Plan International strives for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We envision a world in which children and young people are not disadvantaged by gender inequality, and exclusion. Our commitment to promoting gender justice, realizing girls’ rights and fostering an inclusive society is reflected in our Strategy (2022-2027), “All Girls Standing Strong.” Our vision is for all our work to be fully gender transformative and inclusive I,e. tackling the root causes and consequences of gender inequality and exclusion in all contexts.
Despite progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the world is still not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic, rise of anti-rights movements, climate change, increasing humanitarian crises, on-going global economic meltdown, shrinking civil society space are all threatening gains made in gender justice and inclusion worldwide.
What is gender equality and inclusion?
Gender equality and inclusion means that all persons, regardless of their gender, age, race, nationality, beliefs, ability, socioeconomic status etc., enjoy the same status in society; have the same entitlements to all human rights; enjoy the same level of respect in the community; can take advantage of the same opportunities to make choices about their lives; and have the same amount of power to shape the outcomes of these choices.
Women and men, girls and boys in all of their diversity including people who do not identify within the confines of the gender binary, have different needs and priorities, face different constraints, and have access to different opportunities. Their relative positions in society are based on norms that, while not fixed, tend to disadvantage more women and girls compared to men and boys.
Being free of all forms of discrimination is a fundamental human right and a proven pathway to sustainable development. Gender inequality and exclusion anywhere leads to the subordination and exclusion of women and girls, sidelining half of the world’s talent, experience and knowledge, leaving societies operating at reduced capacity. For development and humanitarian assistance to yield maximum impact, it is critical to go beyond improving the condition of women and girls to improve their social position by investing in girls and women and in bringing about a change in the external barriers that block their way to power!
Therefore, achieving gender equality, promoting gender justice, realizing girls’ rights and fostering an inclusive society is a core objective of all our work as an organization dedicated to child rights and equality for girls.
How does Plan International Help advance gender equality and Inclusion?
Plan International knows achieving the SDG ambition of ‘leaving no one behind’ requires transformative change. We confront and challenge intersectional gender-based discrimination, oppression and human rights violations. All our work- programming or advocacy - tackles the root causes of gender inequality and exclusion and reshapes unequal power relations with diverse women and girls in the lead. It focuses not only on providing equal opportunities and outcomes for all, but on removing the barriers that keep girls and women from achieving their full potential and exercising their rights.
Our gender transformative and inclusive approach is rights-based and works at multiple levels of change from the individual to the household, community and policies, laws and services so that everyone, particularly girls and women can realize their rights and reach their full potential and the change is sustainable. All initiatives are based on robust evidence of the context the programs are implemented in, co-created and implemented.
With women, girls, men and boys in all their diversity,
Together we:
Support girls and women in building their inherent individual and collective agency. This means the critical ability to make an informed choice and act on that choice in all matters that affect them. We work closely with local women’s rights and girl/youth led organizations in this endeavour. This work includes:
- Creating and strengthening solidarity groups of women and girls that provide safe spaces to them to discuss issues and arrive at solutions together
- Building and sharing capacity between peers through training sessions on life-skills, assertiveness skills, self-confidence and leadership skills
- Fostering the participation and leadership of girls and women in public life such as community or national forums so their voices are heard
- Supporting girl/women led change movements in communities and beyond
Support the creation of an enabling social environment for gender equality by working with men and boys, community- based influencers such as religious and traditional leaders, family and community elders and the media as allies of gender equality and inclusion This includes:
- Creating and strengthening local men’s and boys’ groups that take them through a transformative journey of change in healthy masculinities
- Supporting community based and beyond initiatives such as campaigns with men and boys as allies of gender equality
- Orienting local and national influencers such as religious leaders, traditional chiefs/ leaders, grand parents, parents and others on gender equality and girls’ rights so they can then carry those messages forward
- Organizing inter-generational dialogues in communities
- Conducting broad awareness raising initiatives through media and other methods
Support systemic change to make policies, laws, institutions and services more gender-responsive and adolescent friendly. This includes:
- Training of government policy and decision makers and service providers in health, education, protection and economic participation
- Supporting the development of policies, protocols, procedures in institutions that are gender responsive and adolescent friendly
- Supporting national data collection initiatives to ensure robust collection and analysis with an intersectional gendered lens
- Supporting governance mechanisms across levels in becoming more gender equitable and inclusive
How do we measure success?
Gender transformative work is multifaceted, integrated and complex if it is to achieve its ultimate objective of realizing women’s and girls’ rights and gender equality by shifting entrenched and unequal social norms, attitudes and behaviours. These changes, especially in attitudes and perceptions, are difficult to measure.
Plan International Canada has developed a comprehensive girl/woman centric index – Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment Index- that measures changes in the root causes of gender inequality and captures the breadth and scope of gender transformative change.
See our publications» on Gender Equality and Inclusion
Our focus on girls
Equality for girls is crucial to achieving a just world
Every child has the right to be healthy, educated, protected, valued, respected and heard. However, the reality is that millions of children around the world are barred from realizing their rights. Gender inequality intensifies the negative effects of all forms of injustice. Girls often face the most significant gender-related barriers to exercising their rights and reaching their full potential, which is why gender equality, inclusion and girls’ rights remain a distinct priority for our work.
Around the world, girls in all their diversity are among the most disadvantaged people due to their age
and gender as well as other intersecting factors of exclusion. They are more likely to live in poverty, be malnourished, be forced into early marriage, be subject to gender based violence and be expected to carry the burden of unpaid care work in their homes that often denies them an education and career opportunities.
When girls have equal opportunity to reach their potential, they are powerful agents of change.
All girls are powerful. A healthy, educated and protected girl anywhere can pursue her full potential and a better future of her own choosing. In communities where girls can equally access their rights and opportunities, societies can work to raise their standard of living and, in time, strengthen the economy of the entire country as well as help end cycles of poverty, gender-based violence and child marriage.
How we work with girls
Our vision is of a world where every girl, without exception, can learn, lead, decide and thrive. Towards this vision, in partnership with girls and their communities, we take an evidence based and contextual gender-transformative and inclusive approach, to tackle the root causes of gender inequality and exclusion. This means rebalancing unequal personal and public power relationships, patriarchal systems that prioritize boys and men over girls and women. With girls and women in the lead, we focus on tackling rights violations of girls in their diversity, providing equal opportunities and outcomes for all and removing the barriers that specifically keep girls from reaching their full potential.
Child marriage
Every 2 seconds a girl under 18 is married
Did you know that child marriage is a human-rights violation and increases a girl’s risk of domestic abuse, early pregnancy and HIV?
Girl's education
130 million
Girls are not attending primary or secondary school. Every day, girls around the world are denied their right to education because of poverty, malnourishment, gender norms and violence.
Gender-based violence
4.1 million
Girls are at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation and cutting. FGM/C can lead to menstrual blockage, blood poisoning and death.
The world is in a race against time.
The global gender gap is currently projected to take another 132 years to close. We say that’s not good enough.
Plan International Canada has launched a new five-year strategy, All Girls Standing Strong, which works towards a just world, creating global change and improving the lives of 30 million children, with 15 million of them being girls.
How you can help
Interested in supporting the cause? Check out these ways you can begin championing girls’ rights and gender equality.
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