The Zonta Club of Gladstone Inc, Australia, conducted another successful 16 Days of Activism during the 2023 Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign by commencing at its orange November dinner meeting and culminating in an orange breakfast, which was attended by local state member of parliament, Glenn Butcher, and his wife, Theresa.

The club undertook some old and some new advocacy activities around town, including the following:

• At their launch dinner, they welcomed two guest speakers from the Gladstone Police Station, Cath Purcell and Vicki Dredge. They also donated two laptops for police officers to use when taking statements from domestic violence victims at home. Feedback from the police was that “the donation provides a greater ability for officers to take a typed statement in the field, from the victim’s accommodation, and will be a great support in collecting immediate evidence.”  
• The club distributed orange cut-out ladies for display at 31 local businesses, with some information about the campaign attached to each orange lady.
• During the campaign, they asked large local businesses to make their night lights orange. Participating businesses included the Gladstone Regional Council (Art Gallery, Council Chambers and the Anzac Park tree) and the Gladstone Ports Corporation. The Gladstone Ports Corporation lit up multiple lights focused on a tree-lined strip around a park, reflecting off the water around the park.
• The club joined the Raise a Cup campaign, which involved placing 500 stickers on coffee cups at four local coffee shops. The coffee shops were very eager to support this initiative.
• They raised awareness about the number of women killed due to domestic violence in Australia in 2023 by placing ladies and a tally of deaths on fences in three high-traffic areas in town.
• Two club members posted relevant posts and highlighted the club’s local efforts each day of the campaign, which gained significant attention from our social media followers.
• The club prepared an up-to-date list of local area emergency telephone numbers on the back of toilet doors.

The Zonta Club of Pori I, Finland, organized a movie premiere for the film The Last Kick on the International Day of the Girl Child, 14 October, at the local racecourse auditorium. The club managed to book the venue free of charge with the help of their network. The event was specially organized for the young stars, the children and teenagers who acted in the movie, and their proud parents. Special guests included Theatre Ulpu’s chairperson, Maiju Junko, who co-wrote the screenplay, young screenplay writer Oskari Huhtanen and Glad Media representatives Anu and Tomi Glad. Zontians and Soroptimist clubs in Pori were also invited to the event.

The club received great support from several local sports clubs and teams, some participating in national-level competitions. The club requested their logos to be used in the final texts of the movie as a show of support for their cause. The logos would manifest their stance against physical and mental violence and their support for equal rights and compassion. To their surprise, all the teams and clubs contacted provided 100% support. Many were already running similar “anti-bullying” campaigns and revising their internal codes of conduct. Additionally, the project patrons, Mari Kaunistola and Petri Huru, who are members of the Finnish parliament, were invited to the event. The heads of the educational and cultural services of Pori and Ulvila and local media representatives were also in attendance.

The film, which you can watch here, sheds light on the importance of ending bullying, its lasting effects on victims and hope still exists in the world. The movie premiere also aimed to teach the importance of valuing others, showing compassion, and appreciating different personalities from diverse backgrounds. Such values can help increase equality in society, both on a micro and macro scale, and build a better world for women and girls.

The club’s initiative went beyond their expected goals. This project is a true testament to the fact that where there’s a will, there’s a way. It also shows that when you have like-minded and kind-hearted people in your network, anything is possible. Of course, commitment and persistence are key to creating and achieving something new and unique. The club challenges everyone to think outside the box and step beyond.

After the premiere, the club received numerous thank-you notes and messages of congratulations from those who attended. They also received several requests to distribute the material to schools outside the original distribution area of Pori and Ulvila.

The club plans to interview students and teachers from various schools to get their thoughts and opinions on the movie and its possible impacts while providing question card materials. It’s important to understand that the problem of bullying is not just local but global. The club hopes that the movie will serve as a tool to decrease bullying and teach compassion, thereby changing many people’s lives, especially those who have been bullied or involved in bullying. The club hopes the movie will start a positive chain reaction and spread as far as possible. As the movie is available in Swedish and English, the club hopes it will reach the countries of fellow Zontians worldwide through this award application.

The Zonta Club of Albury-Wodonga Inc, Australia, partnered with local police family violence units to bring awareness, assistance and advocacy to their communities.

The club placed 16 1-meter-tall wooden orange ladies, who made their presence felt by making a colorful contribution and a QR code connection to helpful emergency numbers. They launched the 16 Days of Activism by holding a movie night to assist in funds for their gender-based violence project, and on 26 November, they supplied sausages and onions to the police, who were the cooks for a crowd of around 150 people over the allotted time.

The club’s goals were to:

• Stage an impactful 16 Days of Activism against family violence across Albury Wodonga.
• Attract participation by more than just service providers. 
• Increase media coverage.
• Build awareness of the seriousness and prevalence of violence in our community and what we can do about it.
• Provide men and women with an opportunity to take away new knowledge that will benefit their personal lives, their communities and organizations.
• Enable women to access information on existing services, resources and assistance.

The club attracted good media coverage through radio, newspaper and television, and other services joined them to complete the activity with a Walk Against Violence. They repeated this in a rural town and learned that the useful little survival packs they supplied to the police for distribution to women on that first escape night should also include men.

In rural areas, the local police find it safer and better to remove the perpetrator from the family home because resources for one are more attainable than perhaps a mother and her children. So, the club promptly supplied packs that included a small towel, a shaver and aftershave lotion.

Not only did the club’s activities build a better world for women and girls, but they also attracted a new member.