Services for women and girls experiencing violence can be the difference between life and death. This means that shelters, hotlines, counselling and all support for survivors of gender-based violence need to be available for those in need, even during crises and emergencies.

Every year, the 16 Days of Activism campaign calls for united, global action to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

You can help by calling on governments to bridge funding gaps to address violence against women and girls, ensure essential services for survivors of violence are maintained during crisis and conflict, implement prevention measures, and invest in adapting and improving life-saving services for women and girls in diverse contexts.

Zonta clubs around the world are already heavily committed and involved with their local women's support services through volunteering at shelters, donating clothes or supplies, or conducting training as well as providing supplementary funds.

Zonta Club of Caboolture provides service and funding to local organisations including the Centre Against Domestic Violence, Buddy Bags, Caboolture Community Action, Caboolture Public Hospital and more. We also provide grants and scholarships to support local women and girls in their educational endeavours. 

Support Zonta Caboolture to make a difference, become a member. Learn more about Zonta and its international organisation.

Previous blogs in the 16 Days of Activism series:

Day 1: What is the 16 Days of Activism
Day 2: Why doesn't she just leave him?
Day 3: Climate Justice
Day 4: How digitisation is creating more problems
Day 5: Supporting Survivors
Day 6: Bystander Action
Day 7: Calling on Men and Boys
Day 8: Challenging Misogyny
Day 9: Speak UP
Day 10: Ending Child Marriage

Child marriage, also known as early or forced marriage, is any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child.

Girls are disproportionately affected, with 1 in 5 young women aged 20 to 24 years old married before their 18th birthday around the world.

Actually, that 1 in 5 rate indicates progress toward eliminating the practice because just ten years ago 1 in 4 girls were married as children. That is 25 million child marriages stopped.

UNICEF estimates in the last 25 years, some 68 million child marriages have been averted thanks to the efforts of community led projects which are tackling historical and cultural practices. 

Despite these efforts, in 2022, 12 million girls became child brides.

Girls who are at greatest risk of marrying early are also often the hardest to reach with protective services and support. They are often poor, live in rural areas or are otherwise marginalised. Often isolated from family, friends and their communities, they are often deprived of opportunities to pursue a livelihood and to thrive. 

Child marriage leads to intergenerational cycles of poverty. ​Child marriages result in early and unwanted pregnancies, lack of education opportunities and reliance upon others for long-term economic wellbeing.

It is a form of violence against women and for this reason it remains a signature and ongoing project of Zonta International. Zonta Caboolture advocates against child and forced marriage in Moreton Bay Region and Australia.

Read our previous blogs in the 16 Days of Activism series:

Day 1: What is the 16 Days of Activism
Day 2: Why doesn't she just leave him?
Day 3: Climate Justice
Day 4: How digitisation is creating more problems
Day 5: Supporting Survivors
Day 6: Bystander Action
Day 7: Calling on men and boys
Day 8: Challenging Misogyny
Day 9: Speak UP

Zonta says speak up against gender based violence. Unfortunately, this weekend 2-3 December more women died from domestic violence in Australia (Destroy the Joint and Counting Dead Women Australia). Currently the number stands at 58 dead as a result of domestic violence.

Charlotte Bunch, activist, writer and organiser in feminist social justice was there when the campaign against gender based violence started in 1991. In this year a team of 25 women from around the world who came together at the first Women's Global Leadership Institute at the Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA.

"We were trying to link violence against women with human rights, and somebody said, the Latin American women have declared International Day Against Violence on 25 November, and we have linked that to Human Rights Day , and that's 16 days. That's how the first 16 Days of Activism started," narrates Bunch.

Zonta Club of Caboolture raising awareness of the 16 Days of Activism and Zonta Says No to violence by displaying orange silhouettes in Caboolture organisations and businesses.

"Wherever you are, take one simple action: Speak up! 
If you have experienced violence, you can speak up about your own experience.
Speak up (even) if you haven't experienced violence.
Speak up when you hear someone's story of violence and ask what you can do to help, how you can help that person get out of that situation.
Speak up when you hear people joking about violence against women, and say, That's not funny! That's a serious problem.

And to speak up effectively, you also have to learn more about the violence that exists in your community.  People need to speak up about the violence in their own lives, in their own community, in their own neighbourhood, family, and extended community first. As you do that, you can see linkages to violence against women in other places, " Bunch states.

With one in three women and girls worldwide still experiencing violence, the need for action is urgent. We asked activists from around the world for their advice on what each of us can do in our lives, in our homes and communities today and every day.

If we all speak up, we can make a difference. Don't sweep domestic violence under the carpet. Speak up so one day our daughters can live without violence.

Zonta Club of Caboolture Says NO to gender based violence. Members at the Caboolture Town Hall lit up in orange lights during the 16 Days of Activism.

Learn more about domestic violence, read our other articles on 16 Days of Activism, advocacy campaigns or join Zonta Caboolture and help build better lives for women and girls.

Previous articles for the 16 Days of Activism campaign 2023:

Day 1: What is the 16 Days of Activism
Day 2: Why doesn't she just leave him?
Day 3: Climate Justice
Day 4: How digitisation is creating more problems
Day 5: Supporting Survivors
Day 6 Bystander Action
Day 7: Calling on Men and Boys
Day 8: Challenging Misogyny

According to the Oxford Dictionary, it is a dislike or ingrained prejudice against women.

Counting Dead Women Australia reported 56 women have been murdered in Australia as at 27 November 2023. Their deaths were related to domestic violence or gender-based violence. The figures are shocking and represent more than one women being murdered per week.

To make long-term, systemic changes around the world everyone must be willing to influence behaviour change, and this can be achieved through small but connected efforts. Everyone must influence their inner circle to respect women's rights before they try to influence total strangers.

Men can become part of the solution through mentoring younger boys to respect women's rights and challenge misogyny and discrimination in all its settings at work, in sport, recreation and the home life.

Young people also have a role to play in sharing knowledge on gender equality with their peers in their communities and social media circles. We must harness the power of numbers and offer alternate views on the role of women in our society.

During the 16 Days of Activism, Zonta is raising awareness of issues relating to gender-based violence. Learn more about these issues by reading our previous 16 Days of Activism blog articles.

Day 1: What is the 16 Days of Activism
Day 2: Why doesn't she just leave him?
Day 3: Climate Justice
Day 4: How digitisation is creating more problems?
Day 5: Supporting Survivors
Day 6: Bystander Action
Day 7: Calling on Men and Boys

Patriarchy, according to the Oxford dictionary, is a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. 

Argentinian activist Juan Pablo Poli says we all need to promote and fight for intersectional approaches that include women and LGBT people in all their diversity. Being gender sensitive means having the ability to acknowledge and recognise that gender differences, issues and equalities do exist in our society.

"That is the only way to achieve comprehensive measures. In my opinion, the main challenge is reaching those men who are not gender sensitive. Working with men sometimes becomes a vicious circle, where we are always the same men raising or questioning patriarchal values. Show men how patriarchy affects not only women and LGBT people, but it also affects them, for example, when expressing their emotions or in health matters. Then patriarchy is recognised as negative for all people, so the change is favoured."

During the 16 Days of Activism, Zonta is raising awareness of issues relating to gender-based violence. Learn more about these issues by reading our previous 16 Days of Activism blog articles.

Day 1: What is the 16 Days of Activism
Day 2: Why doesn't she just leave him?
Day 3: Climate Justice
Day 4: How digitisation is creating more problems?
Day 5: Supporting Survivors
Day 6: Bystander Action