By Oloo Adhiambo and Audrey Adhiambo
Annually, the world comes together to mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an annual International campaign that kicks off 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day. The campaign dubbed 16 Days rallies both state and non-state actors to call for prevention of violence against women and girls. Further, it also seeks to raise awareness on the plight of women and girls, hold governments and other decision makers accountable, and celebrate progress toward gender equality. According to data from World Health Organization (WHO), one in every three, around 736 million women and girls are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or from a non-partner over their lives. The COVID-19 pandemic already underway can best be described by Haroon Rashid’s quote, we fell asleep in one world and woke up in another. With countries imposing new laws such as curfews, lock downs, restricted gatherings, and cessation of movement in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. The measures have resulted into a “shadow pandemic” reports show that the measures have led to a spike of GBV.
This has made it extremely hard for Civil Society Organizations to do their work thereby calling for more innovative ways to address the spike of GBV during the pandemic.
With the world shifting from physical to virtual platforms, the youth are leading efforts and solutions to build a better, safer world for us all, as they have done with many of the world’s most serious crises, including GBV. Around the world, there is a vast network of young advocates who are employing novel strategies to tackle GBV such as Artivism which is a portmanteau word combining art and activism. With the rising popularity of virtual platforms and social media campaigns, the youth are using culture jamming, subverting, street art and murals, paintings, spoken word, plays, satire, fashion, and short videos to reach wider audiences.
These innovative techniques aim to address the core causes of GBV, such as altering attitudes and actions that contribute to gender-based violence and inequity. As a global language that transcends all frontiers, artivism has a broad and international appeal and maybe a strong tool for raising awareness and encouraging action.
