Why Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale. For societies to thrive, women and girls, men and boys must have equal access to education, healthcare, and technology. They must have equal control of resources, lands, and markets. And they must have equal rights and opportunities as peace-builders and leaders.

Transforming the ways in which we engage men and boys in gender equality and women’s empowerment efforts is essential to long-lasting social change. We must enlist their support for the empowerment of women and girls across their lifespan, and also encourage them to challenge the negative cultural and social definitions that can limit their own ability to achieve their full potential.

It is vital to promote the rights of all individuals and reduce gender-based violence while mitigating its harmful effects on individuals and communities. Unless women and girls, men and boys, fully enjoy their human rights and are free from violence, progress toward development will fall short.

Our Global Network

Women's empowerment has long been a part of USAID's work. In close partnership with Washington bureaus and operating units, and international field missions in more than 80 countries, the Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GenDev) based in Washington, provides strategic leadership, training, and technical assistance on USAID’s gender equality and women’s empowerment programming worldwide and works to shape and institutionalize policies that empower women and girls.

USAID has a global network of more than 186 gender advisors, point of contacts, and employees who work on gender embedded throughout the Agency with the shared goal of learning across borders to accelerate USAID’s gender work worldwide.

For More Information

For more information, please contact: gendevcomms@usaid.gov

Visit the web page: Who We Are: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Access additional USAID resources on gender equality and women’s empowerment by visiting this web page.