The Zonta Club of Sundsvall, Sweden, arranged an alternative Zonta Says NO to Violence campaign this year due to COVID-19.

The club had the opportunity to temporarily use a store in one of the city center malls, where a gender-based violence in close relationships exhibition was complied.

Among other things, club members painted 279 shoes orange, which symbolized the number of reported gender-based crimes in their small town in 2019. They also made a poster with the message, “Help Us Help” with a bank account number to support the action to stop gender-based violence in close relationships.

At the end of the exhibition, after 16 informative days, they reached a total amount of 10 000 SEK (US$1,000) for Zonta’s upcoming projects, without their physical presence at the mall.

Zonta clubs in the Bahamas expanded their message this year during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.

Eleuthera was the first Family Island to take up the charge, with Eleuthera representative for Zonta Bahamas, Jewel Edwards, who partnered with multiple civic organizations across the island to bring awareness to the message of Saying NO to Violence Against Women.

Marisa Mason-Smith, National Advocacy Chairperson with Zonta Bahamas, commenting on the purpose of Zonta Bahamas and their ongoing work, shared that the group is an international one, made up of professional women, who seek to advocate for women and girls through various initiatives – with regard to education, legal, religious, general advancement issues and others.  “Zonta Club is in just about every country in the world, and in the Bahamas, we have had the club here for almost 45 years.  We are excited about the work that we continue to do. Zonta is the only non-government organization that has a seat at the United Nations, which gives us a right to vote on women-related issues.”

She continued, “Their are some intrinsic cultural norms that we have accepted for so long, and many have been taught that you ‘do not talk about what happens in this house’, so there has been a lot of shame associated with violence issues. The ’16 Days of Activism’ seeks to declare that we are not accepting gender-based violence in any of its forms.  Women’s rights are human rights, and we have seen violence being perpetrated across all strata of our society – from the rich to the poor.  We have seen an increase in domestic violence this past year – most recently a mother and her daughter were killed [in New Providence], and a young woman [Keva Cash of Lower Bogue] in Eleuthera was also murdered.  There are so many cases that have taken place, and it engenders the spirit that we need to do something! Specifically, about educating and advancing the status of women, and saying no to domestic and sexual violence, and that it will not be tolerated.”

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The coronavirus pandemic has affected Zonta’s traditional actions and interactions, but even amid adversity, there is “much work to do” and [the Zonta Club of Iloilo City II, Philippines, is] not backing down.

“This year, we have concentrated on educating women as to what they can do. We have established a Facebook page: Zonta Club of Iloilo City II Advocacy,” Ong shared. “We post educational materials on what we can do to empower women and stop violence against women. Through online media we can have a wider reach. We boost the page to target the younger generation, girls 13-21 years of age.” 

The club also put up posters on how to stop violence at home.

“These posters with diagrams show what to do to ask for help when you are abused at home and what to do when you see the sign. These posters will reach the grassroot level in all the barangays in the city,” she said.

https://www.panaynews.net/zonta-says-no-to-violence-against-women/

During the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the Zonta Club of Dhaka IV, Bangladesh, held multiple events to advocate for ending violence against women and the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign.

On 25 November, the club hosted an awareness program maintaining all the health precautions with 60 cleaners of Baridhara Society at Baridhara Park. The event focused on the prevailing violence against women and health issues in the society in this pandemic. Club members distributed food and blankets among the cleaners.

On 27 November, the club distributed orange T-shirts, face masks and shopping bags to different shops. The slogans on these items highlighted the symbolic protest against all kinds of discrimination and violence against women and girls in our society.

Om 29 November, the club distributed orange T-shirts and face masks to the underprivileged girls of the Ready Made Garments (RMG) Skills Training project that the club had undertaken in partnership with Anlima Textiles Mill, based in the outskirts of Dhaka. The distributed items were imprinted with messages to resist and protect girls from threat, sexual harassment, stop child marriage, stop violence, educate girl child and stop dowry.

