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Loading...Spreading the Word: Girls Born in Canada Face 50% Chance of Abuse
A new ad campaign by the Canadian Women’s Foundation demonstrates the reality that many girls born in the country face – poverty and abuse.
The organization says that a girl growing up in Canada has a 1 in 2 chance of being physically or sexually abused in her lifetime. The message of the campaign? “It’s tougher than you think.”
The Foundation’s manager of marketing and communications, Sarah Barker, said they decided to launch the campaign because: “We’ve noticed in the past few years that people have started to think that the issues we work on aren’t really issues in Canada anymore.”
With statistics as jarring as 1 in 2, it should become clear to anyone who sees the ad that sexual and physical abuse are still an issue in Canada.
The goal of the campaign is to educate and empower young women and girls to speak out, knowing they are not alone.
The President of CWF, Beverley Wybrow, told the Vancouver Observer “It’s not about changing individuals to fit into bad systems – it’s also about changing bad systems. I’ve been working on women’s issues for 35 years. The issues have changed over the years … we try to make sure women have a voice.” She says the foundation’s goal is to help women help each other, rather than waiting for “men and the government.” They have, she says, a feminist vision of philanthropy.
The Canadian Women’s Foundation also runs a campaign called Women Moving Women, which is an effort to help the 1 in 7 Canadian women that live in poverty. The foundation was founded in 1991 and has funded over 1100 projects to date. This is the first time they’ve created a national ad campaign.
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Read more: canada, sexual abuse, sexual assault, violence against women
Photo Credit: Ira Gelb
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+ add your ownAlso, I don't think the number is so high. i am 21, and was in an abusive relationship at 16 where I was raped, tortured and humiliated. Then, 2 months back, I was carjacked and sexually assaulted. I know many who lead happy lives and get married and don't tell people about the abuses they faced. Not only do they not go to the police, they keep it to themselves. Just because you have friends who don't put their abuse moments out their for everyone to critique doesn't mean they haven't faced the abuse. Stop being so naive. You don't know people's stories
Harley W... Christianity in it's ESSENCE teaches that women are to be subservient. There are rape scenes in the bible (not looked down upon). Women ARE treated as property. In some passages God tells people to kill all women and children except the virgins, who should be kept for the men. It's sickening. However, that really isn't the issue. The issue isn't religion, its oppression in general. We are PEOPLE. we are individuals. Women are not objects. No means no.
This is terrible and very sad indeed. Thanks for posting.
This problem of women abuse is important for us all because our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters deserve the same right to live in dignity without threat to their safety and well being in a civil society. This is nothing to do with religious beliefs or faith, it is simple respect for the rights of the women in our society. There can be no excuse for inflicting harm on another person independent of gender. We live in a brutal world, domestic abuse is one area to be eliminated from the field of interpersonal violence.
Some other food for thought…. that same study showed that “men were most likely to be killed by a common-law partner (66%) whereas women were slightly more likely to have been killed by their legally married spouse (39%) than by a common-law partner (33%)”; “females were more likely than males to report multiple victimizations, at 57%”; “Stabbings were the most common method used to commit spousal homicide, particularly against male victims” and “those who stated that they had been injured, bruises were the most common form of injury reported by both female (95%) and male (75%) victims. Male victims were more likely than female victims to report suffering cuts, scratches or burns (59% versus 30%)”.
None of this is to say DV isn’t important. But as a past 7 year victim of DV it sickens me to see them us my experiences and others like me to gain power and support with no regard for all those who have actually dealt with DV. Lying and telling half truths in order to finance themselves on others suffering IS WRONG! This PSA is wrong on so many levels I can’t even.
Oh... and the link is: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/statcan/85-224-X/85-224-x2010000-eng.pdf
The video was misleading. The study they used (check out Chart 1.1 of the study, I’ll add a link later) showed 1 out of 2 couples that reported DV where women. The other half of the victims in the study where men. Not 25% or 75% or 10%. HALF! So what this PSA did was take all the female victims and all the male victims, drop the male victims from the report, count the entire population of Canada (men and women) as victims of DV and then they said 1 out of 2 women. What the study actually said was “Of the 19 million Canadians who had a current or former spouse in 2009, 6% reported being physically or sexually victimized by their partner or spouse in the preceding five years.” That 6% includes men and women. In light of this, all I say is a PSA that LIES with such disregard for half of all victims is NOT helping anyone, it is making things worse. But they'll still be happy to take donations so they can make more misleading PSA’s and a big raise.
Some other food for thought…. that same study showed that “men were most likely to be killed by a common-law partner (66%) whereas women were slightly more likely to have been killed by their legally married spouse (39%) than by a common-law partner (33%)”; “females were more likely than males to report multiple victimizations, at 57%”; “Stabbings were the most common method used to commit spousal homicide, particularly against male victims” and “those who stated that they h
Women are not property they are people. I and many other religious people believe that.
I am filled with sorry at what Tegan writes about Africa. I pray that it is not true in all Africa and am saddened to hear it happens at all.
I in the school I work at I keep trying to tell the boys that it is wrong what they say and how they treat the girls. But they keep insisting that I do not understand. I understand that many rappers are tying to get young men to treat all girls as things.
Thanks Fred for answering my questions.
My only issue is that perhaps the research was conducted in first world countries, where as you say, violence consists of “things like storming out of a room, getting annoyed if the victim disagrees, etc”.
But living in Africa, violence against woman does not even begin to describe the situation. We live in nations where rape and aids have become an epidemic. In fact in schools they conducted a research, where they asked young girls how they felt about being raped: the answer: “It’s a natural part of life”! Does this even begin to describe a normal sane society?
They asked the boys why they participated in rape: “Because they get initiated into gangs, they like to feel powerful, dominate, and even when the get bored.”!
And try this one. We live in a country with the highest rate of aids; there exist for some, the belief that raping baby girls cures aids.
Now tell me – when those researches come to Africa (which makes up quite a bit of the world’s population), I think you may find their results slightly skewed.
The yin yang symbol, says it all.
both masculine and feminine "energies" require balance.
(even in each individual) women can ALSO become overly yang (aggressive).
The current US political structure and society is overly Yang; aggressive and competitive , hording of wealth and a pillaging of the earth for resources that will eventually become depleted. It's on a dangerous course to the top,with only mild interest in the cost to earth for the next ten generations.
we need to reintroduce more of the Yin (feminine) in our own lives and our nations.
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