This collection highlights just a few stories about our work in this area. To find out more about how AJWS is striving to advance the rights of women, girls and LGBT people, visit our Sexual Health and Rights issue page.
Sexual Health and Rights: Story Collection
We support women, girls and LGBT people, as they organize to end discrimination, stop violence and live with dignity, safety and health.
Coming Out Into a New Reality in India
I came out to my father in 1998, over the phone. He was in Bombay,…
The Revolution Must Include Boys: Young Men Learn to be Allies for Gender Equality in India
Watching girls and boys, men and women, striving together for gender equality in India gave…
New video from India on gender inequality and political power
By Margo Mullinax, PhD, and Elizabeth Daube The 2018 Commission on the Status of Women…
Our fight for women and girls
I’m so inspired by the images of hundreds of thousands of people—including supporters of AJWS—who…
HIV and AIDS is a Public Health and Human Rights Crisis
Today marks the first World AIDS Day under the Trump Administration. As Policy Advisor for…
Get to know AJWS’s Jacqueline Hart
Jacqueline Hart, Ph.D., joined American Jewish World Service in 2012 to lead the organization’s efforts…
Guatemalan youth take a stand in defense of sexual health and rights
LGBT Love and Loss in Cambodia
Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) brings LGBT people from throughout Cambodia together to reflect on their…
Julienne Lusenge
Raising a voice for women amid the horrors of war
Binta Diao
Giving girls control over their bodies and futures
Meant for Something More
Sonali’s parents forced her to marry at age 14, and her husband turned out to…
Meet Jeanette
Twenty-three-year-old Jeanette and her two children live in the North Kivu province of the Democratic…
Meet Naw Wah
Naw Wah* fled her village in Burma when she was 15. Her close-knit, rural community…
Meet Teresa
Teresa, a Nicaraguan woman, married her husband when she was 19 years old. She agreed…
Meet Grace
Grace is the mother of seven children. She lives in Democratic Republic of Congo, a…
Meet Dayanara
Dayanara, a woman from Nicaragua, came out to her family as transgender when she was…
Activists stand up to Haiti’s anti-LGBT extremists
Homophobic hatred sizzled in Haiti’s streets last summer. Religious leaders marched throughout the country to…
Youth make strides for reproductive health in Guatemala
In Guatemala, very few young people have access to quality reproductive health care and sexual…
Volunteer Network of Friends Forever Friends
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Dominican Republic have long faced discrimination…
Using the Law to Help Uganda’s People Seek Justice
In Uganda, being poor means facing limits—not just limited income, but also limited ability to…
Tostan
Tostan—which means “breakthrough” in Wolof, the national language of Senegal—is among the highest-profile social change…
Women speak out against sexual assault in Kenya
KENYA—Grace Mbugua was riding in a matatu van when the attendant started to harass her.…
Meet Zeenat
Zeenat is 17 years old and has already been married and divorced three times. All…