What does it take to end violence against women?

Sometimes it takes a large action: ratifying a convention, doing large-scale documentation and research, making a change in law, committing through policy and budgetary allocations, organising a huge protest and rally, supporting more gender-aware decision-makers in the media and more.

Most of the time, it takes small gestures: in everyday actions, everyday words, everyday interactions with the women and men around us, and within ourselves. How are we transforming power relations, changing the words that we use, the gazes that we assume, and the ideas that we transmit?

And sometimes, it might take just that one unlikely, but great and timely idea to start changing things.

Join in the global brainstorm. What's your idea for ending violence against women?

16 ideas to end violence against women

  • Come up with a list of ideas to end violence against women in your context and reality. Think of 1, 2, 5, 16 or 160 :)
  • It can be small, big, strategic, fantastic, ludicrous, well-argued, spontaneous, irreverent, serious, silly, brilliant or amazing. Any idea is a valuable one.

Share your idea!

  • Blog: Dedicate your blog post for today to list down the ideas (don't forget to tag it as takebackthetech)
  • Tweet: Post one idea as you think of them on your Twitter today (hashtag: #takebackthetech)
  • Comment: Add your ideas to the comment box on this page.
  • Status message: Change your status message to an idea for the day
  • SMS: Send a short text message to 10 friends about your ideas, and ask them what's theirs. Pass it on.
  • Email: Send an email with a list of ideas and ask your friends to forward it. Copy us in the email ideas@takebackthetech.net
  • Facebook: If you're on Facebook, start a "Note" on "16 ideas to end violence against women". Start with a few ideas, tag 16 friends and ask them to add to your list. Ask them to tag 16 other friends including you. Keep growing the list, and post it to the Take Back The Tech! Facebook Group and/or Cause to share them with other campaigners. We've added a note there already that you can use. Add the campaign website to your messages.

Here's 6 ideas to get you started:

  1. Stop judging people by what they wear, especially by women.
  2. Arm everyone with smart, witty responses that can be used whenever someone makes a sexist remark or joke
  3. Teach doctors to say something other than "It's a boy/girl!" the moment a baby is born
  4. Create harassment-free zones in public streets. Give repeated harassers "red cards" and ban them from walking down certain streets for a period of time.
  5. Make police officers go through gender-awareness tests as part of their qualification
  6. Get every blogger in the world to post their commitment against violence against women on 25 Nov.
  7. Have games at school that makes players think critically about violence against women.
  8. Add your own!

Take Back The Tech! Keep the ideas flowing. Think of ways to end violence against women.

We'll publish all the ideas on the site as we come across or receive them, and turn some of them into real actions for next year's campaign!

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