16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

Case studies

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  Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS)

  The peer-centered organization fields more than 18,000 requests for service each year. Offering a crisis line, support groups, and training, BWSS’s work takes its employees and volunteers into all areas, whether it’s housing support, first aid response, or employment services.  

  Forty years ago, five women started Battered Women’s Support Services with the hope of making gender-based violence history through cultural change and systemic advocacy.  

  After four decades, the organization has embedded itself in the community. There are now 25 paid staff, seven board members, and 160 volunteers providing grassroots, frontline support in Vancouver. 

  “A widespread human rights violation” 

  “Violence against women and girls is one of most widespread human rights violations of our time and it widely goes unreported due to the stigma and shame around,” says BWSS Executive Director Angela MacDougall. “Systemic and institutional barriers prevent the liberation of victims.” 

  For MacDougall, activism against gender-based violence is what she does day in and day out. From BWSS’s perspective, this is an issue that touches all areas, whether it be police, the criminal justice system, housing, social services, health, or education. 

  One step forward, two steps back

  MacDougall notes with each advancement made, there is a counter-movement that further entrenches survivors in systems that historically have supressed them. 

  Roughly 40% of sexual violence reported to police is deemed unfounded. On top of that, MacDougall says the 2016 “Jordan Decision” means cases of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and even homicide are being stayed due to the time between the initial charges being laid and actually going to trial. A lot of survivors are choosing not to have charges laid out of a fear of the systems that are meant to protect them. 

  That, coupled with a pro-arrest policy, once meant to hold offenders accountable but now being used to charge women with assault for trying to protect themselves, is stalling progress in the realm of fighting gender-based violence. 

  She adds that the province’s lack of affordable or transitional housing is ultimately forcing women to stay in abusive relationships. 

  A community-focused approach to combatting gender based violence 

  “Community-based organizations are doing the work. We know that 95% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police, but rather to a close family member or community-based organization.” 

  MacDougall agrees that any investment in fighting gender-based violence is a good one, but says often times the resources are misdirected toward grand plans rather than the community-based organizations actually doing the work and helping survivors. 

  Community is always going to the place where the change happens and MacDougall sees a model emerging where resources are not being pushed toward that community-based response. “Women’s organizations have been on the frontlines for 40-plus years and we need to resource them the same as we resource cancer research, because violence against women is, in fact, comparable to cancer,” she said. 

  BWSS has always been a peer-run organization and the model has been extraordinarily effective in building the matrix of services offered to its connections and community. 

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  Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC)

  Founded in 1978, the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre (DEWC) provides practical and emotional support to all women in the Downtown Eastside community. The DEWC is a Drop-in Centre and Emergency Shelter that supports women through crisis, including those who are victims of violence.

  A rare space of safety

  For the women that the DEWC serves, the Drop-in Centre and Emergency Shelter are among the few safe spaces in the neighbourhood exclusively for self-identified women and their children. 

  Women who are victims of violence, especially partner abuse and those in sex work, are often not taken seriously by authorities, or are blamed for the assault on themselves. Victims face serious and life-threatening challenges, including stigmatization, racism, stereotyping, arrests, and assault charges being laid against a woman for fighting back, debilitating injuries, and even death.

  Women often present at the Drop-in Centre and the Emergency Shelter after having been victims of violence. Staff assist with medical accompaniment, police report filing, liaising with police and medical services, and assistance to find transition housing. 

  The Centre provides basic necessities including hot meals, free clothing, secure mailing addresses, phone and computer access, and functioning, secure toilets, and showers. The Centre serves over 500 women, children and seniors every day. The Shelter provides beds for 57 women and has housing outreach, hot meals, and much of what the Drop-In Centre provides.

  The DEWC assists women with their immediate and crisis needs so they can develop stability and access the resources they need to improve health, family, employment, and housing situations. The Centre promotes positive change by offering individual long-term support, education, advocacy, peer mentorship and exposure to alternatives.

  The Power of Women

  The DEWC’s social justice group, the Power of Women, often contributes to community discussions and events to bring awareness to the violence that women - especially Indigenous women - face on a daily basis.

  This group and the centre’s group of Indigenous Elders participated in the National Inquiry for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and were the main contributors to the publication Red Women Rising External website, opens in new tab.  The report features over 100 recommendations to government on the issue of women’s safety. 

