For best experience please turn on javascript and use a modern browser!
You are using a browser that is no longer supported by Microsoft. Please upgrade your browser. The site may not present itself correctly if you continue browsing.

Vrouwenrechtswinkel Amsterdam

Women know their way around the legal system less well than men. In addition, although everyone is equal, the laws and regulations are not always fair to women due to numerous factors. To improve women's access to justice in Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Law Hub set up Vrouwenrechtswinkel Amsterdam in collaboration with Bureau Clara Wichmann and Gemeente Amsterdam. And with the help of women's organisations.

Meanwhile, at three locations in the city, law students, accompanied by lawyers, provide free legal advice to women. 

In almost three years, Vrouwenrechtswinkel Amsterdam has grown into a phenomenon, both within and outside Amsterdam. Now that the legal clinics have a solid foundation and are strongly embedded in society, the time has come for us to hand over the project to our partner Bureau Clara Wichmann. This take over took place on January 1st, 2023.

Goals

The goals of the Vrouwenrechtswinkel Amsterdam:

  • To advise all Amsterdam women on their legal position and the legal system so that she knows how to obtain her rights like everyone else.
  • Educating a new generation of law students (WO and HBO) with a culturally and gender-sensitive perspective.
  • Linking the law clinics to teaching and research at the UvA.

Activities

  • Provide accessible and free legal advice to women with legal problems in a safe, accessible and approachable environment.
  • Set up and coordinate a network of law firms that serve as a backstop and litigation representative (when litigation is necessary).
  • Setting up and coordinating a network of women's organisations in which client referrals, knowledge transfer (theme meetings) and advocacy take place.
  • Innovating education: helping to improve cultural and gender sensitivity among law students and the training of gender-sensitive legal professionals, with the ripple effect that ultimately many more legal problems are addressed and resolved from the perspective of women's needs.
  • Innovating front-line legal services through interdisciplinary collaboration (e.g. psychology faculty) and developing technical tools.

Impact numbers

  • Provided 1068 women with advice.
  • 9 thematic meetings were held with a combined reach of >300 people.
  • 76 students (36 students have worked at VRWA and 40 are currently working there) have been trained in culturally and gender sensitive work.
  • We have associated 41 law firms with us.
  • Collaboration with 45+ women's organisations.
  • Won the Gouden Zandloper Award in 2022, in the Access to Justice category.
  • High visibility through (national) media (e.g. newspapers: Trouw, NRC, Het Parool, De Telegraaf, Nederlands Dagblad, and magazines: Vrij Nederland, Advocatie, on the radio: De Nieuws BV, FunX, Radio BovenIJ, and in podcasts: The Law as a Work of Art, DamnHoney).