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

Women's UN Report Network

WUNRN F

Women's University in Africa

WUA 2002 Harare Zimbabwe G

Women's Voices Now

WVN 2010 Rolling Hills Estates CA USA G

Women's Working Group on Financing for Development

WWG on FfD 2007 Quezon City Philippines E y

Women's World Banking

WWB 1976 New York NY USA F

Women's World Summit Foundation

WWSF 1991 Geneva Switzerland F f

Women's WorldWide Web

W4 2012 Paris France F

Women@theTable

w@tt 2014 Geneva Switzerland J

WomenStrong International

G

WomenWatch

1997 New York NY USA F g

WoMin

Johannesburg South Africa F

Wonderland

2002 Vienna Austria F v

Workability International

1987 Sydney NSW Australia D

Worker Rights Consortium

WRC 2000 Washington DC USA G

Working Group on Tourism and Development

1977 Basel Switzerland G

World Agroforestry Centre

ICRAF 1977 Nairobi Kenya E

World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations

YMCA 1855 Vernier Switzerland B

World Anti-Bullying Forum

WABF 1997 Umeå Sweden D

World Association for Christian Communication

WACC 1975 Toronto ON Canada B y

World Association for Cooperative Education

WACE 1983 Lowell MA USA F

World Association for Sexual Health

WAS 1978 Minneapolis MN USA B y

World Association for Sustainable Development

WASD 2003 London UK C

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts

WAGGGS 1928 London UK B

World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations

WAITRO 1970 St Augustin Germany B yt

World Association of Judges

WAJ 1966 E v

World Association of Law Professors

WALP 1975 E v

World Association of Public Employment Services

WAPES 1989 Brussels Belgium C

World Association of Women Journalists and Writers

1969 General Roca Argentina D

World Autism Organisation

WAO 1998 C

World Bamboo Organization

WBO 1992 Plymouth MA USA C

World Benchmarking Alliance

WBA Amsterdam Netherlands C y

World Buddhist Sangha Council

WBSC 1966 Taipei Taiwan F

World Business Angels Investment Forum

WBAF F

World Business Council for Sustainable Development

WBCSD 1995 Geneva Switzerland C

World Commerce and Contracting

WorldCC 1999 Ridgefield CT USA C

World Concern International

1955 Seattle WA USA F

World Conference on Constitutional Justice

WCCJ 2009 Strasbourg France E cg

World Congress of Free Ukrainians

WCFU 1967 Toronto ON Canada F

World Congress of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Jews

WCGLBTJ 1980 Alexandria VA USA D

World Congress on Family Law and the Rights of Children and Youth

WCFLCR S c

World Connect

2005 New York NY USA G

World Council for Curriculum and Instruction

WCCI 1970 San Diego CA USA B y

World Council of Civil Engineers

WCCE 2005 Madrid Spain C y

World Council of Independent Christian Churches

WCICC 1993 New York NY USA F

World Court of Justice

2001 Birmingham UK N

World Criminal Justice Library Network

WCJLN 1991 Newark NJ USA F y

World Dodgeball Association

WDA 2013 Manchester UK C

World Eatology Forum

WEF 2017 Beijing China J

World Employment Confederation

WEC 1967 Brussels Belgium C

World Ethnosport Society

2012 Riga Latvia C

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