About
The National Association of Women and the Law Charitable Trust for Research and Education (NAWL Trust) was established in 1983 as the charitable arm complimenting the advocacy work done by the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL). NAWL’s mission is to protect and promote the equality rights of all women in Canada through legal education, research, strategic intervention, coalition work, and feminist law reform advocacy.
Since its founding in 1974, NAWL has been instrumental in protecting and promoting the equality rights of all women in Canada. We’re proud to have had a major role in achieving significant milestones for Canadian women’s equality — most notably in relation to the Canadian Human Rights Act, Sections 15 and 28 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the 2019 revisions to the Divorce Act.
The NAWL Trust compliments this mission by undertaking research and education on legal issues concerning all aspects of the social, economic, and political life of women in Canada. The NAWL Trust also assists in the protection of women’s civil rights and liberties by charitable means, as well as in the relief of poverty. Donations to the NAWL Trust are used for charitable activities, including those delivered by NAWL for the NAWL Trust. While NAWL and the NAWL Trust are separate entities, they share the goal of furthering the substantive equality of women in Canada.The NAWL Trust continues to play a vital role at both the national and local level, a success that is largely due to the commitment of our dedicated subject-matter experts, our ability to work in coalition with numerous organizations, and our development of a vast networking system consisting of women lawyers, judges, academics, students, and activists willing to lend their time, knowledge and skills towards the legal advancement of women’s equality.
Our Impact
The NAWL Trust supports and strengthens NAWL’s priority areas of ending violence against women, fighting for reproductive justice, defending women’s rights in the face of the climate crisis, and advancing women’s economic safety and prosperity.
Some recent ways that the NAWL Trust has helped women engage in the law-making process include:
- Funding the ongoing work of updating NAWL’s free, open-access, Feminist Law Reform 101 course.
- Funding online and in-person workshops on feminist law reform across Canada.
- Funding the Rightfully Hers mini documentary celebrating 50 years of feminist advocacy at NAWL.
- Funding NAWL’s 2023-2024 student essay competition and awards recognition ceremony for Outstanding Feminist Leadership.