By Andrea Carlise, Executive Director, IANGEL
As I begin my 8th week of sheltering-in-place in Alameda, California, I am feeling guilty for the waves of annoyance, depression and anxiety that wash over me. While I know that I am privileged and immensely fortunate to be able to work from home and have a home to work and live in, I am experiencing moments of fear, anxiety, boredom and a simple desire to have a great meal at a restaurant with friends or go to a baseball game. I have found comfort, however, in Zoom meetings, coalition-building and online solidarity with others to improve our society for vulnerable populations.
My “day job” is leading the International Action Network for Gender Equity and Law (IANGEL) as its Executive Director. IANGEL is an international network dedicated to advancing gender equity and protecting the human and civil rights of women and girls through peaceful legal means. The nonprofit was founded in 2013 to harness the power of pro bono legal assistance, connecting it to the cause of women’s rights locally, nationally, and around the world. As the only full-time paid employee of IANGEL, to quell the feelings of isolation, I had taken refuge in working in a shared space with another nonprofit that also works for women’s human rights. I enjoy the camaraderie of working together and am finding working from home more difficult than I had anticipated. Yet it is IANGEL’s work to improve gender equality that is sustaining me.
IANGEL focuses on education, advocacy and pro-bono engagement for reproductive justice, peace and security, and empowerment for women and girls. As we face this pandemic here in California and throughout the world, challenges and opportunities in each of our focus areas are amplified.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are being restricted under the cover of COVID-19. Texas is one of several conservative states that have pursued limits on abortion during the pandemic. Though the states claim these limits are aimed at ensuring medical resources are available to those with COVID-19, the restrictions are designed to curtail the human right to decide when, if and how to have children. Preventing women and girls from obtaining abortion care during this pandemic is shameful. I am grateful that in California, our state constitution guarantees the right to privacy and abortion care. IANGEL is committed to ensuring that California youth are aware of these reproductive rights and the precarious nature of reproductive freedom in our country. To this end, we are developing a curriculum to teach high school-age students their legal rights to sexual and reproductive healthcare while inspiring the next generation of SRHR activists.
As members of IAW are all likely aware, COVID-19 has increased the prevalence of gender- based violence globally. As a member of the Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls Globally, IANGEL is urging the U.S. Congress to adopt specific measures that prevent, mitigate, and respond to the disproportionate effect COVID-19 is having on women, girls, and other survivors of GBV globally. We are also working state-wide to support survivors of human trafficking. IANGEL has asked California’s Governor to invest additional resources to protect those who are and will be more vulnerable to trafficking in the aftermath of COVID-19.
It is critical that survivors of GBV have access to legal rights and protections at this time. Through local partnerships, IANGEL is currently developing a new initiative to protect survivors during COVID-19 through equipping lawyers who have not previously represented GBV survivors with the knowledge needed to represent complex cases.
Finally, IANGEL is informing the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights via a paper on Women, Cultural Rights and Climate Change which will include an addendum addressing the impact of COVID-19. Climate change, like COVID-19, has laid bare society’s systemic inequities. Gender mainstreaming must be implemented in all work addressing both climate change and COVID-19 to correct for these embedded injustices. The paper also highlights the positive impact women can and will have on mitigation measures addressing the climate crisis. Women are essential to the development of meaningful and effective responses to the climate emergency and to this pandemic.
Despite the collective sorrow and loss we are enduring, IANGEL’s work brings me solace and purpose. Knowing that we are all in this together helps me process the difficult emotions that arise as a result of this “new normal.” As we navigate this global state of suspension, the time to pause and reflect presents an enormous opportunity to re-set priorities for transformative gender justice.
In solidarity!
–Andrea Carlise
P.S. Please join us May 5th for #GivingTuesdayNow! Since we haven’t been able to host our annual gala, during which we raise the majority of our funds for the year, your support will make all the difference.
*Originally written for the International Alliance of Women community