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16 Days of Activism
25th November – 10th December 2019
Each year Bolton at Home work with groups, individuals and local partners to raise awareness of gender based violence as part of the global campaign 16 Days of Activism.
2019, saw women across the town join forces to create a stunning and thought provoking exhibition displayed in a disused shop unit in Bolton town centre. Community groups and individuals worked with local artists to create over 150 embroidery hoops. The hoops represented women’s experiences, hopes and fears in an era where 1 in 3 young people say they find it difficult to define the line between a caring action and a controlling one (Refuge and Avon’s ‘Define the Line’ study 2017) and 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence.
The final day of the exhibition saw women’s groups, organisations and support services come together to celebrate the achievements of women and promote support services. With speakers and videos from Endeavour and Yes Matters, the event broke down some of the barriers in talking about Domestic abuse and gender violence. Taking part enabled people to open up and share their thoughts and feelings, in whatever way they felt comfortable, in a safe space.
In addition to the exhibition the Community Investment Team worked closely with internal and external partners to promote a varied and exciting programme of activity. We worked with our Domestic Abuse and Violence Team to deliver pop up information sessions for community leaders. These were supported by Bolton’s leading domestic abuse charities and enabled people to identify domestic abuse and appropriate signposting for support, a Pledge making session for staff to challenge gender violence and an information campaign via facebook.
Other events included a phenomenal conference on domestic abuse through the ages hosted by Endeavour, art and confidence building within Fortalice, a Reclaim the Street’s march organised by Yes Matters and Empowerment session’s at Working Wardrobe.
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign which takes place every year, starting on 25th November and ending on 10th December. It was started in 1991 by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute. The campaign calls for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. We support this campaign each year, trying to engage more and more people each time it comes around, with the aim of helping more women to live happy, healthy, safe lives all year round.