The rights and equality of girls and women are not only a moral obligation but a huge opportunity. Every safe, educated, healthy, and empowered girl or woman has the potential to transform her family, community, economy, and society.
Yet, despite progress, gender inequality and discrimination still prevail across the globe. One in three women experience violence in their lifetimes. Complications from pregnancy are a leading cause of death for adolescent girls; 214 million women want to avoid or delay pregnancy but are not using effective contraception; and women are still dramatically underrepresented in positions of economic and political leadership.
The UN Foundation has made girls and women a priority since our inception. Today, we work with the UN and partners on initiatives that accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality, which also ignites progress across all the SDGs.
Through partnerships with the UN and others, the UN Foundation works to ensure that every girl and woman can achieve her potential. We support the UN’s efforts to tackle violence against women, we support targeted research to build evidence about women’s empowerment, we bring women’s perspectives to the table, we work to empower the next generation of girl leaders. We also work to enhance private sector support for the UN’s Every Woman Every Child movement. In addition, the UN Foundation hosts the Council of Women World Leaders, an independent, self-governing network of current and former women Prime Ministers and Presidents and the only organization in the world dedicated to women heads of state and government.
