New Wiki Will Chronicle Legal Reforms Promoting Gender Equality
The International Models Project on Women’s Rights is unveiling a wiki—a collaborative online database—to chronicle gender equality legal reforms around the world.
A prototype focuses on laws fighting acid attacks against women in Bangladesh, according to a press release and the ABA International Law Section page on ABAnet.org. When the database is launched later this year, it will include information from more than 100 countries in topic areas ranging from economic life to access to justice.
Entries will be organized by country, with links to laws, useful websites and other information. ABA President Carolyn Lamm is encouraging lawyers around the world to participate. “Millions of women around the globe remain vulnerable to violence, poverty and ill health because the justice system where they live does not protect them,” Lamm said in the press release. “The IMPOWR project can make a critical difference in this effort by serving as a common platform for leveraging experience and fostering collaboration among experts from different countries.”
The demonstration prototype explains that acid attacks have been used to deter women and girls from challenging gender discrimination. In Bangladesh, perpetrators have often gone unpunished, it says. The website details laws aimed at fighting such attacks, including an act specifically barring acid attacks and a law requiring licenses for businesses dealing with acid.
The International Models Project on Women’s Rights—known as IMPOWR—was established by the American Bar Association in 2008 to help implement the 1980 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
