Ghana
Ophelia Acquah
Congo: The Worst Place To Be A Woman
2011
© Ophelia Acquah

Using rape as a weapon of war has blighted thousands of lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Women have constantly been targets of the armed forces during Congo’s intractable conflicts in North and South Kivu provinces. According to the UN, more than 8,000 women were raped in 2009. Women are raped while going to the fields, on their way to market to trade, or on the road to the stream while fetching water. When there are attacks on villages, the number of new cases of sexual violence increases. Cases of sexual violence continue to increase because women cannot stop going to fields and markets and fetching water.

Mexico
Eduardo Barrera Arambarri
Crime: 298* Punishment: 0
2001
© Eduardo Barrera Arambarri
*Official number of women who have disappeared in Juarez City at the time.

Hundreds of young women have disappeared from the Mexican border city of Juarez since 1993 — many of them teenagers who came to Juarez to work in the town's foreign-owned factories, known as "maquilladoras." Many of the victims have the hallmarks of serial killings: they were raped, some had their hands tied or their hair cut or their breasts mutilated. Bodies have been found with their heads crushed or even driven over by a car. The killers appear to prey on a certain type of young woman: slim with big brown eyes and long brown hair. Most of the victims are assaulted on their way home from work.

Design & Photography: Eduardo Barrera Arambarri
Model: Elisabeth Blum

USA
Scott Bakal
Keep Abortion Legal
2017
© Scott Bakal

The only actual debate about abortion is: Do you want safe ones or dangerous ones?

USA
R. Black
Want More, Vote More
2012
© R. Black

Although women were granted the right to vote in 1920 in the United States, women did not turn out to the polls in the same numbers as men until 1980. From 1980 until the present, women have voted in elections averaging the same percentage as men. This poster advocates for more women to vote in elections in order to get the rights that they deserve.

USA
Eric Boelts
Women Aren’t Battlefields
2017
© Eric Boelts

Multiple wars rage on our planet Earth, and in every conflict women are abused, raped and murdered as a tactic of warfare.

New Zealand
Nigel Buchanan
Fight Like RBG
2016
© Nigel Buchanan

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) is an American lawyer and jurist currently serving as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. The poster image was commissioned by The National Review magazine. The brief was to show Ruth Bader Ginsberg in a strong heroic pose as the tireless fighter she is.

USA
Barbara Carrasco
Dolores
1999
© Barbara Carrasco

Dolores Huerta (born 1930) is a civil rights activist, feminist, labor leader, and living legend who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (which later became the United Farm Workers) with Cesar Chavez in 1962. Huerta helped organize the United Farm Workers’ national grape boycott in 1965, which forced grape growers in California to sign a three-year collective bargaining agreement, raising the nation’s consciousness about deplorable working conditions for farmworkers, and launched a movement to improve those conditions that continue to this day. 

USA
Melanie Cervantes
A Woman’s Place is in the Struggle
2012
© Melanie Cervantes

This poster was created for use on the Undocu Bus Tour in 2012. They were on the bus tour to highlight their plight and to challenge their anti-immigrant foes in the ongoing national debate on immigration. The ‘riders’ did not have the legal documents needed to be in the U.S., a point they wanted everyone they met to know.

USA
Melanie Cervantes
Indigenous Women Defending Land and Life Since the Beginning of Time
2009
© Melanie Cervantes

As individuals, organizations, communities, or people, indigenous women continually prove their strength in the face of threat and adversity. Indigenous women have a relationship with the land, living differently than men despite the collective work shared between women and men. Women preserve culture and tradition and have fought for generations to defend their land. Women struggle on three levels: for their land, against discrimination, and acknowledging their rights.

USA
Trudy Cole
Preserve the Right of Choice (Restricted Area)
1993
© Trudy Cole

This poster was designed to promote the understanding that a woman’s body is her own, and that she has the ultimate right to say what she does with it.

USA
Vanilla Chi
We Stand As One
2021
© Vanilla Chi

“We Stand as One” is a personal response to the alarming rise of anti-Asian racism and in support of the ESEA community. Since the beginning of the global pandemic, anti-Asian hate crimes accompanied by hateful language and violent confrontations have sadly flourished in the Western world. “I created this work from the personal perspective of a Chinese person living in the US by researching and selecting objects with so-called oriental elements and attaching them to metaphors in a quiet, fragile, glassy atmosphere. I sincerely hope that my comic story can bring empathy, humanistic care, and courage to our community. We stand together; we make our voices heard. We are in this together.”

USA
Tina Lam Collier (“turnonred”) 
This Body is Not a Political Battleground
2012
© Tina Lam Collier

Although this poster was created almost a decade ago, it sadly remains relevant today as campaigns against reproductive freedom are being waged throughout the United States.

USA
Molly Crabapple
Audre Lorde
2018
© Molly Crabapple

Audre Lorde (1934–1992) was an American writer, intersectional feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist. She is known for her technical mastery and emotional expression as a poet. Her poems express anger and outrage at civil and social injustices she observed throughout her life. A self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia.

UAE/Egypt
DDB Dubai
Finding women in [technology/politics/science] shouldn’t be this hard. Let’s work together for equal representation in the workplace.
2017
Series of three posters

The ad campaign, titled Finding Her, created by DDB Dubai for UN Women Egypt, was designed to draw attention to the lack of women in the Egyptian workforce, which is only 23% female. The series of three illustrations created by the Japanese duo IC4Design illustrate the primarily male-dominated industry workplaces of science, technology, and politics with only one woman. “Even though the percentage of women in the workforce is so low, the issue still goes largely unnoticed. By creating these elaborate ads that you really spend time looking at, we wanted to raise awareness for the cause.” —Firas Medrows, executive creative director at DDB Dubai.

