Women around the world are tired of the violence against them… and their societies not doing enough to protect them. Marching by the thousands in several cities and countries around the world, women want to gain awareness and action toward domestic violence. According to the U.N., 1/3  of women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Half of the women killed around the world, are killed by their partners or family. 

The color purple has deeper roots than representing  domestic violence awareness. It was one of the colors the women’s suffrage movement used in the 1900s. Now, almost 12 decades later, women are turning their cities purple to demand change.

FRANCE

France has one of the highest domestic violence rates in Europe, even though the country has a progressive reputation. 

More than 130 women have died this year in France because of domestic violence. Women have been protesting by marching silently, loudly and gluing posters with the names of those who have died around Paris. 

Around Latin America, women in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico also marched in honor of Elimination of Violence Against Women day.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The Dominican Republic has one of the highest femicide rates in Latin America. More than 300 women have died from domestic violence in the last four years, according to the Dominican Political Observatory. In November 2019, eight women died in the span of 16 days. In the capital, Santo Domingo, thousands marched under the name, March of the Butterflies, while wearing green and orange. The march marked the assassination of the Mirabal sisters, who were murdered during the Trujilio dictatorship in 1960. The U.N. later turned that day, November 25th, 1960,  into Elimination of Violence Against Women day

MEXICO

In Mexico, women used crocheting, painting and breastfeeding as methods of protest around the capital and other cities. Women painted at the Angel of Independence monument, an important landmark in Mexico City, and crocheted purple and pink hearts.  In some areas protesters also used sledgehammers and smashed bus stops. About 10 women a day are killed in Mexico. Less than 1 in 10 of those murders are solved.

Women in other countries such as Russia, Sudan and Bulgaria also marched in protest of violence against women. The U.N. also says, migrants, refugees, indigenous people and members of the LGBTQI community are especially vulnerable to gender-based violence. In general, most violence goes unreported or unpunished.