Giving Compass' Take:

• The authors compiled a list of nine circumstances in which women fought for equal rights and protections and won their cases, changing many laws all over the world. 

• How can donors help women fight government laws that go against gender equality?  

• Read the Giving Compass Gender Equality guide for donors. 

Here's a collection of some amazing women and girls who took their experiences, refused to accept them as “normal," and took action to drive change.

  1. In Australia: Grace, a transgender woman in Australia, was refused the right to change her gender on her birth certificate after transitioning from male to female.
  2.  In Spain: Thousands of people took to the streets in Spain in April 2018, after five men accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in Pamplona were convicted of sexual abuse instead — a less severe offense.
  3. In Lebanon: For decades, rapists in Lebanon were able to escape prosecution if they married their victims, in a loophole that allowed criminals to get away with shocking crimes and no kind of justice.
  4. In Morocco: In the space of just a few months in 2017, two videos of women being harassed and sexually assaulted in Morocco went viral — sparking fierce debate over the state of sexual harassment laws in the country.
  5.  In India: In April 2018, a woman called Swati Maliwal, the head of Delhi’s Commission for Women, went on hunger strike — saying she wouldn’t eat again until India’s rape laws had been amended.
  6.  In El Salvador: Up until August 2017, men were still able to marry underage girls if they had impregnated the girl and had her parents’ approval.
  7. In England and Wales: Just 18 months ago, Gina Martin, 26, was upskirted by a man at a festival in London’s Hyde Park and Martin, understandably, was horrified when she noticed the picture on the man’s phone.
  8. In Zimbabwe: Ruvimbo Tsopodzi was just 15 when she was forced into marrying a man she hadn’t chosen.
  9. In Scotland: Even though she’s technically part of the lawmaking system, we’re still a big fan of Monica Lennon’s efforts to help end period poverty in Scotland.

Read the full article about when women fought the law and won by Imogen Calderwood and Erica Sanchez at Global Citizen