80% of garment workers are women, who are often subject to exploitation, discrimination, harassment, and abuse. They work long hours for little pay just to be able to feed their children.
It is estimated that 55% of victims of human trafficking are women and girls, and 98% of sex trafficking victims are female.
If women were to play an identical role to men in the workforce, it would result in a $28 trillion increase in the global GDP.
Worldwide, the wage gap is still huge, with women making 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.
Women do more unpaid and informal work, experience more legal barriers, and are much less likely to have a pension.
These are just a few of the gaps that women around the globe are experiencing at this very moment. The UN has a great interactive guide to give you the quick facts about gender inequality worldwide.
Today is Internal Women's Day, and whether you’re marching, volunteering, working, staying at home, wearing red, using your voice, giving your dollars, or something else… today is a day to celebrate women and the work we have done to make the world a better place and encourage women to keep up the good fight toward equality and respect for all human beings.
Here are ten organizations you can support today in celebration of women everywhere.
Although we have linked to the donate page for most of these organizations, there are plenty more ways to get involved. If you don’t have money to give, donate your time. Volunteer, become a mentor, spread the word, throw a fundraiser. There are so many things you can do to partner with these organizations to continue to fight for women’s equality around the globe.
Women for Women International
Women for Women International is helping thousands of marginalized women in areas of the world torn by conflict and war. By providing women with resources, education, and training, these women are able to create a sustainable future for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Camfed
The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed) invests in girls and women in the poorest rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, where girls face disadvantages like poverty and inequality. By supporting girls to go to school and succeed, they are empowering them to transform their communities.
Black Women’s Blueprint
The Black Women’s Blueprint is working to erase race and gender disparities by fighting to end violence and sexual assault on African American women and girls.
Free the Girls
Free the Girls exists to empower women and girls who have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry and help them reintegrate into their communities.
The Malala Fund
If you haven’t read Malala Yousafzai’s story, you need to. (She was shot in the face by the Taliban for standing up for girls’ education.) The mission of The Malala Fund is to see a world where girls can safely complete all twelve years of their education; the organizations fights at a local, national, and international level in order to make progress toward that goal.
Engender Health
For decades, EngenderHealth has improved the lives of men, women, and families through its work in family planning, maternal health, HIV and AIDS, gender equity, and many other programs. They are currently working in 20 countries worldwide.
UN Women
The UN has been instrumental in working to eliminate discrimination against women and girls globally. They do this through political participation, economic empowerment, humanitarian action, sustainability initiatives, and more.
She Should Run
She Should Run encourages women to aspire toward public leadership, and gives them support to along the way as they run for office. She Should Run is on a mission to unleash the leadership potential of women.
Everlane
Everlane is a trailblazer when it comes to supply chain and manufacturing transparency. For every one of their limited-edition 100% Human shirts sold, they will donate $5 to Equality Now, an organization that has been fighting for equal rights for women since 1992.
Girls Who Code
Girls Who Code is a national non-profit working to close the gender gap in technology, a gap that has actually been getting worse since the 1980s. With the engineering and technology sector continuing to grow, we don’t want girls being left behind.
The Asian University for Women
The AUW has an initiative called Pathways of Promise, which identifies talented women garment workers and gives them the resources they need to go to school, earn their degree, and improve their lives and those of their communities.
The Ethical Writers Coalition recently teamed up with AUW to share the work they’re doing. You can read some of that coverage here, here, and here.