Agency: DDB Dubai
Client: UN Women Egypt
Executive Creative Director: Firas Medrows
Group Creative Director: Zahir Mirza
Associate Creative Director: Hande Güler
Art Director: Andreas Schwitter
Copywriter: Victor Haffling
Planner: Hend Raafat
Illustrator: IC4Design

Germany/Poland
Lex Drewinski
Double Work
2014
© Lex Drewinski

Working mothers have no choice but to juggle long working hours and caring for their families without adequate support systems.

Germany/Poland
Lex Drewinski
Free Pussy Riot
2014
© Lex Drewinski

Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest punk rock group based in Moscow. The group gained global notoriety when five members of the group staged a performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 2012. The group's actions were regarded sacrilegious by the Orthodox clergy and eventually stopped by church security officials. The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leaders’ support for Putin during his election campaign. Denied bail, they were held in custody until their trial began in late July. On August 17, 2012, the three members were convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” Each member was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

Italy
Fabrica
Violence in Red: Post Red Intimate
Violence in Red: Post Red Sexual
2003
©World Health Organization

Series of two posters

In support of the World Health Organization, Fabrica created the logo and images for the Global Campaign for Violence Prevention, which is used worldwide to awaken people to a hidden problem inside the home. They illustrate the abashment, the fear, the shame of suffering but never reported violence and the indelible mark of violence that offends humanity, the victims, and the persecutors.

USA
Shepard Fairey
Defend the Rights of Women and Girls
2011
Client: Amnesty International USA
© Shepard Fairey

In 2011, Amnesty International called for a repeal of the abortion ban and to end sexual violence among women and children. The butterfly symbol shows that for every one of us, thousands of people worldwide are with us in our struggle.

USA
Brooke Fischer
Susan B. Anthony
2018
© Brooke Fischer

 Susan B. Anthony was a pioneer crusader for the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. She was president (1892–1900) of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Her work helped pave the way for the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote. She was an impassioned abolitionist who gave speeches against slavery. She also founded the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The yellow rose became the symbol of the women’s suffrage movement. The roses were used to distinguish suffragists from the anti-suffragists who wore red roses. Yellow has long been the color use by the suffrage movement. I feel it is important for future generations to learn about the hard fought battle for women’s rights so that we can continue to protect and expand equality for all.

USA

Brooke Fischer
Greta Thunberg: Climate Activist
2019
© Brooke Fischer

Greta’s message is not to sugarcoat the harsh reality we humans face in climate change. We both believe humans are in for a rude awakening if we do not act now! We can all help the planet by making changes in our daily lives, despite the lack of support from our governments. As Greta says, “You are never too small to make a difference.” In this poster, I have portrayed her as a ray of light, a protector of the earth and all living things, great and small. We can change our course. As she said in her infamous UN speech, the real power belongs to the people.

Austria
FCB Kobza
More Education for Girls in Islamic Countries
2012

Girls’ education is an intrinsic right and critical to reaching other development objectives. Providing girls with an education helps break the cycle of poverty: educated women are less likely to marry early and against their will, less likely to die in childbirth, more likely to have healthy babies, and more likely to send their children to school. When all children have access to a quality education rooted in human rights and gender equality, it creates a ripple effect of opportunity that influences generations.

Creative Directors: Patrik Partl/Joachim Glawion
Art Director: Tolga Büyükdoganay
Photographer: Joe Fish
Client: UNICEF

Germany
Michelle Flunger
Stop FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)
2012
© Michelle Flunger

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a term that encompasses all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. The practice of FGM is rooted in a mixture of social, cultural, and religious factors and is, therefore, a very complex and controversial issue. Every year, 2 million girls suffer the pain of genital mutilation, a clear violation of their human rights. No government should continue to ignore this crime.

Egypt
Ashraf Foda
Raise Your Voice: Stop Harassment
2013
© Ashraf Foda

The Anti-Harassment Movement, a volunteer movement started in Cairo, Egypt, has no political or religious affiliations. The movement fights harassment in all its forms: intellectual, physical harassment, cultural or religious. The first campaign it organized was against sexual harassment in Egypt with the goal of creating a law to deter harassers and empower victims to speak out and take a stance against this epidemic.

France
Nicolas Gillon
Violence Against Women:
Aïe love you; Ouch Liebe Dich; Tue Amo
2014
Series of three posters
© Nicolas Gillon

In 2013, domestic violence claimed the lives of 121 women in France. Violence against women, also known as gender-based violence, is defined as violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women because they are women. Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website: “Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.”

Germany
Ariane Spanier
Woman Life Freedom
2022
© Ariane Spanier

“I designed this poster to support the Iranian freedom movement, ‘Woman Life Freedom.’ The transformation of a woman’s hair into a tornado symbolizes a powerful force that moves and spins towards freedom—able to align circumstances in a new order. I can only bear witness from afar the struggles that women face in a world where oppressive structures surround them. But I see the tornado, the strength, and resilience of these fearless people who fight for change and refuse to be pushed down.”

