On International Women’s Day (IWD), Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) kicked off its global campaign against discriminatory family laws with its event, 24 Hours for Equality in the Family. Partners organized screenings of WLP’s new documentary, Equality: It’s All in the Family, and led discussions on reforming family laws in their respective countries.
Family laws, or laws that regulate roles and relations among family members, vary country to country, but almost invariably favor men and boys over women and girls. Some of the most egregious examples include laws that protect perpetrators of domestic violence, prohibit women from the right to divorce, or permit the practice of child marriage. These injustices are among many that Equality: It’s All in the Family addresses. WLP has translated the film into Arabic, French, Kyrgyz, Persian, Portuguese, and Russian so that the activists around the world can educate the public and policymakers about discriminatory family laws.
Hundreds of advocates, reporters, and citizens across the globe took part in ‘24 Hours for Equality in the Family’ activities. Here’s how WLP partners celebrated:
- In Brazil, Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informaçao, e Açao (CEPIA) threw an Equality: It’s All in the Family watch-party over a continental breakfast at the law school, Escola Superior de Advocacia, in Rio de Janeiro.
- In Egypt, Forum for Women in Development (FWID) dedicated the event to FWID’s former vice president, the late Ms. Shahnaz Maqled. FWID screened the film for local women and facilitated a discussion on family laws issues that affect them.
- In Kyrgyzstan, Bir Duino hosted citizens and gender experts at the Public Broadcasting Corporation and Radio Azattyk for a screening and discussion. Bir Duino will show the film several more times in Kyrgyzstan’s rural regions as part of a documentary film festival.
- In Lebanon, the Collective for Research & Training on Development-Action (CRTD-A) held a screening that received press coverage from Lebanese media outlet, Nahar, and Egyptian media outlet, Arab Youm.
- In Mauritania, Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF) held a conference to kick-off its campaign to reform Mauritania’s Personal Status Code. The Code currently does not grant women married to a foreigner the right to naturalize their spouse or children. AFCF screened Equality: It’s All in the Family during a segment of the conference on gender-based violence.
- In Nigeria, CEADER held a National Training of Trainers (TOT) Institute on Strengthening Women’s Human Rights Knowledge to Challenge Violence Against Women. The training included a screening of Equality: It’s All in the Family.
- In Zimbabwe, Women’s Self-Promotion Movement’s (WSPM) hosted local leaders, community members, women’s rights activists, and church leaders for a screening in an effort to influence key stakeholders to reform Zimbabwe’s family laws and traditional practices. After the film, WSPM facilitated a discussion on issues that affect their community, such as polygamy and child marriage.
These global film screening events are just the beginning of WLP’s larger advocacy campaign, Equality Starts in the Family, which focuses on empowering women and girls and ending gender-based violence by challenging discriminatory family laws.
“The family is the primary unit of society and it is the first place where women’s roles are constrained and defined from their very birth,” says Ford Foundation Senior Advisor Kavita Ramdas in the film. Through the campaign, WLP is inspiring, training, and supporting women and women’s rights organizations to develop action plans to reverse regressive legal codes and transform discriminatory cultural norms.
Ways to Get Involved:
- Watch Equality: It’s All in the Family and share the film with friends and colleagues to promote awareness of discriminatory family law.
- Use the hashtag #GenderEqualityinFamily on social media to join the discussion on discriminatory family laws.