The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

All around the world, violence against girls and women continues as one of the most destructive and tolerated human rights violations, a result of historic, legal and social gendered inequality and discrimination.  Roots of violence against girls and women are deep and a defining indicator of societies well out of balance.  Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) is determined to change that.

One in three women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence — mostly by an intimate male partner.  Our logo design embodies this stat with the statement The Violence Stops Here to identify that our goal is the elimination of violence against girls and women.

This global pandemic thrives in public and private spaces, whether at home, on the streets or during war and on average, every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate male partner.

This year, on Wednesday, November 25, 2015, BWSS begins our fourth annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign.  Our emphasis this year:

Breaking the Silos – our flagship fundraising gala drawing attention to gender violence and climate change with speaker Severn Cullis-Suzuki and MC Jill Krop

Every Six Days – We introduce you to Sara (not her real name) a her story of migration and battering by her husband, because sadly, we know that there are refugee and immigrant women living this plight, right in our community.  Often suffering in silence, out of fear of increased violence, losing their children or being deported.

16 Day of Activism– From November 25 – December 10 we will host events and community initiatives online and in the physical world.  Stay connected through our blog Ending Violence www.bwss.org, through our facebook page and via twitter @EndingViolence and follow the hashtags #Every6Days, #16Days, and #BuyItFwd

We believe that prevention and intervention strategies are best when wholistic leveraging a matrix of actions concurrently that disrupt the roots of violence and the day to day occurrences.  BWSS proudly partners, collaborates, engages many sectors, stakeholders and communities to apply best practice approaches from mobilizing communities to change social norms, to comprehensive school interventions with students and staff, to economic empowerment programming, social enterprises My Sister’s Closet – an eco-thrift boutique and Strategic Interventions a fee for service skill-based training program.

16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women begins on November 25th, continues through December 6th and concludes on December 10th.  Here’s more about the significance of these dates.

On November 25, 1960, three Mirabel sisters were brutally assassinated for opposing the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic on the orders of the Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo. Since 1981, the date 25 November has been marked as tribute to the Mirabel sisters and also as global recognition of gender violence by United Nations and activists. November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

December 6th is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, is a day commemorated in Canada each December 6th, the anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, when fourteen women were singled out for being women and murdered. It is often marked by vigils, discussions and other reflections on violence against women.

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on December 10^th.

The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly‘s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.  As one of the most pressing human rights issues, violence against women is fused with Human Rights Day.