Mexico

Alejandro Magallanes González
Ciuad Juárez 300 Mujeres Muertas 500 Mujeres Desaparecidas
Ciuad Juárez 300 Dead Women 500 Missing Women
2002
© Alejandro Magallanes González

In Mexico, sociocultural practices such as machismo, characterized by male power and aggression, are widespread. Machismo, motivated by misogyny and sexism, promotes the superiority of men over women, triggering acts of extreme violence against women simply because they are women.

Since the early 1990s, more than 700 violent deaths of women and girls have been reported in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. After years of official apathy and police incompetence towards solving and ending these brutal murders, a group of graphic designers from Mexico City invited colleagues to express their concern and outrage by designing posters around the slogan The Women of Juárez Demand Justice! / ¡Las Muertas de Juárez Demandan Justicia! Sixty posters (including this one) traveled throughout Mexico, educating about the murders and forcing the authorities to become involved.

Iran
Sonia Hekmati
Female Rights
2011
© Sonia Hekmati

After centuries of efforts in some countries, women now play a more influential role in their societies. Yet, women’s struggle still exists in my country’s violence perpetrated against women.

USA
Nancy Hom
Catalina’s World
2011
© Nancy Hom

This poster was commissioned for the traveling exhibition New World Border on how artists view the issues created by the Mexican/U.S. border wall. My parody of Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World shows the contrast between the two women and how we perceive them. In his famous painting, Wyeth depicts his neighbor in Maine, who, crippled by polio, is physically challenged but has a strong spirit that helps her conquer her situation. In my version of Catalina's World, a Mexican woman is depicted in her challenge to cross the Mexican/U.S. border, but no one praises her extraordinary spirit and will. Instead, she is met with threats of deportation or death.

USA
Nancy Hom
Women’s Voices for Peace and Freedom
1987
© Nancy Hom

Women’s voices are needed to create a vision of peace and tolerance and defend the values dear to our society. My poster focuses on a Palestinian woman concerned about achieving a peaceful and just resolution in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict as Israel continues to reject Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem. The dove, representing peace, is just beyond her grasp, but she keeps trying.

Co­-sponsored by the Alliance Against Women's Oppression and Casa Puerto Rico and printed at Mission Graphica.

Poland
Homework / Jerzy Skakun & Joanna Gorska
Men’s World
2017
© Homework / Jerzy Skakun & Joanna Gorska

This image employs the metaphor of Sisyphus, a figure of Greek mythology who was condemned to forever repeat the same meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, only to see it roll down again. This universal metaphor explicitly describes a woman’s place in a man’s world.

Mexico
Lourdes Zolezzi Horiuchi 
Against Violence to Women
2000
© Lourdes Zolezzi Horiuchi 

The phenomenon of female homicides in Ciudad Juárez called in Spanish ‘feminicidio’ (feminicide), involves the violent deaths of hundreds of women and girls since 1993 in the northern Mexican region of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a border city across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas.

More than 350 women’s bodies have been found in or near Ciudad Juarez since 2003. Many of the victims have been girls and young women, from 10 to 22 years old, who worked in the maquiladoras (factories). Almost all were slender, had dark skin, and had long dark hair. All of them were poor. The brutality of the murders is stunning. The women have been raped, slashed, strangled, crushed, maimed, dismembered, and mutilated. These are crimes of such intense hatred that they seek to destroy the personhood of the women, negating their humanity and erasing their existence.

South Africa
Joe Public 
Many Women Feel Safer Here Than at Home
2015
Series of 3 posters

For International Women’s Day 2015, South African advertising agency Joe Public brought out a hard-hitting campaign that aims to increase awareness of intimate partner violence and bring to light the work done by POWA (People Opposing Women Abuse).

After learning the alarming statistic that South Africa has the most intimate partner violence deaths globally, Joe Public created a series of print advertisements highlighting the harsh reality that many South African women feel safer on the streets than in their own homes.

Executive Creative Director: Pepe Marais
Creative Director: Roanna Williams
Art Director: Thina zibi
Copywriter: Robert Storom
Photographer: David Prior
Retoucher: Rob Frew
Account Manager: Mpume Ngobese

USA
Jessica Sabogal 
If Abortion Ain’t Safe, Then Neither Are You!
2023
© Jessica Sabogal

Colonialism and Christianity FUERA de los cuerpos cuir, trans, black, brown, poor, and working-class women! This poster print honors those historically excluded from feminism and abortion discourse worldwide, including but not limited to: the women of the Black Panther Party, the women of the Brown Berets, Las Santas Locas, Angela Davis, Yolanda López, and my mama. The green bandana is used as a nod to abortion protests in Colombia and all over Latin America that guide us toward what is necessary to defeat our fascist governments.

Tokyo
JWT Tokyo
The Marriage Ring
2005

One in every five Japanese women suffers a violent relationship. Marriage is considered a sacred bond between two people, yet this image suggests that it can also enslave a woman to abuse by her husband.

Creative Director: Masutami Kunimitsu
Art Director: Daishi Sumi
Copywriter: Masutami Kunimitsu
Client: Amnesty International

Bosnia & Herzegovina
Dalida Karić-Hadžiahmetović 
Woman is not an Object
2012
© Dalida Karić-Hadžiahmetović 

In this image, the woman is treated as furniture waiting to be used. She has no dignity; she has no face; she has no humanity. This situation is unacceptable and must be stopped; a woman is not an object. Women must be treated with respect as human beings equal to men.

