How to Prevent and Respond to Gender Violence: 16 Days of Activism
Sunday marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, kicking off 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence that highlight the connection between women, violence, and human rights. November 25 stands as a reminder to the world, local organizations, and most importantly, ordinary citizens to say “No” and unite to end violence against women.
The 16 Days campaign is an opportunity to show international solidarity in the fight to end violence against women. This year’s theme–From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World–highlights the link between militarism and gender violence, as well as the role of women as peacemakers in their own homes and nations. Join people all over the world to promote women’s rights to peace and freedom from violence.
The 16-day period also highlights other significant dates: November 29 (International Women Human Rights Defenders Day), December 1 (World AIDS Day), December 3 (the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre), and December 10 (International Human Rights Day). The lives of women lost by domestic violence will recognized on December 10 as an act of grave human rights violation. By placing women’s safety and concerns within the human rights paradigm, the campaign hopes to no longer relegate abuse as a “private” or “domestic” affair. Instead, the campaign will demand accountability from the States to secure protection and fulfillment of the rights of women, who make up half its citizens.
What is Gender-based violence?
Gender-based violence is violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman, or is violence that affects women disproportionately. Both gender-based violence and violence against women are terms used to describe human rights violations committed against women that stem from gender inequality and the failure of governments and societies to recognize the human rights of women. Acts of gender-based violence can include domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, sexual harassment, trafficking of women, forced prostitution, harmful social practices, and more.
The 16 Days against gender violence campaign focuses on the following themes:
- Bringing together women, peace, and human rights movements to challenge militarism
- Sexual violence in and after conflict
- Sexual and gender-based violence committed by state agents, particularly the military or police
To commemorate 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, here are the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the George Washington University (GWU) Global Women’s Institute two related events:
From Evidence to Action: Unleashing the Power of Research to Combat Gender-based Violence
Wednesday, December 5, 2012, 3–4:30 pm
City View Room, 1957 E St. NW, Washington DC, 7th Floor
Recently, the United States government released its global strategy to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. One of its four key objectives is to improve the collection, analysis, and use of data to enhance prevention and response efforts. Yet, it has been reported that local research capacity is lagging in many parts of the world, particularly among those best positioned to use research for policy advocacy and program design. Why and what can be done to prevent and respond to gender based violence?
The upcoming informative discussion will be moderated by Lois Romano, Senior Political Writer for Politico and ICRW Board Member, with the following esteemed panelists:
- Kay Freeman, Director of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, USAID
- Stella Mukasa, Director of Gender, Violence and Rights, ICRW
- Mary Ellsberg, Director, Global Women’s Institute, George Washington University
- Karen McDonnell, Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University
At this upcoming event, ICRW will launch its latest publication, Strengthening Research and Action on Gender-based Violence in Africa.
Violence Against Girls: From Child Marriage to Date Rape
Thursday, December 6, 2012, 12–2pm
George Washington University Marvin Center, 800 21st Street, NW, Room #405
Violence against young women takes different forms in different parts of the world. On Thursday, December 6, 2012, the discussion will focus on two (2) issues that affect millions of girls and young women around the world: child marriage and dating violence. This event will be moderated by Susan Wood, Director, Women’s Health Institute, George Washington University, the panel features:
- Neil Irvin, Executive Director, Men Can Stop Rape
- TaraPereira, Director of Campus Inclusion Initiatives, George Washington University
- Ann Warner, Senior Gender and Youth Specialist, ICRW
- Lucy Lohrmann, Teen Advisor, Girl Up Campaign
Since the campaign began in 1991, 4,100 organizations in approximately 172 countries have participated in the 16 Days Campaign. At present, only a handful of countries, including the United States, have committed to take concrete actions to respond to end violence against women. Austria has set us off in the right direction by including gender responsive budgeting practices in their national security budget. Germany intends to establish a national hotline number by 2013 and eliminate unequal pay between men and women by the end of this year. The United States aims to reduce domestic violence homicides in up to 12 communities by 2013, through identifying best practices in violence intervention.
