It has been one week since I kicked off my internship with the WBL Team! I spent most of the past week reading about the work of the WBL team and getting to meet my fellow interns.
The Intern Cohort
Along with me are about ten other interns this year all dialing in from different parts of the world. Some of us are based in the U.S. (between Boston, New York, and D.C.). Others are based abroad, from Paris to Beirut. While I was initially bummed about having to do this internship remotely, it’s still been really amazing to interact with the other interns and learn about their interests and backgrounds. And what I’ve learned is that we’re all pretty different. We come from diverse backgrounds. Some of the us are much more research-oriented, others are legal experts (trained lawyers or law students), and others are (like me) more policy-oriented. What we do have in common, however, is our passion for advancing women’s rights worldwide. It’s been great to meet everyone and I’m excited to see how our respective skillsets can complement each other as we collaborate over the summer.
My Assignment
I also found out last week that I will be working with the Implementation team within WBL. The Implementation team, as the name might suggest, looks at implementation gaps in the enforcement of gender laws across the world. I will be supporting the team with conducting research around existing gaps and best practices in the implementation of the eight indicators measured the WBL index— Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension. This is super exciting work. I’ve always been interested in the implementation side of policy and research. It would be great to delve deeper into the question of, “Even if gender laws exist, why aren’t they changing outcomes for women.” I am hoping that this assignment will help me get a little bit more clarity around that question.
That’s it for this week’s updates – will check back in next week. Stay tuned!