Photo: Dalida Karić-Hadžiahmetović and Nora Hadžiahmetović

Israel

Michel Kichka
Stop Violence Against Women
2008
© Michel Kichka

A clenched fist is a universal visual symbol of protest. By inserting a battered woman in the inner white space, I changed the fist into a threat and a protest, creating a double meaning.

Hungary
Anna Korolovszky 
#youtoo
2017
© Anna Korolovszky 

One of the most critical aspects of the “Me Too” campaign is for societies to take responsibility for the victim’s environment. Not to stay silent or idle regarding recognition of violence and abuse. When victims do not speak up, they unwittingly participate in this crime, making it extremely difficult and almost impossible for other victims to process their situation and trauma. #youtoo are responsible!

Poland
Sebastian Kubica 
Równouprawnienie/Gender Equality
2005
© Sebastian Kubica 

This poster addresses the still-unresolved issues of women’s inequality in the home and in the workplace.

Canada
Anita Kunz 
Leave My Body Alone
2006

This image addresses the idea that our bodies are our own and we should, of course, have control over what we do. 

Art Direction: Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman
© Anita Kunz for RESIST Publication

Canada
Anita Kunz 
Treat Women as Equals
2001
© Anita Kunz

This poster depicts a male and female profile superimposed with a scale that favors the man. Women are still not paid equally in many professions as they are still often held to a different standard.

USA
Meaghan A. Dee
Women, Life, Freedom
2022
© Meaghan A. Dee

I asked my friend Elham if there was anything I could do to support her during the nationwide protests in Iran against the country’s hijab laws. She told me to design a poster to continue to bring international attention to support the protest. For this poster, I created the words “women, life, freedom,” using my own hair to honor the many Iranian women who are exposing their hair or chopping it off in acts of brave defiance.

Russia
Laboratory of Social Advertising
Women of Kyrgyzstan: Unbind Yourself from Domestic Violence/Eyes/Mouth/Hands
2015

“Unbind yourself from domestic violence” is a series of 3 posters made for the First Women’s Rights Campaign in Kyrgyzstan, “Equal Rights—Joint Success.” Suppose a married woman is subjected to physical or psychological violence. In that case, she is ‘bound’ by the fear of shame upon the family if she reports her situation. She becomes a hostage of domestic violence. By tradition in Kyrgyzstan, married women wear a headscarf to symbolize their marital status. Here, the scarf is used as a metaphor for forced marriages, bride kidnapping, and violence.

Executive Creative Director & Photography: Georgy Molodtsov
Producer and Art Director: Evgeniya Molodtsova
Art Director: Dilshad Matkulov
Client: Open Line Public Foundation, Kyrgyzstan

Israel
Dan Reisinger
Open Your Eyes to Your Rights
2017
© Dan Reisinger

This poster advocates that each individual needs to take personal responsibility in the struggle for equal rights for women.

USA
UN Women
Welcome to Equiterra, Where Gender Equality is Real.
2020
Illustration: Ruby Taylor

In Equiterra, all people have equal rights and opportunities, regardless of their gender. Women and girls feel safe when walking at night. They get paid equally as men for work of equal value. Men and women share chores and care duties at home, and they can access high-quality care at affordable rates. Women have an equal say in decisions that affect their lives, their bodies, their policies, and their environment. Girls are as valued as boys are, and people of all gender and sexuality feel safe and equal. This is what gender equality looks like.

Sadly, Equiterra exists only in our imagination, but it’s a place that we can all aspire to build. To date, no country in the world has achieved gender equality. In 1995, 193 countries came together at the Fourth World Conference on Women and signed on to the most comprehensive global roadmap to destination “gender equality,” the Beijing Platform for Action. There has been much progress since then, but many promises have yet to be fulfilled. UN Women works globally to turn those promises into action.

Israel
Yossi Lemel
Freedom From Oppression
2017
© Yossi Lemel

A significant number of Muslim women cover themselves from head to toe in their traditional, entire-body burka cloaks. The burka is not a religious symbol—it is a symbol of enslavement that violates the freedom of these women, depriving them of their identity. They are cloaked behind a curtain that virtually locks them out of society.

France
Yann Legendre 
Score–Women are not a Game
2006
© Yann Legendre

Employing video game vernacular graphic language, this poster depicts a woman as the target in the popular Space Invader game. The poster was created as a component of a rape awareness campaign aimed at the young generation.

USA
Julie McNamara 
Words Hurt
2016
© Julie McNamara

Can words hurt as much as the bruises of physical abuse? For anyone who has been subjected to a never-ending stream of put-downs and derogatory comments, the effect of these words is just as bad as being hit. Verbal abuse wears down a woman’s self-esteem until she gets to the point of believing she is ugly and worthless and that no one would put up with her. Even if the person inflicting these verbal wounds claims that he didn't mean it, the damage accumulates over time.

Art Direction: Alice Drueding

United Arab Emirates 
Memac Ogilvy Dubai 
UN Women–The Autocomplete Truth
2013

This series of 4 posters uses genuine Google searches to reveal the widespread prevalence of sexism and discrimination against women. Based on actual searches dated March 9, 2013, the images expose negative sentiments ranging from stereotyping and outright denial of women’s rights. For the client, UN Women, the searches confirm the urgent need to continue making a case for women’s rights, empowerment, and equality, a cause the organization is pursuing worldwide.

