There are a variety of strategies and methods for using the Resource Kit arguments to advocate for change. Some ideas are listed below – this list is not meant to be comprehensive. Previous campaigns that have successfully pushed for equality in family laws and practices have used a combination of these ideas. More details and examples of women’s groups advocating for change can be found in Cassandra Balchin’s theoretical background paper.

Please contact us if you have more strategies or additional examples of the strategies outlined below.

Understanding the realities
It is vital to understand the effects that laws and practices have on people’slives. Decision makers, Parliamentarians, and clerics have said that providing data and examples of the effect of discriminatory laws can make a difference in advocacy for change. Therefore, it is useful for groups to collecting data and information on key issues in the family laws and practices. This can be done through carefully designed research studies by NGOs or academics, or less formally by collecting and compiling information on cases, letters, phone calls, and inquiries received by an organisation.

For example, Sisters in Islam (Malaysia) is conducting a national research project on the Impact of Polygamy on the Family Institution. This research includes a nationwide survey of more than 1000 respondents and in-depth interviews and focus groups with husbands, first wives, second wives, and children of polygamous families. The Maghreb office of Global Rights has recently completed a research project on including rights-protective clauses in the Muslim marriage contract that culminated in the release of a Model Muslim Marriage Contract.

Meetings with lawmakers
The Turkish women's movement advocacy for reform of the Civil Code and the Penal Code involved reaching out to lawmakers to build alliances and convince them of the need for reform and specific proposals towards reform. During the Egyptian campaign to expand divorce options for women through recognition of the concept of khul’, women’s groups worked to gain male support within Parliament, lobbied the Minister of Justice and identified key parliamentarians who could convince others of the need for reform.

Propose bills or amendments
Women's human rights groups often prepare bills or amendments to laws that can be submitted to their governments. In Pakistan, for instance, the Aurat Foundation re-initiated a campaign for reform of family laws in 2008 by holding a number of consultations with some of the country's most eminent jurists and lawyers. These consultations resulted in recommendations that can be submitted to the Government to help push the law reform process forward. Some recommendations include restrictions on polygamy and child marriage, specific provisions on maintenance, suggestions on increasing women's access to divorce, and a recommendation of quotas of women judges in the family courts.

Media outreach and shaping public understanding and opinion
The Moroccan coalition that successfully advocated for reform of the family law focused its communication strategy on advocacy and public awareness. A variety of advocacy methods were used to target decision-makers, including meetings, memoranda, dinner-debates, mailings, press releases, requests for endorsements of appeals, etc., all accompanied by media outreach. Awareness raising included messages relevant to a broad range of the public, based on the real cases of four women victims of violence that were collected from various help centres. These cases were shared with the public through advertisements in various media sources, stories in newspapers and magazines, flyers, signs at marches, etc.

Use the courts for change
In Indonesia, a man filed a case before the Constitutional Court that argued that restrictions on polygamy are unconstitutional. Women’s groups and progressive scholars used the opportunity to provide the government, which was arguing against the petitioner, with data and expert opinions on the impact of polygamy on women. The Court not only ruled that the State is constitutionally permitted to regulate polygamy, but also stated that monogamy is the basis of marriage according to Indonesian law.