Women by Women
The vital work of achieving women’s rights
In 2024, gender inequality and denial of women’s rights remain fundamental issues. Women and girls, comprising half of the global population, still face significant barriers such as violence, discrimination, and limited access to education and employment. With only six years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress on gender equality remains too slow. Current estimates indicate it will take 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close legal protection gaps, and 140 years for women to achieve equal representation in leadership roles.
ActionAid Ireland works with women who are excluded and live in poverty so that they claim their rights and live safe lives.
In this exhibition we want to shift the lens in two ways to ensure this. Firstly, by focusing on the experiences of refugee women by working exclusively with women photographers from the countries we are spotlighting to get an unbiased and authentic view of the women’s lives. Secondly, to highlight the role of women’s organisations in supporting women’s rights and demanding gender equality. Our Women by Women exhibition is by women photographers from the countries we are spotlighting to get an unbiased and authentic view of the women’s lives. The Women by Women exhibition has been running since 2019, featuring a different theme each year.
@Lida Yurian Diaz Amado
Displaced women face extraordinary challenges and show extraordinary resilience and leadership
ActionAid’s 2024 Women by Women exhibition champions the power and resilience of women living through displacement. These women shatter the usual stereotypes surrounding refugees and asylum seekers and instead show their leadership, and strength in overcoming extraordinary challenges.
From Colombia to Poland and Bangladesh to Uganda, we are showcasing the vital work of women-led organisations that are providing a lifeline to other women seeking asylum while challenging the discrimination they often face.
For millions of women and girls, seeking asylum is the only means of survival when fleeing persecution, yet refugees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East routinely face hostility and are denied access to necessities and support.
ActionAid’s exhibition captures the incredible contributions women refugees make within their host countries and the change they have created for themselves and their communities.
Women photographers, often underrepresented in the media, for uniquely capture refugee women’s lives through their stories, struggles, and triumphs. Their work challenges preconceived notions and gives refugee women a voice, showing how, despite the odds, they advocate for their rights and contribute significantly to their new communities.
