About Zonta International

Build a better world for women and girls

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Build a better world for women and girls 〰️

Our Mission
Zonta International is a leading global organization of professionals empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy.

Our Vision
Zonta International envisions a world in which women’s rights are recognized as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential.
In such a world, women have access to all resources and are represented in decision-making positions on an equal basis with men. In such a world, no woman lives in fear of violence.

Our Impact
With nearly 30,000 members belonging to almost 1,200 clubs in 66 countries, Zontians volunteer their time, talents, and support to local and international service projects focusing on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

Zonta focuses our advocacy efforts on the prevention of all forms of violence—including domestic violence, human trafficking and
harmful practices—women’s health, equal access to all resources, pay equity, Women’s Empowerment Principles, and more.

Education provides tools and resources to empower women and girls to make decisions about their lives and the future of their families. Additionally, Zonta clubs sponsor Z clubs for high school students and Golden Z clubs for college or university students to develop leadership skills, promote career exploration, and more.

Zonta and its clubs are united by ethical standards to fulfill our objectives to improve women’s status, promote justice and respect for human rights, and to be united internationally. Zonta, its districts, and its clubs shall be nonpartisan and nonsectarian.

For more info about Zonta International: https://www.zonta.org/

Zonta International’s Causes:

Advocating for Gender Equality
We advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in all aspects of life.

Ending Gender-Based Violence
We raise awareness of the global pandemic of women’s rights violations and unite our members worldwide to fight violence against women and girls.

Ending Child Marriage
We work with partners to prevent child marriage in some of the highest prevalence countries while our Zonta clubs and members advocate for an end to this human rights violation in their own countries.

Expanding Access to Education
We support women’s education through our own scholarships, fellowships and awards and through our international service projects, which very often include education of women and girls as key strategies.

Zonta Says No

For more than 100 years, Zonta International has contributed to help achieve a world free of violence against women and girls through service and advocacy.

Violence against women and girls is one of the most pervasive human rights violations and a global epidemic. It knows no national or cultural barriers; it takes place at home, in the workplace and in open spaces, and affects millions of women and girls in peacetime and conflict. It includes psychological, physical and sexual violence, and harmful practices such as rape, female genital cutting, child marriage and human trafficking. Violence against women and girls threatens countries, inhibits economic progress, and prevents women from contributing to their community and creating better lives for themselves and their families.

Our ongoing service efforts are demonstrated through numerous local projects and programs, through the Zonta International’s service projects and through Zonta’s partnerships with the United Nations and its agencies.

Our ongoing advocacy impact is built around the advocacy campaign “Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women.” Launched in 2012, the campaign has raised awareness of the global pandemic of women’s rights violations and has united Zonta clubs worldwide in conducting impactful advocacy actions to fight violence against women and gender inequality.

All Zonta clubs and districts are encouraged to take advocacy actions throughout the year:

To promote the human rights of women

To promote Sustainable Development Goal No. 5 “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”

To end violence against women and girls

During the 16 Days of Activism, 25 November-10 December, all Zonta clubs and districts are encouraged to take part in the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign and to take local, national and international actions to influence the making and implementation of laws, as well as changing gender-based attitudes and behaviors to end violence against women.