Saturday November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

 

IMAGE: U.N. banner 2023

According to SIGI 2023 Global Report: Gender Equality in Times of Crisis, violence against women refers to a wide range of harmful acts that are rooted in unequal power relations between men and women and that result in – or are likely to result in – physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women.

Gender-based violence can also target female children between 0 & 18 years.

Violence against women remains a global pandemic underpinned by the level of misogyny and chauvinism hardwired into our institutions and laws. Such violence endures due to a general unspoken social acceptance that is difficult to overcome within communities, families and among individuals who believe that men have a right to be physically aggressive in domestic or other close relationships.

In 2023, nearly one in three women has experienced intimate-partner violence at least once in her lifetime; and one in ten has survived it over the last year. While fundamentally underpinned by harmful social norms “normalising” men’s use of violence, addressing violence against women requires establishing strong and comprehensive legal frameworks, as part of robust systems, that cover all its forms. [SIGI 2023 Global Report: Gender Equality in Times of Crisis, online]

The United Nations estimates that world-wide 736 million women have experienced domestic violence at least once in their lifetime.

It invites us to: Join our 16 days of activism

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women will mark the launch of the UNiTE campaign (Nov 25- Dec 10) — an initiative of 16 days of activism concluding on the day that commemorates the International Human Rights Day (10 December).

This 2023 campaign Invest to Prevent Violence against Women & Girls will call on citizens to show how much they care about ending violence against women and girls and call on governments worldwide to share how they are investing in gender-based violence prevention. Join the global movement with the #NoExcuse slogan calling for urgent investments to prevent violence against women and girls. Digdeeper into the campaign’s proposals – data, prevention, investments– and join the global movement with the #NoExcuse slogan to eliminate violence against women and girls. 

For more information go to:

https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day

Somewhere in Australia today there are women and girls experiencing violence at the hands of a partner, a family member or another person they know.

The NSW Police Force in April 2023 published a report stating that it responds to over 140,000 domestic and family violence calls for assistance every year. This equates to one call every four minutes and, that according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research statistics the number and volume of domestic and family violence crime types have increased from October 2016 to September 2021. [my yellow highlighting]