The equality effect is an international network of human rights advocates (including grass roots community members, artists, musicians, film makers, health care workers, journalists, lawyers, teachers, students, judges and Parliamentarians) working collaboratively to improve the lives of women and girls by using existing human rights law to achieve concrete change.
The Problem
More than 370 million girls and women alive today, or 1 in 8, experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18 (UNICEF, Oct. 10, 2024). Internationally recognized laws are in place to safeguard individuals from sexual violence. However, the stark reality is that these laws often remain unenforced, leading to a profound denial of justice and a disturbing prevalence of violence against women and girls.
The Kenyan Context
Girls in Kenya were being raped without consequence. Raped by their family, Friends, neighbours, teacher and police officers. Girls were not safe going to school or even at their own homes. If a rape was reported to police, often nothing would be done.
There was no justice.
A Systemic Solution
Sexual violence inflicts profound harm on victims and carries significant societal repercussions. By ensuring access to justice, we can enact systemic change that not only holds perpetrators accountable but also fosters equality for those most vulnerable to sexual violence.
A Bold Approach
This urgent human rights issue required a bold approach. The e² interdisciplinary team of legal experts and local community members developed a holistic model to transform the justice system and end the climate of impunity for child rape.
What makes e² unique is the combination of a top down and bottom-up approach. By challenging the law at the top and also educating the community (children, families, teachers, chiefs), then working back up through the justice system (police, prosecutors, judges) a path to justice was created. With the extraordinary commitment of justice system partners, a remarkable peer to peer network and unique human rights-based curriculum we started on an unprecedented path to realizing girls’ rights.
Rights are not real until they are enforceable.
Building on the Historic Success of the 160 Girls Project
e² made legal history in 2013 with a successful constitutional challenge to enforce existing child rape laws. 160 survivors cases were presented. This was a monumental victory but alone it would not change a culture of impunity, more had to be done. It was time to take this success forward in changing the justice system with community education and police training.
Ten years later, we are seeing the powerful impact of the e² approach. Police are enforcing the law and girls are advocating for their rights, the system is changing.
Then, 0% of police treatment of 160 Girls found to be constitutional.
Now, 81% of child rape victims see their perpetrator arrested within 3 months.
What’s Next
Many rape victims describe the experience of revictimization through the justice system as worse than the rape itself.
At the invitation of the Kenyan prosecutors and judiciary, and building on the expertise in training the police, the e² team is implementing the final phase on the path to justice for child rape victims, collaborating with prosecutors and judges.
Running parallel is continued work with local Chiefs, teacher and youth justice leaders in the community to embed lasting equality change in local government, institutions and in the leaders of tomorrow.
Be Part of Historical Equality Change
Our work in Kenya has never been done before. Through a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach, we harness the power of law to drive transformative equality. We are witnessing firsthand how radical equality change unfolds.
We need community support to continue to increase access to justice to all 10,500,000 girls in Kenya.
Our approach to systemic change is grounded in substantive equality, and is transferable to different country and institutional contexts.
Our model will advance peer-to-peer networks to a higher level of knowledge exchange in new countries with Kenyan peers actively supporting initiatives for equality change. We are fostering a worldwide community of equality changemakers.
Join us in our goal to bring access to justice and end impunity for child rape and sexualized violence for girls and women in Kenya and beyond.
Let’s Make Girls’ & Women’s Rights Real.
