Center Projects

Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell:

The Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell is an online learning portal that provides women entrepreneurs with the skills, knowledge and resources to build and manage a successful business. Developed in collaboration with Bank of America, the Institute will offer an innovative online entrepreneurship curriculum, connect women with critical information and resources to overcome persistent challenges, including access to networks and capital, and foster a vibrant network of empowered women entrepreneurs and social innovators. The new institute will be a collaboration that draws on the expertise of faculty from Cornell Law School, Cornell Dyson School, Cornell Tech, Entrepreneurship at Cornell and eCornell, among others. Women entrepreneurs can apply for the online program, which will be offered at no cost.

Clinical Projects:

The Center faculty, staff and students work with judges, legal professionals, governmental and nongovernmental organizations and key stakeholders on selected in-depth projects that work toward improving access to justice, economic opportunity and social progress for women and girls. A project may involve conducting fact-finding and writing a report, evaluating laws related to access to justice for victims of gender-based violence, or developing training materials. Projects typically begin in January or August and are undertaken by teams of law students supervised by Cornell Law School faculty.

To request additional information or project assistance, please contact us. Please include a description of the project and your desired end-product, goals and timeline.

Examples of clinical projects:

Fact-finding/Reports

• Study of sexual violence by educators in South African schools: gaps in accountability
  
• Causes, conditions, and consequences of women's imprisonment globally
  
• Women in prison in Argentina
• Sexual violence in Zambia's schools
• Barriers to justice for domestic violence survivor-defendants in New York State
• Acid attacks against women and girls in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India

Engagement with Human Rights Bodies

• Shadow reports for the UN Human Rights Council and UN Committee against Torture on sexual violence in the U.S. military
• Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women for India's periodic review
  
• Submission to the African Commission on Human Rights on "virginity testing" in Egypt
• Submission on child marriage to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
  

Law Reform

• Legislative and community-based advocacy in Tompkins County, NY seeking recognition of freedom from domestic violence as a human right
• Study of proposed legislation to address violence against women in India
• India's compliance with the UN Trafficking Protocol

Legal Training & Handbooks

• Stakeholder round table discussion and action to address gaps in accountability for sexual violence in Kenyan schools
• Handbook on juvenile law in Zambia
  
• South Asia workshop on violence against women and access to emergency contraception
• Virtue Foundation 2011 Senior Roundtable on Women and the Judiciary
  
• Support for Lawyers Without Borders Kenya judicial symposium and trial advocacy training program
• Trial advocacy training program on trafficking in persons in Liberia