#16to365: New resources for year-round activism to end gender-based violence and strengthen bodily autonomy for all

NEW YORK, Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Hub (SRJ Hub) at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) launched the newest iteration of the civil society-led Global 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence campaign. 

For more than 30 years, feminist activists and movements around the world have used the 16 days between the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25) and Human Rights Day (December 10) to advocate for an end to gender-based violence. With the help of the SRJ Hub, the campaign now will transition into a year-round initiative, reflecting the 365-days-a-year efforts of feminist activists to shift norms, secure accountability, and transform power structures that oppress women, girls, and gender-diverse people. 

The 2024 campaign responds to requests from grassroots organizers who asked for more flexible and diverse campaign messages, illustrations, and resources. Their perspectives are complemented by insights from the campaign's Advisory Council composed of scholars and organizers with deep experience in gender, economic, racial, reproductive, and environmental justice.

Bodily autonomy, the 2024 campaign theme, makes visible the ways different causes and manifestations of gender-based violence are linked. By avoiding a uniform, standardized approach, the campaign will enable local partners to adapt materials according to their unique needs, prioritizing authenticity and safety in local activism.

"Women's and feminist gender justice organizations and movements have always been at the forefront of the push for bodily autonomy, and now more than ever we need to support the efforts of grassroots organizers who know what works in their contexts," said CUNY SPH Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Terry McGovern. "The campaign materials will allow organizers to mix and match sample images and messages or use their own."

The SRJ Hub continues to encourage funders to support the requests of grassroots organizers for multi-year, trust-based core funding that advances their efforts to promote bodily autonomy and end gender-based violence. This includes support for local events and strategic resources or organizers in restrictive environments.

Addressing Urgent Global Trends
A confluence of global trends threaten previously enshrined protections and push equality farther out of reach for far too many women, girls, and gender-diverse people across the globe. These include femicide and restrictions on abortion access; exclusion and marginalization of LGBTQI+ people; growing gender inequality as debt crises, austerity measures, and corruption crowd out social expenditures; conflict and occupation enabled by disregard for international law; increasingly frequent and devastating climate crises; and failure to fully engage with patriarchal practices driving the popularity of anti-gender movements.

Bodily Autonomy Theme Connects Movements
At a time when equality remains out of reach for far too many women, girls, and gender-diverse people across the globe and many previously enshrined protections are being rolled back, the 2024 campaign theme will amplify the efforts of feminist grassroots groups to resist and counter the impacts of gender-based violence by framing bodily autonomy as a fundamental human right. The campaign defines bodily autonomy as the freedom to express every thought, feeling, need, and desire through our bodies, each uniquely shaping who we are.

"Too often campaigns focus on suffering and victimization," said SRJ Hub consultant Oriana López Uribe, who led the campaign strategy design process. "We want people to imagine what life could be like if everyone had the power and right to make choices about our physical selves, and to feel empathy and solidarity with others who want the same thing."

This approach is reflected in the campaign's principles, which emphasize positivity, bravery, and collective care for all: 

Grassroots organizers who reviewed and contributed to the sample messages told us, "I like the different levels of messaging, the intentional counter-messaging for some of the more dominant narratives, and some really simple questions that can lead to rich conversations. Many messages were a refreshing change from NGO comms which I appreciate," and "I appreciate the nuances in the design of the framework and in the messaging. It has been a long time since I encountered those layers in a global campaign. And I love that the messaging is evoking emotions and not dictating policy solutions. I think this is a tactic that progressive movements have abandoned and that anti-rights groups are good at."

The campaign is on Instagram, 'X' and TikTok as @365toEndGBV and campaign materials are available for download after submitting individual or collective information in this form. The campaign materials include sample templates, illustrations, and messages in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian, as well as tips for designing campaigns and activities, and examples from other campaigns. The SRJ Hub plans to update and expand materials throughout the year based on user feedback. 

Media contact:
Clarisa Bencomo
[email protected]
917-702-0998

About the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Hub 

In 2024, the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) began hosting the Global 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence campaign following the closure of its founding host, the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University. The campaign is housed at the Sexual & Reproductive Justice Hub (SRJ Hub) at CUNY SPH, which coordinates solutions-oriented scholarship, training, and advocacy, centering the lived experiences of women of color and funding their and other marginalized people's work. Our work is informed by our experience as part of the United States' largest, oldest, and most diverse urban public university system, with faculty, staff, and students connected to communities and populations around the world. 

Origin of the Global 16 Days Campaign

The Global Campaign was launched in 1991 at the first Women's Global Leadership Institute held by the Center for Global Women's Leadership (CGWL), with the goal of raising awareness of GBV as a human rights violation. From the beginning, the Campaign brought together a diverse group of activists and researchers working at all levels from grassroots to international, and united in their belief that ending GBV requires local and global work to change the norms and systems that drive GBV in all its manifestations.

Under CGWL's stewardship the Global Campaign gained traction in more than 187 countries, with participation from over 6,000 organizations and a reach of over 300 million. It played a pivotal role in gaining recognition of GBV as a human rights violation in the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Program of Action and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Early campaign themes addressed health impacts of GBV, cultural drivers, racism, sexism, and militarism, among others. More recent campaign themes have included femicide (2021-2022), violence against women working in the informal economy (2020), and violence and harassment in the world of work (2018 – 2019). The latter included advocacy in support of the adoption of the historic International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 190, concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work (2019). In August 2022, CGWL sadly closed its doors after 31 years of collaborative and transformative global work. The 16 Days Campaign is now housed at CUNY SPH, ensuring that the important work of CGWL will continue going forward.

About CUNY SPH

The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is committed to promoting and sustaining healthier populations in New York City and around the world through excellence in education, research, and service in public health and by advocating for sound policy and practice to advance social justice and improve health outcomes for all.

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