This free online course will explain why women’s human rights are crucial to peace and economic development.

If women’s rights are “human rights,” why do conflicts and crises keep stripping them away? This online course on women’s rights, gender equality, and human rights drops you into the realities behind the headlines: displacement, sexual and gender-based violence, forced caregiving burdens, and the social vulnerabilities that spike during armed conflict. You’ll learn how gender roles shape risk, why women are targeted, and how women also organise, resist, and lead. Expect vivid case studies that turn theory into something you can actually use in your work and community.

Then we shift to women and the global economy, where inequality isn’t abstract; it’s measurable. You’ll unpack wealth and asset distribution, unpaid labour, barriers to decent work, and how economic policy can widen the gap fast. We examine the claim that women make up a large share of the world’s poor, what drives it, and what reduces it. Leadership examples from women in business show how networks, mentorship, and collective action can open doors and change systems.

In the final section, you’ll connect women’s rights to international law and practical advocacy. You’ll work with core frameworks used by governments, NGOs, and the UN, including CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action, and UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Two contrasting case studies, one from the Cambodian rescue industry and another from participatory urban development, help you evaluate interventions, spot unintended harm, and strengthen protection strategies. By the end, you’ll know how to argue for gender equality with evidence, clarity, and confidence so that you can advocate and lead.