The 16 Days Take Action Kit 2015 contains resources to help support activities during the 16 Days Campaign and can be downloaded in PDF or Microsoft Word format. The Kit is available in multiple languages with other languages forthcoming. Recognizing the critical role militarism plays in perpetuating gender-based violence, the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign this year takes the theme of “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Make Education Safe for All!” This theme recognises the dire situation for millions of girls whose universal human right to education is impacted or cut short due to violence.
Information sheets are available on:
- Extremism, violence against girls and education: Many groups that oppose human rights for women and girls, including State and non-State actors, are using arguments in the cause of religion, culture, and tradition to justify gender-based violence and girls that challenge fundamentalist ideologies by attempting to access education are at risk of gender-based violence. States must investigate attacks against girls claiming their right to education and must prevent future attacks by taking all necessary actions. At another level, regardless of the motivations for attacks against girls, States must continue to address underlying structural discrimination and negative gender stereotyping.
- Education in Refugee & Internally Displaced (IDP) Camps: Schools can provide additional support otherwise not found in camps. This includes structure, food and healthcare, a safe space, and an opportunity for a better future. Yet education in refuge and IDP camps often goes neglected and ignored. In 2008, UNESCO reported that only 69% of primary-school-age children were enrolled in primary school in camps operated by UNHCR; that number dropped to 30% enrollment in secondary school. Girls experience particular discrimination due to their gender, facing limits on their schooling due to cultural or family pressures, lack of safety specifically for girls, or lack of safe spaces within school areas.
- Military vs. Education – Expenditures and Priorities: In times immediately before, during, and after conflict, state institutions are at their weakest and priorities shift, diverting funding and resources from basic needs to military and defense budgets; this particularly affects education. A breakdown in state structures establishes unsafe conditions for women and girls often preventing girls from traveling to school.
- What is Militarism? Militarism comprises a set of values rooted in rigid patriarchal constructions of gender, through which men and boys are socialized to believe that violent masculinities are ideal. Militarism’s effectiveness stems from its ability to cast budgeting for war as necessary and peacetime mobilization as normal. Spending for military operations obstruct human security and come at the cost of development. The prioritization of military spending further closes doors for women to pursue their educational and professional goals as States slash social welfare budgets with the expectation that women will make up for lost care and services to their families.