Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)

History and Activities

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development was founded in 1982. ⁴

In July 2014, AWID denounced Israel’s campaign against Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip. It accused Israel of violating a November 2012 ceasefire and deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians. ⁵

In December 2020, AWID decried what it called a lack of financial support for feminist groups. It complained that almost half of feminist groups that applied for funding from the Global Fund for Women have an annual budget of $30,000 or less. It also lamented that official development assistance and foundations spent less than 1% of money on feminist groups. ⁶

In January 2021, AWID hosted an online gathering called “No Borders, No Walls: Feminists for Abolition.” Participants called for abolishing police and prisons, open borders, and legalizing hard drugs. ²

In June 2021, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development denounced feminists opposed to gender reassignment and accepting natal males who undergo gender reassignment as women. It accused these feminists of invalidating transgender women’s identities, pitting the rights of one group against another, and reducing women to binary biological sex. ⁷

In August 2022, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development attacked the investment firm Blackrock, Inc. and demanded UN Women end their partnership with it. AWID accused Blackrock of “prioritizing profits over human rights or environmental integrity.” It also accused Blackrock of meeting the UN Secretary General’s definition of “morally bankrupt” global finance institutions. It accused Blackrock of “greenwashing” itself and suggested it enlisted UN Women to “pinkwash” itself. It attacked Blackrock for investing in conventional sources of energy, weapons for both the military and law-abiding civilian gun owners, and sovereign debt. The campaign led to UN Women ending a deal with Blackrock. ⁸

In March 2023, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development attacked five American tech companies: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. It accused the companies of using their corporate power to further impoverish marginalized women while co-opting the language of gender equality. ⁹ It also criticized tech platforms as rife with hate speech, misinformation, and coordinated attacks against activists, especially feminists. ⁹

It also attacked the tech companies for mining rare earth minerals and conducting data processing that increased carbon emissions and condemned the tech companies for offering “magic bullet solutions” to climate change to maintain a capitalist status quo. ¹⁰

In June 2023, AWID co-signed a statement with Action Canada for Population and Development, Her Rights Initiative, and the Sexual Rights Initiative that called for “transformative reparations” to racial and ethnic minority groups, claiming poverty among these groups was the result of colonial exploitation. The statement claimed that the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people, states, and corporations limited the resources available for women’s rights. ¹¹

In July 2023, AWID joined with Action Canada for Population and Development, the Sexual Rights Initiative, and Federation for Women and Family Planning in a statement calling for universal legalization of abortion. It also called for the legalization of prostitution and opposed border security laws in the U.S. and Europe. It called these things “structural and intentional violence.” ¹²

Partnerships

Association for Women’s Rights in Development co-founded The Observatory on the Universality of Rights think tank. The group has published articles attacking social and religious conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church. ¹³

In September 2022, AWID founded and hosted the Alliance for Feminist Movements. The alliance connects feminist groups with funders. ¹⁴

Leadership

Faye Macheke and Inna Michaeli are the co-executive directors of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development. ¹⁵

Finances

According to the 2021 tax return, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development raised $4,202,193 in revenue, spent $4,045,670, and had $7,676,160 in assets. ¹⁶

According to its 2022 annual report, Association for Women’s Rights in Development received $1,089,391 from the Ford Foundation, $368,990 from the Foundation for a Just Society, $250,000 from Open Society Foundations, $713,350 from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, $126,745 from the Oak Foundation, $1,556,663 from the Swedish government, and $150,000 from the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. ³

In June 2021, MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave $2.7 billion to various nonprofit organizations. The Association for Women’s Rights in Development received $15 million. ³