Featuring Jill McElya
Founder/President, Invisible Girl Project
Jill McElya has a heart for justice and for the vulnerable. As an attorney and human rights advocates and Co-Founder and President of the Invisible Girl Project, she has set her heart, mind, and focus to rescuing girls who face the worst forms of injustice in India.
Before founding Invisible Girl Project, Jill spent nearly ten years practicing law, in various roles—as a prosecuting attorney, a criminal defense attorney, and a human rights advocate. She then joined an international human rights organization that led her work to India.
In January 2008, she moved to India to serve as the Deputy Director and Director of the Legal Department for the Chennai field office of that organization. In this capacity, she and her staff of Indian lawyers worked to rescue victims of bonded labor (slavery) and hold their perpetrators accountable through the public justice system. During that time, she worked with Indian government officials and participated in training efforts for various level officials.
While living in India for two years, Jill and her husband, Brad learned of the practice of female gendercide (the systematic killing of females) resulting from the devastating preference for boy children in India. They responded to this injustice by founding Invisible Girl Project (IGP).
IGP’s sole mission is to end female gendercide in India. IGP raises global awareness concerning the loss of female lives in India and educate on gender discrimination and related cultural practices. IGP works with indigenous organizations to rescue and care for vulnerable girls, educate them, and teach them their inherent value. They use social workers to counsel families and teach them that girls are valuable, not burdens. In addition, IGP seeks justice for mothers who are pressured to abort or kill their daughters, understanding that the public justice system in India must work to save girls’ lives.
Invisible Girl Project is the only international, secular, non-profit organization addressing gendercide in this manner. And, through IGP’s partners' efforts, over 700 girls have been saved and hundreds of mothers have been empowered to protect their daughters.
Jill continues to be a passionate advocate on the issue of gendercide and has shared about this work in many contexts. She has spoken extensively on the issue across the US, including testifying before Congress on the subject of “India’s Missing Girls.”
G.L.O.B.A.L. was pleased to feature Jill McElay at our 6th Anniversary Film Festival where she served as a panelist for the It’s a Girl film screening on the topic of gendercide.