Photos of Clothesline Project t-shirt display on Minnesota State University, Mankatocampus USA.

Hundreds of men and supporters marched through Rock County, Wisconsin, USA wearing high heels, to bring awareness to domestic violence. It’s all part of YWCA Rock County’s annual “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event. Walkers came out, to not only raise money, but also raise awareness of domestic violence.

Watch the video below and see some young supporters wearing Zonta Says NO t-shirts.

http://www.nbc15.com/video?videoid=2698913

Read more about this event here: http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Rock-County-men-strap-on-high-heels-for-a-good-cause-225593522.html

 

District 30 dedicated its district conference (Saint Vincent, Italy 20-22 September 2013) to support the ZI campaign “Zonta Says NO”.

The Governor Nadia Biancato opened the conference with these words: “This conference’s motto is: the time is now! The Opening Ceremony is devoted to a specific issue, fighting the violence against women, because it is time to say: NO TO FEMINICIDE, NO TO PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND TO ECONOMIC VIOLENCE, NO TO DISCRIMINATION.Saint Vincent’s City Council has adopted our goal as its own and, after already doing its very best in cooperation with the Consorzio in Saint Vincent to make things easier for us, it has also decided to donate a stamp cancellation “INSIEME contro la violenza sulle donne- ZONTA Says NO”. A stamp cancellation which will make the District Conference of District 30, as well as our commitment for ending violence against women, known all over Italy”.

The 10th district conference contributed to strengthen and support the ZONTA SAYS NO campaign in many strong and visible ways: each Zontian received the “Zonta Says NO” Conference Bag manufactured by the convicts women of the prison in Turin, a service in a service.

The Foundation Ambassadors gave the possibility to buy the “Zonta Says NO” pochette, thus supporting the ZISVAW Fund and the District Conference Committee offers orange Zonta Says NO official ribbons to all the participants ( Zontians, guest, local authorities) at the Opening Ceremony and sold special Zonta Says NO postcards to receive the stamp cancellation too.

Very appreciated the Governor’s speech to raise awareness for violence: “Violence can take many forms, and often discrimination is not seen as what it actually is: to deny a girl the right to study is a form of violence comparable to physical violence. To prevent a woman from working is a form of violence which robs her of her self-esteem, while making her vulnerable to other forms of violence.

What can Zonta do to combat violence? A lot.

It can teach respect for and acceptance of differences

It can raise awareness for violence

To teach respect means to communicate in schools, among young people.

To teach respect means to make people understand that a woman’s body is not a merchandise, to be sold, exchanged or thrown away when it no longer satisfies. A woman’s body is not garbage to get rid of.

To teach respect means to accept the decisions of others: how many young women do everything to appeal to a  man who, when refused, may one day tell them “if you won’t belong to me, you won’t belong to anyone”.

To raise awareness for violence means to ask oneself uncomfortable questions: So often we hear that prostitution is a social evil, so often we feel that prostitution is disturbing our morale, our calm lives, but how often do we actually become aware of the fact and make others aware of, that 90% of prostitution is a direct consequence of human trafficking of women and girls, brought to our countries under false pretense, the willful misrepresentation of a better life?

To raise awareness for violence means to support antiviolence centers, to communicate with women, to transmit messages of faith which help to reach out, to instil courage, making victims of violence understand that they are not alone, that violence has to be reported, that a violent partner has to be abandoned, because to be beaten up has nothing to do with being loved.

But violence against women also involves men, and women can’t solve this problem without involving men, too.

This year the District Conference takes place in Italy, in Area 03 which last November has started the campaign HANDS OFF OF WOMEN (GIU’ LE MANI DALLE DONNE) to strengthen the campaign ZONTA SAYS NO at an international level. The Opening Ceremony is part of these campaigns. I am happy to see men and women side by side in this hall: men play a fundamental role in combatting violence. Men need to inspire other men to change their behaviour, to get help when needed, to renounce violence.”

