25 November - International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

More information as well as books to read on the topic here: UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Also, a campaign organised between UNIFEM and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign, Not a Minute More

Sixteen Days of Activism: Sixteen Days of Hope
*Gender-based violence is one of the most pervasive of human rights abuses. It covers a range of injustices – from gender abuse to systematic rape and from pre-birth sex selection to female genital mutilation – that affect as many as one in three women. *Ending gender violence will take action on many fronts every day of the year. But *16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence *is a start. This worldwide campaign begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and ends 10 December with International Human Rights Day. It provides NGOs, international organizations, governments, individuals and the media an opportunity to mobilize for women's rights and against impunity for perpetrators. This year's theme *For the Health of Women, For the Health of the World: No More Violence*, focuses on the link between HIV and violence against women and girls.

16 Ways UNFPA Addresses Gender-based Violence

1. Providing alternatives to ‘survival sex'
In the capital of Haiti, which is plagued by political and social unrest, 11- and 12- year-old girls trade sexual favours for spending money. A drop-in centre offers them other options.

2. Speaking up for millions of missing girls
Discrimination against daughters, leading to pre-birth sex selection or even infanticide, has left parts of China and South Asia with severe sex ratio imbalances.

3. Speaking out against unacceptable practices
Half of the murders of women in some Arab countries are so-called ‘honour killings', often committed by family members with impunity.

4. Treating and supporting survivors of extreme sexual violence
In the Great Lakes countries of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, an epidemic of brutal rape wreaks havoc on the lives of survivors and continues to demoralize communities and destabilize the region.

5. Training police to deal with domestic violence
In many countries, UNFPA supports training of police officers to assist abused women by taking their cases seriously, informing them of their rights and sometimes even providing victim protection.

6. Highlighting the high costs to women and society
Chapter 7 of the 2005 State of World Population report documents the high social, emotional and economic costs of gender-based violence.

7. Calling attention to a new form of slavery
UNFPA works closely with governments to address the ever-widening threat posed by human trafficking and supports women and girls in their recovery and return.

8. Partnering to stop sexual violence in armed conflict and disaster settings
At a landmark conference chaired by UNFPA, a broad coalition of partners agreed to strengthen collaboration at all levels to end sexual violence in situations of conflict, post-conflict, displacement, and natural disaster settings.

9. Implementing UN Security Council resolution 1325
UNFPA plays a vital role in protecting women against gender-based violence, during and after times of conflict, as called for the UN Security Council.

10. Assisting survivors of domestic violence
Most violence against women occurs in the home. But women often stay with abusive partners because they have no other place to go. UNFPA-supported shelters offer an alternative.

11. Providing a safe haven for girls escaping coerced marriage
In many countries, forced child marriage robs girls of their human rights and subjects them to violence. UNFPA-supported shelters provide a haven for young girls trying to escape a cruel fate.

12. Addressing the needs of women in refugee camps
Refugee camps are intended to be safe havens – but displaced women often face many forms of gender-based violence. UNFPA has partnered on an interagency field manual that includes guidelines for addressing sexual and gender-based violence in refugee camps.

13. Taking concerted action to address domestic violence
An Indonesian NGO is tackling violence against women by raising awareness of the issue, providing shelter, seeking peaceful reconciliation, and when that doesn't work, taking perpetrators to court.

14. Promoting legislative reform and the enforcement of existing laws
UNFPA works with parliamentarians and monitors legislation in both Europe and the developing world having to do with domestic violence, gender equality and sexual exploitation and offences against minors.

15. Involving men
Ending gender-based violence will require the full engagement and participation of men. UNFPA seeks to involve them in many ways.

16. Supporting local activities in countries around the world
Many of UNFPA offices throughout the world have planned activities to mobilize support for the 16 Days of Activism.
[source]

Fiction, To Be a Woman

One of the main objectives of V-Day is to raise awareness. Every time I look at the V-Day/V-Spot site, I feel like this feeling to get the word out there -- to educate and to irradicate -- has been boiling beneath the surface of who I am since I became a woman, or realised what womanhood was to me. I looked over the list of fictional books "about the topic" and had either read them, had them on a list to read, or am familiar with the author mentioned. So here they are, in my first installment in getting the word out there. The list has been compiled by vday.org, and is listed in the vspot for campaign organisers, like myself. But you can read them too...

