“Violence against women is the most pervasive human rights violation in the world” is a sentiment spoken by Kofi Annan and echoed by almost every human rights organization, the United Nations, and countless other NGOs around the world.

Everyone from Eve Ensler, who has created her own non-profit organization to advocate against violence, to Nickolas Kristoff in his bestselling book Half the Sky, has voiced what we all know…violence against women continues at an alarming pace. Right here in the US, violence against women and girls manifests itself in human trafficking, rape, domestic violence, pornography and less severe ways every day. No aspect of our society is immune.

For the first time, the Episcopal Church Women (ECW), the Episcopal Women's Caucus (EWC) and Anglican Women's Empowerment (AWE) will partner for the purpose of developing an Episcopal Church campaign of activism and awareness to coincide with the 16 days of activism international campaign established by the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University.

Known as the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign, the campaign starts on November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and runs for 16 days until December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to emphasize that gender violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.[1]

Since 1991, over 2,000 organizations in approximately 156 countries have participated in the campaign which focuses on:

• raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels
• strengthening local work around violence against women
• establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women
• providing a forum in which organizers can develop and share new and effective strategies
• demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organizing against violence against women
• creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women.

The Episcopal Church version of the campaign will recognize that the dates will overlap with Advent and will begin on Thanksgiving.[2] There will be opportunities for people and churches to write and share prayers and liturgies celebrating both Christ's coming into the world and the elimination of violence against women. Our campaign will be shared with other provinces within our Communion on the International Anglican Women's Network (IAWN). IAWN considers the elimination of violence against women to be its number one priority.

During the 16 days of activism, churches will be encouraged to participate through prayer, special services to mark the occasion, sermons to emphasize the issue, speakers or films at adult forums, articles written in church and diocesan publications, and many other ways. A website blog is in development so that people can share what they are doing. Each organization will have information available but together we will create a resource which can be distributed to all.

We invite you to share your prayers, liturgies, stories, and resources about gender violence by sending them to president@ecwnational.org. The deadline is October 18.
Check out our new blogsite at:
http://episcopal16days.wordpress.com/?blogsub=confirming - subscribe-blog
Together in solidarity, we lift up this very important issue.
Marcia Himes, President for ECW http://ecwnational.org/
Elizabeth Kaeton, Convener for EWC http://www.episcopalwomenscaucus.org/
Kim Robey, Chair for AWE http://anglicanwomensempowerment.org/
See also http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/about.html

 Notes.

1. On 6 December 1989 a gunman entered the corridors of Montreal's École Polytechnique and killed 14 women and wounded 13 other students. The gunman, Marc Lepine aged 25, had separated the men from the women before opening fire on the female engineering students. The 'Montreal Massacre' became a galvanizing moment in which mourning turned into outrage against all forms of violence against women.

2. Thanksgiving Day is akin to Harvest thanksgiving, and is celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada.

Report from Kim Robey