I don’t wanna talk numbers – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

I don’t wanna talk about numbers.

I don’t wanna mention the unlucky woman among every 3 that will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner. Nor the 137 women that are killed every day by a member of their family.

I rather ignore that only 52% of women who are married or in some kind of union are able to freely make their own decisions about sexual relations, contraceptive use and health care. And that, in 2019, one in five women, aged 20–24 years, were married before the age of 18.

I can look away and disregard the fact that 71% of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls. Life is easier if I take no notice of the more than 200 million women and girls, aged 15–49 years, that have undergone female genital mutilation in the 31 countries where the practice is concentrated.

I don’t wanna talk about how all types of violence against women, mainly domestic violence, have intensified since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Unfortunately, all the data I dream to ignore, are from the UN Women’s Global Database on Violence against Women…

Stop ignoring a real problem like this. Make sure you keep yourself dangerously up to date. Let’s focus not only on flattening the COVID-19 curve, let’s bend all the terrible curves of the graphics that illustrate these numbers we can’t ignore.

Don’t let anyone convince you that feminism is irrelevant. Raise your boys to respect women as their equals, and your girls to never accept the weaker role.

No one likes high numbers representing atrocities against humanity. Let’s fight those ugly numbers with weapons like education, awareness and empathy. Feminism can save lives.

Ps. Artwork by the amazing Spanish designer Paloma Chiara (check out her portfolio on Instagram @virino_designs)