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"The Canadian Women’s Foundation and Women’s Funding Network have launched Signal for Help in Canada and the US, to help combat the increase of gender-based violence as a result of home isolation.

Signal for Help is an online initiative and tool designed to provide women who are confined to their homes with their abusers a method to discreetly communicate over any video call that they need help.

The signal is a simple single-handed gesture that symbolically entraps the thumb in the palm and provides those at risk with a discreet way to let family, friends, and colleagues know that they need help. It was intentionally designed as a continuous hand movement that could be made easily visible on a video call - due to the dramatic increase in usage of personal and professional video calls during this time. Instructional social posts were designed with a two-step visualization of how to perform the Signal for Help.