Council gets behind anti gender-based violence campaign

Wyndham City is lighting the Civic Centre in orange to raise awareness of gender-based violence as part of the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership campaign, 16 Days.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is observed across the globe from 25th November to 10th December and all Victorian councils are getting on board to highlight the problem in our communities.

The campaign engages participants to take part in educational activities that encourage action on gender equity as a building block to prevent violence against women.

Safer Communities Portfolio Holder Cr Kim McAliney said violence against women and sexual harassment should never be tolerated and it is up to every individual community member to take a stand against this scourge.  

“One woman is killed by a partner every nine days in Australia, and one in six women have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or ex-partner since the age of 15.”

“These are statistics we simply cannot accept, we want those figurers to be zero and everyone can play a part in making this happen.”

“How we begin, is calling out gender inequality within our friendship groups, family, our workplace and the community and of course getting help and support for women who you believe may be in abusive relationships.”

“The 16 Days of Activism campaign is calling on the community to have open conversations, activities and events that align with Respect Victoria’s campaign theme: ‘Respect women: Call It Out’.

“A small contribution everyone can make is to paint a nail orange in support of the campaign”.

As part of the 16 Days campaign, Wyndham City will be hosting a panel discussion before the screening of the new Charlie’s Angels, where it will analyse the movie under a gender lens. The free event will be held at Village Cinema Werribee, 26th November from 6:30pm to 10pm and includes access to the movie, plus a drink and popcorn.

To register for the FREE event, go here: https://wyndham16daysofactivismfilmscreening.eventbrite.com

To take part in the 16 Days challenge, go here: http://16daysactivist.whwest.org.au/register/