  “Working with the Indigenous women who participated in the MMIWG National Inquiry was a particularly moving experience,” says Masami Tomioka, Specialized Services Manager at the DEWC. “The women involved showed such resilience and strength during a very difficult time. They contributed to the Red Women Rising report and were empowered, and are now working to ensure that the recommendations to government are realized.”

  Advocating for a safer future

  When asked about trends in the work against gender-based violence, Masami raised her concerns about the lack of consultation with and inclusion of women-only safe services in strategies to enhance safety for women. Women-only service providers such as the DEWC have pushed and continue to push for women-specific health and safety to be included in strategies to enhance safety.

  “We need a quicker response by emergency services when a woman has experienced violence, better assessment and care for those who present at emergency departments, and better cultural competency,” says Masami Tomioka. “Women also desperately need more coordinated responses from collateral agencies, and more safe spaces for those at risk of violence, including transition homes and safe houses that are low-barrier.”

  Learn more about the DEWC External website, opens in new tab

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  WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre

  Through the Inclusion Project, WAVAW offers one-to-one and group counselling, as well as tailored victim services which are often the first point of contact to help trans clients navigate hospital appointments and the legal system which can be quite complex.

  Since the 1980s, WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre has been working to not only support survivors of rape and sexual assault but also to shift society’s opinions on these issues through education, outreach, and activism. As well as providing a 24-hour crisis and information line, support navigating the medical, and legal system and counselling, WAVAW offers training for teachers and workshops to schools which advocate for change.

  Inclusion Project

  WAVAW serves all marginalized genders including non-binary people and trans men. In April 2017, WAVAW embarked on their Inclusion Project and became the first organisation in Canada to offer a trans-specific support service. Felix Gilliliand, WAVAW’S Community Engagement and Inclusion Coordinator, explains the need for this: “The trans community has challenged us to think differently about the services we provide to better suit their needs. Trans and queer people experience way higher rates of gender-based violence and abuse but have access to very few services. Previously, non-cis women would be referred to different groups but none of them would serve them so there fell through the gap between services, therefore the most in-need were the most underserved.”

  Felix says that while progress is being made towards better addressing gender based violence there is still work to do. “We really started our trans work at the same time as the #MeToo movement and since then the conversation has been becoming bigger and starting to shift to shift in different ways but still a real need to include trans people in those conversations.”

  Challenge transphobia and transmisogyny

  In order to keep the momentum going, Felix suggests that the best thing allies can do is challenge transphobia and transmisogyny: “We need people to take on that heavy-lifting and keep challenging organisations like ours to have conversations about who we serve and how that plays out.”

  A big step forward for WAVAW this year was when they were invited to be the Grand Marshalls of the Vancouver Dyke March as it indicated that one of the key populations they support felt that WAVAW recognized their needs and were serving them well. 

  WAVAW'S December 6 event

  This work continues with a trans-friendly event on December 6 to mark the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. Previous events on this date have been tough for trans people to access so WAVAW is offering an alternative event which will offer a night of amazing speakers and artists.

  Register for the event External website, opens in new tab

  Find more information about WAVAW External website, opens in new tab

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  WISH Drop-In Centre Society

  “At WISH we employ women who use our services alongside our main support workers and that is amazing as they work incredibly hard and are therefore in a position to make more choices, including the choice and ability to turn down the more dangerous forms of sex work”, explains Mebrat Beyene Executive Director of WISH

  Success story

  Shortly after Mebrat Beyene became the Executive Director of WISH, a woman stopped by the Drop-In Centre and shared her story with Mebrat. Twenty years ago, the woman had been a street-based sex worker, and was living under the Dunsmuir viaducts after becoming homeless. Like many others, she feared for her life due to a high number of women going missing from the Downtown Eastside and she turned to WISH for support. With WISH’s help and guidance, the woman found safety, managed to reconnect with her family, get clean and move to Vancouver Island where she was able to thrive. She returned to thank WISH for their support, let them know that she is still alive and to give back by donating $10,000 to help other women turning to WISH for support.

  For Mebrat, this story sums up the impact of WISH as an organization that is there to support sex-workers wherever they are in their journey. Speaking about WISH’s work, Mebrat says: “Many of the women we serve are living in poverty, experiencing homelessness, struggling with mental health issues and substance abuse, are Indigenous or women of colour, and some are trans. They are some of the most vulnerable women in our city and they experience an incredibly high amount of gender-based and targeted violence, much of which often goes unnoticed and unreported.”

