Yasmeen Hassan, executive director of Equality Now, visited the Academy on Apr. 29 to speak to students women’s rights.

Raised in Pakistan but educated in Catholic schools, Hassan learned lessons of solidarity, organization and law from an early age which spurred her motivation and dedication to become involved in law.

At the age of 10, Hassan experienced a military dictatorship in Pakistan which sparked the women’s rights activism movement in the country.

Hassan studied at Harvard Law School with hopes of becoming an advocate for women.

During her visit at the Academy, Hassan gave students startling statistics about the mistreatment and inequality of women in other countries, such as 38,000 child marriages a day, three million girls subjected to female genital mutilation every year and Hawaii as the first state to pass an anti-sex tourism law.

Hassan also spoke about the goals of Equality Now, a women’s rights activist organization that is working to create worldwide social change through legal means.                

Founded in 1992, Equality Now’s goal is for better gender equality laws. According to Hassan, countries with greater gender equality, such as the Nordic states, also have increased peace and decreased conflict within the country. However, changing gender inequality laws in foreign countries is sometimes difficult due to cultural implications.

To support the women’s rights activist movement, students can join Equality Now and sign up to receive newsletters and petitions.

In addition, Hassan encouraged students to set an example when entering male-dominated fields.

“Do not change for a male-dominated field. The field needs to accommodate you. Be you. Be an example,” she said.

Although Hassan encounters a multitude of cases that are sometimes gruesome and seemingly hopeless, her motivation to keep working and fighting for gender equality is seeing some success which reminds her that hope is very much alive.

“I would call myself a humanist,” said Hassan. “I do believe, generally, humanity is good. My faith in people is strong and that’s what leads me on.”