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Supporting the UN Campaign: 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence As the Covid-19 Pandemic spread across the planet, so too did an increase in gender based domestic violence – rape, beatings, mental cruelty and brutally enforced domestic servitude.
This year, there has been an alarming rise of domestic violence reports during the pandemic lockdowns from millions of women worldwide. Overstretched health, social, judicial and police services are struggling to respond as resources are diverted to deal with the pandemic. As the world grapples with the pandemic, more needs to be done to prioritize addressing violence against women and girls in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. Although 155 out of 190 countries worldwide have domestic violence legislation in place (as of September 2019), the ineffective implementation of laws, legal loopholes, laws that do not do enough to prevent violence or that allow perpetrators to go unpunished, and lack of resources in the justice and health sectors, are all challenges that exist globally in putting an end to the scourge. The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that begins today, 25th November, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women; and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. It was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and continues to be coordinated each year by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. It is used as an organizing strategy by individuals and organizations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. The Scottish TUC’s Policy (Equalities) Officer, Eireann McAuley announced this week that during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, the STUC Women’s Committee will be hosting a round table discussion on: The Zoom remote event will take place on Wednesday 2nd of December at 6pm A member of our STUC Women’s Committee will chair this event, and attendees will hear insights and be offered practical solutions on this subject from an expert panel including:
Everyone attending will also be invited to be part of the discussion and ask questions after contributions from the expert panel have been made. This is a closed event and will require you to sign up, however, everyone is welcome. We know that the home is not always the safe place for women and children and during 16-days of action it is more crucial than ever that we discuss how reps/employers/colleagues can support women who may be facing gender-based violence and the barriers that lockdown, restrictions, lack of services and imposed home working has for women workers’ experiencing domestic abuse. Gender-based violence is a workplace and trade union issue, and it must be considered when carrying out home-working risk assessments. Eireann McAuley said: “Please come along to learn more about gender-based violence, risk assessments and home working during COVID-19 and to explore what more workplaces and out movement must do to help mitigate gender-based violence and ensure adequate support systems, policies and producers are in place to support survivors. Our work on fighting for a better, safer and more equal world for women and girls stretches well beyond #16Days. Combating gender-based violence and ensuring our workplaces and society is a safer place is a job for us all.” If you have any additional questions on this subject area or wish for further information or clarity on the roundtable event itself, please contact Eireann directly on emcauley@stuc.org.uk Please register by clicking on the link below: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvce2sqzouHtyezMPJ2GfVuPRdrU3kAwEn Further support and resources to combat domestic violence can be found on the TUC's dedicated domestic violence and Covid Education page here and this website's Elibrary here Also the Women's Aid Domestic Violence Handbook can be found here More on the 16 Days international annual campiagn here Source: Hazards / STUC
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Globally, even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, 1 in 3 women experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives, mostly by an intimate partner. 
Gender-based violence, Risk Assessments and Home working.