Women's Rights

Seven in ten women around the world live in poverty, compared to one in three men. Worldwide, women work two-thirds of the work hours and earn one-tenth of the income. The economic inequality means women have less money, protection from violence and access to education and healthcare – and no power to change this equation.

ActionAid strives to support people living in poverty to claim their rights, as the best way to empower themselves and fight poverty. Women’s rights inform all our work. For example, because women do not have equal rights to own land in many countries, they are more likely to be denied their right to food. And when food is scarce, women feed their children and men before they feed themselves.

But there is hope. Women everywhere are standing up to claim their basic human rights and to fight the poverty that oppresses them. ActionAid believes that fair treatment and gender equality for women is essential to defeating poverty. Helping women secure their fundamental rights is ActionAid’s top priority. We support cutting-edge work on the ground in the countries where we work and we advocate for meaningful policy reform in the halls of power.

In the United States, ActionAid is bringing voices of women from the 49 countries where we work to the halls of power. These voices provide important information about how US policy decisions impact life on the ground in the countries where they live and work. Hearing strong, female perspectives about the results of their policy decisions enables our congressional leaders, agency heads, and other policy-makers to make better, more informed decisions.

Right now, ActionAid is focused on raising awareness about the connection between violence against women and the spread of HIV & AIDS.  We are gathering research and best practices, mobilizing women in the United States to amplify the voices of women in developing countries, and we are working with women in developing countries to hold governments accountable for how the programs that purport to address these twin pandemics are administered,

ActionAid also works in the field to provide direct support to women and to foster the social movements that enable women to claim their rights and empower them to make a better future for themselves and their families.

  • In Ethiopia, ActionAid supports the Network of Ethiopian Women to provide training for women candidates for parliament. The training provides guidance on running a successful campaign, information about policies that can help women, and other support that increase the candidate’s chance of being elected and bringing the voice of women to the fore.
  • In Pakistan, ActionAid is actively challenging the Hudood Ordinance, which is used to charge women victims of rape as criminals.
  • In India, ActionAid provides micro-credit to women in fishing communities to rebuild their livelihoods as the region continues to recover from the Tsunami.
  • In Nepal, ActionAid supports a community forestry project initiated by rural women to help preserve the forest while creating a sustainable source of fruits and vegetables for the community.