News and Opinions
It's Human Rights Day, which means it's also the final day of a great 16 Days campaign! People from around the world have come together to speak up about violence against women, and these actions inspire women and girls to keep working for change. Here are some highlights from the past two weeks of documentation, solidarity and resistance: Videos women made on the relationship between violence...
5 December 2014 Women bloggers and journalists face frequent online harassment, cyberstalking and even physical violence. The more visible a woman is online, the more abuse she faces, and this violence aims to silence her. We need women's voices in the media. We need women challenging gender norms and sexist depictions, countering the exploitation of women's bodies, contributing to analysis...
Today is World AIDS Day, which gives us a moment to stop and reflect on those lost to this virus, those living with it and those at risk. But this is an issue that deserves our attention year-round. Did you know that there are more women than men living with HIV? Or that women who experience physical violence are at greater risk of acquiring or having HIV than those without violence in their...
I've been trying to interview women and girls for the documentation action that Take Back the Tech! announced. I've found it's more difficult than I anticipated, so I wanted to explore the reasons why because I think they are directly related to the theme of freedom of expression. "I'm not sure I can speak to that." Many of the women I speak to say they don't feel prepared to talk about the...
Today marks the International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Do you know the story behind it? On 25 November, 1960, Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal were beaten and murdered by the henchmen of Rafael Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic, because they were involved in a movement to overthrow him. The sisters are known as 'the butterflies', or 'las mariposas...
Today we launch the new Take Back the Tech! website and the 2014 16 Days Campaign. "Violence silences" is the campaign theme, focusing on the relationship between violence against women and freedom of expression. You can find our call to action on the current campaign page, and we will share announcements and notes throughout the campaign in the action library. You can also find campaign...
We all applauded the advent of digital technology. Alas, it was soon to be disillusioned when we realized that this same technology can be used as a weapon of crime. We made plans for that this time hence the voiceless, the poor can also have the right to speak. International meetings have been and are organized around the world at national, subregional, regional and international levels on the...
Join us to Speak Out, Stand Out, and Commit to preventing Violence against Women during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence With your participation, WOUGNET in collaboration with Womensnet, South Africa and APC-Africa-Women (AAW), will be conducting an SMS-based campaign. The idea is to send out SMSs on each of the 16 Days of Activism that will allow individuals and organisations to...