Let us apply an equally comprehensive, vigorous,
– Graca Machel
and unrelenting focus to eradicating gender-based violence.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an internationally recognized campaign that symbolizes a collective global effort to challenge and eliminate gender-based violence. This annual campaign commences on November 25 with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and runs until December 10 on International Human Rights Day.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence emerged from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991, but its origins can be traced back to the efforts to honour the Mirabal sisters, who were activists in the Dominican Republic and became victims of feminicide in 1960. Since its inception, the campaign has grown into an annual international movement, uniting communities and fostering awareness, activism, and dialogue to eradicate all forms of gender-based violence and promote human rights.
Gender-Based Violence remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the world. Shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there was a surge in incidents of gender-based violence, a trend observed on a global scale. In response to this alarming rise, UN Women coined the term “Shadow Pandemic” to underscore the parallel crisis of gender-based violence occurring alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign recognizes the countless lives lost and harmed by the senseless violence perpetrated by the misogynistic, sexist, and toxic culture and systems that have ingrained themselves into our society.
Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
Gender-based violence refers to a spectrum of violence—verbal, emotional, physical, spiritual, financial, sexual, and institutional—that is used to commit harm against individuals or groups of individuals because of their actual or perceived gender identity. GBV is deeply rooted in gendered inequality, the abuse of power and detrimental social norms that target individuals and communities based on their gender, gender identity, gender expression or perceived gender. Systems of oppression, such as patriarchy and toxic masculinity, perpetuate gender-based violence, placing women, girls, transgender and gender-diverse people at the greatest risk, particularly if they also identify as Indigenous, Black, people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQQIA+, and/or newcomers. These groups are disproportionately impacted by GBV because of the intersections of sexism with other forms of oppression, including racism, colonialism, ableism, heterosexism, homophobia and transphobia.
GBV can look like (but is not limited to):
-
- Domestic violence, intimate partner violence, teen dating violence and family violence
-
- Female genital mutilation/cutting
-
- Human trafficking, i.e., sex trafficking and labor trafficking
-
- Institutional and structural violence, including abortion restrictions or forced sterilization
-
- Online harassment
-
- Sexual violence, sexual harassment and assault
-
- Stalking
-
- Street harassment
The Government of Canada’s theme for this year is “Listen. Learn. Act.” It addresses the key steps to tackling gender-based violence (GBV).
LISTEN refers to standing with and believing survivors who share their experiences, and also supporting the experts working on the frontlines of addressing GBV.
LEARN encourages us to educate ourselves and others on what GBV is, how to identify the signs, the resources available for support, and how we can prevent it.
ACT is for taking the information and applying it in our daily lives, including speaking out against GBV, challenging harmful gender norms and social attitudes within our homes and institutions, intervening in safe ways, and holding ourselves and each other accountable.
- November 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
- November 29 – International Women Human Rights Defenders Day
- December 1 – World AIDS Day
- December 3 – International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- December 6 – Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, which is observed as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada
- December 10 – International Human Rights Day
The Alarming Reality
-
- Globally, every single day, 137 women and girls across the world are killed by a family member or intimate partner.
-
- Six women are killed every hour by men around the world, most by men in their own family or their partners.
-
- Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than any other women in Canada, and 16 times more likely than white women.
-
- Violent attacks against Indigenous women and girls are not only more frequent than those against non-Indigenous women and girls but are also more likely to be lethal.
-
- Transgender people are more likely to have experienced violence since age 15, and more likely to experience inappropriate behaviors in public, online, and at work than cisgender people. Three in five transgender women experienced Intimate Partner Violence since the age of 16.
-
- Across the world, femicide of transgender women often faces high level of impunity, including the fact that the crimes often go uninvestigated.
Transphobia refers to any expression of fear or hatred directed toward folks who are transgender, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming. It describes any attitude, feeling, or behavior that stigmatizes trans people, denies their identities, and/or treats them as unequal or less than human.
Transmisogyny specifically targets trans women, revealing an intersectionality between misogyny and transphobia. This form of discrimination highlights the compounded challenges faced by trans women, including heightened levels of violence, societal stigmatization, and systemic barriers to healthcare and employment. Transmisogynoir, a term coined by writer Trudy, is the specific oppression of Black trans feminine people where anti-Blackness, transphobia, and misogyny form a unique system of oppression.
Some manifestations of transmisogyny and transmisogynoir include hypersexualization, hypervisibility, and more frequent experiences of violence and sexual assault than other trans people or women. Transmisogyny can manifest in a variety of ways. For instance:
- A trans woman wearing a dress or make up may be ridiculed on the street by an onlooker. They may misgender or deadname her (transphobia) and comment negatively on her feminine clothing or makeup (misogyny).
