Eliminating violence against women and girls

Tuesday 25 November is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a day devoted to raising awareness of the scale of violence facing women and girls around the globe. Senior Policy Adviser Erica Hall reflects on why the day is important, how far we have come and why it seems like such an unattainable goal.

By Erica Hall, Senior Policy Adviser, World Vision UK

The statistics are astounding:

• 1 in 3 women have been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime.
• Every year, 60 million girls are sexually assaulted at, or on their way to, school
• Over 60 million girls worldwide are child brides

But statistics don’t tell the whole story. The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women – and the 16 days of activism it kicks off – is an opportunity to look at the violence happening around the world and challenge the action (and inaction) that allows it to happen.

I have been incredibly fortunate in my life, to grow up in a safe and loving home, to be able to choose if and when to marry, to be lucky enough never to have been beaten by a partner or raped by a stranger. And I do consider this to be luck.

Over the past ten years, I have met countless women and girls who have not been so lucky. In America, a friend suffered an incredibly difficult ordeal when she reported a rape – at his trial, her attacker was able to use evidence of her previous sexual partners and the way she was dressed.

In Rwanda, I met Liliane, on her third visit to a medical clinic in as many months. Each time, she arrived bruised and beaten. And each time, she went home to her abusive husband because she didn’t have any way to support her children. When I reminded her that what happened to her was against the law, she just said "How can I worry about that; I need to worry about getting food on the table.”

In Somaliland, a 16 year old girl told me how she developed a fistula when she was raped on the way to school. Suffering from the shame and stigma, she finished her story by saying; “And now my life is over.” Not seeking sympathy or support – merely stating it as a ‘fact’. I will never forget these women’s stories and wonder today if their lives have changed for the better or for worse.

However, not all of the stories I’ve heard have been so depressing; I have also heard stories of hope, and the resilience of survivors and others who face the risk of violence daily. I was so proud of Humaiya, a 16-year-old sponsored girl from Bangladesh, who went to New York with me last year to speak about child marriage in her community. As part of a strong Girl Club, Humaiya not only avoided an early marriage arranged by her father, but also stands up for other girls in the same situation.

And I continue to be amazed at the strength of Angela and Janet, two women I’ve had the privilege of working with in Uganda, who were abducted and survived many years as forced wives within the Lord’s Resistance Army. Now free, they have brought together more than 80 women who lived through the same situation to speak out for their rights and the rights of their children born in captivity.

Violence against women and girls is an enormous problem in every country in the world, one that has existed forever. As such, it can seem impossible to tackle, but it can end. And it starts with all of us standing up and saying enough is enough by supporting programmes that change attitudes towards women and girls, improve gender equality and make it clear that violence against girls and women is unacceptable.

Earlier this year, a journalist asked why I was calling for everyone to stand up and say that sexual violence is unacceptable. "Surely it is only the perpetrators who think it is acceptable?" she asked. I disagree. So do the girls and women in Uganda, Bosnia, and countless other countries who are rejected by their communities because they have been raped. As do the women whose sexual history and appearance is deemed ‘relevant’ in a criminal rape trial.

We must all speak out – today and every day – until violence against women and girls is not something that we say is unacceptable – but something that is not accepted in every community, in every country of the world. The United Nations’ Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women is asking people to 'Orange YOUR Neighbourhood' over the next 16 days to show that violence is not acceptable.

I can’t help smile at the colour choice for the campaign: World Vision’s colour is orange and internally we often talk about making things orange when promoting our goals. Today you can help us make the world orange by adding your voice to the campaign here.