This year, all 25 Zonta clubs and Golden Z club members in District 26, Japan, promoted the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign all over the country to raise awareness of gender-based violence. Some actions that the clubs took this year included public demonstrations such as lighting up local landmarks in orange, marching through their cities, handing out flyers and more.
This year, the Zonta Club of Madison, USA, launched a Facebook campaign, passed out more than a thousand orange ribbons and donated to a food pantry as a part of their Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women club actions.
Facebook campaign
The club had four focus areas for this year’s campaign: domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, which they highlighted on Facebook.
The club also included information on local resources. The campaign received comments from clubs in District 6, Zonta Club of London, Brisbane and Club of Beaudesert Area Australia, California, Hamilton, Ontario and more.
Orange ribbons
The club handed out 1,500 orange ribbons with information cards at several holiday community events. The Madison Municipal Building and the Overture Center for the Arts were lit in orange at the event.
16 Days Service Project
In honor of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, each club member donated 16 food items to the Middleton Outreach Ministry Food Bank.
Along with painting their city orange for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the Zonta Club of Burbank Area, USA, engaged in various activities to raise awareness and encourage action to end gender-based violence in all its forms.
The campaign began with a Proclamation from the City of Burbank, presented by Mayor Jess Talamantes. Then the lights at City Hall, Burbank Water and Power and Nickelodeon were turned orange in a brilliant display of government and corporate support.
Zontian Marva Murphy set up a presentation at the Central Library expressing the story of Zonta’s advocacy to end gender violence. Girl Scouts painted orange cut-outs of women and placed them in area businesses promoting Zonta and the campaign. Club President Kelli Potts led club members with a table display at the Burbank Farmer’s Market, and the campaign wrapped up with a self-defense workshop for the public at Inspire Martial Arts and Fitness.
“The Zonta Club of Burbank is thankful and grateful for the support it has received from the City of Burbank and its agencies to bring attention to the campaign to end violence against women,” said Lieutenant Governor Gloria Salas.
For this year’s Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign, the Zonta Club of Cincinnati, USA, partnered with Women Helping Women (WHW), the local YMCA and the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Libraries (CHPL) in planning various activities.
Kickoff
On 25 November, the club kicked off the Zonta Says NO campaign at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, where Club President Melinda Hepfner was the emcee. In attendance was the city’s Vice Mayor, Jan-Michele Kearney and Denise Driehaus, the Hamiton County Commissioner and founder of the Hamiton County Commission on Women and Girls.
Later in the evening, many iconic buildings in the city, such as Bengal’s Paycor Stadium, the courthouses and the Duke Energy Convention Center, were illuminated in orange.
Bookmarking the event
The club partnered with seven public libraries to distribute Zonta Says NO bookmarks with the hotline numbers for WHW and the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati. With the staff, club members will host speakers from WHW and the YMCA starting on 1 January 2023.
The club hopes that with their united voice speaking out against gender-based violence, they will become louder in bringing awareness to the issue and building a better world for women and girls.
Through the initiative of the Zonta Club of Makati and Environs, the Philippines, Zonta clubs across District 17, Area 5, came together for a Solidarity Walk to culminate the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign on 10 December. More than 300 women, girls and men gathered together and stood as one to say NO to violence against women and girls.
The club invited 25-year-old Katya Lichauco as the Solidary Walk’s guest speaker. Katya is the editor of Big Deal: An Anthology of Filipino Women’s Stories and Art and co-author and managing editor of Fearless Filipinas II. She is currently a Content and Social Media Associate at Kindred Health, the first hybrid women’s clinic in the Philippines. In her simplicity and honesty, Katya inspired the audience.
The Zonta Club of Central Tuguegarao, Philippines, planned an activity for each day of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence.
Day 1
The club kicked off the 16 Days of Activism by releasing a special episode about ending violence against women and girls in their “All About Eve” podcast.
Day 2
The club conducted the Zonta Info Caravan in a local neighborhood to capacitate barangay officials in preventing and responding to gender-based violence through a series of lectures on laws focused on women’s rights, redress of violence against women and girls and human trafficking.
Day 3
The club put up orange-themed tarps and social media profiles and expressed their stag against gender-based violence on social media.
Day 4
Partnering with the Department of Trade and Industry and the University of Cagayan Valley School of Business Administration and Governance, the club conducted a seminar on consumer patron and anti-violence against women and children and the Consumers Act. The seminar aimed to spread awareness of consumer rights and the salient provisions of the law in the Philippines against gender-based violence.
Day 5
In honor of the women and girls who died due to gender-based violence, the club released a video montage of members wearing red dresses as a part of the Red Dress Campaign.
