The Zonta Club of Santa Clarity Valley, California, joined forces with their Z club at Golden Valley High School to host a Zoom workshop, “Recognizing Unhealthy Relationships.” Experts discussed characteristics of a healthy relationship, recognizing an unhealthy relationship, preventing dating violence and how the community can help. The workshop was open to students, parents, educators and members of the community.

The club also launched a new project, “Human Trafficking Survivor Backpacks,” which has already gained support from Zonta members and the community. Supporters purchase personal care items from an Amazon Charity Wish List. The items are then packed into backpacks, which are carried by law enforcement to be given to rescued survivors of human trafficking.

For the 16 Days of Activism, the Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley, California also launched a social media campaign. Each day, the club posts about violence against women, including bullying, murdered and missing indigenous women, the Red Dress Project, female genital mutilation, human trafficking and human slavery, domestic violence and child marriage. Club members also wrote a series of articles on the club website to mirror the social media campaign.

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The Zonta Club of Glens Falls, USA, is advertising the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign with three electronic billboards. The Glens Falls National Bank provided space for a billboard outside the Cool Insurance Arena, and the club donated money for two more billboards on Corinth Road and on Route 4 near Whitehall. 

The club also joined with its local Vera Bradley Outlet to assist women and their children through the Catholic Charities Domestic Violence Office. Vera Bradley donated 16 backpacks, which the club members filled with donations requested by Catholic Charities to support women who have had to leave a dangerous situation with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Included were items such as towels, socks and  personal care items.  The Soroptimist International Club of the Adirondacks joined the Zontians in augmenting the collection.

Meeting as a community during the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be difficult with restrictions on the number of people and concerns for safety. Members, districts and clubs can engage in discussions with one another and their community by hosting online book clubs. These six books are a great place to start.

The Zonta Club of Siegen Area turned its city orange to advocate for ending violence against women. With numerous partners from eight cities and communities, the club illuminated 15 buildings in orange—more than ever before.

In Siegen, three buildings that shape the cityscape shone a bright orange: the Apollo Theater, the ‘Kulturhaus Lÿz’ and, on the initiative of the Soroptimist Club Siegen, the tower of the Nikolai Church. The Apollo Theater also hosted an outdoor event, in which the club celebrated a new member.

Two radio stations and local newspaper reported on the club’s Orange the World campaign. WDR-TV reported on the event at the Apollo Theater and also interviewed a young woman who experienced intimate partner violence.

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In collaboration with Lake Macquarie City Council, the Zonta Club of Hunter Newcastle, Australia, distributed domestic violence emergency phone numbers posters to all public libraries, council parks, neighborhood centers, swimming centers, surf clubs, gyms and public toilets in local shopping malls.

An article about the campaign in a local newspaper was published at the beginning of November and posters were distributed by club members and council employees over a two-week period in November. The posters provide emergency contact information for women who find themselves in danger of domestic violence and homelessness, an important step towards empowering women in our local area.

The Zonta Club Sanremo, Italy, created a pilot project at the national level to train Red Cross volunteers on how to respond when they are faced with a case of domestic violence. A specific training course will be held, a unique opportunity in Italy for the Red Cross.

“Starting from the idea of ​​the president of Zonta Sanremo Cinzia Papetti, who in the period of the first social health emergency COVID-19 had followed the path of temporary volunteer,” begins the Ettore Guazzoni, president of Sanremo Red Cross, “our committee will shortly start a training course for volunteers that will instruct them on how to behave when, during a rescue, they find themselves in particular situations, for example in front of a case of domestic violence. There must be a behavioral protocol and this will be coined in Sanremo thanks to this project. For some years the so-called ‘Pink Code’ has been in force in some emergency rooms, and this too will be taught during the training course.”

Guazzoni continues: “In a particular historical moment like the one we are all experiencing, which forces families to stay at home more, unfortunately fueling an increase in cases of violence, taking a stance on this atrocious social scenario may seem obvious but this is not the case. The Red Cross, as I often say, is not made up only of sirens and ambulances but, vice versa, of an operational scenario that has no borders and which, as far as we are concerned, must necessarily go beyond rescue. Our world is and must always be inherent in a spirit of service regardless and, by virtue of the cardinal principles – the famous seven principles that govern the Red Cross – it is not permissible to procrastinate or, even worse, to pretend not to be hostages every day. of disgraceful criminal scenes to the detriment of those who, extremely, give life.

“The current project belongs to a broader and developing discourse that will always see us alongside the Zonta Club of Sanremo for a greater and exhausting awareness of these unnatural atrocities. The project was born right in our city and from our city it will have the ambition to leave for a boundless experimentation. Life is the most precious good that each of us can have and we have an obligation, at least moral, to defend the weak, making them understand that violence only re-proposes violence when, instead, every single woman would have the right to become red, but from joy and emotions.”

A special thanks goes to Dr. Martina Gandolfo of the ISV anti-violence center who immediately responded to the collaboration proposal of the Sanremo Red Cross for the launch of a poster that aims to spread the free toll-free number of the center in order to help the many women victims violence to get in touch with those who can support them in a path of escape from the situation of abuse.

On 1 December, the Zonta clubs of Bombay I and Bombay III hosted a virtual activism event conducted by Ms. Reshma Naykodi for young and married women of slums communities in Mumbai and Pune.

During this interactive session, the girls, boldly sharing their experiences, spoke about different types of domestic violence a woman can experience.

Ms. Jyoti Gaikwad talked about domestic violence and the Indian Civil Law of 2005, which gives civil rights to women. District 25 Governor Errick Elavia urged girls to be self-reliant with education and income and to speak out, as silence encourages violence. Other Zontians also encouraged the women and girls and appreciated their bold participation.

Domestic violence is not just in rural areas or urban slums. It is prevalent in educated urban high society too. “Enough is Enough” and violence to women has to be stopped.

Zonta International envisions a world where no woman lives in fear of violence. Take action today to make this world a reality. Engage your network and reach out to your officials today to advocate for effective policies.