Council is supporting this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign, a global movement that promotes gender equality and encourages communities to take action to prevent gender-based violence against women.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence is a global campaign that begins on 25 November with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and culminates in Human Rights Day on 10 December.
Unlike previous years, lockdowns and curfews intended to contain the spread of COVID-19 have led to an increase in the number of reported domestic violence cases, both locally and overseas.
The 16 Days of Activism awareness raising campaign promotes collective action to prevent violence against women and girls and uses the bright and optimistic colour orange to represent a future free from violence.
Mayor of Maroondah Councillor Kylie Spears said acknowledging the link between gender equality and violence against women was an important first step in transforming communities and workplaces to make women feel valued and safe.
“For far too long, impunity, silence and stigma has led violence against women to escalate with statistics showing that one in three women worldwide have experienced gender-based violence,” Cr Spears said.
“Preventing violence against women is about building systems, cultures, organisations and communities that are safe and inclusive of women and promote equal and respectful relationships between men and women,” she said.
“One of the ways in which you can do this is to support the 16 Days of Activism campaign, a global movement that encourages communities to take responsibility for violence against women. People can play their part by being an ‘active bystander’ and ‘calling out’ gender-based violence in our community,” Cr Spears said.
In support of the campaign, Council will be:
- Promoting key messages on roadside boards in prominent locations around Maroondah.
- Sharing messages on our social media channels based on ’16 ways in 16 days’ to call out gender-based violence, a social marketing campaign led by Women’s Health East (WHE) in partnership with the Together for Equality and Respect.
- Supporting GenVic’s (Gender Equity Victoria) social media campaign Respect Women: Call it out.
In line with this year’s theme of ‘Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!’ the community can show their support by taking a walk in their local neighbourhood wearing something orange on Wednesday 25 November.
The community can also get involved by following WHE’s social pages to stay informed, share and join the conversation across the 16 days using the social media hashtags #16Days16Ways and #CallitOut.
If you or someone you know is impacted by gender-based violence, contact 1800 RESPECT or 1800 737 732, a 24-hour confidential information, counselling and support service. You can also contact 1800 015 188 Safe Steps, Victoria’s 24/7 family violence support service.
