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What is ‘16 days of activism’?
16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign to raise awareness and generate action to end violence against women and girls in communities around the world.
According to UNWOMEN, it was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and continues to be coordinated each year by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. It is used as a strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.
In support of this civil society initiative, the United Nations Secretary-General’s ‘UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women’ campaign (UNiTE campaign) calls for global actions to increase awareness, galvanize advocacy efforts, and share knowledge and innovations.
The global theme for this year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence which will run from 25 November to 10 December 2021, is “Orange the world: End violence against women now!”
What is Gender based violence?
According to UNHRC Gender-Based violence refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful norms. Gender-based violence takes place in all societies and all cultures and can happen to both women and men. However, gender-based violence happens mostly to women around the world. Gender-based violence seriously inhibits women's ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men and prevents them from actively engaging and participating in society, including demanding accountability for rights violations.
Violence against women is a persistent and universal problem occurring in every culture and social group. Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in her lifetime – most often by someone she knows, including a member of her own family, an employer, or a co-worker.
In Zimbabwe, one in three women between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced physical violence, and about one in four women have been sexually violated since the age of 15.
At global level 35% of women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime .38% of women deaths have been committed by intimate partner. Globally 7% of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than[a1] a partner and 200 million women have experienced female genital mutilation.
No matter where they are or what they are doing, the threat of gender-based violence is real and ever‑present for women and girls around the world
Types of GBV
1. Physical violence – Physical violence is an act attempting to cause, or resulting in, pain and/or physical injury. This includes Includes actual, attempted, or threatened physical assault, slavery, trafficking, and beatings.
2. Sexual violence- Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, acts to traffic a person or acts directed against a person's sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.This includes actual, attempted, or threatened rape including marital rape, demanding sexual favors, and taking control of reproductive processes, sexual abuse, forced prostitution, and other violations of a sexual nature.
3. Emotional violence- Emotional abuse is a way to control another person by using emotions to criticize, embarrass, shame, blame, or otherwise manipulate another person. This can be done by placing restrictions on liberty and freedom of movement, verbal abuse, threatening violence, withholding of food etc.
4. Financial violence – Financial abuse is a form of family violence. It can include withholding money, controlling all the household spending or refusing to include you in financial decisions. Financial abuse can happen to anyone.
5. Socio-economic violence- discrimination and denial of opportunities on the basis of sex, gender, or sexual orientation…. This is shown by acts such as denial of the exercise and enjoyment of economic, cultural, and political rights. This is mainly to women and girls.
6. Harmful traditional practices- female genital mutilation, forced marriage, child marriage, infanticide, denial of education and economic opportunities for women and girls.
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Causes of GBV
Despite the many policies and laws in place, implementation has been slow due to:
· Lack of resources
· No consistency between statutory and customary law
· Resistance based on religious and patriarchal beliefs
· Gender inequality
Consequences of GBV
Fatal – Homicide, suicide, maternal mortality, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS.
Trivial physical injuries- Injury, Shock, Disease, Infection, Disability
Chronic injuries, illnesses, or conditions – infections, gastrointestinal problems, eating or sleeping disorders, alcohol, and drug abuse
Reproductive - Miscarriages, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortions, STIs including HIV/AIDS, menstrual disorders, pregnancy complications, gynecological disorders, sexual disorders
Emotional and psychological - post-traumatic stress, depression, anger, anxiety and fear, shame, self-hate and self-blame, mental illness, suicidal thoughts and behavior.
Social and economic - blaming of the victim/survivor, loss of role or functions in society, social stigma, rejection and isolation, feminization of poverty, Increased gender inequalities, loss of livelihood and economic, dependency, arrest, detention and/or punishment.
How can we as a community prevent GBV?
By participating in 16 days of activism to have an impact on people around you:
1. By role modeling a culture of consent.
2. By respecting people’s boundaries.
3. By being committed to institutional change that works to end gender-based violence.
4. By educating friends on toxic masculinity.
5. By supporting survivors in whatever way that means to them.
6. By facilitating conversations and trainings with friends and colleagues about how to sensitively support students who’ve been impacted by gender-based violence.
7. By providing advocacy opportunities for students to challenge rape culture, homophobia, racism and colonialism.
8. By teaching your sons and daughter about consent.
Prevention is the only way to stop violence before it even occurs. It requires political commitment, implementing laws that promote gender equality, investing in women’s organizations, and addressing the multiple forms of discrimination women face daily. The evidence about prevention has evolved considerably over the past decade. This because of the various support systems and advocacy being set in place in today’s society. As well as the results of various initiatives supported by UN Women.5
Despite commitments by various governments, many women and girls around the world still lack access to quality, multi-sectoral services essential for their safety, protection, and recovery, especially those who already suffer multiple forms of discrimination. Even when basic services exist, they are typically underfunded, understaffed, or not of high quality.
This is a link to a video I have made to seek Justice for Anna Machaya who was initially misidentified as Memory Machaya. To this day, she has not received the justice she deserves.
SOURCES
2. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against- women/take-action/16-days-of-activism
3. https://www.who.int/news/item/09-03-2021-devastatingly-pervasive-1-in-3-women-globally-experience-violence#:~:text=Across%20their%20lifetime%2C%201%20in,unchanged%20over%20the%20past%20decade.
7. https://www.wire.org.au/financial-abuse/
Our very own Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Expert😍. You are doing great. keep shining