The Canadian Women’s Foundation was bracing for a surge of gender-based violence as

lockdown made it more difficult for those at risk of abuse to safely reach out for help. To

respond, we invented Signal for Help: a silent, covert one-handed signal someone can use on a

video call to communicate that they need help. It was intentionally designed as a one-handed

sign that a person at risk can make while holding a mobile phone with their other hand.

Research was done prior to its release to make sure that it was not in conflict with any other

hand signals and didn’t mean anything specific in international sign languages.

On April 14th, 2020, we launched with an unbranded instructional social post and toolkit in

English, French, and Spanish so anyone could own, and everyone could amplify. Three months

after launch, an independent survey commissioned by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and

conducted by Maru/Blue found that 33% of Canadians said they have seen info about the signal

and 96 out of 1,509 people surveyed said they had used or seen it used directly.

Inspiring activism and action on a global scale Signal for Help has been adopted by 200+

women’s organizations, across 40+ countries in 20+ languages, and garnered 1 billion+

impressions. It has been endorsed by emergency services, governments, law enforcement, and

health professionals around the globe, including being mentioned in the peer-reviewed

Canadian Medical Association Journal as a tool to help.

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