Twenty-five years ago, the World Conference on Women in Beijing adopted a Platform for Action that transformed national and international policies almost all over the world, recognizing that women’s rights are human rights. It impacted not millions, but billions of people.

Since 1999, 25 November has marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The International Days of the United Nations are a powerful information and dissemination tool and a standpoint: this one, in particular, was an important result of Beijing. Over the last 25 years, 154 countries have criminalized violence against women; yet law – while an important step forward – has not driven the necessary social change nor shifted our cultural paradigms.

Today, data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics show that in Italy over 90 percent of women who are victims of sexual violence do not denounce. At the root of this issue there is a wide number of factors: the lack of a systemic approach, lack of institutional trust, economic dependence of women, among a number of other factors. And going even deeper it is impossible not to recognize the intersectionality of a muddle of cultural traditions and unwritten social norms, including victim blaming, implicit stereotypes and unconscious bias, decades of national TV channels and advertising industry that used women as ‘pin ups’, escorts and sexual objects, and lack of proactive measures for women and girls’ empowerment.

Private funders’ unique autonomy, flexibility and long-term horizon can make a huge difference for gender equality at different levels. I am not just referring to funding stand-alone projects or programs, nor just to human rights funders or women funders, which unfortunately in Italy and Europe can be counted on one hand.

I am referring to any funder. Funders in any field can decide to integrate a gender lens, or gender mainstreaming, in their ordinary activities: endowment management and investment, grantmaking, operations, communication.

Read the full article about making progress on gender equality by Carola Carazzone at Alliance Magazine.