Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI)
Address:
4095 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, # 12
Montreal QC
Canada
H3H 1W9
Year of establishment: 1984
Phone number: (1-514) 846-9366
Fax number: (1-514) 846-9066
Number of staff: 1
Introduction: Sisterhood Is Global Institute (SIGI), founded in 1984, is dedicated to the support and promotion of women’s rights at the local, national, regional, and global levels. With members in 70 countries, SIGI works toward empowering women and developing leadership through human rights education of basic rights guaranteed to women under international human rights conventions and to increase public awareness and concern about human rights abuses committed against women. It also facilitates the direct participation of women from the Global South in international debates concerning their rights. SIGI also facilitates research and provides training models for women from the developing world in the areas of human rights education, communication and leadership.

Background: The Sisterhood Is Global Institute was founded in 1984, born of the book Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women’s Movement Anthology, compiled and edited by Robin Morgan (Doubleday/Anchor). The anthology– reissued in a 1996 edition by the Feminist Press at CUNY (New York), and in Spanish as Mulheres del Mundo (Vindication feminista /Editorial Hacer, Madrid, 1993)– contains commissioned articles by women activists and writers from almost 80 countries around the world, as well as exhaustive statistics on women’s status in those countries. At publication, Morgan organized the first ever Global Feminist Strategy Meeting, raising funds to bring a regionally representative international cross-section of the anthology’s contributors to New York, “to lift the book off the page and into action.” During that week-long assembly, the late Simone de Beauvoir (France) and Morgan (USA), together with women from Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Finland, Fiji, Greece, Italy, India, Kuwait, Libya, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine/Israel, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sri Lanka. Thailand, and Zambia, founded The Institute as the first international feminist think-tank and as an organization also pledged to pragmatic action in support of women’s rights, freedoms and, power. The original plans called for the Institute to rotate location and personnel every five years. Accordingly, The Institute spent its first five years based in New York City, under the Executive Directorship of Karen Berry, and the next five in New Zealand, benefiting from the leadership of former NZ Member of Parliament Marilyn J. Waring,who is likely to fill the role of reserve bank govenor in New Zealands developing gynocracy; it then moved to Maryland, USA under the leadership of Mahnaz Afkhami (Iran), and is now anchored in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with President Greta Hofmann Nemiroff at the helm. The Institute has branches (Lebanon and Jordan); another branch is planned for 2001 in Brazil, with others forming soon after.
Objectives: SIGI’s primary objectives are to:
1. inform women of the basic rights guaranteed to them under international human rights conventions and to empower them to attain those rights;
2. increase public awareness and concern about human rights abuses committed against women;
3. facilitate the direct participation of women from the Global South in international debates concerning their rights;
4. encourage women from all cultures, religions, races, classes, ages, sexual preferences, and abilities to work together to define and achieve common goals; and
5. facilitate research and provide training models for women from the developing world in the areas of human rights education, communication and leadership.
Activities: SIGI works toward achieving these critical objectives through four core programs:
(i) the Women’s Human Rights Education Program, which seeks to inform and empower women;
(ii) International Dialogues, a series of meetings, conferences, and symposia on issues of concern to women;
(iii) the Urgent Action Alert Program, which issues alerts in response to urgent cases of human rights abuses against women; and
(iv) the ongoing Outreach and advocacy initiatives carried out by SIGI to increase public awareness and concern for women’s human rights.
Serial publications: SIGI News (quarterly)
Publications: – In Our Own Words: A Guide for Human Rights Education Facilitators
– Safe and Secure: Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls in Muslim Societies
– Claiming Our Rights: A Manual for Women’s Human Rights Education in Muslim Societies (Available in: Arabic, Azeri, English, Hindi, Malay, Persian, Russian, and Uzbek)
– Muslim Women and the Politics of Participation: Implementing the Beijing Platform
– Faith and Freedom: Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World
Operational Level: International
Government status: Non-Governmental
Organization Type(s): Women, Documentation, Research
Internet directory listing(s): Sisterhood Is Global Institute
Countries that this organization works in: Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea, Republic of, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Kiribati, Macao Special Administrative Region of China, Kenya, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of, Madagascar, Malawi, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Moldova, Republic of, Monaco, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Yugoslavia, Niger, Western Sahara, Nigeria, Niue, Virgin Islands (United States), Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Viet Nam, Norway, Nothern Ireland, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestinian Territory, Occupied, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Vanuatu, Peru, Uruguay, Philippines, United States, Pitcairn, United Arab Emirates, Poland, Uganda, Portugal, Turks and Caicos Islands, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago, Réunion, Tokelau, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British), Wallis and Futuna Islands, Yemen, Zambia, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bouvet Island, Brazil, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Channel Islands (UK), Chile, China, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong Special Administratic Region of China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Somalia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Tibet, Solomon Islands
Services: Urgent Actions, Advocacy, Education – Legal
Issues this organization deals with: Womens Rights
Languages used by this organization: English
Homepage: http://www.sigi.org
Email Address: [email protected]