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Curious about the feminist take on core law school courses? The WLA’s Women’s Issues Committee has hosted a number of events dedicated to examining that very question. Check out the WLA blog, HERsay, to learn more and to share your own thoughts.
Click here to read about the Feminist Perspectives series, generously sponsored by Paul Hastings.
As I write this blog entry, I’m waiting for a trial to begin in Khayelitsha, a township outside of Cape Town. This summer, I’m interning with the Women’s Legal Centre, a Cape Town organization that works to promote gender equality in South Africa, and today an attorney and I are monitoring the criminal trial of nine young men who murdered a woman because of her sexual orientation. The case serves as a sobering reminder that large gaps exist between South Africa’s progressive Constitution and the attitudes of many who live here, and emphasizes to me just how important the WLC’s work is.
Court monitoring is just a small part of the WLC’s work, which includes impact litigation, legal aid, advocacy, and outreach. The office is small, friendly, and relaxed, with plenty of staff parties where I’ve gotten to sample South African treats. While the office environment is laid back, WLC attorneys work incredibly hard, and do meaningful work on a wide range of issues, from reproductive rights to sexual offences to women’s rights under customary law. Right now, the WLC is focusing a lot of its energy on combating corrective rape, a practice in which a man attempts to “cure” a lesbian of her sexual orientation by raping her. To address this practice, the WLC is attempting to establish the practice as a hate crime, and to ensure that offenders are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I work closely with the three other interns, and we’ve been lucky enough to receive many meaningful, substantive assignments. One of my first assignments was researching arguments through which the state may be held vicariously liable for the actions of police rapists. This assignment allowed me to research tort policy, the South African Constitution, and South Africa’s international obligations. At the moment, I’m working on an outreach strategy to encourage mothers to report paternal incest of their daughters to the police; mothers are often hesitant to report this crime because they are fearful of the economic insecurity that will result from their husband or partner being jailed for his actions. For this project, I’ve gone beyond legal research, examining cultural factors that allow child sexual abuse to continue and policy initiatives that have combated this abuse.
While my work at the WLC has largely been based in the office, last week I attended a march that protested the lack of female condoms in South Africa, and other interns have visited outreach sessions with sex workers in Cape Town. All in all, I’ve been really happy with the work I’ve done at the WLC; not only do I appreciate the mix of legal and policy research, but I truly feel like my work is making a difference here at the WLC.
Outside of work, I’ve tried to experience all I can in Cape Town and around South Africa. Some of the highlights so far have been a Cape Malay cooking class (the traditional Muslim cuisine in Cape Town), a visit to an ostrich farm, and a full moon hike. (Here’s a photo from the hike- Note the WLA shirt!) Coming next: A safari in Kruger National Park, a tour of the winelands, and a visit to the Cape of Good Hope, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. It’ll be tough to leave this beautiful city in a few weeks, but I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends and getting in some beach time before the start of EIP.
- Elizabeth Hague, Rising 2L, International Committee Chair
In the Windy City for the summer (or year-round)? Mix and mingle with the women of WLA! The WLA Alumnae Committee is hosting an event for HLS women graduates and current women students. Join fellow HLS women for margaritas, guacamole, and a summer evening on the patio.
Thursday, July 28th
6:00-8:00pm
Las Palmas Restaurant
1835 West North Avenue, Chicago
Please RSVP to hlswachicago@gmail.com
Calling all 1Ls: Get a Big Sister Through the Women’s Law Association 1L Mentoring Program!
How do you feel about starting 1L year at HLS — Nervous? Anxious? Excited? All three? The HLS Women’s Law Association is here to help! Sign up for the 1L Mentoring Program, and we will match you with a Big Sister who can help make your transition to HLS easy and fun. Big Sisters are a diverse group of HLS women who remember what it’s like to be a 1L and want to be a resource to you.
What does being a Little Sister mean?
Click here to complete the Sign Up form.
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Calling all rising 2Ls and 3Ls: Be a Big Sister in the WLA’s 1L Mentoring Program!
