#16DaysOfActivism:16 Things You Need to Know

News

25/11/2017

When it comes to November, there’s a whole bunch of important dates that come to mind…

Thanksgiving Day probably tops the list, but there’s one period that we may not remember. FYI, it’s one of the most important periods of the year: 16 Days of Activism! Some of us might not even know what this time is all about. Here are all the things you need to know. Let’s go!

1. WHAT EXACTLY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) is a campaign coordinated by individuals and organizations globally to create awareness and highlight issues faced by women, ranging from sexual harassment to gender based violence.

2. HOW DID IT BEGIN?
Its origin dates back to 1991 during the first edition of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute, which was organised by the Center For Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University.

3. BACKGROUND
How did it all come about? On the 25th of November, 1960, three sisters were murdered in the Dominican Republic. Their names were Patria Mercedes Mirabel, Maria Argentina Minerva Mirabel and Antonia Maria Teresa Mirabel. They fought as political activists to end the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo’s regime. The Dominican people turned against him for assassinating three young unarmed women. In 1999, November 25th was designated as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

4. START AND END DATES
25th of November, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism and it concludes on the 10th of December, which represents Human Rights Day.

5. THE 2017 THEME
The theme for this year is, “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Make Education Safe for All”. The colour orange, which symbolizes a bright and optimistic future, is flagged throughout the period of this event. Annually, a new theme is introduced or the campaign continues with a previous theme. These are some of the powerful themes from previous years:
– Demand Women’s Human Rights in the Home and in the World (1997)
– Democracy without Women’s Human Rights… is not Democracy (1993)
– Violence Against Women Violates Human Rights (1991/1992)

6. SIGNIFICANT DATES
Here are some dates during this period that you may want to look out for:
– November 25th – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
– November 29th – International Women Human Rights Defenders Day
– December 1st -World AIDS Day
– December 3rd – International Day of Disability
– December 10th – International Human Rights Day and the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

DID YOU KNOW?

7. ONE IN THREE WOMEN
One in every three women worldwide has experienced some form of violence (physical or sexual) in their life time.

8. REPORTING ABUSE
In most countries, less than 40% of women who experienced any sort of violence sought any kind of help. Of those, only 10% went to the police to report their abuse.

9. MOST EXTREME FORM OF VIOLENCE
Gender based violence is the most extreme form of discrimination.

10. MOST SURVIVORS KNOW THEIR ATTACKERS
More often than not, women experience sexual and physical violence inflicted by family members or former/current sexual partners.

11. OVER ONE HUNDRED MILLION WOMEN HAVE EXPERIENCE ABUSE
Around 120 million girls worldwide have experienced forced sexual intercourse or forced sexual acts at some points in their lives.

12. INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE
Between 2005 and 2016 in 81 countries, it was recorded that 19% of women in the age bracket of 15-49 experienced physical/sexual violence by an intimate partner/husband.

13. OVER A THIRD OF WOMEN ARE MURDERED BY SOMEONE THEY KNOW
Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by a male intimate partner.

14. CONSENSUAL SEX
Only 52% of women between 15 and 49 years who are married or in a relationship make their own decisions about consensual sexual relations which proves that marital rape is indeed a thing.

15. CYBER ABUSE
One in every 10 women has experienced cyber harassment (inappropriate advances, offensive photos and messages, sexually explicit emails, etc.) since the age of 15.

16. STAND UP AND BE COUNTED
It is everyone’s duty to create awareness about this issue.

We need to actively take actions to end this pandemic and change the mindsets of people in our communities. In the words of Lupita Nyongo, “…I hope we can form a community where a woman can speak up about abuse and not suffer another abuse by not being believed and instead being ridiculed…”
Let’s all work together to eradicate gender based violence, once and for all! #16DaysOfActivism #NoToGBV

Share your stories with us via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and let us know about your personal experiences, as well as what #16DaysOfActivism means to you! If you want to see what MTV Shuga are doing over this period, then follow #ThisIsMyStory

comments (18)

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Lucas Budden Oboh

The statistics here are staggering and the piece, so enlightening. It never occurred to me women faced more threats from people within rather that with out. I think the greatest problem is the silence from the victim so awareness articles like these are key. Great one!

