16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

Published

19 Nov 2019 Healthy Community

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The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is a global campaign dedicated to ending gender-based violence and raising awareness about the impacts of violence against women.

It begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) and ends on International Human Rights Day (December 10).

This year, Council will also be supporting Respect Victoria's campaign, which encourages people to call out sexism, sexual harassment and disrespect towards women.

You can support women by calling out disrespectful attitudes and or behaviours by calling out someone who:

Makes a sexist joke
Demeans a family member or puts them down
Controls how their partner or family member spends money
Is controlling their partner's movements
Trys to stop their partner from seeing friends or family.

You can access resources to help call out disrespect from the Respect Victoria website.

Why does this campaign focus on women? Family violence can happen to anyone, including men?

There is no excuse for any type of violence to anyone!

The impacts of violence on women is different to impacts of violence on a man.

For example, men are more likely to experience violence by other men in public places, women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence from men they know and often in the home.

Intimate partner violence is the greatest health risk factor for women aged 25-44.

The overwhelming majority of acts of domestic violence and sexual assault are perpetrated by men against women, and this violence is likely to have more severe impacts on female than male victims - Our Watch.