Global Women’s Organisations | ASIA
INDIA
India is the largest democracy in the world, with a population of nearly 1.3 billion. Despite its status as of the world’s fastest-growing economies, people living in both cities and rural areas experience extreme poverty. ActionAid has been working with poor and marginalised women, girls and communities in India since 1972.
Breakthrough Trust works on culture-based change in India, focusing their programs on girls and boys aged 11 to 24. They partner with the government and help redesign school curricula to include material on gendered violence, as well as running mass media campaigns to reach a large audience.
Jagori was established in 1984. An active member of the Indian feminist and women’s movement from the early eighties, Jagori has since deployed its feminist and rights-based discourse and praxis among the wide-ranging civil society network that it is rooted in. Jagori is guided by its vision of contributing to a collective process of building a just society through feminist values. Jagori’s mission is to deepen feminist consciousness with a wide range of partners and women leaders from marginalised urban and rural areas in support of women’s rights.
CHINA
China Women's Development Foundation's (CWDF)
China Women's Development Foundation (CWDF) is an AAAAA foundation set up by the All-China Women's Federation in December 1988. It is a national public foundation which raises funds from China and other permitted countries and regions. The purpose of the CWDF is to safeguard women's rights and interests, improve women's quality of life, and promote the development of women and women's causes in China, so as to make contributions to the building of a harmonious society.
TURKEY
Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV)
AÇEV develops and implements science-based educational programs for children, parents and young women who are in need all over the country.
(Purple Roof Women's Shelter Foundation (Mor Çatı)
Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı Vakfı (Purple Roof Women’s Shelter Foundation), was founded in Turkey in 1990 and opened its first shelter for women fleeing violence in 1994. In addition to providing women with social, psychological and legal support through its shelter and solidarity centre in Istanbul, the organisation monitors violence against women, undertakes related lobbying and campaigning, and runs training programmes for social workers, psychologists, municipality workers and lawyers across Turkey.
Women’s Solidarity Foundation (Kadın Dayanışma Vakfı - KEDV)
The Foundation for Women’s Solidarity contributes to social change towards ending the legitimacy of violence against women by generating pressure on women’s human rights through its work oriented to the public and the media. In addition, it carries out awareness-raising activities through various training programs on combating violence against women, for women who apply to the Women’s Counseling Center, for Foundation volunteers and professional staff.
PALESTINE
General Union of Palestinian Women
The General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW or GUPWom) is the official representative of Palestinian women within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The GUPW was established in 1965 as a body in the PLO with the goal of creating an active role for women in the social, economic, and political spheres of the Palestinian territories.
The Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
The Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) is an independent Palestinian, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation that seeks to develop a democratic Palestinian society based on the principles of gender equality and social justice. Established in Jerusalem in 1991, the organisation has special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). By forging a feminist vision based on equality and social justice, WCLAC plays a prominent role in addressing gender-based violence in Palestinian society in both the public and private spheres. WCLAC aims to address the causes and consequences of gender-based violence within the Palestinian community as well as the gender-specific effects of increasing militarisation associated with the Israeli occupation. To this end, WCLAC acts not only to reverse historical negligence, negative cultural legacies and discriminatory social attitudes towards Palestinian women, but also, to address the needs of women victimised by Israel’s violent actions in the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT). As a leading defender of women’s rights in Palestine, WCLAC is proud of its uncompromising commitment to provide legal aid, social counselling and protection services to women in an environment where human rights abuses are rampant and women’s issues are regularly overlooked.
Palestinian Women's Research and Documentation Center (PWRDC)
The Palestinian Women's Research & Documentation Center - UNESCO meets the urgent need for an institution capable of promoting women's rights and activating the role of Palestinian women in the economic, political, and cultural domains. The Palestinian Women's Research & Documentation Center - UNESCO envisions a society where the production of information and data acts as a catalyst for change and gender justice, thus empowering Palestinian women to claim and exercise their full human rights and enable government organizations to fulfill their obligations.The mission of the Palestinian Women's Research & Documentation Center - UNESCO is to serve as the primary clearinghouse and resource center on information related to the situation of Palestinian women so that governmental, international and civil society organizations, media, and research institutions, are able to better advocate for and realize gender equality.
THAILAND
The Kachin Women’s Association (KWAT)
The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand-KWAT was stablished on the 9th of September, 1999 by Kachin women in Thailand in an effort to help address the suffering and hardship of Kachin people in Thailand, and empower women, raise awareness on human rights and political issues, and provide humanitarian support to Kachin communities in Burma. The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand-KWAT is a non-profit organization which works to eliminate discrimination and violence against women, enhance the living standards of women and enable them to participate in decision-making processes at all levels, and strengthen the quest for social justice, peace and development in the Kachin region.
