Hi everyone, I’m Dani from Getaway Girls and these past 16 days have been the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Everyday across the world women are discriminated against and have violence inflicted on them simply based on their gender. The 16 days of action is an annual worldwide campaign which lasts from International women violence against women’s day (25th November) up until Human rights day (10th December)
This year is the 30th anniversary of the 16 days of action which was originally founded to raise awareness on violence against women. The campaign has recently put forward recommendations to the International labour organisation to include more gender-based regulations.
The 16 days campaign is a great way of connecting women from across the globe to work together to achieve the shared aim of raising awareness and reducing gender based violence.
At a local level here in Leeds we have an Alliance for women and girls- Women’s lives Leeds, which is a partnership of women and girls organisations from all across Leeds. Within Women’s Lives Leeds there is our Women Friendly Leeds movement. A current campaign is “Switch on to women’s safety”
As part of the campaign there was a survey done about safety of women in Leeds. It found that 97% of women in Leeds stated that simply ‘being a woman’ affected their safety in Leeds.
We are working to raise awareness of women and girls safety and create change.
If you would like to join the Women Friendly Leeds safety campaign you can become an ambassador here: https://womenfriendlyleeds.org/become-an-ambassador/
Girls and young women have created messages about what needs to change.
If you’re under 25 you can get involved in the girls and young women’s hubs in Leeds.
See flyers here.
