Next week marks the start of the annual global campaign – Sixteen Days of Action.
Each year between 25 November and 10 December, organisations across the world raise awareness of the issues relating to violence against women.
In Glasgow, Sixteen Days is coordinated by Community Safety Glasgow.
The first day of the campaign (25 November) is the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and culminates on International Human Rights Day (10 December), recognising that women’s rights are human rights.
The campaign encompasses World Aids Day on 1 December which raises awareness of the numbers of women and children raped in conflict and infected with HIV.
Another significant date is 6 December which remembers the mass murder of 14 female engineering students in 1989 at the University of Montreal. Following this massacre a group of men came together to add their voice and make their support of women’s equality visible.
This led to the White Ribbon movement being born – and has become the symbol of support for Sixteen Days of Action, which began in 1991.
In 2000, the Glasgow Violence Against Women Partnership (GVAWP) was established. It’s currently co-chaired by Councillors Jen Layden and Jim Coleman.
Councillor Jen Layden, City Convener for Equalities and Human Rights, said: “Violence against women in all its forms is harmful to society as a whole. We want to work towards an equal society where women and children are treated equally with value and respect. We can achieve this by developing greater awareness of the issue and by developing a sense of community responsibility to reduce and eradicate violence against women.”
The city has a strong national and international reputation for the broad range of work being done to support victims and eradicate the attitude that violence against women is ever acceptable.
In 2016 Glasgow was awarded White Ribbon City status in recognition of the work it does to tackle violence against women.
Councillor Jim Coleman added: “Sixteen Days of Action is a global campaign which demonstrates that violence against women isn’t simply about domestic abuse. And, like many other cities throughout the world, we know that any violence against women in Glasgow is still hidden from public view, and we need to change that.”
As well as the Sixteen Days of Action, Glasgow’s work on violence against women includes the End Prostitution Now campaign, the Routes Out project, the Trafficking Alliance Raising Awareness (TARA) project and ASSIST, the support project linked to Glasgow’s Domestic Abuse Court.
Further information and list of events is available here.
