The 16 Day Campaign 2012: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World
November 25th – December 10th 2012
Team Contact: Erica Higbie, Co-chair
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is a global campaign dedicated to ending gender-based violence. It originated in 1991 to increase international awareness of the systemic nature of violence against women and to expose this violence as a violation of women's human rights.
The start and end dates of the Campaign are November 25th, International Day for the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence, and December 10th, Human Rights Day. These dates were chosen to emphasize that gender-based violence is a violation of human rights. Over 4,100 organizations in 172 countries have participated in the Campaign.
2012 marks the third year of Campaign advocacy highlighting the intersection of gender-based violence and militarism because militarism remains a key source of violence experienced by women. The linked problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality - which needlessly claim one woman every 90 seconds - present to us the most important opportunity of our time.
FAWCO has registered for and will participate in the 16 Days Campaign 2012 in an effort to contribute to one of the primary goals of this initiative; "Raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional, and international levels." FAWCO is uniquely positioned, as an international women's organization, to help achieve this objective and in so doing contribute to ending violence against women.
EVAWAC is asking FAWCO and FAUSA clubs and members to support our participation in the 16 Day Campaign by holding a book discussion group about one of the most powerful books ever published on the oppression of women and girls in the developing world:
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (2009) by Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Here is part of a review of the book from Amazon -
"With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.....
Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women's potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part.........
Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen."
So widely read and so inspirational, this book has evolved into a movement, which you can read more about atwww.halftheskymovement.org.
There is also a film being released by PBS the 1st&2nd of October 2012 in the US (live streaming will be available in other countries shortly after) www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky.
Don’t forget that they’ll need time to read the book (if they haven’t already) so let everyone know about it as early in September as possible. And, the date of your book review needs to be between November 25th and December 10th, which can be a busy time of year for some people – even more reason to get the word out early!