Womankind Amplifying the Call to End all Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls: #SafeInEverySpace
By Jill Anami, Interim Policy and Advocacy Manager- VAWG, Womankind Worldwide
Despite the progressive policies and frameworks established globally under the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) agenda, violence against women and girls (VAWG) remains a persistent and widespread challenge.
VAWG is fuelled by deep-rooted patriarchal norms, entrenched socio-cultural beliefs, systemic gender inequalities, weak enforcement of legal protections, and limited access to fair and responsive justice systems for survivors. Further there is the rapid increase of emerging trends of violence such as Tech Facilitated GBV (TFGBV), femicide and Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) that reflect how violence is exposing women and girls in all their diversities to harm.
#SafeInEverySpace Campaign!
VAWG has systemically enabled a culture of fear and intimidation negatively impacting women’s holistic well-being, participation, and empowerment across all spheres of life.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that an estimated 736 million women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or sexual harassment in their lifetime. Womankind further highlights in its TFGBV Policy Brief that nearly 65 per cent of women have experienced online harassment, including defamation and the non-consensual sharing of explicit content, often resulting in severe psychological, social, and economic harm. Additionally, an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) survey cited by Womankind in the VAWP Policy Brief found that 80 per cent of women parliamentarians across 50 African countries have faced psychological violence online, 67 per cent have experienced sexist behaviour, and 46 per cent have been targeted with online sexist attacks.
Women’s rights organisations and global feminist movements have a crucial role in ending VAWG by holding governments accountable, driving policy change and raising awareness. In our new #SafeInEverySpace campaign, Womankind Worldwide will be adding a voice to ending violence against women and girls every Thursday. We will be standing in solidarity with survivors of gender-based violence, calling for safety, dignity, and justice for all women and girls, in every space they occupy.
The #SafeInEverySpace campaign will engage audiences through digital advocacy across Womankind’s social media platforms, creating space for awareness and collective action to ending VAWG. The digital campaign affirms Womankind’s commitment to EVAWG through awareness creation and knowledge dissemination.
In addition, #SafeInEverySpace campaign will reflect the lived experiences and advocacy priorities of feminist and women’s rights organizations working in partnership with Womankind in our focus countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. This is alongside cross-movement feminist organisations, and allies who share our commitment to EVAWG.
Through the #SafeInEverySpace campaign we are reiterating our belief of a world where women and girls in all their diversities, live without fear of violence, enjoy equal economic rights, and can participate socially, economically and politically across all spheres of life.
