Stop the violence against Women!!

Today is the International Women's Day, a day dedicated to all Women in the world and celebrated since the early 1900s.

Yet, according to UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, "one in three women will suffer some form of violence in her lifetime, becoming part of an epidemic that devastates lives, fractures communities and stalls development."

This means over one billion people are victims of violence just because they were born a Woman!

The source of this global injustice is of course the problem of gender inequality, which is still so much embedded in our societies and should be eradicated once and for all.

Towards this end, there needs to be concerted actions on the advocacy end, for the establishment and compliment of adequate legislation that protect Women, as well as on the development end, with empowerment actions targeted at Women and support for Women organisations.

Initiatives such as the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, that support "innovative projects to prevent violence that are run by community, national and regional organizations" should be praised and multiplied.

Within the "Say not to violence" campaign, the reader can sign a petition demanding the end of this shameful human rights violation.

This post is dedicated to all the Women, mothers and sisters of our Planet.

Links:
International Women's Day 2008
Violence against women, UNIFEM
UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, UNIFEM
Say no to violence campaign, UNIFEM
Say no to violence petition, UNIFEM