See the short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkNlGuW-0g8

Executive Creative Director: Ramzi Moutran
Creative Director: Sascha Kuntze
Copywriter: Kareem Shuhaibar
Art Direction: Christopher Hunt
Art Director: Sabia Fatayri
Retouching: Moreira Estudio
Client: UN Women

USA
Caitlin Blunnie of Liberal Jane Illustration
My Womanhood is Not Threatened by a Trans Woman Claiming Hers!
2024

Trans people are who they say they are. Believe them. Respect pronouns and chosen names. Efforts to politicize and legislate identity would only invite unnecessary gender policing. Including and welcoming trans women to our movements only adds to our collective power. 

USA
Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel / Kradel Design
Always Get Consent
2019
© Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel

Affirmative consent is a knowing, voluntary, and mutual decision among all participants to engage in sexual activity. At the time of this poster’s creation, affirmative consent laws existed only in California and New York. This poster is part of “We the Women”—a collaborative effort led by Michele Cooper and Kelly Holohan. The larger effort is a visual exploration of women’s rights in America created by women designers. Women have endured civil rights and legal injustices since the nation’s birth. The intention of this design collection is to specifically amplify women’s voices.

Israel

Yossi Lemel
Women’s Rights Are Equal Rights
2017

© Yossi Lemel

In 21st Century patriarchal societies, women are still not totally equal to men. Women still suffer from a lack of work opportunities, election discrimination and other basic human rights. The equal sign still has a long way to go.

Ecuador
Antonio Mena 
Indigenous Women of Ecuador
2007
© Antonio Mena

The poster was designed for conferences on indigenous women and violence. The red beads necklace is an essential feature of female attires of several indigenous groups in Ecuador. The necklace expresses the feminine essence and whole cultural baggage and identity that has resisted the homogenizing changes of modernity. In that sense, it can be appreciated as a resistance element. The broken and scattered necklace intends to denounce the physical act of violence suffered by indigenous women and the social and cultural implications this entails: contempt and damage to identities and ancestral knowledge.

Client: FLACSO, Ecuador

Ecuador
Antonio Mena
New Forms of Slavery
2002
© Antonio Mena

“New forms of slavery” was designed for an academic conference on labor inequality. Labor exploitation suffered by the weak—especially poor women and girls—results from rigid and outdated social and cultural structures that remain effective in Latin America, such as patriarchal structures and the prevailing machismo. The central image is a barefoot girl carrying a text of heavy characters on her back that forces her to bend down. The fact that the burden of the child is precisely the poster's title suggests that, beyond the physical load of the objects these women have to transport to survive, there are prejudices and outmoded ideologies that are heavier and more difficult to be free of.

Client: FLACSO, Ecuador

USA
Ricardo Levins Morales 
History’s Perspective–Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
2008
© Ricardo Levins Morales 

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a visible proponent of women's rights, birth control, and women's suffrage. “History has a long-range perspective. It ultimately passes stern judgment on tyrants and vindicates those who fought, suffered, were imprisoned, and died for human freedom against political oppression and economic slavery.”

USA
Jane Norling 
La Leche Materna es la Mejor (Mother’s Milk is the Best)
1980
© Jane Norling

This poster advocates breastfeeding your baby. Breast milk and the benefits of breastfeeding extend well beyond basic nutrition. In addition to containing all the vitamins and nutrients your baby needs in the first six months of life, breast milk is packed with disease-fighting substances that protect your baby from illness.

Client: Food & Nutrition Services, Santa Cruz, CA

Mexico

Juan Arturo Osorio
Psychological Abuse
2015
© Juan Arturo Osorio

Families are the nucleus of our societies. Domestic violence within the family causes damage to the emotional and social lives of the women. It creates considerable disruptive repercussions, such as the disintegration of social and individual values, the dissolution of the nuclear family, and the rise in crime. As members of society, we must consider how our behavior influences our children and those around us.

Turkey
Selcuk Ozis
Woman in Black
2016
© Selcuk Ozis

African women must be provided with the means to gain respect and to speak with their own voice.

Greece

Maria Papaefstathiou
Rosa Parks
2020

Rosa Parks (1913–2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott organized in defiance of racial segregation on public transportation. The United States Congress has called her “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement.”

Greece
Maria Papaefstathiou 
Breast Cancer: The Value of Early Detection
2015
© Maria Papaefstathiou

The direct message here is to sensitize women on the value of the early detection. The designer employs a colorful and life affirming design of a beautiful woman to convey the notion that a woman's beauty does not disappear if she is affected by breast cancer. True beauty emanates from within.

Spain
Miguel Porlan
Força (Strength): Dia Internacional de la Dona
2012
© Miguel Porlan

International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women's Day, is held on March 8 every year to celebrate women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. In different regions, the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards women for their economic, political, and social achievements. In some regions, the day has lost its political flavor and has become simply an occasion for people to express their love for women, similar to a mixture of Mother’s Day and Valentine’s.

In other regions, however, the political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong political and social awareness campaigns to illuminate the struggles of women worldwide. Some people celebrate the day by wearing purple ribbons.

France
Julie Raffin & Sabrina Benlemqawanssa
Women’s Right to Education
2011
© Julie Raffin & Sabrina Benlemqawanssa

Every girl and woman has the right to education, no matter where she lives. Education allows all people to break the cycle of poverty: to live in a more equitable world without discrimination. Everyone has the same opportunities for a better tomorrow.

Iran
Amirhossein Rastegari
I Have a Right to Live a Life Far from the Violence
2016
© Amirhossein Rastegari 

In his poster image, the designer employs the metaphor of a woman who is like a chair on which everyone can sit without regard or consequences.

