Frauen-Rechtsschutz

The Vienna-based association, Legal Protection for Women, provides women in crisis situation in all parts of Austria with financial aid and competent legal representation. The aim is always to enforce women’s and children’s rights in female-specific proceedings. A further objective is to use “test cases” to make the legal system overall more equitable towards women. The association advocates jurisdiction in favour of women and ensures entitlement to equal rights. If this cannot be achieved in the national legal system, support is given to appeals to international bodies. In 2008, Maria Berger, who was the Austrian Justice Minister at the time, became a patron of the association, as an additional role to her patronage of the SozialMarie awards that year.