 A lot of interest for  the speech by Vittoria Luda di Cortemiglia, Program Coordinator of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and Member of the Zonta Club Moncalieri that informed: “The European Agency on Fundamental Rights has commissioned UNICRI a survey on women’s well-being and safety in Europe. The aim of the survey is to produce comparable and robust data on women’s experiences of violence in the EU.  The target population was women between 18 and 74 years of age living in private households, speaking the language of the country of residence. Respondents were interviewed face-to-face with a total of 42,000 interviews carried out in 28 countries. The results will be presented on 25^th November in Bruxelles and Vienna”.

Unfortunately the PID Simone Ovart, UN representative in Geneve could not participated but her contribute about HUMAN TRAFFICKING has been hand out.

The Opening Ceremony has been closed by the PID Karin Nordmeyer, Council of Europe Committee Chair, member of ZC Freiburg-Schauinsland, that gave all details about the new “Istanbul Convention”, the “Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”, CETS 210, which is a fundamental text and a benchmark at the international level. “The Istanbul Convention is the first ever legally binding instrument to addressing all forms of violence against women in a comprehensive way – it provides for a detailed set of measures to prevent violence, protect its victims, prosecute the perpetrators and finally will there be a monitoring process with independent experts to measure the extent to which state parties have implemented the Convention” said Nordmeyer.

1830×1220 banner zonta says no

During the District Conference a big banner invited all to join the campaign ZONTA Says NO and all over in the town poster and banner communicated our involvement to fight violence against women.

District 30 and Zonta Club Aosta that organized the District Conference had a big exposure on the press during the long weekend of the meeting in Aosta Valley.

lastampar-ao-zonta s vincent2013-09-22-059

district conference book

Cheryl Wasserman, member of the Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley, CA, USA, made this poster for her club’s “Zonta Says No” campaign.  Cheryl illustrated the word “NO” in the language of each of the 63 countries in Zonta International.

Note: since the poster’s creation, Zonta International has expanded to 65 countries, including Nepal and Lebanon. 

The Zonta club of Jyväskylä I arranged their ZONTA SAYS NO event on October 10, 2013; a day before International Girls Day. The title of the event was “WE SPEAK FOR SAFETY OF GIRLS AND WOMEN”. In a city like Jyväskylä the audience of close to 70 was a success, thanks to the visibility, they succeeded to get in the main newspapers in advance, and thanks to our four professional speakers!

They are truly proud of the competent and wise presentation of our their club member Eeva Gröhn, who has decades of professional experience in health sector, covering both on her presentation topic “YOUNG GIRLS AND SEX”, as well as on various problems of women, including violence done by their own husbands.

Also the three other speakers were experts of their own fields. Eila Koivuniemi, the local Head of Criminal Police – and a female – gave the club a comprehensive speech with reality and facts about “CRIMES TOWARDS WOMEN IN MIDDLE FINLAND”.

Also the presentation of a female Therapist and Photographer Riitta Piltonen was of great interest. She shared her knowledge and experience on “METHOD OF EMPOWERING PHOTOGRAPHY”. With this method she has helped women to survive from the violence caused by their husbands and to start a new life. She has also guided young girls to build their identity to right direction using photograghy.

A presentation was given also by Esa Linna who is a Youth Counselor and Inernet Expert. We got a good overview on how teenagers use Internet – from informative channels to image galleries and chat forums. Web plays a significant role for young girls when building their identity. It can also cause troubles, if leading to wrong kind of relationships or too early dating – or even exploitation.

Between the presentations the club also introduced the Area 20 –project SUPERSISKOT, which also is an internet forum for young girls in Finland. And encouraged people to support this project, and in December the club donated a reasonable amount to the project.

Zonta Says No! Panel on Violence Against Women Direct service experts from three Snohomish County human service agencies answered questions about violence against women at the Zonta Club of Everett breakfast meeting on August 8, 2013.

The panelist were Lisa Nicholson, director of legal advocacy for Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County, who shared a legal perspective on violence against women; Elysa Hovard, outreach supervisor at Cocoon House, who spoke about violence against teen and young adult women; and Nathalie Gauteron, outreach manager for Senior Services of Snohomish County.