Day 6
In collaboration with the Tuguegarao City Cagayan Dental Chapter and Rotary Club of Tuguegarao Rainbow, the club brought “Kalinga Kay Juana” to the Tuguegarao City District Jail’s female dormitory. The activity aims to raise mental health awareness and oral hygiene among 20 participating female inmates. At the end of the talks, two female detainees had one-on-one counseling sessions, and the club passed out hygiene kits for all inmates.
Day 7
On Giving Tuesday, the club donated US$3,600 to the Zonta Foundation for Women and attended the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women Online Summit.
Day 8
As a Day of Advocacy, the club created a video featuring local leaders, such as Mayor Maila Ting Que, to show their support against gender-based violence.
Day 9
Through its Fundraising Committee, the club partnered with the Young Moms Empowerment Program to cook delicious chicken longganisa. The program is an-ongoing livelihood program to help young mothers with their financial needs.
Day 10
The club released an article about the pervasiveness of gender-based violence, which you can find here: https://www.facebook.com/zccentraltuguegarao/posts/pfbid0hPjH4Bs4t2aAYHbpKZmaTo86ot9TVBgSAC5yyZHf66X8keNiBXLVbSD54Wujs7Kml .
Day 11
Standing in unity and paying tribute to all survivors of gender-based violence, the club invited strong women who bravely share their stories of pain, survival and healing.
Day 12
The club conducted a seminar on cyber violence with the Cagayan State University’s College of Business Entrepreneurship and Accountancy Golden Z Club and the school’s student council. Zontian Maria Milagros “Mitoy” Cayosa lectured the students about cyber violence, its impact on the victims and how to address and reduce cyber violence.
During the open forum, students share their experiences, both personally and as a bystander.
Day 13
As a day of outreach, the club reached out to their local legislators to regard gender-based violence as a social problem and to urge them to pass and improve anti-violence against women ordinances. They also collected letters from their Z and Golden Z clubs and delivered them to their local representatives.
Day 14
The club launched its 2022-2023 “Search for the Most Violence Against Women (VAW) -Responsive Barangay” program in Tuguegarao City. About 29 Barangays will be participating in the year-long event to shed light on issues concerning the approach to VAW and make the city move towards a 100% VAW-responsive community.
Past Area Director Mila Catabay Lauigan also proposed a women’s shelter for the area. Zontian Maria Milagros Cayosa gave an update on the establishment of a permanent gender and development center.
Day 15
As the Day of Service, the club donated birthing kits to multiple birthing centers and clinics in the area.
Many birthing centers have good facilities, and the donated kits ensure a clean and safe experience for low-income expecting mothers. The kits include underpads, receiving blankets, sterile gloves, maternity pads, sterile gauze pads, sterile scalpel blades, biodegradable plastic bags, bar soaps, umbilical cord clamps, alcohol pads, bulb syringes and diapers.
Through this project, the club promotes the well-being of newborns and the equally important health of marginalized women who enter motherhood, for they will take on a great responsibility as they hold their babies for the first time.
Day 16
On the last day, the club gathered with the Z Club of Cagayan National High School and members of the soon-to-be-established Golden Z Club of Cayan State University – College of Engineering and Architecture to visit the Zonta Forest and Garden.
Everyone planted 576 Narra wildlings have a higher survival rate as they are being transplanted from the wild and into more conducive parts of the forest.
This event is one of the many tree-planting activities in the 5-hectare area under the club’s care in partnership with the Metropolitan Tuguegarao Water District. To date, more than 2,000 trees have been planted.
To maximize the effect of He for She, the Zonta Club of New Territories II, Hong Kong, made a 2 minutes Youtube video featuring 15 successful men in Hong Kong sharing their secrets to success. The secret lies in working hard, being dedicated to their profession, and not perpetuating violence against women.
It was a “magical” evening, as the many present who attended to support the service that the Zonta Taranto Club dedicated to the non-profit organization ” Gli Amici di Manaus ” liked to define it on the evening of Friday 2 December at the Salone degli Specchi of the Palazzo di Città of Taranto.
“Where words fail … music speaks”, began the president of ZCT Evelyn Zappimbulso who, quoting Beethoven, invited everyone to listen with the universal language of music which, even on difficult topics, can make inroads in a vast audience and varied.
The evening, conducted by the Zontian partner of ceremonies Silvia Abeille , inserted in the 16 days of activism, starting from the motivations of the day of November 25, established to draw attention to gender-based violence, wanted to celebrate the pact of alliance that Zonta Club Taranto has closely with the associations active in the area that have been active for the protection of human rights for years.
Zonta member Silvia Abeille Master of Ceremonies
In particular with the non-profit organization “Gli Amici di Manaus”, which operates on various fronts: from the food emporium, to social-health accompaniment, to active support for the congregation of nuns in Manaus, up to the help of “neighbors”, families in difficulty in our area. The service of the evening, entirely dedicated to the non-profit organization, benefited from the special donation of another association. Fabio Matacchiera, president of the Taranto Antidioxin Fund, joining the charitable purposes and sharing the mission of Zonta, wanted to pay homage to the president Giovanni De Giorgio and the vice president Adriano D’Altriof the non-profit organization “Gli Amici di Manaus”, with a large sum of as well as the presence of numerous activists of his association.
