Why feminists mark the UN day for the elimination of VAWG and why our activism can never be limited to 16 days.

By Sally Jackson, Trustee and Lead for ending male violence against Women and Girls

Cover image shows ‘Never Her Fault’ rally at FiLiA2022 in Cardiff. Photo Credit Pauline Makoveitchoux

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the 16 Days of Activism are not symbolic hashtags or polite reminders. They are part of a long feminist tradition of refusing silence, refusing minimisation and refusing the global indifference that too often greets male violence against women and girls (MVAWG). These moments matter because they amplify the truth that patriarchy works overtime to obscure: that MVAWG is not natural, inevitable or random, it is political. These days matter. They create visibility, mobilise resources and provide a shared language through which survivors, activists, organisations and communities can raise their voices in unison. They remind governments and institutions of their obligations, and they allow us to stand in solidarity with movements across borders.

Feminists mark these days because they give us a global platform to demand accountability from states, institutions and communities that continue to fail women and girls. They create a collective surge of resistance, a moment when feminist organisations, survivors, frontline workers and activists speak in one voice and make it impossible to look away. But we also know that 16 days will never match the 365-day reality of the violence women and girls endure. Our activism cannot be seasonal because the harm is not seasonal. Ending MVAWG requires daily organising, daily truth-telling, daily disruption of the norms that excuse and enable male violence. We mark them to honour the women and girls whose lives have been taken, whose freedoms have been restricted, and whose survival is still resisted in policy and practice; our activism must be constant, consistent, and uncompromising.

Throughout the 16 Days, we will be using our social media platforms to highlight and celebrate the powerful, creative and relentless work of activists, survivors and organisations across the world. Their work shows what resistance looks like in practice and reminds us that change is already being built from the ground up. Daily feminist activism recognises that MVAWG is not an isolated set of incidents; it is a structural reality maintained in workplaces, homes, courts, schools, online spaces and political systems. Ending it requires more than awareness; it requires dismantling the norms and power relations that make violence possible, permissible and to go without punishment. This work cannot be confined to a calendar window.

We mark the UN day and the 16 Days not as the peak of our activism, but as a reminder of why we fight every day. We do not ask for permission; we take action. We do not wait for institutions to catch up; we push them. We do not limit our resistance to a calendar. Our liberation demands more, and we rise to that demand, together, every single day. We remain activists because women and girls deserve safety, dignity and justice every day. Our commitment is not symbolic; it is lived, ongoing and rooted in the knowledge that real change happens in the sustained, everyday resistance to patriarchy.

Feminists do not campaign once a year; we build the world we need all year round.

Sally Jackson – Ending Male violence against Women lead FiLiA