Global Civil Society & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Gender Equality


While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment under the Millennium Development Goals (including equal access to primary education between girls and boys), women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world.

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Unfortunately, at the current time, 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15-49 have reported experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month period and 49 countries currently have no laws protecting women from domestic violence. Progress is occurring regarding harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), which has declined by 30% in the past decade, but there is still much work to be done to complete eliminate such practices.

Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. Implementing new legal frameworks regarding female equality in the workplace and the eradication of harmful practices targeted at women is crucial to ending the gender-based discrimination prevalent in many countries around the world.

Name Acronym Founded City HQ Country/Territory HQ Type I Type II

International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law

ISRCL 1987 Vancouver BC Canada C v

International Society for the Study of the Aging Male

ISSAM 1997 Geneva Switzerland D

International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health

ISSWSH Schaumburg IL USA G

International Society for Tropical Root Crops

ISTRC 1967 Ibadan Nigeria C

International Society for Universal Dialogue

ISUD 1989 Aliso Viejo CA USA C

International Society of Andrology

ISA 1981 Münster Germany C y

International Society of Criminology

ISC 1934 Buckingham UK B

International Society of Family Law

ISFL 1973 C

International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers

ISOPE 1989 Cupertino CA USA C

International Society of Root Research

ISRR 1982 Jülich Germany D

International Society of Social Defence and Humane Criminal Policy

ISSD 1946 Milan Italy B v

International Society of Surgery

ISS 1902 Zurich Switzerland B y

International Society of Women Airline Pilots

ISA+21 1978 Las Vegas NV USA D v

International Sociology of Sport Association

ISSA 1965 Ottawa ON Canada E

International South Asia Forum

INSAF 1999 St John's NL Canada N

International Staff Association of UNESCO

ISAU 1981 Paris France E v

International Symposium on Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

S c

International Taskforce on Women and Information and Communication Technologies

ITF 2005 Drammen Norway F

International Telecommunication Union

ITU 1985 Geneva Switzerland B g

International Textiles and Clothing Bureau

ITCB 1984 E gy

International Theatre Institute

ITI 1948 Paris France B j

International Tibet Independence Movement

1995 Fishers IN USA G

International Trade Centre

ITC 1964 Geneva Switzerland E gt

International Trade Union Confederation

ITUC 2006 Brussels Belgium A yt

International Trade Union Confederation - African Regional Organization

Lomé Togo E t

International Training Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO

CRIHAP 2012 Beijing China E

International Transport Workers' Federation

ITF 1896 London UK B y

International Tree Foundation

ITF 1924 Oxford UK G f

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

IUCN 1948 Gland Switzerland A y

International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences

IUAES 1948 Osaka Japan B

International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations

IUF 1920 Geneva Switzerland B

International Union of Immunological Societies

IUIS 1969 Berlin Germany C y

International Union of Notaries

1948 Rome Italy C

International Union of Superiors General

1965 Rome Italy F v

International Union of Women Architects

IUWA 1963 Paris France B

International Unity for Equality

IUFE J

International University Sports Federation

FISU 1949 Lausanne Switzerland B

International Venture Philanthropy Center

IVPC 2015 Weybridge UK C

International Voice of Justice

IVOJ New York NY USA G

International Voluntary Organisation for Women, Education and Development

IVOWED 2001 Accra Ghana G

International Wages Due Lesbians

1975 London UK G

International Water Management Institute

IWMI 1984 Colombo Sri Lanka E j

International Women and Family Foundation

IWFF Seoul Korea Rep G f

International Women and Mining Network

1997 Hyderabad India F

International Women Communication Centre

IWCC 1993 Ilorin Nigeria G

International Women Count Network

IWCN 1985 London UK F

International Women's Alliance

IWA J

International Women's Brass Conference

IWBC 1990 N

International Women's Coffee Alliance

IWCA 2003 G

International Women's Convocation

IWC 2009 Seattle WA USA C

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