USA
Robynne Raye
I Am Woman Hear Me Roar
2017 
© Robynne Raye

This poster was created in support of the Seattle Women’s March, January 21, 2017.

India
Charutha Reghunath
Educate Women, Strengthen Africa
2008
© Charutha Reghunath

Modern education makes women more beautiful than those adorned with jewelry. Africa can make itself richer, stronger, and more beautiful by educating its women.

Bolivia
Bruno Rivera Catacora
Dreaming is Pointless
2013
© Bruno Rivera Catacora

Dreaming gives you the motivation to keep on living. When you dream, you have something to look forward to, and life has more meaning. Without opportunities for women, dreaming of a better life for their families and society becomes bleak.

Israel

Dan Reisinger
Open Your Eyes
2017
© Dan Reisinger


This poster advocates that each individual needs to take personal responsibility in the struggle for equal rights for women.

USA
Favianna Rodriguez
End Violence Against Women–International Women’s Day
March 8
2013
Client: © Public Services International

International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women's Day, is held on March 8 every year to celebrate women's social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. In different regions, the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards women for their economic, political, and social achievements. In some regions, the day lost its political flavor. It became simply an occasion for people to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day.

In other regions, however, the political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide is brought out and examined in a hopeful manner. Some people celebrate the day by wearing purple ribbons.

USA
Hanifa Abdul Hameed
Stop telling girls that they can only be free after they're married
2021
© Hanifa Abdul Hameed

Many South Asian girls from a young age are taught that marriage is directly linked to our freedom. I was told that I could color my hair, travel the world, and stay out however long I wanted after I got married. It was as if my life would truly begin once I became a wife. Marriage should not be seen as an escape. It is work, and the value it provides differs from person to person.

Marriage can be beautiful with the right person, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for everyone. But to get back to the point, marriage should not be the reason for freedom.

Singapore
Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore
Verbal Abuse Can Be Just as Horrific
Series of three on one poster

Verbal abuse causes emotional pain and mental anguish. It is a lie told to you or about you. The signs of verbal abuse are usually invisible to the world outside your family. The Aware Helpline in Singapore commissioned a set of print advertisements reminding women that domestic violence includes verbal abuse. Three men yell at women, with their hands thrusting forward from their mouths. The text reads: “Verbal abuse can be just as horrific. But you don’t have to suffer in silence.”

Executive Creative Director: Andy Greenaway
Creative Director: Richard Copping
Copywriters: Simon Jenkins and Andrew Petch
Art Directors: Ronojoy Ghosh and Ng Pei Pei
Photography: Teo Studios
Client: AWARE, Singapore

USA
Kate DiCiccio
We The Future Write Our Own Liberation: Amanda Gorman
© Kate DiCiccio 2018

In response to the election of Trump’s administration, We the Future, a project of Amplifier Foundation, worked with youth leaders and artists to create art rich in counter-narratives to Trump’s racist & xenophobic agenda. I worked with Amanda Gorman to illustrate the power of the poet to speak truth to power and call for collective resistance when elected leaders fail us.

Amanda Gorman is a published author, the first ever Youth Poet Laureate, and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Her first poetry book, “The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough,” was published in 2015 by Penmanship Books. She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House.

Zürich
Saatchi & Saatchi Zürich
Stop Violence Against Girls
2012
Series of three posters

This campaign aims to raise awareness of the issues facing girls under constant threat of violence and to facilitate a discussion on the topic and improve the situation of girls globally. “The world owes girls a supportive environment and, most importantly, protection from harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, forced marriage and honour killing. The goal is to break through the wall of silence that often surrounds girls confronted with violence or discrimination. By calling problems by their name and talking about them, we help the concerning parties to defend themselves.”— Elsbeth Muller, executive director, UNICEF Switzerland.

Creative Direction: Juerg Aemmer
Art Direction: Frédéric Nogier 
Copywriter: Felix Freese
Graphic Design: Stella Feurer
Managing & Strategy Director: Pascal Schaub 
Account managers: Sonia Ducu, Stephanie Weber
Photography: Marco Grob
Retouching: Süsstrunk & Jericke

Germany
Gray Germany, Duesseldorf
Open Your Eyes
2017
Series of four posters

TERRE DES FEMMES is a non-profit human rights organization for girls and women. Through public relations work, international networking, and the promotion of concrete projects, TERRE DES FEMMES informs the public about the specific mistreatment of and discrimination against women. These images were part of their campaign “Open your Eyes” on the occasion of the International Day of Genital Self-Determination on May 7, 2017. They show the closed eyes of four Berlin women with African roots—Fatou Diatta, Isatou Barry, Binta Fatty, and Mai Ali—suggesting circumcised genitalia. These women are involved in projects against FGM together with TERRE DES FEMMES.

Client: TERRE DES FEMMES, Menschenrechte für die Frau e. V., Berlin Executive Creative Directors: Martin Venn, Alexandros Antoniadis Creative Directors: Markus Werner, Thomas Kuhn, Marco Littges Art Director: Sandra Herich
Photographer: Hajo Müller / Grey Duesseldorf

USA
Jessica Sabogal 
Women Are Perfect
2017
© Jessica Sabogal

This little girl is an extension of a mural I painted featuring five mixed-race Bay Area children illustrating the quote “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” in giant letters located in downtown Oakland on the main intersection. Maya is half African-American and half Polish. At four years old, Maya understands she possesses the tool needed for greatness. She has not as yet become consumed by the harsh oppressions she will come to know in time all too well. She is perfect. She is the future.