On 5 December, the club inspired and encouraged their education project girls, teachers and staff at Gulshan Ladies Community Club to be aware of gender-based violence and take actions to prevent it. Overall support has been given to them for their education. There was a group discussion with the students so that the girls raised their voices. Club members distributed orange t-shirts, face masks and food bags to all the participants.

On 9 December the club partnered with rickshaw pullers and salesmen from shops around their community. They distributed their orange T-shirts, face masks and bags that bears Zonta logo and different awareness messages to educate about any prevailing injustice against women. On the back of each T-shirt there were the slogans like, “Stop domestic violence,” “Stop child marriage,” “Educate girl child,” “Stop dowry” and “Stop sexual violence.”

On 10 December, club members gave time and shared innovative ideas to continue ongoing advocacy efforts in their project in the pandemic. To discuss the issue of gender-based violence in this pandemic, the club organized a program with the students and teachers of their sewing project Uttara on this Human Rights Day. The event included an advocacy program hosted by lawyers in the club, addressing the issue of gender-based violence, sexual harassment, early marriage, rape, dowry, etc. The program was highlighted by a successful story of an underprivileged girl who shared her knowledge and raised her voice against any kind of women violence through the Zonta Club of Dhaka IV. The program ended with the distribution of sewing machines among the underprivileged girls, which were a spontaneous support from individual and club members.

The club also composed a video song on violence against women by a renown singer in Bangladesh. The song spreads the message to support and join the movement of ending all kinds of violence against women, including domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, child marriage, human trafficking, equal rights, equal pay, equal distribution, positive attitude and respect to women. The song focused on women empowerment by giving education and training to underprivileged women by the Zonta Club of Dhaka IV.

Lastly, the song encourages local and national initiatives to influence making and implementation of laws, as well as changing gender-based attitudes and behaviors to end violence against women. The song was published on different social media platforms and broadcasted at local radio stations from 25 November through 10 December.

After three cases of assaults against women on different occasions during November and December in the village Stenungsund, Sweden, the Zonta Club of Kungälv decided to act.

The club had articles published in the local newspaper and urged different sports club to locate outdoor exercises in the area. For the time being, they arrange walks in groups twice a week wearing orange reflex vests.

As has been a December tradition for many years, members of the Zonta Club of Elizabethtown, USA, completed a service project to support the SpringHaven Domestic Violence Shelter with donations of gift cards.

Members donated 16 gift certificates in the amount of US$25 each to the shelter that could be used by parents or shelter staff to purchase gifts for the children. Club members felt the support was especially needed this year, as the shelter is operating differently due to COVID-19 and fewer groups are involved in activities with shelter residence.

District 17 commemorated the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence with a massive district-wide Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women campaign featuring webinars and events to empower women, particularly during the time of the pandemic when they have become more vulnerable to abuse by even the closest of family members.

Aligning with a quote by Past International President Olivia Ferry, “By empowering a woman she can protect herself from violence,” more than 100 events to empower women and raise awareness about gender-based violence were offered through online platforms and social media between 25 November and 10 December. Topics covered women’s challenges, laws and protection, international diplomacy on discrimination of women, financial literacy, wellness, livelihood through urban gardening, technology and science, and more.

Sixteen Zontians exemplifying the empowered helped promote the campaign as they partnered with a credit card company’s rewards program, where double rewards points were donated to the Zonta Foundation for Women.

The campaign aimed at creating awareness about Zonta International and its advocacies while promoting funding and membership. Extensive publicity on print, radio, TV, social media and billboards were engaged to promote the campaign.

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The Zonta Club of Ruse co-organized, with Soroptimist International Club Ruse and Dynamics Crisis Center, a photo exhibition. The exhibition in Ruse, Bulgaria, showed photos dedicated to the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

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The club also worked with Ruse Municipality, Soroptimist International Club Ruse, Dynamics Crisis Center and Lawlanders Ruse to turn iconic buildings orange on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

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