The legal system is highly complex and difficult. Too often, the most vulnerable groups in a society - women and minorities - lack access to legal knowledge and legal services. Their inability to know their rights, and to defend them, adds to the impoverishment and marginalization of these minorities. It forces them to admit defeat, to accept intolerable conditions and to live with abuses of their rights.

Every year, our lawyers support a great number of women through legal consultations and representation in individual cases. About two thirds of our cases are family law cases. In such cases, our priority is to build women`s trust in the new civil family court system, as most women still approach the traditional, gender-biased religious courts with which they are familiar. We provide these legal services to low-income women who do not have the resources to consult a lawyer.

One in ten Arab women in Israel has had no schooling; one in seven is illiterate. They cannot read legal information in Hebrew.  Equipped with scarce information and deficient Hebrew, women are often intimidated in front of judges and officers. To counter this, Kayan gives lectures and publishes easy-to-read guides in Arabic to inform women about their legal rights.

The Internet is a great source of legal information, and we do publish our brochures on our website, yet many women do not have the computer skills to use the Internet. We therefore bring brochures and lectures to the women, to their towns and villages.  Because of the strict social and psychological barriers that make it very difficult for women to leave their familiar surroundings, Kayan`s mobile support is extremely important. (Also, keep in mind that most women have to walk to our lectures, lacking other means of transportation.)

The Nazarene organization "Women against Violence", dedicated to helping Arab women in Israel who are victims of gender-based violence, reported 626 calls for help in 2008, 291 related to sexual harassment and abuse and 335 related to physical, psychological and verbal violence. Every year, about 12 Arab women in Israel are killed on grounds of gender-based violence and misogyny. Kayan speaks out clearly, in public and in closed-door meetings, against harsh crimes against Arab women such as so-called "honor crimes," race-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and abuse of worker`s rights.