implementation of the CEDAW Convention in Norway.
The establishment of NWL was initiated in 2013 by NKF President Margunn Bjørnholt with the support of former NKF Presidents Karin Bruzelius and Torild Skard. NWL’s establishment was in line with the recommendations of the government-appointed Gender Equality Commission of 2010, which was chaired by Hege Skjeie. The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud has described our member organisations as “the very foundation of the efforts to advance women’s rights in Norway.”
– Finally! It is very important that so many women’s organisations now unite to work for a strengthened and better gender equality situation in Norway
Sunniva Ørstavik, Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, 2014
From 2014 NWL set out to increase awareness and understanding of the CEDAW, enhance the participation and influence of women’s organizations in political decision-making processes and address gaps or areas where gender equality efforts were lacking, such as the incorporation of a gender perspective in public budgets (gender budgeting).
NWL is led by an Executive Board. The Expert Committee is an independent body of experts tasked with making policy recommendations in fields that affect girls and women and gender equality. NWL prepares shadow reports on Norway’s implementation of the CEDAW Convention to the CEDAW Committee.
NWL advocates for the human rights of all girls and women
NWL aims to promote the human rights of all girls and women, on the basis of the CEDAW Convention, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and other human rights instruments and policy frameworks related to women’s human rights and gender equality. NWL monitors the implementation of the CEDAW Convention in Norway and works to promote the convention’s visibility and relevance in society.
Among our core issues are violence against girls and women, sexual and reproductive health and rights, economic gender justice, and the women, peace and security agenda.
The CEDAW committee’s understanding of women as a complex and multidimensional category means that both lesbian women and trans women are protected by the convention.
Anne Hellum, Professor of Public Law and member of NWL’s Expert Committee
For NWL it is of fundamental importance that girls’ and women’s human rights only can be achieved if we advocate for all girls and women. Thus NWL is inclusive and aims to represent the interests of all those who identify as girls and women. NWL understands discrimination against girls and women in an intersectional perspective—in line with the legal interpretations of the CEDAW Committee and international human rights norms—and opposes racism, homophobia, transphobia and ableism. NWL views the anti-gender movement as a grave threat to the human rights of all girls and women as well as the LGBTIQ+ community.