There’s so much we all have to be proud of this year. Despite the continued struggles of living through a worldwide pandemic, Equality Now’s incredible global community has continued to help us make equality reality for women and girls.

With only 10 days left until the end of the year, we hope you will help us by making a gift today.

Here in Georgia, where I’m based as Equality Now’s Eurasia Regional Representative, I’m most proud of the training I helped deliver on how to handle sexual violence cases to 324 prosecutors and investigators.  These trainings were the first of their kind in the country and helped to ensure that only trained investigators and prosecutors would work on cases involving sexual violence.

Sexual violence is never acceptable. No exceptions. No excuses. These trainings mark the start of a new chapter to help ensure access to justice for survivors of sexual violence and to finally bring perpetrators — who have been enjoying widespread immunity — to justice. 

As we look to the year ahead, my colleagues and I are eager to build upon this success as we continue our work to establish training for judges on the circumstances surrounding the crime of sexual violence. This, we hope, will help to alleviate burdensome standards of evidence and further lessen the stigma and discrimination survivors face in Georgia’s legal and criminal justice system.

We are also continuing to work towards changing the definition of rape to be consent focused, rather than centered on the presence (or absence of) evidence of force. 

Of course, none of this work would be possible without you. 

This year, I ask you to be the change in the lives of girls and women everywhere by making a gift to support the work of Equality Now. With the help of our friends at the InMaat Foundation, your gifts will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling the impact of your donation. 

Don’t delay! There are just 10 days left to give.