To lead into the 16 Days of Activism in November, the Zonta Club of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in September, invited Julie Lalonde (Project Manager of Draw-the-line.ca and Director of Hollaback!) and Director Erin Leigh and Manager of Manifest Change both from Ontario Coalition to End Violence Against Women (OCTEVAW), to speak about their activities. These speakers are active in the community throughout the year. Continue reading
On 28 November, the Zonta Club of Liestal hosted an information booth on domestic violence against women. Club members wore security vests with the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women logo and distributed chips for the shopping trolleys with the same logo. The Club had quite a few women who admitted they had heard about or faced violence against women themselves. The Club also handed out small leaflets with information on where to get help locally.
On 28 September, the Zonta Club of Milwaukee held a silent walk to honor the 43 victims of domestic violence in Wisconsin in 2014, ranging in age from 1 to 78. The walk was held on this day to align with the release of the 2014 report. Flags with the names and ages of each of the victims were carried by the walkers and read aloud at the ceremony at the City Hall after the walk. Speeches were given at the ceremony by the Major, Police Chief, District Attorney and several other leaders in the community.
There were about 50 participants, including Zontians, survivors, agencies, Neu-Life staff, and other interested citizens. A great list of speakers included Carmen Pitre (Sojourner Family Peace Center), Toni White (board of End Abuse WI, the Club’s partner for the walk), Mayor Barrett, Chief Ed Flynn, District Attorney John Chisholm and Alderwoman Milele Coggs.
Two news stations attended and broadcasted stories of the event on the evening news:
The Zonta Club of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, opened a street exhibition with multiple Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women displays that educate about gender-based violence. Bulgaria is one of eight countries of the Council of Europe that has not signed the Istanbul Convention. The club is using this opportunity during the 16 Days of Activism to create an online petition urging their country to sign the Istanbul Convention, and to raise awareness about the petition within their community.
The Zonta Club of Rockhampton partnered with the Women’s Health Centre in supporting the Centre’s White Ribbon events for 2015, which included a breakfast in Rockhampton and a lunch in Yeppoon. The Centre organised the events and the program for the day with the Club identifying opportunities to promote the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign throughout the program.
Central to the program was the presentation delivered by two of the districts’ three newly elected White Ribbon Ambassadors: Lewis McKee at the breakfast, and Nigel Hutton at the lunch. Both the Centre and the Zonta Club of Rockhampton, through its advocacy program, have been lobbying men in the community to take up the challenge and join with them to speak out about violence against women, but it took Zontian and Center manager, Belinda Lindel’s practical push to help Lewis, Nigel and Ron Van Saane to go through the ambassadorial process. All three have committed to working closely alongside both organisations.
Colin Strofield, Presiding Magistrate of the Specialist Domestic and Family Violence Court recently established by the Premier of Queensland in Southport, accepted an invitation to be the events’ keynote speaker. Strofiled is leading the one-year trial of the Court in response to the ‘Not Now, Not Ever’ report recommendations made by the Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence, chaired by the Honourable Quentin Bryce (and Zonta International Honorary Member), and initiated by the former Queensland government. And to top it off, the Centre received a personally handwritten introduced & signed letter from her to be read out at the events commending the contribution of the Centre for the service and advocacy it engages in.
For the Zonta Club of Rockhampton, Colin’s presence was an endorsement of the Advocacy Committee’s identification of the law and DV magistrates’ court system being a serious block in ensuring that women affected by domestic and family violence receive a fair hearing and appropriate retribution from the justice system.
The Zonta Club of the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA, displayed orange silhouettes last weekend as part of its “Silent Witness Project” for its Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign. The silhouettes, which had stories of domestic violence victims on them, appeared in two stores in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota.
The Zonta Club of Hamburg-Hanse, Germany, joined with the Zonta Clubs of Hamburg Hafen, Hamburg-Alster, Hamburg-Elbufer and Hamburg, along with the Hamburg-Hanse Golden Z Club, for the Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign.
On Orange Day, 25 November, the clubs demonstrated in the city and collected signatures for an open petition to urge their government to sign the Istanbul Convention. To catch pedestrians’ attention the Zontians gave away Christmas cookies, wore orange and held orange umbrellas.
The clubs also hosted a film event, where they showed a film concerning domestic violence and a clinic where injured women are cured. This place was chosen to strengthen the special feeling, message and conclusion of the movie.
