Question

Ways to protest for womens rights.

Answer 1

Founded in 1913 as the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CU), the National Woman's Party (NWP) was instrumental in raising public awareness of the women's suffrage campaign. Using a variety of tactics, the party successfully pressured President Woodrow Wilson, members of Congress, and state legislators to support passage of a 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing women nationwide the right to vote. In so doing, the NWP established a legacy defending the exercise of free speech, free assembly, and the right to dissent.

Answer 2

1) Raise your voice

Jaha Dukureh. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Jaha Dukureh. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Whether you’re talking to your friends and family, or engaging with an advocacy organization, the most important way to be an advocate is speaking up. By raising your voice for women’s rights and gender equality, you can spread awareness and break down barriers.

Jaha Dukureh, an activist and UN Women’s newest Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa, is leading the movement to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and child marriage. Jaha first started speaking out against child marriage when she was barely 10, when she snuck out to the local television station to talk about how girls in her community should not be forced to marry.

FGM is a cultural practice that involves cutting off parts of female genitalia, condemning girls and women to a lifetime of health consequences. In many parts of the world, it’s also a prelude to child marriage.

“It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my daughter, that I started to speak out against FGM. I didn’t want my daughter to ever have to go through what I had. I also knew there were millions of girls out there, just like me and my daughter, and no one was speaking for them. If it wasn’t going to me, who else would do that?” Jaha says. “I started to speak out, I started to shout.”

2) Support one another

Faten Ashour (left) ended her 13-year abusive marriage with legal help from Ayah al-Wakil. Photo: UN Women/Eunjin Jeong

Faten Ashour (left) ended her 13-year abusive marriage with legal help from Ayah al-Wakil. Photo: UN Women/Eunjin Jeong

Every day since 2015, Ayah al-Wakil, a lawyer working at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza Strip, has gone to court to file cases on behalf of survivors of violence.

Ayah participated in a training with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, supported by a UN Women/UNDP joint programme, to defend women’s rights at the Shari’a court, which deals with family matters codified in the Personal Status Law relating to marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. After her training, Ayah chose to remain at the Centre to continue working with survivors of violence.

“If you find yourself in a place that allows you to make a real difference in other women’s lives, obstacles will not stop you anymore,” says Ayah. “I became determined to improve women’s lives in my hometown and started to look for opportunities.”

Supporting women and those that empower women, is essential to achieving gender equality. Whether you’re like Ayah al-Wakil and working with women to navigate the legal system, or supporting women entrepreneurs in your community, you can make a difference.

3) Share the workload

Empowering women can start in your own home.

From cooking and cleaning, to fetching water and firewood or taking care of children and the elderly, women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men. As a result, they have less time to engage in paid labour, or work longer hours, combining paid and unpaid labour. Women’s unpaid work subsidizes the cost of care that sustains families, supports economies and often fills in for the lack of social services.