of 18 are twice as likely to be beaten, slapped or threatened than women who marry after age 18? 
• A strong preference for sons rather than daughters can lead to girls' malnutrition and stunted growth? ABOUT US
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- What is ICRW?
- Where does ICRW work?
- What are ICRW's areas of work?
- What are some of ICRW's most significant accomplishments?
- Who works at ICRW?
- Who are ICRW's partners?
- Who uses ICRW research findings and recommendations and how?
- How does ICRW help other international development organizations, corporations and foundations address gender in their own programs?
- What is ICRW's annual budget and how is it funded?
What is ICRW?
Founded in 1976, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) is dedicated to promoting gender
equitable development and women's rights, reducing poverty, and contributing to broader economic and social
well-being. ICRW undertakes focused, evidence-based, action-oriented research; provides technical assistance to
partner organizations, donors and governments; and advocates for new or improved policies and programs.
ICRW is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Where does ICRW work?
ICRW collaborates with individuals, governments, businesses, foundations and communities in more than 40 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and South and Central America to catalyze change. ICRW is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has a country office in New Delhi, India. Project offices are located in Andra Pradesh, India, and Kampala, Uganda.
What are ICRW’s areas of work?
Among ICRW's priorities are to:
• Economically empower women.
• Prevent HIV and AIDS among women and girls.
• Eliminate violence against women.
• Create better life options for adolescent girls.
• Combat child marriage.
• Reduce malnutrition and hunger.
What are some of ICRW’s most significant accomplishments?
Domestic Violence: ICRW's research revealed the pervasiveness of domestic violence in India and identified many of its root causes. In partnership with a documentary filmmaker, ICRW used these data to create and telecast public service announcements on Indian television that dispelled the myths surrounding violence against women. The data from ICRW's research and media campaign helped Indian women's organizations to advocate for a national law against domestic violence. They succeeded: the law was passed in 2005.
HIV/AIDS: ICRW has conducted pioneering work on HIV/AIDS. From the early 1990s, ICRW has been one of the first organizations to focus on the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS among women in developing countries. Through its Women and AIDS Research Program — which supported studies in 15 countries on the social, economic, and gender factors fueling the spread of HIV/AIDS among women — ICRW transformed the policy discourse about AIDS prevention and highlighted the social and economic vulnerabilities of women in the epidemic.
In the area of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, ICRW undertook formative research studies in Botswana and Zambia in 1999 to explore the perspectives, needs, and preferences of women and communities regarding services that seek to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and thereby greatly improved services delivered to these populations.
HIV/AIDS-related Stigma: Through research with partners in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia and Vietnam, ICRW has found that women living with HIV/AIDS suffer more from stigma associated with AIDS because of society's expectations that they, more than men, should be sexually chaste and faithful. Based on this and other findings about HIV/AIDS-related stigma, ICRW, in collaboration with other partners, developed a toolkit of ways to intervene to reduce stigma. The toolkit has been translated into multiple languages and currently is being used by community organizations throughout Africa and Asia.
Microbicides for HIV Prevention: ICRW's research
revealed the need for an HIV-prevention method
controlled by women, which contributed to investment
in research and development of microbicides — topical
substances women use to reduce sexually transmitted
infections.
Millennium Development Goals: ICRW co-coordinated
the U.N. Task Force on Education and Gender Equality,
which lays out a plan for achieving Millennium Development
Goal 3: To promote gender equality and the
empowerment of women. The recommendations of the task force are being used by national governments, advocacy organizations and international organizations to implement Goal 3.
Women and Poverty: ICRW was the first to document
the prevalence of poor households that were dependent
on the income and labor of women for their survival,
dispelling the misperception that all households were
headed by men. By failing to recognize women as
heads of households, programs failed to reach the most
vulnerable among the poor.
Who works at ICRW?
ICRW's staff of more than 70 women and men come from Bolivia, India, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Turkey, as well as the United States. More than half of the research staff hold Ph.Ds in the social sciences, such as demography, economics, nutrition, public health and sociology.
Who are ICRW's partners?
ICRW works with more than 100 organizations worldwide to leverage resources, broaden the impact of our work and build local capacity to sustain the impact of our projects.
Multilateral and U.S. partners include:
• Multilateral organizations — UNAIDS; World Bank; World Health Organization (WHO)
• Nonprofits — Population Council; CARE; Academy for Educational Development (AED)
• Universities — Princeton University; University of California at San Francisco
Partners in other countries include:
• Policy and research centers — Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India; Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center,
Tanzania
• Local nongovernmental organizations — Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS), Vietnam; Kimara
Peer Educators and Training Trust, Tanzania
• Universities — Mahidol University, Thailand; University of KwaZuluNatal, South Africa
Who uses ICRW research findings and recommendations and how?
• The U.S. Senate introduced "The International Child Marriage and Prevention Act of 2006" to address
the needs of married and unmarried adolescents in developing countries.
• The United Nations has used ICRW's recommendations on promoting gender equality and women's
empowerment in its long-term efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and guide its broader
international development efforts.
• The Rockefeller Foundation has drawn on ICRW's work to support its initiative to accelerate the
development of microbicides, a female-controlled method to protect women against HIV transmission.
• The Gap Foundation has called on ICRW to support the development of a program to empower young
women who work in Gap Inc. factories.
How does ICRW help other international development organizations, corporations and foundations address gender in their own programs?
• ICRW assists organizations to integrate gender into their development programs: CARE, the United Nations,
UNICEF, U.S. Agency for International Development, The World Bank, World Health Organization, World Vision
and others.
• ICRW helps organizations, ranging from nonprofits such as ACDI/VOCA, to corporate foundations such as
the Nike Foundation, to develop and maintain gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems for
their development programs.
What is ICRW's annual budget and how is it funded?
ICRW's annual budget is approximately $12 million. 2007 annual report.
ICRW's work is made possible by its funding partners, including:
• Governments — U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Government of the Netherlands
• Foundations — Ford Foundation; Rockefeller Foundation; David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• Corporations — M·A·C Cosmetics (the M·A·C AIDS Fund); Nike Inc.; J.P. Morgan Chase; GlaxoSmithKline
• Individuals — Donate today!
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