Update Consent

Organisations to Support For International Women's Day 2023

On International Women's Day, Here's a Curated List of Organisations to Support Worldwide

Mar 8 2023

Content warning: This article details instances of gender-based violence and sexual assault.

If International Women's Day is a reminder of anything, it's that women around the world still face struggles, often at a disproportionate rate to men. Add years of economic instability because of the pandemic, displacement from climate change, and an increase in far-right authoritarian rhetoric that targets women and LGBTQ+ people, and life has become even more tenuous for many around the world. The continued trauma because of the war in Ukraine, ongoing protests in Iran, and the recent massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria have also changed the scale of suffering or hardship for so many.

But where there are disasters and struggle, there are also people who survive and those who help. We've curated a list that's far from complete of places where the needs of women are particularly challenged right now, as well as organisations and groups that are trying to correct wrongs and injustices and provide healing and education.

We've asked experts, locals, scholars, and activists to help inform this coverage. Some of these nonprofits listed ahead would benefit from direct donations, and others simply from awareness, a social media follow, or a resource that we can make unlimited: empathy.

Image Source: LightRocket via Getty Images / SOPA Images / Steve Taylor

Ukraine

The 24 Feb. marked a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. Women accounted for nearly 40 percent of the more than 21,000 civilian casualties in 2022, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. Of those who have survived the war, nearly 18 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and 14 million people have been displaced from their homes, the overwhelming majority of whom are women.

Women are disproportionately affected in other ways: namely, increased violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault, according to a Rapid Gender Analysis carried out by UN Women and CARE International. Financial instability is also increasing sexual exploitation, trafficking, family separation, and other forms of attacks on women and girls.

Who is helping?

Image Source: LightRocket via Getty Images / SOPA Images / Luis Soto

South Africa

South Africa consistently reports one of the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in the world. From 2019 to 2020, reports of sexual violence increased by an average of 146 attacks a day, of which 116 were rape, totalling 42,289 rapes in those two years, according to police data. The overall trend has been increasing since 2017, police say.

In January 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed gender-based violence with three new laws, yet between July and September 2022, 9,556 cases of rape were reported to police; activists say the true number may be even higher.

Last July, the gang rape and robbery of eight women shooting a video at an abandoned mine in West Village, Krugersdorp, also caught national attention.

Who is helping?

  • The Kwanele! Enuf Is Enuf! Initiative was founded by Andy Kawa after she was gang raped in 2010 and failed by the justice system. Her organisation aims to educate South Africans about rape prevention and about the impact the crime can have on survivors, as well as break the culture of silence and stigma.
  • Rise Up Against Gender Based Violence focuses on those vulnerable to predators, namely unhoused and adolescent girls. It runs blanket drives and provides other basic needs like warm meals and counseling. It offers education for girls and boys about "consent, healthy relationships, early signs of violent behaviour, response, ending dependency as a driver and changing patriarchal social norms and stereotypes."
  • Justice Desk Africa is a youth-led, youth-run organisation founded in 2013 that aims to build a network of everyday activists and heroes. Inspired by the K-pop group BTS, one of the NGO's projects is the Mbokodo Club, which helps girls who are rape survivors.
Image Source: AFP via Getty Images / Rajesh Jantilal

Indonesia

Like in so many countries, women in Indonesia are subject to online gender-based violence (OGBV), which has been multiplying exponentially in recent years. In 2020, Komnas Perempuan, Indonesia's National Commission on Violence Against Women, reported 940 cases of online gender-based violence, up from 281 in 2019. The South East Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) — a South Asian NGO — also noted a 10-fold increase from 60 cases in 2019 to 620 in 2020.

OGBV can include nonconsensual release of intimate images, online harassment or abuse, doxxing, and "cyber-homophobia," or attacking someone's sexual identity. LGBTQ+ Indonesians often seek out friends and resources online but aren't legally protected against hate crimes and discrimination and are often subject to such attacks.

Who is helping?

  • Magdalene is a women-focused publication focused on feminism, diversity, and progressive ideas and providing safe spaces online.
  • SAFEnet, an advocacy organisation, provides psychological counselling, promotes education and advocacy around digital rights and safety, and partners with tech platforms, feminist networks, and other civil and government agencies to prevent digital gender-based violence.
  • The PurpleCode Collective provides legal, technical, social, and psychological support to girls, women, and the nonbinary community to combat online violence.
  • The Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBK APIK) also provides legal support to women facing online gender-based violence.
Image Source: NurPhoto via Getty Images / Aditya Irawan

Mexico

In April 2022, the discovery of 18-year-old law student Debanhi Escobar's body in a water tank in Monterrey, Mexico, drew international attention to the ongoing violence against women in the country. Throughout Mexico, more than 24,000 women were missing as of last year, according to the government. And in 2022, 70 percent of Mexican women surveyed by the government said they had experienced violence in some form.

