16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women Campaign 2018
The purpose of this project is to work towards ending all forms of violence against Palestinian women in Israel using a holistic, grassroots methodology. In relation to the effort to end VAW, we aim to empower grassroots women to be public leaders in, consolidate a grassroots and civil society movement, enroll the public support of decision-makers, engage women, men, and youth in public activities and workshops, and put the issue on the social agenda through media work. Each year, Kayan and the Jusur Forum of Arab Women achieve this mainly through a National 16 Days of ending VAW campaign, that reaches 1,000s of direct activity participants, including women, men, youth, and local decision-makers, and features widespread media and social media work and coverage, and school workshops. This campaign is essential to our work in promoting Arab women’s public activism, holding women-led public activities, reaching out to men and youth, and challenging dominant and misogynistic social discourse. It should also be noted that Kayan take a holistic perspective on VAW, and addresses, physical, political, economic, emotional, sexual, and social violence. This project targets Palestinian women living in Israel of all ages, religions, backgrounds, with a specific location target of the North/ Triangle regions of Israel. In addition, it aims to engage men and youth in the campaign, to raise awareness and increase their role in the conversation.To carry out this campaign, Kayan hosts various events, protests, and advocacy campaigns during the 16 days including workshops and meetings about violence against women in the media, sexual harassment, and gender-based violence issues within Israel for men, women, and youth.At the conclusion of the project to End Violence Against Palestinian Women in Israel, which the 16 Days of Activism Campaign is a part of, Kayan hopes to see that the dominant discourse that holds that a woman should be punished with violence by breaking social codes is ended, and that grassroots Palestinian women are safer in the public sphere and are free to pursue their lives driven by self-determination. We hope that this self-determination will lead these women to be visible and public activists for women's security. Kayan aims to break down taboos that constrain free dialogue about these issues, especially in regards to sexual violence, and that the media begins to promote an increasing amount of feminist content on the issue of gender-based violence.