Join the efforts to stop and respond to gender-based violence.
Source(s): International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). Amnesty International. AAUW. Say NO – UniTE.
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Older Americans Month
In the United States, there has been a notable increase in the number of Americans over the age of sixty-five (65) and this trend is expected to continue. Research data indicates that there has been an increase of 4.3 million person increase in the number of Americans over the age of sixty-five (65) from 1999-2009. In recognition of the contributions that older Americans have made and continue to make in their families and communities, on April 29th, 2011, May was declared Older Americans Month by President Barack Obama. Let’s take a look at a profile of older Americans created by the United States Administration on Aging (AoA) from the most recent research data. The Administration on Aging’s profile on older Americans includes but is not limited to a breakdown of their: gender, average life expectancy, marital status, and income.
A Profile of Older Americans: 2010
Highlights*
• The older population (65+) numbered 39.6 million in 2009, an increase of 4.3 million or 12.5% since 1999.
• The number of Americans aged 45-64 – who will reach 65 over the next two decades – increased by 26% during this decade.
• Over one in every eight, or 12.9%, of the population is an older American.
• Persons reaching age 65 have an average life expectancy of an additional 18.6 years (19.9 years for females and 17.2 years for males).
• Older women outnumber older men at 22.7 million older women to 16.8 million older men.
• In 2009, 19.9% of persons 65+ were minorities–8.3% were African-Americans.** Persons of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race) represented 7.0% of the older population. About 3.4% were Asian or Pacific Islander,** and less than 1% were American Indian or Native Alaskan.** In addition, 0.6% of persons 65+ identified themselves as being of two or more races.
• Older men were much more likely to be married than older women–72% of men vs. 42% of women (Figure 2). 42% older women in 2009 were widows.
• About 30% (11.3 million) of noninstitutionalized older persons live alone (8.3 million women, 3.0 million men).
• Half of older women (49%) age 75+ live alone.
• About 475,000 grandparents aged 65 or more had the primary responsibility for their grandchildren who lived with them.
• The population 65 and over will increase from 35 million in 2000 to 40 million in 2010 (a 15% increase) and then to 55 million in 2020 (a 36% increase for that decade).
• The 85+ population is projected to increase from 4.2 million in 2000 to 5.7 million in 2010 (a 36% increase) and then to 6.6 million in 2020 (a 15% increase for that decade).
• Minority populations are projected to increase from 5.7 million in 2000 (16.3% of the elderly population) to 8.0 million in 2010 (20.1% of the elderly) and then to 12.9 million in 2020 (23.6% of the elderly).
• The median income of older persons in 2009 was $25,877 for males and $15,282 for females. Median money income (after adjusting for inflation) of all households headed by older people rose 5.8% (statistically significant) from 2008 to 2009. Households containing families headed by persons 65+ reported a median income in 2009 of $43,702.
• The major sources of income as reported by older persons in 2008 were Social Security (reported by 87% of older persons), income from assets (reported by 54%), private pensions (reported by 28%), government employee pensions (reported by 14%), and earnings (reported by 25%).
• Social Security constituted 90% or more of the income received by 34% of beneficiaries in 2008 (21% of married couples and 43% of non-married beneficiaries).
• Almost 3.4 million elderly persons (8.9%) were below the poverty level in 2009. This poverty rate is statistically different from the poverty rate in 2008 (9.7%).
• About 11% (3.7 million) of older Medicare enrollees received personal care from a paid or unpaid source in 1999.
Sources: United States Administration on Aging which obtained its data for the profile from the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the Administration on Aging, the data included in the profile incorporates the latest data available but not all items are updated on an annual basis.
Photo credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Multiple Childhoods/Multidisciplinary Perspectives: Interrogating Normativity in Childhood Studies
Date: May 21 to 22 2011
Venue: Philadelphia, PA,
Website: http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/multiple-childhoods.