USA
Joe Scorscone & Alice Drueding
Violence Against Women and Girls
2024
© Joe Scorscone & Alice Drueding

Women’s freedom is under attack. Misogyny is surging around the world, including in nations where hard-won gains for women are being reversed. This poster is a reminder that the future of women and girls is very much at risk as they are increasingly subjected to restrictions on reproductive rights and health care, a lack of access to education, workplace discrimination, constraints on freedom of movement, obstacles to voting, and gender-based violence.

USA
Joe Scorsone & Alice Drueding 
Acid Violence Against Women
2010
© Joe Scorsone & Alice Drueding 

Acid Violence is the deliberate use of acid to attack another human being. The victims are overwhelmingly women and children. Attackers target the head and face to maim, disfigure, and blind to cause severe physical, psychological, and social scarring. Victims have no legal recourse, limited access to medical or psychological assistance, and are left without the means to support themselves.

USA
Joe Scorsone & Alice Drueding 
Fistula
2014
© Joe Scorsone & Alice Drueding 

At least one million women suffer from untreated obstetric fistula, a hole between the vagina and bladder or rectum leaves a woman incontinent of urine, feces, or both. Fistula most commonly occurs among women and girls who endure prolonged, obstructed labor without access to medical care during or after childbirth. The condition can also result from injuries caused by rape, particularly where sexual assault is used as a weapon of war. Affected women are often divorced by their husbands, shunned by their communities, and unable to work or care for their families. Treatment is possible but largely unavailable in the communities most impacted by the condition.

USA
Joe Scorsone & Alice Drueding 
Quanto Project: Sexual Slavery
2008
© Joe Scorsone & Alice Drueding 

Sex trafficking or slavery is the exploitation of women and children, within national or international borders, for forced sex work. Commercial sexual exploitation includes pornography, prostitution, and sex trafficking of women and girls and is characterized by exploiting a human being in exchange for goods or money. An estimated 800,000 women and children are trafficked across international borders annually, and additional women and girls are trafficked within countries.

Belgium
Teresa Sdralevich 
Salaire égal (Equal Pay)
2008
© Teresa Sdralevich 

Equal pay for equal work is the concept that individuals doing the same job should receive the same remuneration. It is most commonly used for the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full range of payments and benefits, including basic pay, non-salary expenses, bonuses, and allowances.

Saudi Arabia
Mohammad R. Sharaf 
Allowed
2013
© Mohammad R. Sharaf 

In Saudi Arabia, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Vice has decided to allow women to ride bicycles, as long as it is not for transportation and only if a male guardian accompanies them.

Saudi Arabia
Mohammad R. Sharaf 
Allowed: One Year Later
2014
© Mohammad R. Sharaf 

A sequel to the poster titled “Allowed.” This poster illustrates the change after allowing women to ride bicycles after one year. As long as it was not for transportation, riding a bicycle was allowed if a male guardian accompanied the women.

Taiwan
Sophia Ling-Hung Shih 
She Is Not Equal to He
2000
© Sophia Ling-Hung Shih 

Woman’s rights have long been undervalued, constrained and sometimes even neglected implicitly as well as explicitly. 

USA
Jen Sorensen 
Do Your Duty
2012
© Jen Sorenson

This poster commissioned by the National Women’s Law Center advocates for more women to vote in the 2012 elections in order to get the rights that they deserve.

Client: National Women’s Law Center

Mexico
Elmer Sosa
Equality
2012
© Elmer Sosa

Walking hand in hand, we learn how to coexist and to be tolerant; only then will there be equality.

Mexico
Elmer Sosa 
Gender Violence
2017
© Elmer Sosa

In this image, barbed wire is used as a metaphor to reflect the physical pain a man can exert over a woman. 

Japan
Shino Suefusa 
Comfort Woman?
2017
© Shino Suefusa

Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during World War 2. Controversy over and protest against the term remains, especially from surviving women and the nations from which they were taken, about the continued reference to the women as “comfort women” instead of “sex slaves.”

Poland
Małgorzata Będowska 
Polish Women on Strike
2020
© Małgorzata Będowska 

Women’s strike protests in Poland were anti-government demonstrations that began on October 22, 2020. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest against a near-total ban on legal abortion. A red lightning bolt has become the main symbol of the protests. It is a component of a logo for the Women’s Strike (Strajk Kobiet), a grassroots women's rights initiative and the main organizer of the current demonstrations. Graphic designer Ola Jasionowska originally created it to symbolize a warning that women will not accept being deprived of their basic rights.

India
Taproot Dentsu 
Abused Goddesses–Durga
2013
Series of three posters

Ad agency Taproot physically recreated scenes from old hand-painted images of Indian Goddesses. Before photographing them, makeup was used to add bruises and wounds to the models. All the props were natural or painted on, keeping authenticity and realism in mind. The poster campaign effectively captures India’s most dangerous contradiction: revering women in religion and mythology and prevailing cultural attitudes regarding wife-beating as justified. The text on each poster states: “Pray that we never see this day. Today, more than 68% of women in India are victims of domestic violence. Tomorrow, it seems like no woman shall be spared. Not even the ones we pray to.”

