It's Time For Prevention
Fill the gallery, Fill the Chamber Campaign
16 Days of Action Against Gender Based Violence
In the run up to the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence debate at the Scottish parliament we ran a short campaign.
We asked members of the public to invite their MSPs to take part in the debate, come along to hear about their work to prevent violence against women and learn more about prevention by watching our new animation.
You can read about the outcome of the campaign here.
What is the issue?
Violence against women and girls is an intolerable injustice in Scotland, preventing our society from being as safe, healthy and successful as it could be and costs Scotland £4 billion per year.
It’s been 20 years since violence against women in Scotland was first debated at the Scottish Parliament but there is still a lot that needs to be done to tackle it.
Levels of violence against women remain alarmingly high, more than 1 in 3 women will experience violence in their lifetime and yet only 15% of all MSPs participated in last year’s annual debate to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence.
At this debate MSPs will engage with the crucial work that we know can prevent this violence.
Together, this year, we can ensure that we have a full house - so we can start a national conversation about prevention.
Screenshot from the Scottish Parliament TV recording of the Debate: Hear Me Too: 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls, November 27, 2018 15.22
What is the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence?
Every year, the Scottish Parliament holds a debate on violence against women and girls around the time of the UN 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. It is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls.The campaign runs every year from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day.
This year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence theme is: Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape!
Rape and sexual assault form part of a wider continuum of VAWG that share the same root cause; gender inequality. Everyone has the right to live without fear of sexual violence, therefore preventing rape and sexual assault must be a government priority.
To prevent rape and sexual assault we need to challenge the myriad of social, economic and structural inequalities between genders. Prevention of rape and sexual assault can be supported through a zero tolerance approach to the culture and attitudes that excuse and encourage sexual violence, this culture is often referred to as ‘rape culture’.  Rape culture includes victim blaming, slut-shaming, sexual objectification, sexual harassment, trivialising rape, denial of widespread rape, refusing to acknowledge the harm caused by sexual violence, and perpetuating myths around rape. At its core rape culture is fuelled by the fact that women and children are not equal to men and for much of history, their bodies have belonged to men. 
What can you do?
Your elected representatives make the decisions that affect our daily lives. Collectively we have the power to put prevention of violence against women at the top of their agenda. And we need your help to do it.
It is very easy to get involved and it only takes 5 minutes:
- Invite your MSPs to the debate on violence against women and girls by sending them an email using our new easy to use tool
- Invite your friends, share on social media, and spread the word to get as many people as possible contacting their MSPs and attending or watching the debate.
We are organising a rally outside of the Parliament from 16:30 onwards on Wed 27 Nov 2019. Facebook event link here
If you want to attend the debate please book your ticket here.
More information about visiting the Scottish Parliament here.
How to get to the Parliament here.
See the Parliament Business schedule on 27 November here
If you can’t make it in person, you can watch the debate live here: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/