Do you remember how you felt before coming to HLS? Did you feel nervous? Anxious? Excited? All three? Help alleviate some of that stress and make an incoming 1L’s experience a little more manageable by becoming her Big Sister!
You do not have to be a member of WLA to participate, and we are looking for a diverse group of women to serve as Big Sisters.
Why would I want to be a Big Sister?
What will I have to do as a Big Sister?
Those are the only formal requirements of participating in the program. Anything you choose to do beyond those minimum requirements is up to you!
Click here to complete the Sign Up form.
Please sign up by Monday, August 1, 2011!
Any questions? Please contact Caitlin Fitzpatrick (cfitzpatrick@jd13.law.harvard.edu), Lindsay Kosan (lkosan@jd13.law.harvard.edu), or Stephanie Berger (sberger@jd13.law.harvard.edu).
This week, I attended a fantastic event at my summer firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, celebrating the launch of the Ms. JD Global Education Fund and its inaugural Scholars, Ugandan law students Joaninne Nanyange and Monica Athieno. In addition to its core mission of increasing the representation of women in the legal profession in the U.S., Ms. JD aims to support the rise of women lawyers worldwide. In that spirit, Ms. JD’s Global Education Fund was created to support women in developing countries to pursue legal educations who would otherwise lack access to higher education. This year the Fund enabled two young Ugandan women, Joaninne Nanyange and Monica Athieno, to pursue their dreams of becoming lawyers by attending the law program at Makerere University in Uganda. (Read more about Jonaninne and Monica’s amazing stories here.)
The event also featured remarks by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Deputy Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the New York Times bestseller The Dressmaker of Khair Khana. Gayle, who is also an HBS grad, spoke about the need to transform our image of women in warfare. Women are most often portrayed as victims, when in fact they are often the center of family life and sole breadwinners during times of incredible danger and turmoil. Gayle’s book is the story of Kamila Sidiq, an unsung heroine of the period of Taliban rule over Afghanistan, who rallied the women of her community to become successful entrepreneurs at a time when almost all other opportunities had been taken from them.
Please follow the links to learn more about Gayle’s work and Ms. JD!
- Amy Sennet, Rising 3L, President, Harvard Women’s Law Association
I am spending my summer interning with the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Accra, Ghana. During my time at the LRC I have worked on a variety of legal aid and advocacy projects, but my favorite project so far has been working with the Mother’s Club, a group of women devoted to improving the living conditions in their community through healthy sanitation practices.
The members of Mother’s Club live in the Nima-Mamobi area of Accra, one the most impoverished neighborhoods in the city. In the 14 years since its establishment, the Mother’s Club has grown its membership to over 150 women dedicated to educating their community about good sanitation and health practices.
To spread knowledge about these practices, the Mother’s Club holds sanitation workshops at local schools to teach children when and how to effectively wash their hands. Members of the Mother’s Club also go door-to-door teaching community members safe practices for washing and storing dishes and utensils to prevent food-borne illness. Additionally, they visit landlords in the area to instruct them on proper toilet maintenance.
For the first month of my internship, the LRC and its interns helped the Mother’s Club plan and put together a video submission to the Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World competition. To enter the competition, individuals or groups submit a 5-minute video proposing a plan for empowering women and helping to “create a better world of opportunities for women and girls in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.” The person or group behind the winning submission receives $25,000 to implement their idea.
The women of the Mother’s Club have learned how to make soap, but lack the funds to actually do it. We helped them enter the competition with the hope that they can use the prize money to build a permanent structure to operate out of and to purchase supplies for making and selling soap. The Mother’s Club plans to use their new structure and the profits from soap-making to teach girls both sewing and literacy skills so they will stay in school and eventually become self-sufficient.
In our free time, the other interns and I have traveled around Ghana to tour a slave castle, walk across a canopy walk, hike to the top of the tallest waterfall in West Africa, canoe to a stilted village, and lounge on the beautiful beaches. Next up on the agenda: a safari in Mole National Park.
- Maia Levenson, Rising 2L, Public Interest Committee Chair