Human-rights workers have also disappeared. Journalists are being targeted as they raise awareness of these issues — 153 reporters have been murdered and another 29 "disappeared" since the late 1990s, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. Nine journalists were murdered in the first three months of 2022, matching the number killed in 2021.

Women in the country are speaking out. Last year, thousands of protesters in Mexico City marched on International Women's Day to bring awareness to the issue of femicides and ongoing violence.

Who is helping?

  • Familiares en Búsqueda María Herrera Poza Rica (Families in Search María Herrera Poza Rica) is a collective started by Maricel Torres, whose then-17-year-old son Iván Eduardo Castillo Torres was kidnapped in 2011. The organisation uses social media to organise searches for loved ones in Veracruz state and share and collect information. It has found mass graves throughout the state, and its Facebook page has 4,200 followers.
  • SocorroBot is a chatbot for WhatsApp that guides families through what to do when a relative is missing.
  • The Committee to Protect Journalists works to protect journalists around the world, especially those risking their lives to cover human-rights abuses.
Image Source: NurPhoto via Getty Images / Gerardo Vieyra

Watch This!

Pop Quiz

Watch the Cast of Fear Street Play a Creepy Game of Horror Movie "Would You Rather"

South Korea

Being a single or under-resourced mother has always been hard in South Korea. Look no further than the fact that widespread transnational adoption started with Korean children in orphanages, many of whom had living mothers who could not keep a place in society or lacked the means to raise them on their own. The crisis worsened after the Korean War ended, leaving many women single but with children; since then, there's been enduring societal sigmas surrounding premarital sex and singledom in general for women. For all of its modernity, Korea remains a patriarchal, conservative society with limited options for single or unwed mothers or their children.

Who is helping?

  • Every Mother & Child is a relatively new organisation that assists women with a crisis pregnancy situation, with a focus on immigrants. The group provides medical services and counselling, financial and legal assistance, and immigration help and also works to support multicultural families in one of the world's most homogenous countries.
  • The Korean Unwed Mothers' Families Association, or KUMFA, originated from an online cafe by and for single mothers, with the goal of destigmatising nontraditional families. It educates, advocates for, and counsels women and has also established two shelters for mothers on their own.
Image Source: NurPhoto via Getty Images / Chris Jung

United States of America

With a growing number of states passing laws that curtail LGBTQ+ rights, the US is becoming an increasingly dangerous place for trans and nonbinary Americans to go to school, play sports, and simply live, even in states where their rights aren't being directly limited. Tennessee recently made headlines for becoming the first state to restrict public drag performances, and a US House panel is currently considering a federal bill that would ban transgender women and girls from competing in team sports. Last year, the US Air Force even offered to transfer active-duty members with an LGBTQ+ family member to safer states within the country.

Who is helping?

  • The Trans Empowerment Project supports trans people in the community with emergency needs like transportation to shelter, and it also works to combat misinformation and education.
  • Here's a lengthy list of organisations to support in Tennessee in particular, which has been thrust into the national spotlight in recent months.
  • The Attic Youth Center in Philadelphia is the only LGBTQ+ youth center in the city. It provides a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth, "whether you're interested in dance, cooking, or art; want to talk to a therapist about coming out to your friends and family; need help finding a job or writing a paper; or just want to meet other LGBTQ youth." It also supports education, skills development, and cultural projects.
Image Source: LightRocket via Getty Images / Erik McGregor

United Kingdom

It's hard to not have been affected by the tragic death of Sarah Everard in March 2021. In the throes of the Covid pandemic, the 33-year-old was stopped by off-duty Metropolitan Police constable Wayne Couzens while walking home in London; he kidnapped, raped, and murdered her. Everard's death sparked national anger, grief, and outrage around police violence against women, and women's safety when simply walking home in the dark. Vigils were held, but one on Clapham Common near where she was taken led to a controversial police response and four arrests. Everard's death and the events that followed put women's safety in the headlines. Reclaim These Streets was an organisation set up, with the motto: "We aim to use legislation, education and community action to ensure no woman has to be asked to "Text Me When You Get Home" again." Since March 2021, Sabina Nessa's murder also garnered attention, but according to the Counting Dead Women project via The Independent, 125 women have been killed in the UK since Everard's death to the end of 2022 at the hands of men.

Who is helping?

  • The government set up a Women's Safety at Night Fund in November 2021, meaning councils could bid for funding to improve women's safety. This could include anything from drink spiking detection kits, a transport safety campaign, or trained staff to support safe taxi journeys.
  • White Ribbon is a charity aiming to get to the root of the problem and educate men to "change long established, and harmful, attitudes, systems and behaviours around masculinity that perpetuate gender inequality and men's violence against women."
Image Source: LightRocket via Getty Images / SOPA Images / Steve Taylor

Want More?

POPSUGAR Would Like To Send You Push Notifications.