Venezuelan campaign to tackle violence against women

Women´s social movements are also supporting the campaign. (Photo: Rachel Boothroyd)

The campaign will place special emphasis on combatting verbal and psychological violence against women.

“Words Kill: If you love, then you don’t abuse,” is the name of the anti-gender violence campaign launched this week in Caracas by the Venezuelan Ministry for Women and Gender Equality.

The campaign will last until December 7 and will pay particular attention to what Minister for Women and Gender Equality Andreina Tarazon describes as the “day-to-day” acts of sexism, such as catcalling or sexist language, that can lead to emotional and psychological damage amongst women.

“Through the campaign, we want to put particular emphasis on psychological abuse and verbal violence as everyday expressions of sexism and a cultural characteristic that we must eradicate,” explained Tarazon.

The minister emphasized that gender violence has many different forms and explained that the campaign is orientated toward eliminating all of the 19 definitions of violence against women included in the country’s law to protect women. These include emotional, psychological and symbolic violence in the media.

The campaign will also incorporate a series of educational and cultural activities in public spaces, as well as a film festival. Productions such as Iciar Bollain’s I Give You My Eyes and the book-turned-film The Color Purple will be shown for free throughout the country as part of the festival.

“We are hoping that women will identify with the films, and that when they see themselves reflected in the films and think, ‘Gosh, that’s me up there,’ then they will be motivated to seek help from state institutions,” explained Olga Mendoza, member of the Women´s Bicentennial Front, which is supporting the campaign.

The launch was attended by social movements and women’s organizations, as well as by Vice-President for Social Issues Hector Rodriguez.

In declarations to press and social movements, Rodriguez agreed to show the films included in the festival across Venezuela’s 30,000 educational institutions and called for gender issues to be included in the country’s national curriculum. He stated that Venezuelan men must also take up the mantle of feminism.

“For us, the Venezuelan people, Venezuelan men and women, this has to be a battle that we fight every single day, in all spaces, because what we are trying to construct in Venezuela at the end of the day is a society based on justice … Where there is no room for any kind of violence or exclusion, much less sexist violence and exclusion,” said Rodriguez.

The “Women's Presidential Council” will also be officially created on November 25. The council will be a space for the implementation of “direct democracy,” where women’s social movement leaders will draft up gender policy alongside Venezuela’s president. The date coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

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