Okay, ladies, men, whoever is reading. We need to talk about femicide, we need to talk about domestic violence and how we can all empower women in the future.
Before we go into it, we must warn you, this post may be triggering, but it is important for you to all be educated, to help women everywhere!
To get you up to speed, it might have been brought to your attention a #challengeaccepted trend of black and white images of women posted on your social media feed towards the end of July (2020). These images were started in Turkey to build awareness around the femicide issues happening in the country.
What is Femicide?
So, what is Femicide? According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “violence against women comprises a wide range of acts – from verbal harassment and other forms of emotional abuse, to daily physical or sexual abuse. At the far end of the spectrum is femicide: the murder of a woman”.
Femicide is a sex-based hate crime term, which involves the killing of females because of their gender. The statistics are alarming but need to be understood and educated. In findings from a study by WHO and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, “more than 35% of all murders of women globally are reported to be committed by an intimate partner”.
What is happening in Turkey?
In case you aren’t 100% aware of what has been happening in Turkey, let’s fill you in. As a country, Turkey is one of the top countries for reports of femicide and most of the time, the murderer is never punished correctly. Even the government in Turkey is trying to abolish aspects of the Istanbul Convention, which is the human rights treaty that is protecting women against domestic violence.
Here are some figures for you:
– In 2019, 474 women were murdered, mostly by their partner or relative (The Guardian)
– Between 2010-2017, at least 1,964 women were killed (balcanicaucaso.org, 2018)
But of course, this isn’t just happening in Turkey, should we look in our own backyard?
What is happening in Australia?
In our own country, family, domestic and sexual violence is a huge health and welfare concern that is having lifelong impacts on victims. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016 Personal Safety Survey), 2.2 million Australians have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence from a partner. In these stats, it explains that 3.6 million Australians have experienced emotional abuse and 2.2 million have experienced sexual violence.
If we dive deeper, we know 1 in 3 women have experienced an emotionally abusive partner and 1 in 6 women have experienced physical or sexual abuse from a previous or current partner.
These statistics are alarming! The ill-treatment of women needs to stop, we can all play our role in doing something about it!
How can we help?
We can all do our bit to help, but the most important thing to do is to ensure that if it is happening to you right now, you know who to call.
If you are experiencing any form of violence from your partner, please reach out to the below:
– https://www.1800respect.org.au
– https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/information-and-support/domestic-and-family-violence/
If you are experiencing any form of emotional abuse, please reach out to someone who can help and guide you. No matter what situation you are in, you do not deserve to be ill-treated by anyone!
Or if you have experienced any form of physical or sexual abuse, please report it to the police, this will ensure it doesn’t happen again!
Other ways you can help include:
– Teach your children or children you know not to see girls as “different”
– Call out sexist comments
– Educate the people around you
– Report any form of sexual harassment
– Donate to charities or support charities related to femicide or domestic violence
– Educate yourself more
– Join a movement
Ways to support:
– Turkey – read more here
– Australia: https://www.whiteribbon.org.au
– The world: https://www.worldvision.com.au/womens-empowerment/
One thing we can say is, call it out, make sure you speak up if you or someone you know experiences some form of physical or mental abuse, just make sure you are safe.
How can we empower?
Moving forward, we all need to empower each other as women. We do this by standing together, not against each other.
We do this by inspiring others, living our best life and striving for excellence. Things like:
– Starting a business
– Leading a group
– Applying for challenging roles in your career
– Finding your passion
– Cheering on other women – no jealousy
– Do something out of your comfort zone
Let’s all do this together!!!
Final thoughts
We do acknowledge this content may have been a heavy subject to talk about, however, it is a topic we must get comfortable talking about.
The more we talk about it, the more stories come to light and the more awareness we create around the global issue. So instead of being silent, find the confidence you need to speak up, for our future women and the women in our lives now!!
