While many of us (well, actually just the couples) have been looking forward to this month’s holiday, Valentine’s Day, our campus has been a buzz with the other V-Day. V-Day is a worldwide movement focused on raising awareness to end violence against all females. This includes rape, incest, female genital mutilation, and sex slavery. Although this is an issue we are all aware of, I don’t think many of us understand the extent to which women and girls are suffering at home and abroad. In some countries, this is a taboo subject, thus it is our responsibility as women to make sure that those silenced voices are heard. In an effort to promote female empowerment, here are three things we can do to help the cause:
1. Get involved. Join the movement and become an active participant in your local V-Day campaign. You don’t necessarily have to become a volunteer, but try to be involved in every other way possible. Whether it is attending the Vagina Monologues, or even taking a part in it, it all counts as a step towards strengthening existing efforts to end violence against women.
2. Support other women. It doesn’t have to be a friend or classmate, stick up for a stranger on the street. Not only is it compassionate, but it also demonstrates that we will not tolerate inappropriate behavior/attitudes towards us or other women. By doing so we are presenting ourselves as a unified front that cannot be broken.
3. Build confidence in yourself and others. We tend to lose a sense of who we are due to our academic and future careers. Many of us sometimes forget that we are women of power, not just students. We need to honor and embrace our femininity. Notice what keeps you and others happy and aim to add more of it in yours and their lives.
Image courtesy of: TheatreBath.co.uk.