On International Women's Day, Here's a Curated List of Organizations to Support Worldwide

Feb. 24 marked a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. Women accounted for nearly 40 percent of the more than 21,000 civilian casualties in 2022, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. Of those who have survived the war, nearly 18 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and 14 million people have been displaced from their homes, the overwhelming majority of whom are women.

Women are disproportionately affected in other ways: namely, increased violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault, according to a Rapid Gender Analysis carried out by UN Women and CARE International. Financial instability is also increasing sexual exploitation, trafficking, family separation, and other forms of attacks on women and girls.

Who is helping?

South Africa consistently reports one of the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in the world. From 2019 to 2020, reports of sexual violence increased by an average of 146 attacks a day, of which 116 were rape, totaling 42,289 rapes in those two years, according to police data. The overall trend has been increasing since 2017, police say.

In January 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed gender-based violence with three new laws, yet between July and September 2022, 9,556 cases of rape were reported to police; activists say the true number may be even higher.

Last July, the gang rape and robbery of eight women shooting a video at an abandoned mine in West Village, Krugersdorp, also caught national attention.

Who is helping?

Like in so many countries, women in Indonesia are subject to online gender-based violence (OGBV), which has been multiplying exponentially in recent years. In 2020, Komnas Perempuan, Indonesia's National Commission on Violence Against Women, reported 940 cases of online gender-based violence, up from 281 in 2019. The South East Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet) — a South Asian NGO — also noted a 10-fold increase from 60 cases in 2019 to 620 in 2020.

OGBV can include nonconsensual release of intimate images, online harassment or abuse, doxxing, and "cyber-homophobia," or attacking someone's sexual identity. LGBTQ+ Indonesians often seek out friends and resources online but aren't legally protected against hate crimes and discrimination and are often subject to such attacks.

Who is helping?

In April 2022, the discovery of 18-year-old law student Debanhi Escobar's body in a water tank in Monterrey, Mexico, drew international attention to the ongoing violence against women in the country. Throughout Mexico, more than 24,000 women were missing as of last year, according to the government. And in 2022, 70 percent of Mexican women surveyed by the government said they had experienced violence in some form.

Human-rights workers have also disappeared. Journalists are being targeted as they raise awareness of these issues — 153 reporters have been murdered and another 29 "disappeared" since the late 1990s, according to the Columbia Journalism Review. Nine journalists were murdered in the first three months of 2022, matching the number killed in 2021.

Women in the country are speaking out. Last year, thousands of protesters in Mexico City marched on International Women's Day to bring awareness to the issue of femicides and ongoing violence.

Who is helping?

Being a single or under-resourced mother has always been hard in South Korea. Look no further than the fact that widespread transnational adoption started with Korean children in orphanages, many of whom had living mothers who could not keep a place in society or lacked the means to raise them on their own. The crisis worsened after the Korean War ended, leaving many women single but with children; since then, there's been enduring societal sigmas surrounding premarital sex and singledom in general for women. For all of its modernity, Korea remains a patriarchal, conservative society with limited options for single or unwed mothers or their children.

Who is helping?

With a growing number of states passing laws that curtail LGBTQ+ rights, the US is becoming an increasingly dangerous place for trans and nonbinary Americans to go to school, play sports, and simply live, even in states where their rights aren't being directly limited. Tennessee recently made headlines for becoming the first state to restrict public drag performances, and a US House panel is currently considering a federal bill that would ban transgender women and girls from competing in team sports. Last year, the US Air Force even offered to transfer active-duty members with an LGBTQ+ family member to safer states within the country.

Who is helping?