Full Participation Report

“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely – and the right to be heard.” – First Lady Hillary Clinton in Beijing, 1995

In 1995, at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 189 nations agreed to an ambitious platform for action: to ensure the full participation of girls and women. To create a benchmark of progress and determine where the gaps remain, No Ceilings partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to collect and analyze data on the status of girls and women since 1995. Working with the Economist Intelligence Unit and the UCLA World Policy Analysis Center, we worked to aggregate 850,000 data points over 20 years across 190 countries on the status of women and girls.

In March 2015, the data – and trends over time – were released as the Full Participation Report,(link is external) available for download in six languages. The report received wide attention and acclaim, including from the New York Times(link is external), Washington Post(link is external), Fortune(link is external), Associated Press(link is external), Wired Magazine Online(link is external) – among many others.

Girls CHARGE

The Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls’ Education (Girls CHARGE) was announced by Secretary Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in September 2014. Girls CHARGE is co-chaired by No Ceilings and the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution and was launched as a $600mm commitment with over 30 multisector partners dedicated to advance girls’ secondary education and reach 14 million girls over five years. Today, Girls CHARGE has grown to 60 cross-sector partners – including governments, private sector companies, UN organizations, and grassroots NGOs – who together have committed $800 million to reach 15 million girls by 2019. No Ceilings continues to provide Secretariat and programmatic support for Girls CHARGE, and held its latest convening in September with Brookings and the Population Council, titled “Research Gaps and Opportunities in Girls’ Life Skills Education: An Expert Consultation.”

"Girls, Women, and the Global Goals"

At the 2016 CGI Annual Meeting, No Ceilings and partners Vital Voices and WEConnect International launched Girls, Women and the Global Goals, a collaboration of 30 partners from the private sector, NGOs, and multilaterals committed to close key gender gaps. Chelsea Clinton announced.(link is external)

The coalition including 24 specific Commitments to Action around three pillars to: 1) promote women’s economic participation; 2) address violence against girls and women; and 3) advance women’s leadership in both the public and private sectors – responding to gender gaps identified in the No Ceilings’ Full Participation Report, and aligned with the gender targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Coalition partners collectively pledged over $70 million through these commitments. This work will directly impact nearly 900,000 individuals in over 60 countries across six continents, including here in the United States. Partners will accomplish this work through programmatic interventions, support to grassroots organizations, advocacy for policy change, and by contributing to the evidence base through robust research. Coalition partners include: Airbnb, American Jewish World Service, Avon, CARE, Catalyst, Cherie Blair Foundation, Dermalogica, EY, East-West Center, Foundation Center, Freeport-McMoRan, Global Fund for Women, IBM, International Center for Research on Women, Ingersoll Rand, McLarty Global Fellows, NEST, No Ceilings an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, Sodexo, Together for Girls, UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, Unilever, Upaya Social Ventures, Vital Voices Global Partnership, WAKE International, Walmart, WEConnect International, Women Deliver, Women for Women International, and Women’s Funding Network.