Global Civil Society & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

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

Gender Equality


Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. There has been progress over the last decades, but the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and therefore also half of its potential. But gender inequality persists everywhere and stagnates social progress.
On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally and women spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work as men.

Sexual violence and exploitation, the unequal division of unpaid care and domestic work, and discrimination in public office, all remain huge barriers. All these areas of inequality have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: there has been a surge in reports of sexual violence, women have taken on more care work due to school closures, and 70% of health and social workers globally are women.

At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments.

Political leadership, investments and comprehensive policy reforms are needed to dismantle systemic barriers to achieving Goal 5 Gender equality is a cross-cutting objective and must be a key focus of national policies, budgets and institutions.

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

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 Democracy Center

IWDC 1995 Washington DC USA G

International Women's Democracy Network

IWDN 2004 Bethesda MD USA E

International Women's Democrat Union

IWDU 1990 Munich Germany E

International Women's Development Agency

IWDA 1985 Melbourne VIC Australia G

International Women's Federation of Commerce and Industry

IWFCI 1992 Melbourne VIC Australia G t

International Women's Fishing Association

IWFA 1955 Fort Lauderdale FL USA N

International Women's Forum

IWF 1982 Washington DC USA F

International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic

1998 Washington DC USA N

International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation

IWIRC Fairfax VA USA G

International Women's Media Foundation

IWMF 1990 Washington DC USA F f

International Women's Network Against Militarism

IWNAM 1997 J

International Women's Partnership for Peace and Justice

IWP 2002 Chiang Mai Thailand G

International Women's Peace Service

IWPS 2002 Glenside PA USA G

International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific

IWRAW Asia Pacific 1993 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia F

International Women's Rights Project

IWRP 1998 G

International Women's Writing Guild

IWWG 1976 New York NY USA G

International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs

IWGIA 1968 Copenhagen Denmark F

International Working Group on Women and Sport

IWG 1994 London UK E

International World Games Association

IWGA 1980 Lausanne Switzerland E y

International Young Christian Workers

IYCW 1945 Brussels Belgium B

International Young Nature Friends

IYNF 1975 Prague Czechia C

International Youth Alliance for Family Planning

IYAFP 2013 Washington DC USA C v

International Youth Council

IYC 2007 G

International Youth Federation

2014 London UK C

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