Gender equality is an indispensable tool for lasting and deep social transformation. CARE International works towards this purpose in everything we do.
Gender equality is CARE International's central organizing principle. We cannot achieve women’s economic justice, climate justice, health equity, the right to food, water, and nutrition, or equal access to humanitarian assistance without addressing gender inequality.
By 2030, CARE International seeks to support 50 million people to experience greater gender equality in their lives.
Women and adolescent girls are CARE International’s primary impact population. With our partners, we pay particular attention to how our programming, advocacy and partnerships include, enable, and impact women and girls.
COVID-19 has exacerbated existing inequalities, underscoring society’s reliance on women on the front lines and at home, while exposing structural inequalities that are setting women and girls back.
The secondary impacts of COVID-19 include a shadow pandemic of gender-based violence (GBV), declines in mental health, economic recession, job losses, and hunger and food insecurity. An anti-feminist backlash is occurring globally as extremist governments seek to instrumentalize gender stereotypes and control women’s bodies for their political agendas and roll back the progress of recent decades. Although many donors have identified gender equality as a key factor of development, aid reaching women’s organizations remains negligible.
Gender discrimination also significantly harms people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. CARE International recognizes that gender is not binary and has expanded and adapted our work with LGBTIQ+ communities.
CARE International has wide-ranging gender experience. In all our focus areas – from humanitarian assistance to food and water security – we have learned that our gender perspective is among our greatest added value proposition to the development and humanitarian sectors.
CARE International’s gender equality work focuses on improving the rights of women, adolescent girls, and marginalized groups in three sub-programs:
Read our Vision 2030 for Gender Equality here.
CARE Afghanistan deployed 3 mobile health teams immediately following the devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan that is estimated to have killed nearly 1,000 people, left thousands more injured and destroyed homes and livelihoods
Nearly 7 million people have been affected by incessant rainfall that swelled up the main river systems beyond the danger level
Humanitarian organizations are being forced to make the impossible call to prioritize amongst the hungry
Communities are using from innovative agriculture techniques to group savings to face climate change-related water shortages
What to do if water is dripping, pounding or not draining in Zarqa? Call Ra'eda, one of the few women plumbers in Jordan
CARE-funded Kabul Women’s Association promotes women’s economic empowerment, advocacy, and prevention of gender-based violence using community-based approaches
Together with other 30 NGOs, CARE calls on the United Nations Security Council to renew the Syria cross-border resolution, which authorizes the UN to deliver life-saving aid to millions of Syrians in need
The project aims to test an innovative pilot activity, layering Social Protection and WASH interventions targeting adolescent girls who have been disproportionately affected by coping mechanisms adopted during lockdown, to support their return to school after the several waves of school closure in Zimbabwe.
CARE has conducted a Rapid Gender Analysis in Northwest (NWS) and Northeast Syria (NES) between December 2021 and February 2022.
In 2021, CARE worked around the world, contributing to saving lives, defeating poverty, and achieving social justice.