PAKISTAN
Established in 1986, as a national, non-profit, non-governmental organization under the Societies' Registration Act 1860, Aurat Publication and Information Service Foundation (Aurat Foundation/AF) is committed to create widespread awareness and commitment for a just, democratic and caring society in Pakistan, where women and men are recognised as equals, with the right to lead their lives with self-respect and dignity. Over the last 39 years, Aurat Foundation has come to be recognised nationally and internationally as one of the leading institutions creating, facilitating and strengthening civil society groups and networks for promoting trust and collaboration among citizens to mobilize public pressure for women’s empowerment in the country.
IRAQ
Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI)
The Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) is a human rights organisation that works on empowering and protecting women who face violence or find themselves in situations of risk. It operates shelters in a number of Iraqi cities for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence as well as vulnerable minorities.
YEMEN
Yemen Women Union is an independent voluntary non-governmental organization established since the 1960s.
The union was merged in 1990 when the unification of Yemen was achieved in the south and north, and it became a union that includes women from different age groups, economic and social classes and political affiliations. It has a membership of 1,400,000 members and is affiliated with various branches and centers of its activities and benefits from 300 to 500 women annually. The Union has 23 major branches in different governorates and 165 women's activity centers in different districts, through its mission and general objectives, the Union seeks to empower women and support their capacities to contribute effectively to sustainable development, eliminate all forms of discrimination
against them and promote equal rights in accordance with their expertise and competence. Fundamental in economic, social and cultural development.
MALAYSIA
All Women's Action Society (AWAM)
AWAM provides training to raise awareness about issues relating to violence against women, advocacy for improved legislation and policies for women.
IRAN
OMID is a nonprofit that inspires, prepares, and transforms the lives of marginalized young women and girls from the Persian-speaking world for a future where they reclaim their strength, resilience, and autonomy for success.
The NCRI Women’s Committee of Iran
The NCRI Women’s Committee works extensively with Iranian women outside the country and maintains permanent contact with women inside Iran. The Women’s Committee is actively involved with many women’s rights organizations, NGOs, and the Iranian diaspora. The NCRI Women’s Committee is a major source of much of the information received from inside Iran with regard to women. Attending meetings of the UN Women, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Human Rights Council, and other international or regional conferences on women’s issues, and engaging in a relentless battle against the Iranian regime’s misogyny are parts of the activities of members and associates of the NCRI Women’s Committee. The NCRI Women’s Committee is one of the 25 committees of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
BANGLADESH
Naripokkho is a membership-based, women’s activist organisation founded in 1983 working for the advancement of women’s rights and entitlements and building resistance against violence, discrimination and injustice. Naripokkho is based in Bangladesh.
AFGHANISTAN
Afghan Women's Network is the foundation for Afghan women's movement, which serves as a stable network for growth of those women's organizations they are active in the country. Afghan Women's Network has active and considerable presence in Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, Bamyan, Paktia, Nangarhar and Kunduz, and is also active through its member in other provinces of Afghanistan. Afghan Women's Network works as the umbrella for its member organizations. As well as projects related to issues (gender-based violence, strengthening of youths and education for girls) implement with coordination of its member.
VIETNAM
The Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) is a socio-political organization in the political system, representing the legal and legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese women from all walks of life; striving for the development of women and gender equality. The VWU is a member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF), and the ASEAN Confederation of Women’s Organizations (ACWO). Since its establishment from predecessor organizations, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the VWU has united, mobilized, and broadly gathered women of all strata, promoted the Vietnamese women’s fine traditions of patriotism, braveness, indomitability, faithfulness and responsibility, actively contributing to the construction and protection of a Vietnam with rich people, strong country, democracy, justice, and civilization.
SOUTH KOREA
Korean Women's Association United (KWAU)
KWAU is an umbrella organization affiliated by 7 chapters and 30 member organizations striving to achieve gender equality, democracy, and peaceful reunification in the Korean peninsula by facilitating solidarity and collective actions among women's groups since its establishment in 1987.
MYANMAR (BURMA)
Women’s League of Burma (WLB) was established on December 9, 1999 with the aim of increasing the participation of women in the struggle for democracy and human rights, promoting women’s participation in the national peace and reconciliation process, and enhancing the role of the women of Burma at the national and international level. WLB mission is to advance the status of women toward a peaceful, just and federal democratic union of Burma.