Contact Name: Dan Cook.
As a field, childhood studies has flourished in large part because scholars have recognized the necessity of moving between and beyond traditional academic disciplines and have resisted the idea that there exists one, normative version of childhood common to all. Indeed, Multiple Childhoods/Multidisciplinary Perspectives seeks participation from those who work to counter the presumption or invocation of an unproblematically normative childhood by making visible how varied material and institutional circumstances, ideologies, beliefs and daily practices serve to shape the unfolding lives and experiences of children.
In this spirit, participants are encouraged to interrogate practices and discourses surrounding childhood and childhood studies, asking, for instance: What forms do childhoods take in various social arrangements? How do the dynamics of social class, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and religion configure notions of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” childhoods? How do children understand various kinds of social difference and inequalities? What about the understandings of researchers, and those who care for or otherwise attend to children? In what ways do conceptualizations of “the child” and of presumed normative childhoods—in research, in the commercial world, in institutional and everyday settings, in literature and discourse—inform the kinds of actions undertaken by and on behalf of children?–Rutgers University-Camden
Organized by: Department of Childhood Studies, Rutgers University-Camden
Source: Website: http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/multiple-childhoods.
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Music, Gender, and Globalization
Conference: Music, Gender, and Globalization
Date: 1 to 2 April 2011
Place: Ithaca, NY, USA
Website: http://www.musicgenderglobalization.org
Contact Name: Samuel Dwinell
The conference is organized by two graduate students in the Cornell University Department of Music—Samuel Dwinell and Anaar Desai-Stephens. Many other departments, programs, and institutes from across the humanities and social sciences at the University are also contributing to this project in diverse ways, including co-sponsorship, participation of faculty members and graduate students, and use of space.
This conference will feature three keynote presentations and a number of panels of shorter presentations (chaired by faculty respondents). Other events include a concert by a world-renowned artist and a screening of an important new film. The conference will end with a roundtable discussion of issues raised over the two days. –Music, Gender, & Globalization
Organized by: Cornell University
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Music, Gender, and Globalization
Date: 1 to 2 April 2011
Place: Ithaca, NY, USA
Website: http://www.musicgenderglobalization.org
Contact name: Samuel Dwinell
Organized by: Cornell University
Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 7 January 2011
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Breaking Boundaries: Body Politics and the Dynamics of Difference
Date: 4 March 2011
Place: Bronxville, New York, USA
Website: http://www.slc.edu/graduate/programs/womens-history/conference/index.html
Contact name: Tara Elise James
When it comes to “the body,” the definition of normal is fluid and changes across cultures and time. In each context, there are those who have been exploited and oppressed because they do not fit prevailing notions of beauty. This conference will explore the body politics around those with “deviant” bodies.
This conference will address these and other questions: What are the dominant narratives and perceptions about beauty and bodies? How do these perceptions affect public policy around issues of health, civil rights, education, and accessibility? How do those whose bodies do not fit into the “proper” cultural norms challenge attitudes, laws and perceptions? How have they negotiated for and found power in unwelcoming environments both now and in the past? How do the categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, age and disability complicate prevailing ideas about embodiment? Are there and have there been communities and cultures that have welcomed those whose bodies are currently perceived as deviant in dominant popular discourse? And, what is the relationship between promoting and continuing the dominant discourse and capitalist consumer culture?
We invite activists, scholars and artists in all fields to propose papers, panels, workshops, performances, and exhibits. Proposals for panels are especially welcomed, but individual papers will also be considered.
