About Us
We are the Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University.
Since 2012, we have supported women and girls around the world to lead safe, healthy and productive lives, free from violence.
The Global Women’s Institute is a preeminent institution for research, policy and action on violence against women and girls based at the George Washington University.
We build the global knowledge base on violence against women and girls, strengthen policies and interventions to prevent it and train the next generation of leaders.
Our Mission:
Ending violence against women and girls through research and partnerships that share power and shape policy
Our Vision:
A world where women and girls have the same rights and opportunities as men and boys, and are free from discrimination, violence and coercion
The Problem
Violence against women and girls occurs in every country — devastating lives, weakening communities and undermining the security and prosperity of nations.
The Opportunity
Smart policies and sustained investments — grounded in local evidence and experience — can end violence within our lifetime.
Our Solution
We build research and partnerships that share power and shape policy so that we can end violence against women and girls for good.
We Believe
It is critical to stand with and learn from women human rights defenders, activists and women’s groups around the world.
Research is not an end in itself but is the foundation of well-informed actions that produce positive social change.
Women and girls can lead safe and productive lives, free from violence.
Research should protect the safety and dignity of participants.
Evidence and numbers matter, but so do the individual stories behind the numbers.
Research belongs to and should be steered by local communities.
Our Approach
We believe that positive change happens when actions are driven by research, and that the most authentic evidence is generated in partnership with those who work in and know the context best. We work in more than 30 countries with over 50 local and international partners.
We build the global evidence base on violence against women and girls.
We center women’s movements and civil society groups to co-design and evaluate interventions that prevent violence against women.
We strengthen interventions, policies and investments designed to end violence against women and girls.
We use our research to train the next generation of leaders at George Washington University and globally.
Our Story
“There was almost no research on violence against women, particularly epidemiological research, until the 1990s when a few groups of feminist researchers around the world started trying to break that open,” Global Women’s Institute Director Mary Ellsberg says. She was one of those researchers. Learn more about our journey in GW Research Magazine.
Scroll left/right to explore the timeline
2012
Launch the Global Women's Institute as a pan-university initiative housed in the office of GWU president and with Dr. Mary Ellsberg as Founding Director.
2013
Created a Resource Guide for universities and secondary schools based on the inspiring memoir by Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala together with the Malala fund.
2014
Launched Arts for Gender Justice with GWU Theater and Dance department to engage students on campus and globally, using art to cultivate awareness about women's empowerment and social norms.
2014
Conducted a groundbreaking, comprehensive review of evidence based interventions to prevent violence against women and girls from around the world. Published in The Lancet, in the journals first-ever special issue on violence against women and girls.
2015
Led first population-based study on violence against women and girls in conflict affected areas of South Sudan. The study influenced subsequent peace negotiations.
2016
Carried out a 20 year follow up study to previous research in Nicaragua, finding a 70% reduction in the past year in intimate partner of violence. The study demonstrated that violence against women and girls can be prevented through a multi-sector approach, combined with feminist organizing.
2017
Assessed the Australian Government's international program to end VAWG evaluating the impact of investments to improve improved women's access to justice, services, and prevention.
2018
Launched GenderPro, of first-of-its-kind program delivered virtually and available globally to professionalize, standardize, and strengthen the field of gender within international development.
2019-2022
Evaluated successful programs to prevent VAWG. GWI evaluated the Rethinking Power program developed by Beyond Borders and Raising Voices to assess its impact in the southeast Haiti. This program is now a proven solution that has reduced intimate partner violence by nearly 45%.
2021
Developed and led Empowered Aid, a multi-year, multi-country participatory action research project that explores sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls in refugee settings, including Lebanon and Uganda. Empowered Aid recognizes women and girls as contextual safeguarding experts and engages them as co-producers of knowledge.
2022
Selected to lead the world's largest ever, multi-year global research consortium to study and upscale effective measures to prevent gender-based violence. The second phase of What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls: Impact at Scale program is funded by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Our Team
Meet all the people who make our work possible. Learn more about how you can collaborate with us.
We Are Agents of Change
Explore more about us and our impact over the last decade:
5 Years of Impact
10 Years of Impact