{"id":4038,"date":"2014-05-26T13:22:19","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T17:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/givinglife.canadahelps.org\/?p=1070"},"modified":"2024-10-31T16:58:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T20:58:56","slug":"leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was provided by Fiona Sampson, founder of The Equality Effect, as part of the Ashoka Canada Fellows: Social Innovation Demystified<\/strong> series.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Equality Effect<\/h3>\n

<\/h4>\n

Discovering the Issue<\/b><\/h4>\n

Girls as young as 3 months are raped in Kenya, and laws intended to protect girls from rape are not enforced by the police.\u00a0 This kind of systemic discrimination demands urgent attention \u2013 the equality effect<\/i> uses human rights law to hold states accountable for their failures to comply with human rights guarantees intended to protect and promote the security and well being of girls and women.<\/p>\n

Creating Systemic Human Rights Change<\/b><\/h4>\n

Founding and building the equality effect<\/i>, an international human rights organization that uses the law to make girls\/women\u2019s rights real, has provided an exhilarating and rewarding opportunity to create change. Creating teams of human rights volunteers, lawyers, social workers, film makers, journalists, philanthropists, artists, etc., the equality effect<\/i> works collaboratively to undertake test case litigation, public legal education, and law reform, to hold states accountable for their failure to protect the human rights of girls and women.\u00a0 The equality effect <\/i>works in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi, where girls and women experience horrific human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

\"African<\/p>\n

Source of Inspiration<\/b><\/h4>\n

As a young girl with a congenital physical disability resulting from the drug thalidomide, I developed early on an affinity for other disadvantaged persons. I identified the law as an effective tool to help achieve social justice.\u00a0 Human rights law provides a mechanism through which concrete change can be achieved by holding those who violate human rights accountable.\u00a0 How the law was used, in combination with public education and activism, as part of the civil rights movement in the United States provided inspiration for a model that could be applied to advance girls and women\u2019s human rights.<\/p>\n

Making Legal History and Creating Lasting Change<\/b><\/h4>\n

Using the law to achieve concrete change is an innovative and unique way to help ensure that girls and women are protected from sexual violence, and provided the educational\u00a0and economic opportunities they are entitled to receive.<\/p>\n

The equality effect<\/i> works to make girls\/women\u2019s rights real, and our \u201c160 Girls\u201d project is an example of how the law can be used to achieve change.\u00a0 The \u201c160Girls\u201d Constitutional test case litigation achieved access to justice for the girls that inspired the case, all victims of rape between the ages of 3-17, and legal protection from rape for all 10,000,000 girls in Kenya.<\/p>\n

The Kenyan police have requested that the equality effect<\/i> provide them with training in the \u201c160 Girls\u201d decision, and international best practices for rape investigations over the period of a year \u2013 this is an unprecedented request.\u00a0 Through this ground breaking work the equality effect<\/i> is working with international police experts, and pro bono partners such as BBDO Advertising, to develop unique components of the training such as a phone app to assist with police investigations. The equality effect<\/i> is also undertaking public legal education to ensure that local communities understand the girls\u2019 rights and police obligations flowing from the \u201c160 Girls\u201d decision.<\/p>\n

The equality effect<\/i>\u2019s work with lawyers, police, girls and local communities, using the law to ensure that girls are valued and protected is not a quick fix; it is long term work, and it is expensive work, but it will result in long term, concrete change.\u00a0 Three-time Amnesty International award-winner and author Sally Armstrong describes the equality effect<\/i>:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce, in a very long while, maybe once in a lifetime, you get to witness a story that shifts the way an entire country or continent sees itself.\u00a0 The process of change is usually daring, certainly time-consuming, invariably costly, occasionally heart-breaking, and eventually an exercise so rewarding that it is the stuff of legends; this is the story of the equality effect.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Masai<\/a><\/p>\n

The equality effect uses human rights law to make the rights of girls and women real, so that they can be safe from sexual violence, get an education, and fulfill their economic potential. To learn more about the equality effect visit their charity profile page<\/a> >><\/i><\/p>\n

\n

Related Articles<\/h4>\n

Ashoka Fellows: Social Innovation Demystified. Read Now>><\/a>
\nEmpowering First Nation Youth with Mobile Film and Music Training Studio. Read Now>><\/a>
\nThe Reading Revolution. Read Now>><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Photo credit: “Equality” and “Change” by\u00a0Jacquie Labatt. Photo of Masai women by Mark Hodnett.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was provided by Fiona Sampson, founder of The Equality Effect, as part of the Ashoka Canada Fellows: Social Innovation Demystified series. The Equality … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[217,345],"class_list":["post-4038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-series","tag-ashoka","tag-social-innovation"],"acf":{"author_bio":false,"meta_description":""},"yoast_head":"\nLeveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever | CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever | CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post was provided by Fiona Sampson, founder of The Equality Effect, as part of the Ashoka Canada Fellows: Social Innovation Demystified series. The Equality ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-26T17:22:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-31T20:58:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Blogger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Blogger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Guest Blogger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40bdca2b7c5406486c9b0471788a8870\"},\"headline\":\"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-26T17:22:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-31T20:58:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/\"},\"wordCount\":731,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Ashoka\",\"Social Innovation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Featured Series\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/\",\"name\":\"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever | CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-26T17:22:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-31T20:58:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png\",\"width\":700,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada\",\"description\":\"Giving Made Simple\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CanadaHelps\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/canadahelps-en.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/canadahelps-en.jpg\",\"width\":131,\"height\":72,\"caption\":\"CanadaHelps\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40bdca2b7c5406486c9b0471788a8870\",\"name\":\"Guest Blogger\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fa95ec05690a7da809871677fb32d899f033bce9815473dca43edd0960a3dbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fa95ec05690a7da809871677fb32d899f033bce9815473dca43edd0960a3dbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Blogger\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/author\/guestblogger\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever | CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever | CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada","og_description":"This post was provided by Fiona Sampson, founder of The Equality Effect, as part of the Ashoka Canada Fellows: Social Innovation Demystified series. The Equality ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/","og_site_name":"CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada","article_published_time":"2014-05-26T17:22:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-31T20:58:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Guest Blogger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Blogger","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/"},"author":{"name":"Guest Blogger","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40bdca2b7c5406486c9b0471788a8870"},"headline":"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever","datePublished":"2014-05-26T17:22:19+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-31T20:58:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/"},"wordCount":731,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png","keywords":["Ashoka","Social Innovation"],"articleSection":["Featured Series"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/","url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/","name":"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever | CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png","datePublished":"2014-05-26T17:22:19+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-31T20:58:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/Equality.png","width":700,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/giving-life\/featured-series\/leveraging-the-law-to-improve-the-lives-of-girls-forever\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leveraging the Law to Improve the Lives of Girls Forever"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/","name":"CanadaHelps - Donate to any charity in Canada","description":"Giving Made Simple","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#organization","name":"CanadaHelps","url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/canadahelps-en.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/media\/canadahelps-en.jpg","width":131,"height":72,"caption":"CanadaHelps"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/40bdca2b7c5406486c9b0471788a8870","name":"Guest Blogger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fa95ec05690a7da809871677fb32d899f033bce9815473dca43edd0960a3dbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5fa95ec05690a7da809871677fb32d899f033bce9815473dca43edd0960a3dbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Blogger"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/author\/guestblogger\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52602,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4038\/revisions\/52602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadahelps.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}