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IROEGBU!

Never heard of the 16 Days of Activism before now. The number of unreported cases is scary, I think it's mostly due to victim shaming and stigmatisation.

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olufemie emmanuel

Still cant believe the stat in this piece, its really disturbing and thanks to Adebola for sharing this...Hopefully this piece will create more awareness....i concur wif @Lucas, the greatest problem is the silence from the victim.

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Taiwo A.

Recent conversations online suggests that we still have a long way to go in reshaping people's mindset about GBV. Hence, days like these should be as important as Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Kudos to individuals who are doing their bit to eradicate it and I look forward to all hands being on deck to see the end of domestic violence.

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Moyosore Adelowo

From my observation, alot of people aren't aware of this myself included.. Good job with the awareness!

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Rhoda Ade

Even after all of the awareness every where, it doesn't seem like Men with this disastrous heart intend making a change.
Debola this is a great piece.

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Onyinye okpara

The violence and harassment that women face is alarming. If you read some comments of young men on Twitter and Instagram , you would wonder if female gender is safe (electronically or physically). The society needs to educate boys and men that the strength and courage that was bestowed on them by our Creator was and is for the protection of the female gender. The male gender should stop being predators and act as protectors. The female gender should also learn to respectfully speak out for themselves and learn to protect themselves. We also need to strongly preach the message of love, we should each other male or female just as God loves us. Women stop being your own enemies, speak up and live for yourselves; your lives dont depend on men and their actions.We were not created for men's consumption.

Onyinye okpara

Great article by the way, this writer continues to impress me. Looking forward to your next article Adebola. God bless you.

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rhoda ewuve

Interesting piece??... Just got informed and educated??

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Tunde

"It is everyone’s duty to create awareness about this issue"
the statistics are alarming, we men really need to do better

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bolu adeosun

Very well researched on article, but is there anyway this activism can be taken to the various places of worship?, i believe a lot of our religious centers have some how, consciously /subconsciously /unconsciously encouraged abuse against women,
Some of our interpretation of the teachings in our religious books is usually against the female gender.

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Fauziyya Bashir

This is truly eye-opening. The statistics are alarming as to how victimised women all over the world really are. Once again, I'm impressed Debola

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Tayo Owonikoko

The part that got my attention was the cyber abuse the statistics there is really shocking ...nice write up and the more pple are informed the better the soceity and reduces the fear and risk with which these women live their lives.ADEBOLA and shuga nice job but we are still looking forward to have the male's aspect I know it's females' time but we will like to know about the males too ...

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Mayowa Obafemi - Adewale

The women in Liberia are some of the strongest and most vocal women in the world. Ready to rise and fight when men refuse to do what is right. If there were to be an international conference on promoting the rights and equality of women all over the world, I hope it would hold in Liberia.
Why? This is a country that has succeeded in convincing the youngest girls that they are equal to the boys, and can achieve whatsoever they can dream. I cannot imagine any man abusing that generation of promising activists and female stateswomen, and getting away with it.
I'm a strong believer in the future, that way no matter how tragic the past and hopeless the present maybe, as long as you secure the future, all efforts would be rewarded in the end. Let the young girls gain their strength and voices, let them be taught, trained and raised to be equals and powerful. The boys and men would be forced to come around to accepting that they are not special because of their gender.

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Sylph.

Enlightening stuff. Didn’t even know some of these. Would be nice to take this education to the streets.

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Ayoade Onipede

I'm so scared for women. You people are so strong. Nice piece as always, Debola. I hope our generation can stop violence for good.

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Adegboyega Olaniyi

Such staggering figure put out by 'Debola, as much as we tend to shy away from topics like this, we need to all do more in propagating thi gosp[el. Our world is wired to oppress the women more than give them the much needed support and enabling environment. It is even harder for victims to come out to tell their stories because we even victimize them the more. Great piece again miss Aduwo.

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Ololade Badmus

The most painful is that young children, the ones who should be immune above all else, have the highest number of victims. It's so heartbreaking, I really hope all of these helps. Thanks for writing this piece Debola.

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