Bose crop 3

Ending violence against women around the world

ActionAid is an charity that works with local partners around the world to help women and girls living in poverty.

We understand the deep-rooted problems facing women and girls and work alongside whole communities to find solutions. Our work ensures women and girls are safe from harm while being able to earn a living and to claim their rights. Crucially, we prioritise the rights and leadership of women and girls during times of crisis.

We're fighting poverty around the world, we're ending violence against women, we're responding rapidly to emergencies, and we're changing the world with women and girls.

We're ActionAid.

Learn more about our work below.

Why we focus on the rights of women and girls

Poverty is complex. It’s more than a lack of money. It’s also a lack of choice and power. 

For women and girls, poverty means having fewer opportunities than men and boys. In the world’s poorest places this means living on the margins of society, often facing discrimination, exploitation and violence.

From the moment they’re born, many girls are seen and treated as less than boys. Girls are less likely to go to school than their brothers, and millions of girls worldwide are married as children, often to much older men.1

All over the world women and girls have less social, economic and political power, which can lead to their human rights being denied. Gender inequality is the root cause of women’s rights abuses. ActionAid supports women and girls to claim their rights.

1 in 10
women around the world first experienced street harassment before the age of 102

24%
the amount less that women get paid globally on average than men3

5 women
every hour die as a result of domestic violence4

70 million
girls are married before the age of 18, often against their will5

From survivor to counsellor: Bose's story

Bose Ironsi is the founder and executive director of the Women’s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP), a grassroots organisation that provides counselling and legal information for survivors of gender-based violence across Lagos in Nigeria.

Bose, who works as a nurse, set up WRAHP - one of ActionAid Nigeria's local partners - in 2008 to respond to the growing issue of gender-based violence in the city.

I was sexually abused as a child. When I was young I sold food on the street and helped at my elder sister’s restaurant. I was always the last to sleep and first to wake up. On several occasions, I slept outside where I was violated.

“I am delighted that women and girls who have been abused now have a place to go and someone to speak to at a difficult time. That was something I never had as a child."

WRAHP started with just two staff members. Now it has grown to 30 staff and over 300 trained volunteers working across Lagos.

About ActionAid

ActionAid is an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty.

Our dedicated local staff are changing the world with women and girls. We are ending violence and fighting poverty so that all women, everywhere, can create the future they want.

We operate in rural and urban communities across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

We're committed to ending the cycle of violence in communities around the world, enabling women's economic empowerment, and supporting women's and girls' rights during humanitarian crises.

Footnotes

  • 1Ellsberg, M. et al. (2014) ‘Preventixon of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say?’, The Lancet, Vol 385, No. 9977. Pp. 1555-1566. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61703-7/abstract. Accessed May 2015.
  • 2https://www.actionaid.org.uk/latest-news/three-in-four-women-experience-harassment-and-violence-in-uk-and-global-cities
  • 3https://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/actionaid_double_jeopardy_decent_work_violence_against_women_6.pdf P.9
  • 4https://www.actionaid.org.uk/latest-news/domestic-violence-kills-five-women-every-hour
  • 5Ellsberg, M. et al. (2014) ‘Prevention of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say?’, The Lancet, Vol 385, No. 9977. Pp. 1555-1566. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61703-7/abstract. Accessed May 2015.
 Bose Ironsi is the founder and executive director of the Women’s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP) in Lagos, Nigeria.  Esther Mbabazi / ActionAid    

Page updated 9 July 2025