Specific topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Representations of deviant bodies in popular culture
- Social justice and fat and disability activism
- Intersectionality: race, gender, class, sexuality and the body
- HAES: Health at Every Size
- Stigma
- Feminism and the body
- Social construction of disability
- Objectification and commodification of the deviant body
- Fiction and the deviant body
- Language and the body
- Deviant bodies across cultures and time
–Sarah Lawrence College
Organized by: Sarah Lawrence College Women’s History Graduate Program
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Men Can Stop Rape: DC From Theory to Practice Training
Start Date: January 5, 2011
End Date: January 7, 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Venue: Center for Education on Violence Against Women, Washington, DC
Contact: Joseph Vess | jvess@mencanstoprape.org
URL: http://www.mencanstoprape.org/calendar2702/calendar_show.htm?doc_id=1367862
Men Can Stop Rape (MCSR)’s comprehensive “From Theory to Practice” Training has equipped thousands of professionals and activists in engaging men to prevent gender-based violence. Through interactive group exercises, role-playing, and multi-media presentations, “From Theory to Practice” prepares participants with the necessary skills to motivate men to take a more active role in challenging attitudes and behaviors that support rape and other forms of men’s violence against women. Past participants have included staff from government agencies, statewide and local coalitions, the US armed forces, law enforcement agencies, and universities. –MCSR
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
36th Annual Conference of the New York State African Studies Association (NYASA)
Place: Oneonta, New York, United States
Website: http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/NYASA
Contact name: Kathleen O’Mara, Betty Wambui, or Robert Compton
Conference examines the serious challenges facing African & diasporic communities at the intersections of gender, science, technology, and socio-economic development.
Organized by: NYASA, SUNY College at Oneonta, Dept. of Africana and Latino Studies
Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 14 January 2011
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Breaking Boundaries: Body Politics and the Dynamics of Difference
Breaking Boundaries: Body Politics and the Dynamics of Difference Conference Announcement
Organized By: Sarah Lawrence College Women’s History Graduate Program
Address: Bronxville, New York, USA
Date and Time: March 4-5, 2011
Cost: Free
Website: http://www.slc.edu/graduate/programs/womens-history/conference/index.html
Program Description:
When it comes to “the body,” the definition of normal is fluid and changes across cultures and time. In each context, there are those who have been exploited and oppressed because they do not fit prevailing notions of beauty. This conference will explore the body politics around those with “deviant” bodies.
This conference will address these and other questions: What are the dominant narratives and perceptions about beauty and bodies? How do these perceptions affect public policy around issues of health, civil rights, education, and accessibility? How do those whose bodies do not fit into the “proper” cultural norms challenge attitudes, laws and perceptions? How have they negotiated for and found power in unwelcoming environments both now and in the past? How do the categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, age and disability complicate prevailing ideas about embodiment? Are there and have there been communities and cultures that have welcomed those whose bodies are currently perceived as deviant in dominant popular discourse? And, what is the relationship between promoting and continuing the dominant discourse and capitalist consumer culture?
Specific topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Representations of deviant bodies in popular culture
• Social justice and fat and disability activism
• Intersectionality: race, gender, class, sexuality and the body
• HAES: Health at Every Size
• Stigma
• Feminism and the body
• Social construction of disability
• Objectification and commodification of the deviant body
• Fiction and the deviant body
• Language and the body
• Deviant bodies across cultures and time
For further information, please see URL: http://www.slc.edu/graduate/programs/womens-history/conference/index.html
Photo credit: Microsoft Clip Art
Nichelle Mitchem Shares Information on “The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence”
According the event website, “The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a human rights violation. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates, including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.”
Furthermore, the website states that The 16 Days of Activism “focuses on raising awareness at the local, national, regional and international levels about gender-based violence; strengthening local work; linking local and global work; providing a forum for dialogue and strategy-sharing; pressuring governments to implement commitments made in national and international legal instruments; [as well as] demonstrating the solidarity of activists around the world.”
The 16 Days Campaign website continues “Each year[,] the Center for Women’s Global Leadership develops a theme for the international campaign in consultation with women’s organizations around the world. CWGL also produces a Take Action Kit with more information on how to get involved in the campaign. This year the theme is ‘Structures of Violence: Defining the Intersections of Militarism and Violence Against Women.’ To learn more, please visit the 16 Days Campaign website…”
Source Information: The 16 Days Campaign website
Photo Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