- A media representation of a trans woman may be overtly sexual or portray her desire to transition as sexual. This questions her process and reasoning in transitioning (transphobia). This devalues womanhood, by defining its purpose as sexual (misogyny).
- A trans woman/femme may be more likely to experience violence than a trans man/masc. The violence is in response to both the person’s gender expression (transphobia) and the devaluation of their womanhood (misogyny).
Everyone has a role to play in ending gender-based violence.
Depending on where you are in your journey, how confident you feel to engage with the material, and your current time commitments, the following lists educational materials, including, online articles, lectures, documentaries, and media to provide you with opportunities to explore the pertinent issues in different ways. Most importantly, we hope that through these resources, each of us, no matter who we are, can listen, learn, and act beyond these 16 days of activism to make our society a safer place for all. Working together, we can help prevent and address gender-based violence by remembering and learning from our past, listening to and believing survivors, and speaking up against harmful behaviours and systems that reinforce and perpetuate all forms of gender-based and sexualized violence.
LISTEN: Online Videos and Podcasts Centering Voices of Survivors
| Title | Length |
| Start by Believing: The Power of a Survivor-Centered Process – Video | 25 mins |
| Creating Communities of Care – Podcast | 30 mins/episode |
| Signal for Help – Podcast | 30 mins/episode |
| Silent No More: Using Your Voice to End Violence Against Women – TedTalk | 20 mins |
| We Move Together: Disability Justice and Trans Liberation – Video | 1.5 hours |
LEARN: Understanding GBV Through an Intersectional Framework
- Queering Gender-Based Violence Prevention & Response in Canada
- Dismantling a Culture of Violence: Understanding Violence Against Transgender and Non-Binary People and Ending the Crisis
- “We’re Going to Leave You for Last, Because of How You Are”: Transgender Women’s Experiences of Gender-Based Violence in Healthcare, Education, and Police Encounters in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Gender-based violence among people with disabilities is a neglected public health topic
- “The pandemic made us stop and think about who we are and what we want:” Using intersectionality to understand migrant and refugee women’s experiences of gender-based violence during COVID-19
- Islamophobic violence as a form of gender-based violence: a qualitative study with Muslim women in Canada
- A Silent Pandemic Within A Pandemic: Gender-Based Violence in the South Asian Community in Canada
LEARN: Recognizing and Remembering GBV in Canada
- WE REMEMBER: A toolkit about inquests and community consultations for feminist organizations in rural communities based on the 2022 CKW Inquest in Renfrew County
- Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
- The Montréal Massacre is finally recognized as an anti-feminist attack
- What We Heard: Survivor-Led Strategies to Inform the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence
LEARN: Promoting Health Equity and Trauma- & Violence-Informed Care
- Trauma- & Violence-Informed Care: Prioritizing Safety for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence
- Disclosing Gender-Based Violence During Health Care Visits: A Patient-Centered Approach
- Toolkit for Providers: Understanding and Responding to Gender-Based Violence Through a Trauma-Informed Lens
- Engaging the Voice of Patients Affected by Gender-Based Violence: Informing Practice and Policy
- Implementing a trauma-informed intervention for homeless female survivors of gender-based violence: Lessons learned in a large Canadian urban centre
ACT: If you or someone you know is experiencing GBV, help is available.
- Women’s College Hospital Staff Wellness Resources
- Call 9-1-1 FOR EMERGENCIES
- Assaulted Women’s Helpline: 1-866-863-0511 (24/7, multilingual); Text #SAFE (#7233)
- Community Crisis Response Service: 1-855-310-COPE (2673)
- Talk4Healing 24/7 Helpline for Indigenous Women: 1-855-554-4325
- The Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault Care Centre (DASA) 1-800-521-6004
- Trans Lifeline (run by and for trans people): 1-877-330-6366
- Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse 24/7 Crisis Line: 1-866-887-0015
- Yellow Brick House (women & children): 1-800-263-3247
- Safety Planning Resources
ACT: How can you commit to ending GBV?
Some prompts for reflection:
- How does my gender affect my relationship with violence?
- How has violence impacted my life? My community?
- How do I contribute towards either violence or peaceful, respectful relationships?
- How do I practice consent in my interactions? How can I increase my practice of consent?
- What do I want to replace violence with?
- What changes—educational, structural, organizational or other—could reduce violence and increase safety?
- What more could/should be done in my home, workplace, and social institutions to prevent and eliminate gender-based and sexualized violence?
