International Woman’s Day marks the achievements and highlights the plight of women around the world. This year’s theme is: Make it Happen.
Making what happen, you may ask. People often state that woman have achieved so much and enjoy equal rights and don’t require special attention these days and age. This might be true in our immediate environment, BUT, there is one particular area where women seem to be most vulnerable.
Violence against women.
Here are some key facts:
- up to 50% of sexual assaults are committed against girls under the age of 16.
- 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence.
Given that:
“HUSBANDS who rape their wives in 142 countries across the world, including European powerhouses Spain, Italy and Germany, will not automatically be charged with a crime.” according to a UN report.
These facts speak for themselves. If we want to live up to the theme of this year’s international women’s day to make it happen –
We can start here:
- Open our minds to the possibility that women do not enjoy equal rights and that, achieving equal rights is important to combat violence against women.
- Sign a petition by the International Women’s Development Agency to ensure that rape is given the criminal status it deserves, no matter the circumstance as a first step of eliminating it. We want a world without rape!
- Inform ourselves. Knowledge is power. A good starting point for anybody is therefore the Progress of the World’s Women report by the UN.
- And this is probably the hardest: speak up about violence against girls and women when we see it happening.
To find out more, visit the International Women’s Day website.
