We’re excited to introduce our interview series. 10 questions answered by our favourite people from our partners, to our employees, to our community.
Advocacy Campaign Manager, Bryna Subherwal, shares why listening to the lived experiences of girls and women is important, and how Equality Now is working towards a world where girls and women can live safe, fearless, and free.
Let’s get to know Bryna and Equality Now!
What is your name and what are your pronouns?
Bryna Subherwal, she/her
What's your role at Equality Now and how long have you been with the company?
I'm the Advocacy Campaign Manager, and I've been at Equality Now since June 2018.
You can only have one smoothie flavour forever. Which do you choose? Chocolate, French Vanilla, Strawberry, Natural or Peanut Butter?
Strawberry, but I would definitely miss being able to have chocolate sometimes!
Why did you choose Equality Now?
I chose Equality Now because of the way Equality Now works with local and regional partners to understand what is actually needed on the ground, and because of its focus on using the law to create change. Without laws that support gender equality, there is no incentive for societies to change the way women are treated, and humanity will never reach its full potential until people of all genders are seen as true equals.
What’s your favourite part about working here?
The best part about Equality Now is the people - my passionate and smart colleagues, and the amazing and dedicated leaders at the partner organizations we work with, and especially the powerful survivors and activists I've met who use their lived experiences and their voices to push for change, and who are always teaching us, no matter how long we've been doing this work.
If you were to explain Equality Now to my 3 year old, Sade, what would you say?
We make sure that everyone knows girls and women are equal to boys and men. We listen to girls' stories and we help them show people how strong they are. We talk to people like presidents and police and other people who make the rules so they will understand why they should listen to girls more and make rules that are fair.
Tell me more about Equality Now's partnership with Natreve.
Natreve is working with Equality Now as an Advocacy Champion. In addition to highlighting a wide range of issues relating to gender inequality, the partnership will specifically focus on supporting a new campaign within Equality Now’s global push to End Sexual Violence. The campaign will focus on tackling unjust laws and harmful cultural assumptions throughout North, South, and Central America. I'm really excited about the opportunities for real change that Natreve's support will allow us to take on.
What are the current goals that Equality Now is focused on?
Equality Now has four main areas of work in countries around the world, and at a global level:
Legal Equality
Ending Sexual Violence
Ending Sex Trafficking
Ending Harmful Practices (such as child marriage and female genital mutilation)
In all of these areas, our approach combines knowledge building and capacity building to challenge harmful assumptions and to support movement building and advocacy - working with partners on the ground toward legal change and attitude change in communities, we strive to change lives for the better. In North, South, and Central America we're focusing on sexual violence because it's been a major problem throughout the region for a long time, and has only been exacerbated by COVID-19. We're publishing a report soon on sexual violence laws in the region, which will be an important tool in our knowledge building work, and thanks to Natreve's support, we'll be able to ensure we can use it, alongside capacity building and strategic advocacy, to strengthen the movement for real change.
What gets you most excited about Equality Now's future?
I'm excited about all the potential in the new partnerships Equality Now is forging - with organizations on the ground in new parts of the world, and with companies like Natreve who really understand what we're trying to do and share our vision for a world where girls and women can live safe, fearless, and free!
Learn more Natreve’s role as an Advocacy Champion with Equality Now here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKfAvaRhZ2G/ and find out more about Equality Now here: https://www.equalitynow.org/