An evening of music signed a synergy of actions that are transformed into a network of support and help between associations that have the good of people at heart, therefore of the entire community.
Fabio Matacchiera President Antidioxin Fund Taranto
The event was enlivened by the performance of music teachers and Corsicans who, between a score and a piece, were accompanied by the applause of the whole hall. The musical curtain was opened by Simone Mairo from the piano class of Prof. Palmira Esposito (Zonta member); the Parsifal Polyphonic Choir then performed, directed by Maestro Andrea Crastolla , president Annarita Di Sansebastiano and vice president Anna Sturino (member of Zonta), with maestro Daniele Chiappini on the piano and prof.ssa Francesca Schirinzi on the violin. Finally the exhibition of the very young students of the‘String Orchestra of the Liceo Musicale “Archita” of Taranto, conducted by Prof. Cosima Meluccui , who wished those present a Holy Christmas on the notes of the Pastorale Tarantina.
Choir Parsifal Maestro Crastolla
Class of Strings from the Liceo Archite Prof.ssa Melucci
Maestro Daniele Chiappini on piano and Prof. Francesca Schirinzi on violin
Parsifal Choir President Annarita Disansebastiano and Vice President Anna Sturino (member zonta)
Archite high school string class
Among the supporters of the initiative are also the women of the newly established association ” Opportunity for Equality “, with the president Sabrina Pontrelli and the President of the Commission for Equal Opportunities, the City Councilor Bianca Boshniaku.
President of the Commission for Equal Opportunities Boshniaku Bianca
As foreseen by the international statute, the concert was started and closed with the ringing of the Zonta bell and the reading of the Zontian creed by the youngest member Rossella Galeone .
Member Rossella Galeone_reading of the Zontian Creed
This year Zonta Club Taranto did not join the thousand demonstrations of November 25, letting a date that is now too often inflated and abused for the use and consumption of propaganda slogans flow in silence which, with the spotlights and microphones turned off, fall into oblivion of anniversaries to be dusted off the next year. But he wanted to deliver his message to a charity concert, which in any case falls within the 16 days of Zontian activism.
In fact, there are several initiatives that Zonta Club Taranto puts in place in this period and which continue throughout the year. Together with the non-profit organization “Gli Amici di Manaus” it will support local welfare initiatives; the project “Building the Culture of Respect” will continue for the tenth consecutive year in the schools of the Ionian area, starting from next December 12 and which will involve the students of the Hotel Institute of Pulsano with the criminal lawyer Antonella De Marco (Zonta member). On 17 December it will support the “Multicentrum” project of the Casa di Sofia with a donation, a charity event of the “Voce dei Bambini”, organized by the principal Gianni Tartaglia, now in its sixth edition.
The activism of Zonta Taranto members has been working to the bitter end, with passion and courage, since 1977, the year of its foundation. The members therefore wanted to celebrate their over forty-year action in the field with a charity concert, in defense and support of women’s rights.
Members Zonta Club Taranto
“ Sometimes words are not enough. And then you need the colors. And the shapes. And the notes. And the emotions ”_Alessandro Baricco
https://www.corrierepl.it/2022/12/03/musica-condivisione-e-rete-tra-associazioni-per-il-concerto-di-beneficenza-di-zonta-club-taranto/?doing_wp_cron=1670613273.9718890190124511718750
Realizing that updated statistical data on violence is severely lacking in Hong Kong and globally, the Zonta Club of Kowloon sponsored the ‘Hong Kong Women’s Experience of Violence 2021’ research. Scientific research on domestic and sexual violence is needed now more than ever.
Findings from the research revealed that 75% of the women experiencing serious sexual violence “do not react” to the abuse, while around 40% of victims do not seek help. The club’s communications with non-governmental organizations in the industry also showed that women endure violence for a long time before they seek help, which is an average of three to four years.
To encourage victims to come forward, the club arranged three advertorials on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The posters will include statistics from their finding and information on three women’s helplines that will provide one-stop support, including advice on legal protection and emotional support and accompany the victim throughout the entire help-seeking process. The club released the ads on three big local media: South China Morning Post’s Facebook news, Ming Pao Daily and Sing Tao Daily.
The club strongly encourages victims to seek help. As societal values in Hong Kong are changing, family violence should be considered wrongdoings.
To maximize the amount of exposure the Zonta Says NO campaign can generate and create a bigger impact, the Zonta Club of Houston, USA, made 16 signs for each day of the 16 Days of Activism, with a club member sponsoring one. A sign will be posted once a day with a quote or statistic about gender-based violence.
To see the signs, visit the club’s Facebook page.
Join us in saying NO 