👉 PREPARATION: 24 NOVEMBER
Share our action list on your social media (hashtags #16DaysofActivism #IDEVAW #MaleAlly #MenChallengingSexism) and tell people why you are taking part in our 16 days of action. Email this list to your male friends, relatives and all male allies to help spread the word and increase men’s support for feminist causes.
👉 ACTION #1: 25 NOVEMBER (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women)
(Worldwide – 3 minutes) Womanchester will once again be making their annual #HeartsForMurderedWomen to remember all women and girls who died of male violence. This year they will be running a craft workshop at Virago Women’s Workshop in Leeds. Make a donation to Virago Women’s Workshop to cover the cost of materials and support their women-only space and events. Find out more about the heart-making workshop here.
👉 ACTION #2: 26 NOVEMBER
(Worldwide – 4 hours 15 minutes) Educate yourself about how pornography and prostitution reinforce rape culture, the entitlement that drives male sexual violence and what we can do about it. Watch Nordic Model Now’s conference #BreakingTheCycle which addressed these and other themes and featured a brilliant array of speakers.
👉 ACTION #3: 27 NOVEMBER
(Worldwide – 3 minutes) Support the fundraiser to help cover school & maintenance fees for young female rape survivors at Maisha Safe House in Kenya. The cost to fund one young women for a year is just £500 and they’re aiming to raise £5000 to fund 10 women. Please donate if you can, or share the fundraiser with your networks. We suggest you share this great post about the fundraiser by Dr. Karen Ingala Smith. FUNDRAISER CLOSES 3 DECEMBER 2023!
👉 ACTION #4: 28 NOVEMBER
(Worldwide – 3-4 hours) Check out FiLiA’s new online exhibition remembering the Violence, Abuse and Women’s Citizenship Conference of ’96. Listen to amazing speakers, educate yourself about topics such as incest, FGM, rape in marriage, prostitution. Reflect on what has changed, what hasn’t changed, how much work there is still to do and where things have got worse for women.
👉 ACTION #5: 29 NOVEMBER
(UK only – 5 minutes) Support CEDAWinLAW to bring a Group Class Action against the Secretary of State for Work & Pensions. CEDAWinLAW represents 3.5 million women born in the 1950s whose rights were breached and who were discriminated against through a rise in state pension age of up to six years. Donate to their crowdfunder and/or support their campaign on social media (X/Twitter: @2020Comms) using the hashtag #50sWomen. FUNDRAISER CLOSES ON THE MORNING OF 3 DECEMBER 2023!
👉 ACTION #6: 30 NOVEMBER
(UK only – 2 minutes) Sign this petition to government to require jurors in rape trials to complete mandatory training on rape myths. Research shows that many jurors accept widely held false beliefs about rape, rapists and victims, impacting decision-making in rape trials. To give victims a fair chance of obtaining justice, jurors should have to complete mandatory training on rape myths prior to sitting on rape trials. Currently, less than 1% of reported rapes lead to a conviction. And the police and CPS rarely put forward cases they think won’t convince a jury; while police recorded 67,125 rapes in 2021, only 1557 of these were sent to trial. DEADLINE 27 JANUARY 2024!
👉 ACTION #7: 1 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 10 minutes) Educate yourself about businesses that objectify women and sexualise girls for profit and boycott them in your shopping during the 2023 Christmas season and in 2024. The 2023 ‘Crossed Off’ list by Australian campaign movement Collective Shout features well-known international brands and companies such as Tom Ford, Amazon, Etsy, Westfield, Shein, ASOS, Urban Outfitters and many more!
👉 ACTION #8: 2 DECEMBER
(UK only – 10 minutes) Sign Nordic Model Now’s petition calling on the UK government to ban the online sale of women for sex. Nordic Model Now is a UK-based grassroots women’s group campaigning for the abolition of prostitution and related practices (such as lap-dancing, pornography and surrogacy). Nordic Model Now recognises that commercial sex websites currently operate freely in the UK and has started this petition to call on the government to introduce new offences to be introduced and proactively used against those behind commercial sex websites.
👉 ACTION #9: 3 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 3 minutes) Donate to the Build a Girl UK Christmas Programme. Build a Girl is a UK-based community interest company that identifies and works with girls and young women at risk of sexual exploitation in Bradford, West Yorkshire – particularly those with few or no role models. They are currently raising funds to give the girls they support a great Christmas. This includes taking them to the theatre to see a show, giving them Christmas stockings and buying winter clothing. Build a Girl was founded by activist and sex trade survivor Fiona Broadfoot. FUNDRAISER CLOSES 20 DECEMBER 2023!
👉 ACTION #10: 4 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 3 minutes with additional time commitments when you join) Join Male Allies Challenging Sexism to help us challenge sexism and male violence in all its forms as well as helping us to continue supporting women’s rights, sex-based rights, gay rights and the safeguarding of children. We’re looking to expand in 2024 and start new branches in the UK and hopefully beyond. Joining MACS is also a great opportunity to meet like-minded men, make new friends and self-educate.
👉 ACTION #11: 5 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 5 minutes) Commit to challenging your male peers the next time they use sexist language (e.g. derogatory words such as ‘hag’, ‘b*tch’, ‘c*nt’, ‘slut’ etc), make sexist/misogynist jokes or endorse sexist/misogynistic points of view. Doing so has a massive impact. Do not be confrontative or aggressive. Just sharing your point of view (e.g. saying ‘I think it’s disrespectful to talk about women like that’) or questioning your peers goes a long way and can open up important conversations.
👉 ACTION #12: 6 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 2 hours) Take inventory of the media you consume (e.g. books, music, films) and commit to include more works by women. Did you know that 94.2% of the music men listen to is by men? What you listen to, watch and read impacts on what you think and how you think about it! Listening to more women’s voices will change your perception of the world, especially if you engage with works by women that address their experiences of living in patriarchy alongside men and the violence we cause in the lives of women and girls across the globe.
👉 ACTION #13: 7 DECEMBER
(UK – 15 minutes) Join the MACS ‘Lend With Care’ micro-finance group. Set up in October 2022, the group has already lent in excess of £12,000 to women, providing financial opportunities and economic independence. In just one year, the group made 60+ loans and helped create 40 jobs. You can lend any amount, from £5 upwards, and withdraw it once the repayments start.
👉 ACTION #14: 8 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 6 hours) If you are a boy or man who watches pornography (regularly or occasionally), read Robert Jensen’s Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. The book is freely available on Jensen’s website and offers an honest and easy to understand pro-feminist critique of pornography.
👉 ACTION #15: 9 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 20 minutes) Donate the proceeds of your next eBay sale to a women’s charity. Simply Google ‘eBay for charity’ and click on the link for your region and country. In the UK, you can raise money for a host of great organisations, including FiLiA, Women’s Aid Federation of England, Nia and many others.
👉 ACTION #16: 10 DECEMBER
(Worldwide – 10 minutes) – Share what you have done during the 16 days of activism and how it has made you feel with at least one receptive and preferably male friend. This kind of sharing is really important. Showing other men your true self as a man who cares about male violence against women will not just build your resolve and commitment, it will hopefully also inspire other men to think about and take action against male violence against women.
✅ That’s it! Review how many of the 16 activities above you have completed. If you haven’t been able to do them all, complete any you have missed ASAP. Commit to doing even more next year.
THANK YOU!!