TikTok and U.N. Women launch in-app hub about gender-based violence
TikTok has launched a campaign to raise awareness about violence against women and girls, with a new informative hub in the app.
The social media platform, alongside U.N. Women and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) NGOs across the globe, intends to empower and educate the TikTok community about topics including consent, safety, and harmful gender norms.
The initiative marks the beginning of 16 Days of Activism, a global, annual campaign that starts on Nov. 25, a date recognised as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The intention of the initiative is to unite global communities in a collective call to end all forms of gender-based violence.
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The conversation about such violence against women and marginalised genders comes alongside startling data, which illustrates the extent to which gender-based violence pervades our society. Globally, approximately 736 million women (nearly one in three) have faced intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both. In the UK, one woman is killed by a man every three days. Trans people face high rates of domestic abuse, with 16 percent of trans women in Britain having experienced some form of violence from a partner. Across the world, violence against women disproportionately affects low and lower-middle income regions; 22 percent of women living in the "least developed countries" as identified by the U.N., have faced intimate partner violence in the past year.
Under the umbrella hashtag #EndViolenceAgainstWomen, activists and experts are sharing information and personal experiences about gender-based violence. For example, in a TikTok video released by the official U.N. Women account, a spokesperson says, "This violence is not inevitable. It can and must be prevented." The hashtag currently has 21.7 million views on the app.
Other pieces of content under the subject feature individual views and perspectives from activists and creators. Take UK-based journalist and TikTok creator Sophia Smith Galer. In a video, she speaks out about better paths to teaching people about consent, stressing that this essential learning can come with improvements in sex education.
This content is featured and goes hand-in-hand with a special hub created by TikTok, available within the app via the Discover tab. The hub includes resources such as a link to TikTok's Safety Centre, which provides information and support for survivors of sexual assault, as well as links to safety helplines tailored to the country of each user.
"We know that for our community to thrive and feel free to express their creativity, safety is fundamental," TikTok's head of product policy, Julie de Bailliencourt, said in a statement. "We also believe that education is a powerful antidote for hate."
The campaign notably also delineates the impact of the pandemic on women's safety. A U.N.-released report found that "women’s feelings of safety have been eroded," stating that women experienced increased feelings of distress and a lack of safety both within their homes and in public spaces. The U.N. data finds that seven in 10 women believe domestic violence worsened during the pandemic. Meanwhile, one in two women report personally experiencing violence or knowing another woman who has, during the pandemic.
Topics Social Good TikTok
