At Utah State, women climbers are ascending on their own terms

A mountain bike riding series for women at Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor is making the sport more accessible by giving new and returning riders the chance to hone their skills with other women on closed trails.

Using a daily soccer practice as a structure, a nonprofit in a remote village in India is teaching girls about gender equality and health and life skills.

Obesity has become a health crisis for many women in the African-American community, but a group known as GirlTrek is working to change this by making exercise a social norm and creating supportive connections between women with shared goals. This new organization, which works to identify barriers that many in this community face, channels African-American history to encourage black women to walk their way toward better health.

Amidst Taliban restrictions on girls’ education, several people are looking for alternative options to further their education. One solution includes the University of the People, a free, online U.S.-accredited university. The virtual university helps make education more accessible and currently has 100,000 participating students worldwide.

The Anderson Scholar House in Indiana provides stable housing at a reduced rent price for single mothers enrolled in college. The organization aims to provide support and guidance so that life pressures don’t stop them from graduating.

A women’s cooperative in Malawi empowers women to diversify their incomes by selling a variety of produce instead of relying only on selling fish. The women in the collective split the proceeds and buy fish in groups to combat increasing sex-for-fish requests from fishermen.

Women of Winter helps train women of color to become professional ski instructors and make the sport more accessible and diversified. Women from across the country come to join the program, receiving a sense of community and access to scholarships to attend events to further their education and experience.

Ethnic Azeri students face disproportionate barriers in achieving university education compared to Georgians. One of those reasons is due to language barriers. Isolated from Georgian society, it's not uncommon for Azeri communities to not speak Georgian fluently. The center has now expanded into a network of multiple centers. One center serves as many as 160 children. It’s working. Some of the centers had a 100% success rate in helping Azeri students enter college.

College athletes created a social media and digital campaign to publish a list of health and labor demands, some of them related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also advocated for racial justice and elevated the Black Lives Matter movement. “Already, the NCAA met two of the player demands: requiring rigorous player COVID-19 testing and standard health protocols, and guaranteeing an additional year of eligibility."

In Diepsloot, South Africa, a small office called Lawyers Against Abuse offers legal support for sexual assault cases in a violent city that traditionally does little to address the issue. The organization offers lawyers, victim advocates, legal counseling, and therapy as they go through the process. Since 2015, they have helped more than 800 women and secured 28 convictions.