Campaign for women’s rights

All over the world, women and girls are held back by violence, lack of representation in politics, badly paid and unsafe work, and lack of access to education. These constant abuses of their rights keep women in poverty, and hold back their families and communities too.

Supporting women to claim their rights together is at the heart of ActionAid’s work to fight poverty and inequality. Together with activists in 25 countries, we’re changing the policies and attitudes that hold women back.

Right now, we’re campaigning to stand with women who are standing up against violence.

Join the campaign now

ActionAid UK

Najiba helps domestic violence survivors in Afghanistan

Najiba works as a paralegal in Afghanistan. After seeing first-hand the effects of forced marriage, she joined ActionAid’s paralegal programme so she could support the women around her:

“It upset me a lot and I decided to work for them though I had little knowledge on women and girls rights and empowerment.

“Being a woman, it was really a hard job to go outside and meet with women who faced mammoth intricacies and obstacles. I repeatedly visited their home and let them know about their basic rights as human beings.”

Now Najiba runs a women’s shelter in rural Afghanistan. Despite receiving death threats for her work, she has helped more than 100 victims of domestic violence. She told us that more needs to be done to protect women:

“All the laws that exist to protect women – none of them are being implemented. The international community should monitor whether the laws are being followed. They can’t just give us words.”

Did you know?

43,600

In 2012, 43,6001 women were killed by their partners or close family

$9 trillion

Discrimination in the workplace costs women in poor countries an estimated $9 trillion2 every year

31 million

An estimated 31 million girls3 are out of school

1. UNODOC Global Study on Homicide 2013 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2003). Global STUDY on Homicide. Vienna: UNODC. 14. ↩
2. The figure is expressed in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms. PPP is a technique used to determine the relative value of different currencies. See: OECD Frequently asked questions. (Accessed December 2014) ↩
3. Unicef. 2015. Girls' education and gender equality. (ONLINE) Available at: http://www.unicef.org/education/bege_70640.html. (Accessed October 2015). ↩

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Campaign for women’s rights

We help women fight for their rights

Najiba helps domestic violence survivors in Afghanistan

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Campaign for women’s rights

We help women fight for their rights

Najiba helps domestic violence survivors in Afghanistan

Did you know?

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