Jane from a women's collective in Kenya  leading livelihood diversification and protecting biodiversity in the wake of climate crisis. T

The denial of women’s and girls’ rights is not just a grave injustice -  it's one of the biggest causes of poverty worldwide.  

That's why, at ActionAid we put women and girls at the heart of all we do. 

From the moment they’re born, girls and women are seen and treated as less than boys or men. 

Girls are less likely to go to school than their brothers. Millions of girls worldwide are married as children, and one in three women worldwide will experience violence in their lifetime, most likely at the hands of someone they know. 

International charity ActionAid supports women and girls to claim their rights, challenge injustice and help them lead their communities out of poverty. 

You can lend your support to our work: a monthly donation can help women escape violence, gain education and improve their livelihoods.

1 in 3
women worldwide will experience violence in their lifetime, most likely at the hands of someone they know1

 

24 %
is the average gender wage gap globally globally2

15 million
girls are forced to marry each year – that’s 28 girls a minute3

Why support women and girls?

All over the world, women and girls have less social, economic and political power, which can lead to their human rights being denied.  

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

We believe that gender inequality is the root cause of women’s rights abuses and ActionAid supports women and girls to claim their rights - but we need your help.

Your monthly gift could help break the cycle of poverty: your donation could fund girls’ education, improve services for survivors of gender-based-violence and set up training programmes for women to learn new skills that enable them to support their families. 

I'll donate to support women and girls

How your monthly gift can help support women

Or choose your own amount to give

Supporting women to end FGM 

In many communities in Kenya, female genital mutilation (FGM) is a rite of passage for girls.

This dangerous and damaging practice affects girls physically and psychologically throughout their entire lives. After it has taken place, many girls are forced to marry and taken out of school.

66-year-old Maria used to carry out FGM on girls in her community; she was cut herself at the age of 12.

But ActionAid ran an awareness-raising campaign in her community, where Maria learned the real dangers of cutting

She gave up being a cutter, and now leads her community to end the practice.

She also works as a birth attendent, supporting women who have undergone FGM to give birth safely. 

Support women like Maria to change lives

Why the rights of women are important

The denial of women and girls’ rights is one of the biggest causes of poverty worldwide, and a grave injustice.

No community can truly prosper when half its citizens are denied the rights enjoyed by the other half.

That's why when ActionAid champions the rights of women, our work in turn benefits entire communities, helping people to lift themselves out of poverty.

But even today, there is no country in the world where women and girls as a group are not disadvantaged in relation to men and boys.

  • Around the world, five women are killed every hour by their partner or family member.4
  • Women are more likely to be in insecure, low-wage jobs and to be paid less for the same work. They also take on three times as much unpaid care work as men.5
  • In almost every society, men dominate positions of power and decision-making roles.

Donate £7 a month to help

Selina and other women in Kenya have been supported to build a sustainable income for themselves and their families

Sheldon Moultrie/ActionAid

Supporting women’s networks to fight inequality

25-year-old Selina is a member of the Sauti Ya Wanawake (Voice of Women) Women's Network in Kilifi County, Kenya. 

This incredible women’s rights charity supported by ActionAid, works to challenge gender inequality and improve the lives of women and girls in their community. 

They campaign against gender-based violence, lobby the government to advocate for change, and run skills trainings so women can develop an independent income. 

Selina has attended trainings where she's learned basket-weaving. Valuable economic skills like this allow women to build a sustainable livelihood, supporting themselves and their families into the future.

I'll donate to support women's rights

About ActionAid 

ActionAid is an international charity working with women and girls to create a more just, equal and sustainable future. We are ending violence and fighting poverty so that all women, everywhere, can create the future they want.

We aim to address the challenges faced by women, girls and their communities by sharing power with women's rights organisations, and feminist movements.

We do this by fostering equal partnerships and creating spaces where these movements can succeed by drawing attention to global injustices and advocating for meaningful change.

Your donations will be used where it is needed most to further ActionAid’s general charitable purposes. 

Footnotes

  • 1World Health Organisation, Violence against women, intimate partner and sexual violence against women: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/
  • 2https://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/actionaid_double_jeopardy_decent_work_violence_against_women_6.pdf P.9
  • 3https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61703-7/fulltext
  • 4ActionAid (2016) Fearless: Fearless women and girls leading the way, transforming lives: https://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/fearless_women_and_girls_- _leading_the_way_transforming_lives.pdf/
  • 5Unpaid Work and Care https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/resources/documents/2016/11/unpaid-work-and-care?lang=en#)
 Jane is part of a collective of women who have been leading livelihood diversification and protecting biodiversity in the wake of climate crisis. Moses Thuranira/ActionAid 

Page updated 6 June 2025