US-headquartered Baker McKenzie has partnered with Dubai-based Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS Jumeirah) to advance its ‘period empowerment project’, the law firm announced on International Women’s Day.
The project aims to raise awareness of period poverty on a global scale and create gender equality, improved health outcomes and increased educational opportunities for young women living in poverty.
To kick-start the partnership, Baker McKenzie lawyers and clients, together with JESS students and faculty, collaborated in an awareness-raising workshop on reusable and sustainable sanitary kits on International Women’s Day, which this year took place on March 8, 2024.
In the long-run, Baker McKenzie will continue to support JESS, a British international school based in Jumeirah, Dubai, by establishing a governance framework to expand the project’s reach and impact, the firm said in a statement. This includes “setting policies for participating schools in destination countries to take on the responsibility for awareness-raising and knowledge sharing to schools and communities within their jurisdictions”.
Commenting on the firm’s involvement, Borys Dackiw, managing partner of Baker McKenzie in the UAE, said: “As a leading global law firm, we are committed to applying our legal knowledge, talent, resources, and expertise to support positive and impactful projects that contribute to the well-being of communities in need.
“We are honored to have collaborated with JESS on this exciting project.”
JESS director Shane O’Brien added: “We are extremely grateful to Baker McKenzie for the ongoing support. Partnerships enable the project to continue achieving its aim and objectives and to grow year on year.”
The project was founded in 2019 by three sixth form students. Since then it has supplied 2,500 sanitary towels to over 800 young women in Zambia, and provided lessons on menstrual hygiene and female self-esteem.
Now in its fourth year, it aims to expand to Cambodia and deliver over 2,500 sanitary towels to young women, as well as build a water tower in a school, providing access to clean water and safe toilet cubicles.
The Baker McKenzie team was led by partner Tina Hsieh, a member of the firm’s inclusion, diversity & equity committee in the Middle East. Hsieh said: “We now look forward to delivering the sanitary kits to those who need it most and building awareness campaigns effecting lasting change in mindsets.”
