Ending Violence Articles

by Erica Higbie, Co-chair FAWCO's EVAWAC Team

EVAWAC is asking FAWCO and FAUSA clubs and members to support our participation in the 16 Day Campaign by holding a book discussion group about one of the most powerful books ever published on the oppression of women and girls in the developing world: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (2009) by Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is a global campaign dedicated to ending gender-based violence. It originated in 1991 to increase international awareness of the systemic nature of violence against women and to expose this violence as a violation of women's human rights.

The project begins November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Gender-based Violence, and extends through December 10, Human Rights Day. These dates were chosen to emphasize that gender-based violence is a violation of human rights. Over 4,100 organizations in 172 countries have participated in the Campaign.

2012 marks the third year of Campaign advocacy highlighting the intersection of gender-based violence and militarism because militarism remains a key source of violence experienced by women. The linked problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality - which needlessly claim one woman every 90 seconds - present to us the most important opportunity of our time.

The FAWCO EVAWAC Campaign:

FAWCO has registered for and will participate in the 16 Days Campaign 2012 in an effort to contribute to one of the primary goals of this initiative; "Raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional, and international levels." FAWCO is uniquely positioned, as an international women's organization, to help achieve this objective and in so doing contribute to ending violence against women.

EVAWAC is asking FAWCO and FAUSA clubs and members to support our participation in the 16 Day Campaign by holding a book discussion group about one of the most powerful books ever published on the oppression of women and girls in the developing world:

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (2009) by Nicholas D Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Here is part of a review of the book from Amazon -

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide  

"With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.....

Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women's potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part.........

Deeply felt, pragmatic, and inspirational, Half the Sky is essential reading for every global citizen."

So widely read and so inspirational, this book has evolved into a movement, which you can read more about at www.halftheskymovement.org. 

There is also a film being released by PBS the 1st&2nd of October 2012 in the US (live streaming will be available in other countries shortly after) - www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky.

Join our campaign:  

Please help us launch the FAWCO 16 Day Campaign Initiative by following these simple steps:

1. Plan your 16 Day Campaign 'Half the Sky' Discussion with friends, other FAWCO members, or as a club activity now!

2. Pick a venue and a date between November 25th and December 10th for your book group to meet.

3. They'll need time to read the book (if they haven't already) so let everyone know about it early in September.

4. Let us know about your discussion group immediately by emailing  and we will register it with the 16 Day Campaign as a FAWCO activity.

5. Send invited guests a reminder in October - keep the excitement going.

6. Send us a summary () of your activity afterward: your own book review, photos, comments, anything, so that we can spread the word throughout FAWCO.

AODVC (Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center) is an amazing organization now in its 11th year of service to abused Americans living in foreign countries. In the past 10 years AODVC has received 13,175 crisis calls, emails & live chats. 2,848 Americans callers, mostly women, in 101 countries were helped. Also provided: "Flights to Freedom" for 81 families, 49 legal consultations, 24 legal retainers to enable battered mothers to file for custody of their children, funds for emergency needs for 62 families, and counseling services for 56 families.

Do you want to volunteer with AODVC and make a difference in the lives of abused American women and children overseas? Consider becoming an AODVC outreach volunteer...

Outreach volunteers are a vital part of the AODVC mission and are the reason that crisis calls have increased 60 percent. Outreach volunteers help raise awareness of AODVC to the Americans overseas community. They do this in a number of different ways, including presentations, tabling at conferences, liaison with media to get AODVC articles in English speaking newspapers & magazines, etc.

AODVC's Global Campaign To Empower Americans Abused Abroad will be doing training in South America: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina this fall.

AODVC will also be providing training by webinar in the near future. 

If you are interested in participating in an AODVC training or bringing an AODVC presentation to your city, please contact Karen Lewis at  for more information.

Girl Up is a campaign to engage American girls (ages 13 - 18) in helping other girls around the world. They've been very successful working with the UN, petitioning governments, raising funds, even working on the ground in developing countries, and now Girl Up is turning their efforts to help stop child marriages. They plan to assemble 500,000 American advocates together on October 11th 2013, which will be the second annual International Day of the Girl Child, to support the UN initiative 'Girls Not Brides'. Over the coming year, Girl Up will be reaching out to girls in developing countries; one-third of whom are married before they even reach their eighteenth birthday.

For more information on how FAWCO daughters might become involved in Girl Up: Uniting Girls to Change the World go to

 www.girlup.org 

Join in the campaign against child marriages

www.girlup.org/blog/take-a-stand-against-child.html 

Or take part in International Day of the Girl Child activities on 

October 11th