|
educate.
ENGAGE.EMPOWER.October 17-22, 2022 |
YWCA of Orange County is on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, help families, and strengthen communities. For more than 20 years, our national organization has set aside one week in October as a Week Without Violence – a week to raise awareness and engage action to end the broad spectrum of violence – as part of a global movement with World YWCA to end violence against women and girls.
At YWCA of Orange County, we know that not all violence is acknowledged or responded to equally and that some victims go unrecognized altogether. That’s why we focus on ending gender-based violence, including domestic violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and harassment.
Week Without Violence is part of a global movement with YWCAs across the country and around the world to end violence against women and girls. At YWCA, we know that not all violence is acknowledged or responded to equally and that some victims go unrecognized altogether. That’s why, for more than 20 years, YWCA has set aside one week in October as a Week Without Violence.
Join us from October 17 – 22, as we raise awareness, elevate survivor voices, talk with policymakers, and more with a common goal: centering survivors so that together, we can end gender-based violence.
ywcaweekwithoutviolence.org/week-of-action/ Below you will find a day-by-day rundown of all the events for the week of action. We hope that you will join us for as we as we talk about the intersectionality of racial, gender, and domestic violence, share information, elevate stories, talk with policymakers, and raise awareness with a common goal in mind: to educate ourselves and our communities, engage elected officials, and empower survivors.
At YWCA of Orange County, we know that not all violence is acknowledged or responded to equally and that some victims go unrecognized altogether. That’s why we focus on ending gender-based violence, including domestic violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and harassment.
Week Without Violence is part of a global movement with YWCAs across the country and around the world to end violence against women and girls. At YWCA, we know that not all violence is acknowledged or responded to equally and that some victims go unrecognized altogether. That’s why, for more than 20 years, YWCA has set aside one week in October as a Week Without Violence.
Join us from October 17 – 22, as we raise awareness, elevate survivor voices, talk with policymakers, and more with a common goal: centering survivors so that together, we can end gender-based violence.
ywcaweekwithoutviolence.org/week-of-action/ Below you will find a day-by-day rundown of all the events for the week of action. We hope that you will join us for as we as we talk about the intersectionality of racial, gender, and domestic violence, share information, elevate stories, talk with policymakers, and raise awareness with a common goal in mind: to educate ourselves and our communities, engage elected officials, and empower survivors.
WEEK OF ACTION
|
Monday, October 17th
Imagine a World Without ViolenceWhen we envision a world without violence, we begin to build a path to creating that world. Help us raise awareness about gender-based violence, support survivors, and envision a world without violence! Today, and all through the week, we ask you to:
|
|
Tuesday, October 18th
Advocacy Day of Action Capitol Hill Call-In DayThis Capitol Hill Call-In Day, we invite you to engage your Members of Congress by taking action online; calling your legislators; and engaging with these discussions on social media, using #WWV22 and tweeting at your Member of Congress. GOTV Help ensure that survivor voices and concerns are at the forefront this election season. Engage with your state and local elected officials on this important issue. Host a candidate forum focused on gender-based violence, a voter registration drive, or other GOTV efforts. Ask questions about the policies and solutions candidates would pursue to prevent gender-based violence and support survivors. |
|
Wednesday, October 19th
Instagram Live (more details coming soon!) |
|
Thursday, October 20th
National Town Hall (more details coming soon!) |
Friday, October 21st
Twitter StormJoin us for an engaging Twitter chat from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET, hosted by our team at @YWCAUSA!
We will be discussing how today’s most divisive issues impact survivors.
Participate in the conversation on Twitter using #WWV22.
Twitter StormJoin us for an engaging Twitter chat from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET, hosted by our team at @YWCAUSA!
We will be discussing how today’s most divisive issues impact survivors.
Participate in the conversation on Twitter using #WWV22.
|
Saturday, October 22nd
#SelfCareSaturday Service providers, advocates, and activists in the fight to end gender-based violence all care deeply about these issues, and about the survivors they help each and every day. Unfortunately, this work can also cause vicarious trauma for individuals as they work with survivors who have undergone serious trauma or can retraumatize individuals who are survivors themselves. Taking the time to engage in healing and self-care as a provider, advocate, activist, or survivor is an integral part of your own mental and physical well-being and will help make you an even more powerful advocate for your causes and clients. |
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND PREVENTING GUN VIOLENCE
Get Out the Vote (GOTV) 2022
YWCA is committed to ensuring that communities are safe places for women and girls to live and thrive. As the largest network of domestic and sexual violence service providers, we see first-hand women’s experiences of gun violence that are linked to domestic violence. Although Congress recently passed legislation that partially closed the “boyfriend loophole,” urgent, additional action must be taken at all levels of government to both enact and strengthen laws that address all forms of gender-based violence.
Women of Color and Preventing Gun Violence
Recent findings from YWomenVote 2022 reported that gun violence and mass shootings are one of the most pressing concerns of women, particularly women of color, today. Notably, women of color are nearly three times as likely to be murdered with a gun than white women. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed. Yet, the significant links between mass shootings and domestic violence, and the disparate impacts of gun violence on women of color, are often overlooked. To this end, YWCA calls for systemic and structural policy changes that focus attention and resources on the places, spaces, and contexts in which women and girls – particularly women and girls of color – experience significant threats from gun violence.
Black women deserve to live free from the threat of gun violence
- ● According to YWomenVote 2022, 81 percent of Black women reported they are very worried or somewhat worried about mass shootings and/or gun violence. These concerns have risen 5 points since January 2022 and is only second to concerns about cost of living and inflation.
