12 women (and 1 man) working toward gender equality

12 women (and one man) who've inspired change for women around the world.

#shebuilds @devex #makewomenmatter @mariestopes

Fahma Mohamed is spearheading a national campaign against female genital mutilation.

Gareth Iwan Jones

Former freedom fighter Graça Machel is an international advocate for women and children’s rights.

Zahur Ramji / Mediapix / World Economic Forum

Dr. Nafis Sadik led the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, a defining moment for women’s health and rights.

UN Photo / Eskinder Debebe

Grace Kodindo is an obstetrician-gynaecologist from Chad who campaigns for reproductive health care as a basic human right.

Melinda Gates has lent her voice to the push to provide birth control for an additional 120 million women in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Russell Watkins / Department for International Development

Meaza Ashenafi is a women’s rights campaigner from Addis Ababa.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and authors, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn have shed light on injustice and human rights abuses.

The Aspen Institute

Afsana Babli is a grassroots politician in Bangladesh campaigning and raising money for better maternal health in her community.

DFID - UK Department for International Development

First Lady of Burkina Faso Chantal Compaoré is a staunch advocate for women’s rights and empowerment as well as health, education and child protection.

Afghan Minister of Health Dr. Soraya Dalil is fighting for women’s rights and health in the country

Anna Macauley (Mama G) has been taking family planning to women in rural Sierra Leone for more than 20 years.

Esther Worae runs a project in Accra helping improve the lives of vulnerable female market workers.