Nathalie Gauteron shared her professional knowledge and experience with elder abuse.
Key points made by the panel were:

• The primary factors common to violence against women are poverty, lack of a support system, and perceived vulnerability of the victim by the perpetrator.
• Teens and elderly women are especially vulnerable if they are isolated, dependent, and without family support. Caregivers are often the perpetrators of elder abuse and teens and young women often become victims of sexual and physical violence, including forced prostitution, because they are trying to survive and meet their basic needs of food, shelter, and protection. Pimps and other perpetrators are experts and identifying vulnerable women who have a weak or no support system.
• Many victims refuse to pursue legal action or recant. In the case of prostitution, women and girls are often jailed, while the pimps stay on the street where they continue to exploit vulnerable women. Sometimes women believe they are in love with their abuser or are dependent on the abuser for support. 1 to 5 years of jail time is contrary to their survival.
• The victims choice is often between violence, abuse and survival. Fear of retaliation is also a factor. As a result, victims deny, recant, or refuse help.
• In elder abuse, the victim is often isolated and dependent on their abuser for very basic care needs. Financial exploitation is a form of elder abuse. Ways to help are to: Contact your legislator now. October is the month that legislators decide what bills to put forth; Educate yourself and others about violence against women and victim rights; Help identify victims. Check on your elderly neighbors. Report anything that makes you suspicious to the police, child protective services, or adult protective services; Trust your gut; Be careful in directly intervening – your good intentions may result in more harm to the victim, or to yourself.        

 

 

By donating €32,000 to the Zonta Club of Tartu, Estonia, the Finnish Clubs of District 20 made it possible for the Tartu Club to launch their club project, “Prevention of Violence against Women in Estonia”, and operate it for 15 months.

This project was managed by the Tähtvere Avatud Naistekeskus – the Tähtvere Open Centre for Women – and it was completed at the end of 2012. To wind up their work, the committee in charge published a book about the project, “Real-life Stories”.

Ms Meeli Lokk of the Zonta Club of Tartu reports: “A book of real-life stories, ‘ The Brides of Bluebeard’ was published on 8 March, 2013. In it, seven women tell their individual stories of living in a violent relationship. The publication of this book marks the end of the Yellow Rose Campaign Project of ZI District 20, Area 6, and the Zonta Club of Tartu.

This project enabled us to give counselling to women, children and mothers, to arrange a camp-meeting in the country for women and children, to publish brochures and booklets, to arrange an inter-Estonian campaign against family violence and to publish this book.

The book contains seven stories of women who got help from the Women’s Centre. They each tell their own story by starting from their childhood until they left their violent partner. What is important about their stories is the happy end. It was also important for these women to tell their stories, since, by doing so, they hope to be able to help other women facing the same situation. The book is also a myth-buster, as most of these women are highly educated and can manage their lives very well. When women, who are in the same situation, read this book, they might recognize the signs of danger and take action. The women in the book often say that had they known how to read the signs, they would have understood the situation and reacted sooner. The editor of the book is Krista Kivisalu, who also interviewed the participants.”

Race Car drivers at the Bandimere Speedway in Colorado, USA joined the Zonta Club of Lakewood Golden on a sunny Saturday in July to support the “Zonta Says No” campaign to raise awareness concerning domestic against women and girls.

With the slogan “Real Men Hit the Track, Not Women and Children”, Bandimere and the racers devoted a full day to helping local Zontians spread the word. A booth was set up with literature offering a menu of options available with local resources for all aspects of domestic violence and abuse.

Orange wristbands with the ZONTA SAYS NO logo were distributed to racers and spectators who were all very supportive and interested in the program. Drivers also displayed banners on their cars in support of the program and offered photo ops for spectators and other drivers.

Zonta Club of Lakewood Golden serves S. Jefferson County, including, Golden, Lakewood and Littleton Colorado. Our club has been active in advocating to prevent violence against women and girls since its organization in 1977. We were instrumental in helping our local legislature endorse CEDAW a few years ago as well as working with Victim Outreach Information of Golden CO promoting their ACT against Violence menu of options program.