CSI is filled with dynamic women, from staff to visitors to of course our amazing members.
This International Women’s Day we’re taking the chance to highlight the work of seven of those members who are working locally and globally on women’s equality.
The equality effect uses international human rights law as a crowbar to pry open justice for women and girls around the world. Drawing on a team of feisty international lawyers, the equality effect initiates creative legal advocacy projects to achieve systemic change like conducting research, collecting evidence, and developing test case litigation. In Kenya, the equality effect coordinated a constitutional claim against the government for failing to protect girls who had been raped; Kenya’s High Court agreed that the police failure to enforce existing rape laws, and police failure to protect them from rape, is a violation of domestic, regional, and human rights law. Click here to be part of this phenomenal work through donating or volunteering.
YOUNG WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP NETWORK
The Young Women’s Leadership Network advocates for young women’s political leadership at all levels. They provide skill-building workshops encouraging young women’s social and political empowerment, while also studying and dismantling the existing barriers to that empowerment. A group of activists themselves, they know that women who participate in any political action regularly deal with threats (or worse) of sexual violence. So they are working to create a Sexual Violence Support Toolkit, to provide resources for creating harassment-free spaces that encourage young women’s civic engagement. Click here to join their network.
LADIES LEARNING CODE
Ladies Learning Code, now a subchapter of Canada Learning Code, aiming to promote collaborative, technological learning among women and youth. This program seeks to close the gender gap among those adept at technology by offering courses and workshops to empower and educate women in particular. They also run Girls Learning Code, which teaches girls from the ages of 3 to 12 years old technological skills through workshops, camps, and other events, and Teens Learning Code that teaches girls from the ages of 13 to 17 years old various technological skills such as webmaking, gamemaking, and even app inventing. Click here to sign up for their next workshop.
Elsie Amoako created Mommy Monitor after learning that African, Caribbean and Latin American women in North America are about four times more likely to experience complications in childbirth. Mommy Monitor launches in collects personal information from expectant mothers to predict and mitigate any risks. It then creates a maternal care package, including a tailored list of resources. Mommy Monitor will also connect the mother-to-be with a maternal mentor who is from the same country, and speaks the same language.This person will serve as a peer mentor and patient navigator. Download the app here.
Launched in 2009 at the Clinton Global Initiative, G(irls)20 places women aged 18-25 at the centre of decision-making processes. Through their signature programs, Global Summit and Girls on Boards, they make strategic investments in young women through education and training, building networks, and access to unparalleled opportunities at home and abroad. While advocating for change at the global level through the annual G(irls)20 Global Summit, we are invested in changing the status quo for women at decision-making tables in communities across Canada by placing Girls on Boards. Click here for more information about how you can coach a young woman or get a young woman on your Board.
Founded in 2011 by artist Sonia Aimy, African Women Acting is an incorporated non-profit organization that aims to empower, preserve and promote women’s issues and African cultural heritage through African music, theatre, dance, visual art, and other media. AWA looks to create a variety of artistic and educational workshops and events, which promote inclusiveness, community engagement, and a lasting-positive impact on community members. To that end, AWA collaborates with various artists and art organizations to service, educate, innovate, and provide free and affordable art programmes to under-resourced communities. Click here to check out their blog.
WOMEN’S HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS NETWORK
WHEN is a Toronto-based non-profit charitable organization that teaches individuals and communities how to reduce their risk of illness and injury that arise from elements of the environment that surrounds us – this includes the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. WHEN uses the influence and knowledge of women to become champions for change. WHEN is a trusted source of credible tools and information for women on today’s relevant and emerging environmental health topics. Since 1994, WHEN has been educating the general public, media and policy makers that environmental health is a key determinant of public health, and has promoted public action for the prevention of environmental health harms. Click here to find out how they can help you be Toxic Free.
Can’t get enough stories about fantastic women innovators? Check out our #womeninnovate hashtag for dozens more examples from past to present, famous to fledgling.