- ● YWomenVote 2022 also tells us that 87 percent of Black women believe increasing federal funding for domestic violence is one of the most important of very important things Congress should do
- ● Black women are shot and killed by a husband or intimate partner three times more often than by male strangers, most often during the course of an argument.
- ● Black women are twice as likely to be shot by an intimate partner compared to white women
AAPI women deserve to live free from the threat of gun violence
- According to YWomenVote 2022, 77 percent of AAPI women reported they were very worries or somewhat worried about mass shootings and/or gun violence.
- YWomenVote2022 also tells us that 77 percent of AAPI women believe increasing federal funding for domestic violence is one of the most important of very important things Congress should do
partners
and a link between domestic violence and mass shootings.
of intimate partner violence, which, on average, is experienced by as many as 1 out of every 3 women. In
Gun violence exacerbates the crisis
fact, the United States is particularly dangerous for women, who are 28 times more likely to be killed with
a firearm here than in other, similar nations.
• Between March 2020 and March 2021, AAPI women and girls report hate incidents 2.2 times as
often as AAPI men
• The 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, which killed eight people, six that identified as AAPI women, is
not an isolated example gun violence linked to hate
YWCA.ORG 1400 Eye Street NW, Suite 325 | Washington, DC 200005
AI/AN women deserve to live free from the threat of gun violence
• According to YWomenVote 2022, 62 percent of AI/AN women reported they were very worries or somewhat worried about mass shootings and/or gun violence.
- ● YWomenVote 2022 also tells us that 79 percent of AI/AN women believe increasing federal funding for domestic violence is one of the most important of very important things Congress should do
- ● More than half of AI/AN women (55.5 percent) have experienced physical violence by intimate partners in their lifetime, a rate nearly twice as high as that among non-Hispanic white women
- ● While rates of gender-based violence impacting AI/AN women is clear, the national epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is not-well recorded
Hispanic Women and Latinas deserve to live free from the threat of gun violence
- ● YWomenVote 2022 also tells us that 80 percent of Hispanic women and Latinas believe increasing federal funding for domestic violence is one of the most important of very important things Congress should do
- ● Approximately one in three Hispanic Women have experienced IPV in their lifetime
- ● Nearly half of Hispanic Women and Latinas did not report their intimate partner because of fear,
shame, deportation, language barriers, or lack of confidence in the police.
NOTABLE LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS
In June 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (S. 2938), the first bipartisan federal gun legislation to provide life-saving protections for families and survivors. Among its many provisions, the bill partially closes the “boyfriend loophole” by extending firearm restrictions to dating partners convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, expands and implements red flag laws, and penalizes gun trafficking and straw purchases.
LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
YWCA continues to advocate for policies to keep guns out of the hands of abusers and have all women and girls live free from the threat of gun violence. Guided by the on-the-ground experience and voices of YWCA’s domestic violence and sexual assault providers, we urge legislators to:
• Ensuring that abusers and stalkers subject to protection orders do not possess firearms
• Opposing “concealed carry reciprocity” legislation that would enable abusers to carry firearms
across state lines into states that prohibit “concealed carry”
• Require background checks for all gun transfers
• Repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which prevents people from
suing gun manufacturers
• Eliminate access to automatic weapons and high-capacity ammunition
• Mandate “safe storage” requirements such as trigger locks and require that guns and
ammunition be stored separately especially when children are in the house
• Go further than background checks and ban the sale of firearms to people under the age of 21
YWCA USA opposes policy responses that further stigmatize individuals with mental health conditions, or that expand police presence in schools and the criminalization of youth of color.
TECHNOLOGY AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
In a recent survey of victim services providers, 97% indicated that victims who seek their services were being harassed, monitored, or threated by perpetrators misusing technology. Understanding the impact of abusers’ misuse of technology, the types of technology misused, and the ways in which technology can be used to assist survivors is therefore crucial to providing survivor support.
While harassment, threats, and intimidation are not new tactics in the world of stalking, domestic, and sexual violence, abusers are increasingly using technology to monitor, harass, threaten, intimidate, impersonate, and stalk their victims, making it difficult for survivors to find physical safety and eroding their sense of safety. In addition, it is not uncommon for abusers to misuse multiple technologies at once, while also using non-technological abusive tactics.
YWCA recognizes that not all types of violence and abuse are recognized or responded to equally. Survivors of some types of abuse, particularly newer forms of abuse using ever-changing technology, face difficulties in gaining access to justice where legal systems have not yet caught up to technological shifts.
PDF Document
In a recent survey of victim services providers, 97% indicated that victims who seek their services were being harassed, monitored, or threated by perpetrators misusing technology. Understanding the impact of abusers’ misuse of technology, the types of technology misused, and the ways in which technology can be used to assist survivors is therefore crucial to providing survivor support.
While harassment, threats, and intimidation are not new tactics in the world of stalking, domestic, and sexual violence, abusers are increasingly using technology to monitor, harass, threaten, intimidate, impersonate, and stalk their victims, making it difficult for survivors to find physical safety and eroding their sense of safety. In addition, it is not uncommon for abusers to misuse multiple technologies at once, while also using non-technological abusive tactics.
YWCA recognizes that not all types of violence and abuse are recognized or responded to equally. Survivors of some types of abuse, particularly newer forms of abuse using ever-changing technology, face difficulties in gaining access to justice where legal systems have not yet caught up to technological shifts.
PDF Document
|
|
|