Advocacy

Violence Against Women

Violence Against Women

Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread violations of human rights. Gender-based violence not only violates human rights, but also hampers productivity, reduces human capital and undermines economic growth.

–UNIFEM

 

Each year in Canada, violence and abuse drive over 100,000 women and children out of their homes and into shelters. Violence against women costs Canadian society more than $4 billion each year and takes an incalculable human toll. As our nation’s largest single provider of shelter services for women and children fleeing violence, YWCA Canada sees violence against women as a broad social issue demanding immediate attention.

In 2001, YWCA Canada launched a multi-phase system-change initiative to determine what women need to be able to live safely and securely. Life Beyond Shelter: Toward Coordinated Public Policies for Women’s Safety & Violence Prevention identifies women’s poverty, housing and homelessness, the legal climate, the conditions of life in northern Canada and barriers of discrimination as key areas for change. Citing implementation of coordinated policies at all three levels of government and across parallel jurisdictions as essential to an effective national response, the report includes a comprehensive set of recommendations and promising practices in place that can and should be replicated.

The Living Beyond Shelter Project supported violence survivor advocates to press MPs for action and film advocacy videos on what’s needed to ensure women live safely beyond violence. Living Beyond Shelter: Videos for Change, their videos, transform harsh experience into powerful messages for action. View, share and download their videos online at the YWCA Canada YouTube Channel. Purchase a DVD on the YWCA Canada Online Mall.

YWCA Canada’s Rose Campaign to End Violence Against Women commemorates our National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Send your MP a rose to demand action from www.rosecampaign.ca.

Additional YWCA Canada research on violence against women: