With November fast approaching I thought I would share some information on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The United Nations has dedicated November 25th as a day to help bring awareness to gendered based violence against women. According to the UN “the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day
This is not the first year November 25th is being recognized, Women’s Right Activists have been celebrating on this day since 1981. It originated as a way to honor the Mirabal sisters. The three sisters were political activists who were brutally murdered in 1960 in the Dominican Republic by Rafael Trujillo. I thought this piece of history was interesting and something not many people know about. Violence Against Women is a global issue that needs to be addressed. Only about 2/3 of the the countries in the world have laws in place against domestic abuse and 49 countries have no laws in place that protect women against domestic violence.
Where you aware about this international day? In what ways do you think we can use November 25th to spread this information?
Read more about the history at https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day/background
I’m glad you shared this! I actually had no idea this was a thing. Which makes me wonder, why isn’t there more exposure to this day? With violence against women increasing and becoming a larger issue today, I do believe it’s important that more awareness is brought to this. This is such a huge topic at hand that I wouldn’t be opposed to changing it from one day to a month dedicated to violence against women!
Ways we could bring awareness to this day is to talk amongst it about our peers and get active about it! On an international level, I do believe country leaders should force local governments to spread awareness and pass more laws protecting women from violence. Doing so will show society that we are currently progressive in our women/men equality views!
Wow I have never heard of this until now! I am glad that we take time to recognize and learn about the problems that women are facing on a day to day basis. I feel as if they should do more to try and spread the word about this day because I never see it on TV, hear about it on the news, etc. We need to try and bring more awareness.