Gender-based violence is a major issue in Nepal. So much so that on the Societal Violence Scale, we scored a 5 out of 5 on violence against females. (5 is the most violent!) Because stigma is associated with being a victim, that compounds the suffering even more!
Though 16 days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence Campaign was begun in 1991, I didn’t learn about it — and didn’t contribute to it at all — until just two years ago, in 2016. My contributions were limited to just social media however. Here are just some examples of that which I shared on Facebook and Twitter that year.
Challenges faced by our girls & #women & therefore challenges faced by our #society. #Nepal #16DaysOfActivism https://t.co/k9Z18iqV4p
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 25, 2016
#16DaysOfActivism: #Citizenship provision in #Constitution MUST recognise #women as equal citizens. #GenderEquality https://t.co/0Hh7w9FtFi
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 26, 2016
#16DaysOfActivism : Women’s attitude towards domestic violence in #Nepal (chart 3). pic.twitter.com/bJCNdUpaxp
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 29, 2016
The chart shared in the tweet above was drastically modified and, as you might have guessed, it was just one of a number of them on the same topic. I have worked those charts into two blog posts: Nepal: Patriarchy Shaped Laxed Attitude Towards Wife Beating and Attitude of Nepali Women Towards Abusive Behavior by Their Mothers-in-law.
#16DaysOfActivism: Marriage before 20 shouldn’t be the first option for our girls! #GenderEquality #GenderIssues https://t.co/qz2XuGYwfi
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 26, 2016
#16DaysOfActivism: Create #environment that drives girls&women 2 excel & realise potential instead of 2 #suicide! https://t.co/x7hYmPya2u
— Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) November 26, 2016
Last year I didn’t contribute in any way. This year, my contribution will be limited to blogging about the issue.
Here are links to short videos my friend Bimala and her foundation Higher Ground are producing as well as other videos that I find important or worthwhile or poignant, and thereby amplifying their messages.
The campaign this year is using the following the hashtags: #orangetheworld and #HearMeToo.
Here are some of the videos produced by Higher Ground. The first one is actually from December 2017.
I shall be updating this space as and when Higher Ground publishes additional videos.
The following video was NOT produced by Higher Ground but I am sharing it here because it’s really really good. It’s a poem about what being a girl and a woman means in our society. And it’s a demeaning one! 🙁 🙁
What do you think?