Chief Creative Officers: Santosh Padhi, Agnello Dias
Art Directors: Santosh Padhi, Pranav Bhide
Copywriter: Santosh Padhi, Chintan Ruparel
Illustrator: Siddhesh Rane
Photographer: Amol Jadhav
Client: Save Our Sisters

India
Taproot Dentsu 
Abused Goddesses–Saraswati
2013
Series of three posters

Ad agency Taproot physically recreated scenes from old hand-painted images of Indian Goddesses. Before photographing them, makeup was used to add bruises and wounds to the models. All the props were natural or painted on, keeping authenticity and realism in mind. The poster campaign effectively captures India’s most dangerous contradiction: revering women in religion and mythology and prevailing cultural attitudes regarding wife-beating as justified. The text on each poster states: “Pray that we never see this day. Today, more than 68% of women in India are victims of domestic violence. Tomorrow, it seems like no woman shall be spared. Not even the ones we pray to.”

Chief Creative Officers: Santosh Padhi, Agnello Dias
Art Directors: Santosh Padhi, Pranav Bhide
Copywriter: Santosh Padhi, Chintan Ruparel
Illustrator: Siddhesh Rane
Photographer: Amol Jadhav
Client: Save Our Sisters

India
Taproot Dentsu 
Abused Goddesses–Laxmi
2013
Series of three posters

Ad agency Taproot physically recreated scenes from old hand-painted images of Indian Goddesses. Before photographing them, makeup was used to add bruises and wounds to the models. All the props were natural or painted on, keeping authenticity and realism in mind. The poster campaign effectively captures India’s most dangerous contradiction: revering women in religion and mythology and prevailing cultural attitudes regarding wife-beating as justified. The text on each poster states: “Pray that we never see this day. Today, more than 68% of women in India are victims of domestic violence. Tomorrow, it seems like no woman shall be spared. Not even the ones we pray to.”

Chief Creative Officers: Santosh Padhi, Agnello Dias
Art Directors: Santosh Padhi, Pranav Bhide
Copywriter: Santosh Padhi, Chintan Ruparel
Illustrator: Siddhesh Rane
Photographer: Amol Jadhav
Client: Save Our Sisters

Iran
Parisa Tashakori 
Women’s Rights
2017
© Parisa Tashakori

Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights tied to and cannot be separated from basic human rights.

Iran
Parisa Tashakori 
Nurture Women’s Voices
2017
© Parisa Tashakori

The notion of women rights can have different meanings in different countries. We must nurture women’s voices to encourage them to speak out and advocate for their basic human rights in their communities.

Jamaica/USA
Michael Thompson FREESTYLEE 
I’m Afraid of No One: Malala Yousufzai
2012
© Michael Thompson FREESTYLEE 

As a young girl, Malala Yousafzai defied the Taliban in Pakistan and demanded that girls receive an education. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 but survived to become the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She is known for her human rights advocacy for education and women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan. Her advocacy has since grown into an international movement.

Mexico
Moises Romero Vargas 
He Said He Loved Me
2012
© Moises Romero Vargas

Violence and abuse can cause terrible physical and emotional pain. Although strangers can physically attack women, women are often hurt by the people they love.

Sweden
Volontaire
Red Rose
2007
Series of three posters

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a term that encompasses all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. The practice of FGM is rooted in a mixture of social, cultural, and religious factors and is, therefore, a very complex and controversial issue. This poster series illustrates the stitches and closures used in three of the four different categories of FGM. Every year, 2 million girls suffer the pain of genital mutilation, a clear violation of their human rights. No government should continue to ignore this crime.

Copywriter: Malin Akersten Triumf
Art Director: Yasin Lekorchi
Photographers: Niklas Alm, Mattias Nilson, Vostro
Retouch Artist: Sofia Cederström, Vostro
Client: Amnesty International

Sweden
Volontaire
Apricot Rose / White Rose / Red Rose
2007
Series of three posters

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a term that encompasses all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. The practice of FGM is rooted in a mixture of social, cultural, and religious factors and is, therefore, a very complex and controversial issue. This poster series illustrates the stitches and closures used in three of the four different categories of FGM. Every year, 2 million girls suffer the pain of genital mutilation, a clear violation of their human rights. No government should continue to ignore this crime.

Copywriter: Malin Akersten Triumf
Art Director: Yasin Lekorchi
Photographers: Niklas Alm, Mattias Nilson, Vostro
Retouch Artist: Sofia Cederström, Vostro
Client: Amnesty International

USA
Shepard Fairey
Freedom to Lead: Aung San Suu Kyi
2010
Client: The Best Friend
© Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey donated this image of Aung San Suu Kyi to The Best Friend, an organization founded by two concerned monks, Ashin Issariya and Ashin Sopaka, to encourage people to become more educated, aware, and active in the struggle for peace and freedom in Burma. They printed posters to raise funds and awareness to support human rights in Burma.

Poland
Ewa Wein 
My Body My Rights
2017
© Ewa Wein

Making our own decisions about our health, body, and sexual life is a fundamental human right. Whoever you are, wherever you live, you have the right to make these choices without fear, violence, or discrimination. My Body My Rights is Amnesty International’s global campaign to stop controlling and criminalizing sexuality and reproduction.

Canada
Nelu Wolfensohn
Live, Learn, Achieve
2011
© Nelu Wolfensohn

The image of a dark-skinned girl with a raised thumb gesture surging from her head symbolizes the right to education for all as included in “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” which applies to all continents and is dedicated to children worldwide. The raised thumb gesture signifies determination, resilience, achievement, and success.