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Empowering Women and Girls

CARE strives for a world that is equal for women and girls.

A woman carrying a baby on her shoulders high fives a young girl with both hands. They're surrounded by chickens eating on a farm.
CARE / Jake Lyell

Our 2030 Goal: 50 million women and girls experience greater equality (particularly through ending violence against women and girls, increasing their voices and leadership, and increasing equal and access to quality education).

We cannot end poverty while inequality persists. Discrimination against women has negative implications for everyone, from global security and development, to economic performance, food security, and health.

While we seek greater equality for all people, we know that discrimination harms and disadvantages women and girls in greater numbers than any other group, and together with our partners, we pay particular attention to how our programming, advocacy, and partnerships include, enable, and impact women and girls.

In nearly every country, women earn only a fraction of what men do, and and discrimination against women and girls fuels food insecurity, safety risks, and exclusion from life-saving services and opportunities. Globally, one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence, most often at the hands of an intimate partner. More than 60% of the world’s hungry are women and girls; at the same time, women and girls disproportionately bear the burden of meeting their families’ food and care needs.

CARE has been working on equality for women and girls for more than thirty years in over 100 countries, and we continue to learn from them, our partners, and allies on how best to work toward equality. This wide-ranging experience has deepened our expertise and redoubled our commitment to equality and the empowerment of women and girls.