AAUW Says "Say No To Violence Against Women"

Jeanne Townsend reports that the International Federation of University Women (IFUW) is encouraging us all to support Say No to Violence Against Women. This is a campaign sponsored by UNIFEM -- the United Nations Development Fund for Women. The IFUW is a launch partner.

Some statistics from the Say No to Violence Site:

• At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her.
• For women aged 15 to 44 years, violence is a major cause of death and disability - with rape and domestic violence rated higher as risk factors than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria.
• One in five women will become a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
• Some 70 percent of the casualties in recent armed conflicts have been non-combatants — most of them women and children. Women’s bodies have become part of the battleground for those who use terror as a tactic of war — they are raped, abducted, humiliated and made to undergo forced pregnancy, sexual abuse and slavery.
• Estimates of the number of trafficked persons range from 500,000 to two million per year, and a few organizations have estimated that up to four million persons are trafficked every year; the majority are women."

What can we do?

We can start by learning more about the campaign and lending our names to the virtual book of supporters here.

Then, we can ask our friends to do the same.

Note: Although AAUW is no longer an IAUW member organization, the two organizations support each other's efforts.