The Awakening (Kate Chopin) - the story of a young woman who finds it impossible to accept that, "for women it is a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals" and fights back in the only way she knows, and her solution is extreme

Bastard out of Carolina (Dorothy Allison) - a semi-autobiographical and controversial book about growing up as "poor, white trash" and experiencing abuse and rape from childhood

Clit Notes: A Sapphic Sampler (Holly Hughes) - 5 outrageous performance pieces

*The Color Purple (Alice Walker) - a disturbing yet realistic account into the life of Celie, a young black woman with a tragic, abusive past who learns how to survive, how to let go of the past, and most of all how to love

Dawn (Octavia E. Butler)

Laguna Women Poems (Leslie Marmon Silko)

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) - from heaven, a young girl who was brutally raped and murdered watches her community respond to her death

*Paradise (Toni Morrison)

*Possessing the Secret of Joy (Alice Walker) - a young girl submits to the ritual female circumcision and spends the rest of her life trying to understand its meaning and live with its consequences

Push (Sapphire) - a story about an abused girl who learns to cope after growing up poor, angry, illiterate, fat, unloved and generally unnoticed

The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) - an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter

*Temple of My Familiar (Alice Walker) - Transcending the conventions of time and place, Walker's novel moves from contemporary America, England, and Africa to unfamiliar primal worlds, where women, men, and animals socialize in surprising ways

Woman Hollering Creek and House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros) - a collection of stories, whose characters give voice to the vibrant and varied life on both sides of the Mexican border. The women in these stories offer tales of pure discovery, filled with moments of infinite and intimate wisdom.

The Woman Warrior: Memoires of a Girlhood Among Ghosts (Maxine Hong Kingston) - a pungent, bitter, but beautifully written memoir of growing up Chinese American where a young girls distills the dire lessons of her mother's mesmerizing "talk-story" tales of a China where girls are worthless, tradition is exalted and only a strong, wily woman can scratch her way upward

*books i've read

Future Slogan, etc.

This is what I came up with while my mind was wandering during our staff meeting:

Is your vagina itching for some action?

Join us for a benefit production of Eve Ensler's play, "The Vagina Monologues."

All proceeds will support local women's shelters to aid in stopping violence against women.

Needed:
Full Production Team
Actresses
Support and Volunteers from all backgrounds.
Production will be in English unless we can organize two performances
(1 English, 1 German).

Event will be held in the beginning of March before International Women's Day.

I'm thinking colours: pink, red, black.

This is my goal for the week. Create this and head out on Saturday again to post more, stop by women's shelters, cafes, anyone who will take them.

Poppy Seed Cake

So here I am on my first VDAY campaign outing. My fingers are now entering dethaw mode as I hold my cafe creme between hands, shifting to write. Poppy seeds melt in my mouth and I am happy to be here.

Here. Zurich. Here. A cinema cafe in the old town. Old movie posters cover the walls and I search around for a spot I might leave some VDAY fliers. With each sip of coffee, I begin to warm from the inside out. I thank God the sun was shining today and that I woke feeling refreshed rather than ill, as I had felt all week.

I began my day feeling motivated because of these things. I walked along the river to school to print up a few things and complete the fliers and larger posters. While on the train I folded each brochure and wrote my VDAY email contact at the bottom.

Once arriving, I stopped at the Tourist Office to get a map and left some brochures to be set out with the other Zurich events for would be travellers. My first shop stop was at The Body Shop on Bahnhoffstrasse. I would need to contact headquarters to get permission to leave fliers. So I will do that this week.

I left about a dozen of each flier version at the English bookstore. Perhaps because it sells only English books, they had heard of The Vagina Monologues and were supportive. I will visit again next week to see about restocking with more VDAY information.

I stopped by a couple of lingerie shops. One gal took an example for her boss to look over that week and another woman refused to even see the information.

I walked to the lake and saw the Alps for the first time, peaking through the clouds. The sun was beginning to set behind the city and an orange-pink hue was settling over the water.

Then my fingers began to get cold. I decided to search for a cafe and an ATM. On my way, I posted a couple of the large posters in places where I think it was ok, but wasn't so sure. I looked over my shoulders for the Polezei to come and get me. Not really knowing the rules here (and there are many), it felt even more exhilarating.

Well. I'm off in search of more cafes to leave my VDAY stamp behind.

journalled: 19 November, 5.30pm

V-Day Adventures.

Day One. I'll get back to you on that after I've slept.