International women’s organisation Zonta will mark the upcoming 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence with a series of events and activities throughout Mitchell Shire.
Zonta Club of Mitchell president Robin Audehm said the 16 Days campaign was significant globally, but even more so in Mitchell Shire where rates of family violence are above the national average.
“The 16 Days of Activism is to draw attention to family and gender-based violence, and we’re hoping to go from raising awareness to then creating action,” she said.
“The theme this year is ‘From Awareness to Accountability’ in the hope that there will be more action taken to help prevent family violence.”
Ms Audehm said the club would begin the 16 Days campaign on Friday, with members walking to commemorate International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
She said initial plans to walk for a community-wide walk in Seymour had been cancelled, but a group of Zonta club members and friends would set off from Kilmore’s Hudson Park, while other members would walk through their own towns.
Ms Audehm said the campaign would also feature a recurrent orange lady motif as part of the call to end family violence.
“We are inviting businesses to put up a small A4-sized orange lady in their window or somewhere prominently during the 16 days,” she said.
“We’re going to photograph the orange ladies at their businesses and put it on our social media to let people know that those businesses support the 16 Days of Activism.
“We’ve approached several different businesses. We’ve got a couple of tradies who are going to display it in their vehicles, and some of the sporting clubs will put the signs up and have it on display from the November 25 through to December 10.
“We want to feature different photographs of different businesses on our social media every day for the 16 days.”
Ms Audehm said a highlight of Zonta’s campaign would be an art show and craft market at Broadford’s Gavan Hall on December 3 and 4, raising money through sales and a gold coin donation.
“Zonta members, some friends and local artists will have artworks for sale. The craft market is all handmade crafts. Some of it will be Christmas crafts, but we’ll have plants and bric-a-brac as well,” she said.
“We’ll also have a display of some of the projects that Zonta is involved in and the things we’re doing to support women and girls in the community and also overseas.”
The market will be from 10am to 4pm on December 3 and 10am to 1pm on December 4.
Ms Audehm said the campaign would conclude on international Human Rights Day, December 10, with an event at Hudson Park.
“We’ll have a members-only morning tea, but we’ll be in the park and people are quite welcome to come up and talk to us. We’ll have orange ladies on display and we’ll be able to answer people’s questions,” she said.
, emailing zontaclubmitchell@gmail.com or following @zontamitchell on Instagram.