The Zonta Club of Burgas, Bulgaria, kicked off its Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign on Thursday, 26 November, with a seminar. Within the framework of the club’s project “Academy for Young Ladies,” the seminar was called, “From the Slap to the Murder.” It was focused on violence in all its forms, from the exploitation of children to online harassment.
However, the focus of the discussion was physical violence, the creation of girls’ gangs in schools and the violence there. How could you become a victim of traffic of women. They talked about how women become victims of human trafficking, how girls are forced to sell their children abroad, and self defense. These imporant questions were answered by Georgi Chinev, District Attorney at the Prosecutor’s Office in Burgas, and Tsvetelina Randeva, spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior District Directorate in Burgas.
The Zonta Club of Skopje, Macedonia is currently running their Zonta Says NO to Violence against Women campaign that started on 25 November and will run trough 10 December.
As part of their project, The Women’s Orange Bus, the Zontians will travel across the country for 16 days, in the branded orange bus, organizing various activities in 13 towns and rural areas such as an orange march, debates, workshops and art performances.
The Zonta Club Skopje will join forces with other anti-violence advocates, domestic violence prevention organizations, and community-based organizations. Through partnership building, coordination and engaging with multiple stakeholders (civil society, academia, media, etc.), we are aiming at strengthening the commitment of different levels of the society, strengthening commitment towards women participation in public life. The project is supported by USAID Macedonia, and the club is organizing some of the activities as a joint effort with UN family in Macedonia and the Delegation of the European Union in Macedonia.
The idea behind the Women’s Bus campaign is very simple, yet, very powerful. The major part of the campaign will be implemented outside the capital – Skopje, in smaller towns or rural areas, reaching out to new audiences by organizing the activities in spaces such as restaurants, sports clubs, shopping malls, market places, bus stations etc. The idea is to MAKE THOSE SPACES ORANGE!
A special emphasis will be given to the hair and beauty salons across the country, by engaging them in distributing domestic violence information to their clients. A small credit card-sized cards, will be provided to hairdressers and beauty salons to hand out to clients.
The kick off of the project was on 25th November, by participating in lighting the Stone Bridge in the city in orange color, followed by a reception and official announcement of the Zonta Orange Bus where UN Ambassador Ms. Louisa Vinton, and USAID Mission Director Mr. James Stein addressed the audience.
During the whole campaign, the club will engage the social media to cover the activities. Additionally, local media will cover the trips. All produced video materials will be edited in order to produce a mini documentary movie. Zonta Club Skopje will use three Facebook pages to boost the campaign: Zonta Club Skopje, The Orange Campaign, The Women’s bus.
Below is a slide show of select photos from their tour.
Follow the club on their Facebook page to see updates.
The Zonta Club of Santa Clarita is displaying six red dresses throughout their community, each dress representing a local woman who lost their life to domestic violence. The dresses will be displayed outside in the wind and the weather. “Those elements will animate the dresses, revitalizing the life that is missing,” says the Zonta club’s press release.
The Zonta Club of Santa Clarita committed to participate in the 2015 Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign and the United Nations 16 days of Activism.
The purpose of the campaign was to bring awareness to the presence of domestic violence in their community, focusing on those who have lost their lives in 2015 because of domestic violence. The club also provided education on the concept of being an “Upstander and not a Bystander” meaning, by making that one change, you could potentially save a life.
Six red dresses were displayed around the club’s city, depicting six women who lost their lives in 2015. The beautiful red gowns were taken to 16 well-traveled locations and hung in the trees. Having the dresses outside meant that they interacted with the elements, and the dresses came to life in the wind.
The color red is many things, life blood, love, and spilled blood. It was an extremely powerful visual that not many people could walk past without stopping. Every person was shocked to hear who the dresses represented. Comments included, “That is amazing!” “Haunting.” “Wow! I had no idea.” “Thank you, please keep doing this.” “Thank you for what you are doing.”
The club handed out cards that told the story of the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign and the project on one side, and how to become an “upstander and not a bystander,” along with local resources that they could use anonymously on the other side. The project was in cooperation with the Domestic Violence Center of Santa Clarita, and in collaboration with the City of Santa Clarita, the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Department and Domestic Intervention Violence Education Resource Team (DIVERT) Task Force, that has nine agencies represented.
There was coverage on the local radio station, local TV station and on social media. Read more from the Santa Clarita Valley Signal below.
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