  35 years of operation

  WISH delivers two front-line programs and six capacity-building programs that support 300-350 women each day and night. The first is a drop-in centre located on Alexander St which is one of only two overnight drop-in spaces for women in the Downtown Eastside that is open every day of the year. From 6pm to noon, the site offers full meals, showers, an on-site medical clinic, and a learning centre in partnership with Capilano University; all of which provide everything from a host of programs, services, to harm reduction supplies and toiletries. 

  Mobile work

  WISH also operates a van that provides a mobile version of their drop-in centre work. The van is a one-stop shop solution that allows the team’s employees to meet women where they are working and serve the most isolated women who are the least likely to report violence they experience.

  Helping to create a future

  The work of WISH not only helps ensure that street-based sex workers feel safer by recording and sharing the violence and predatory behaviour they encounter, they also seek to create opportunities for women to work towards whatever goals they set for themselves. By providing supportive employment programs and opportunities, for example, WISH also helps women establish viable and tangible economic security for their future.

  When asked whether she thinks the situation for women has improved since the Montreal Massacre 30 years ago, Mebrat is hesitant: “We are seeing the same patterns and systemic patriarchal and colonial issues playing out. It is only in last five or so years that I see a little more appetite to discuss systemic violence against women. There needs to be a cultural shift around people’s attitudes towards women and the amount of stigma that women – especially sex workers – face. Stigma kills so we all need to examine our biases now in order to ensure women can work – safely – in any profession she chooses.

  Learn more about WISH External website, opens in new tab

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  Women’s Advisory Committee

  What do women need to be safe in Vancouver? What can the City and other organizations do to help make this a reality? 

  Since 2009, the Women’s Advisory Committee has been advising Council and staff on these and many other questions aimed at enhancing access and inclusion for women and girls to fully participate in City services and civic life. The committee consists of 15 members of the public who identify as women, as well as six non-voting liaisons from Council, the Park Board, School Trustee, and city staff.

  
  Together, the Women’s Advisory Committee works to address issues facing women in Vancouver. Their work over the last 10 years includes taking action on addressing the issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women, creating subcommittees on addressing issues such as violence, abuse and battery against women, and contributing towards the Women’s Equity Strategy in its first phase of development.

  Women’s Equity Strategy

  The Women’s Advisory Committee continues to advise Council and staff on the Women’s Equity Strategy as it is developed, implemented and updated, to enable all women to fully participate in the political, economic, cultural, and social life of Vancouver. The strategy addresses issues faced by women in five priority areas:

  • Applying an intersectional lens to strengthen City processes and inform decision-making
  • Addressing safety, including violence against women
  • Accessible, quality childcare
  • Safe and affordable housing
  • Women’s leadership and representation within the City’s workforce

  An intersectional understanding

  An intersectional lens is particularly important for the Women’s Advisory Committee in light of the diversity of women it serves. Recognizing that women with different identities have different experiences of the world around them - because of race, sex, and socioeconomic status - the Women’s Advisory Committee endeavours to apply an intersectional framework in all of its work. Using an intersectional lens enables the committee to more deeply consider and understand the many ways in which women experience discrimination and abuse, and to make recommendations for action which are mindful of and beneficial to all women.

  Making visible the invisible

  Language is an area where the Women’s Advisory Committee encourages the use of terminology which provides a more comprehensive understanding of gender-based harms beyond the physical. When violence, abuse, and battery are named together, ‘hidden’ forms of abuse – such as financial abuse, litigation harassment, and parental alienation – can be made visible. 

  By using more robust, representative language that reflects the many dimensions of gender-based violence, abuse and battery, the Women’s Advisory Committee aims to ensure that all women can be heard in the conversation around women’s safety and well-being. The committee is also working to incorporate a thorough understanding of the experience of gender-based power, control and coercion within the intersectional lens it uses.

  The Women’s Advisory Committee is also looking at how to make childcare spaces safer places for women facing gender-based violence, abuse and battery. Preliminary recommendations include ensuring that all City-licenced day cares have staff trained annually on violence, abuse and battery, including parental alienation and financial abuse. Daycare staff can sometimes bear witness to these issues, and having policies on training would help staff to identify and support victims.

  An annual work plan will be published in April 2020 outlining the Women Advisory Committee’s current objectives. Learn more about the progress made so far