UPDATE (Nov, 29, 2014): We did not win the contest, but our multilingual justice fund campaign continues - Donate today!

HELP US REALIZE OUR VISION
FOR MULTILINGUAL JUSTICE!

Take action to make in 2 ways!

Help us win the Unsexy Policy contest and $1000 by voting for us here: http://bit.ly/voteunsexy

The Contest

The Unsexy Policy contest is run by a group of students from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. They have created a calendar to celebrate so-called "unsexy" policies - the ones that may not get the most news coverage or retweets, but still create real, important changes in peoples' lives.

The group plans to donate proceeds from the calendar to benefit an organization that tackles less publicized but critically important economic, social, and environmental concerns. If you vote for MataHari, we could use $1,000 to purchase new interpretation devices to help us honor and include people from different language backgrounds in our community meetings.

Our "Unsexy" Policy: Domestic Workers' Rights

MataHari is a founding member of the Massachusetts Coalition for Domestic Workers, and in partnership with other member organizations, helped pass the Massachusetts Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights this past summer! We are proud to have been part of this significant moment in history, and to have fought for legal protections for those of us and our sisters who change the world every day as housecleaners, nannies, caregivers, or other in forms of domestic work.

Through the passage of this bill, domestic workers will be able to go to the attorney general if you are being forced to work against your will. You will have the right to keep your documents (including your passport and visa) and must be told by employer you have that right. While some provisions are already in effect, the bill will go into full effect on April 1, 2015.

Let's Talk, Let's Listen: Our Plans for $1000

If MataHari is voted best "unsexy" policy, we plan to use the money raised to further our organizational goal of multilingual justice. We are a group of women from many different ethnic, racial, cultural, class and immigrant backgrounds, and the languages we speak reflect those differences. Still, we believe strongly that by coming together, we can build power, find shared values, and create change. In order to do this, we need to strengthen our capacity for interpretation and multilingual meetings.

Interpretation systems are sets of wireless microphone and headset devices that allow for simultaneous interpretation in meetings large and small. This means that instead of speaking in short sections to make space for consecutive interpretation, we can run fluid meetings that still incorporate people from different language backgrounds. At the moment, MataHari often borrows interpretation systems from partner organizations in order to make our organizing work possible. If we win the Unsexy Policy contest, we will be able to put the money raised towards purchasing our own interpretation system (learn more about the Babel Box system)