Sweeping global aid cuts are dismantling organizations fundamental to ending violence against women and girls. As donors slash budgets, more women face increased risk while vital services disappear. A new UN Women report, “At Risk and Underfunded,” highlights the dangerous consequences of reduced funding. Based on a global survey, the study reveals that more than one-third of women’s rights organizations have either suspended or closed violence prevention programs.
Dramatic Service Reductions and Shut Downs
Over 40 percent of groups surveyed have scaled back or shut down life-saving support such as shelters, legal aid, healthcare, and psychosocial care. Reduced resources mean fewer survivors can access essential help, escalating risks and silencing advocacy efforts.
Rising Risk and Impunity for Violence
Most organizations report that reduced funding has directly led to less access to life-saving services. Seventy-eight percent saw drops in support availability. Nearly one in four have stopped prevention programs entirely, raising concerns about rising impunity and the normalization of violence.
Hard-Won Progress at Risk
As women’s rights organizations are forced to reduce scope or close, decades of progress against gender-based violence risk being erased. Leaders urge governments and donors to expand, protect, and make funding more flexible, warning that violence will only escalate without sustained investment.
Global Backlash and Increased Vulnerability
Funding cuts are happening alongside a growing backlash against gender equality in many countries. Women’s groups are forced to focus only on basic assistance, leaving less room for long-term advocacy and systemic change.
Mounting Challenges Amid Humanitarian Crises
As crises intensify worldwide, the strongest impacts are felt by marginalized communities. Women-led organizations serving refugees, migrants, and those caught in conflict warn that looming closures will worsen exclusion and danger for millions.
Call for Urgent Action
UN Women calls for governments and global donors to ringfence and expand support for frontline organizations. Only five percent of respondents anticipate surviving more than two years under current funding levels, while the vast majority predict severe setbacks in protections, laws, and safety for women and girls.
A Turning Point for Gender Equality
This crisis arrives as the world marks 30 years since the Beijing Declaration, a landmark for women’s rights. Without decisive action and increased investment, the fight to end violence against women and girls faces its greatest setback in a generation.