Advocacy: 16 Days of Activism
Against Gender-Based Violence

Advocacy: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

Every November for the last 30 years the international community has held the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence. It begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. Our Western Australian Government has promoted this campaign since 2017.

As Christians we lament that such day, and such a campaign exists. All people, of all genders, are made in the image of God and loved by God, and we are called to love as God loves. And yet, as made clear by the recent National Anglican Family Violence Research Report, the prevalence of ‘intimate partner violence among Anglicans was the same or higher than in the wider Australian community’. Women suffered this abuse more than men, and worryingly ‘most Anglican victims of domestic violence did not seek help from Anglican churches.’

This systematic problem in our church and wider community can only be addressed by facing it clearly. We need to acknowledge our part in creating a church culture that allows gender-based abuse to occur. We then need to create and re-create constantly a living biblical theology of equality and love which is expressed in action. The WA 16 Days of Action this year also calls us to action, to speak out, to not be silent when we witness gender-based abuse: ‘don’t be silent when you see violence’.

As our Fourth Mark of Anglican Mission states, it is our baptismal duty to ‘challenge violence of every kind’. Gender-based violence is often masked, and often begins, with disrespect or disparaging remarks or comments, or objectification. Every gender-based slur, even when coached as a joke, is still violence.

More information and Resources:
16 Days in WA Resources
A summary of the National Anglican Family Violence Research Report