Frequently Asked Questions
What is Women Take Back the Night?
Women Take Back the Night is an international feminist
tradition of marches and rallies that have been occurring around
the world since 1976. That year, in Belgium, women attending the
International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women marched together
in solidarity, holding candles to protest the ways in which violence
permeates the lives of women worldwide.
Where is Women Take Back the Night?
WTBN marches and rallies occur all over the world.
This website is for the Northern California Association for Women
Take Back the Night based in Sacramento, California, USA. The annual
rally and march has taken place at the California State Capitol
in Sacramento since 1979.
Who organizes Sacramento Women Take Back the Night?
To date, Sacramento WTBN has been organized on a 100 percent
volunteer basis by a diverse group of individuals and community
organizations. Donations and sponsorships from organizations and
corporate sponsors have provided the funding needed to present the
annual event. Sacramento WTBN is governed by a Board of Directors. The annual
event is organized by a planning committee, made up of individuals
and representatives of organizations.
What is the mission of the Northern California Association for
Women Take Back the Night?
WTBN has existed for the purpose of creating a zero tolerance for violence against
women by:
- Increasing community awareness around issues of violence against
women and its interrelationship with all other forms of oppression;
- Educating ourselves and others about the extent and the nature
of violence that is systematically used against women to keep
us from becoming powerful, autonomous individuals;
- Honoring the memory of the victims of violence and celebrating
its survivors
- Serving as a collective voice for women to demand a world in
which women's bodies, minds and spirits are not targets of violence;
- Empowering individual men and women to take direct action against
violence through activism;
- Providing the leadership to challenge organizations and other
institutions to implement policies and initiatives which are effective
in addressing issues of violence against women.
Why do women need to take back the night?
Due to the sensitive nature of and social stigma related to sexual
assault and domestic violence, severe underreporting of these crimes
make it virtually impossible to gather complete data on the numbers
of women and children affected. The United States Bureau of Justice
Statistics estimates that only 28 percent of rapes and sexual assault
are ever reported. However, reported cases, while only a part of
the picture, illustrate the pervasive nature of the problem worldwide.
The 2003 United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) report
"Not a Minute More: Ending Violence Against Women" estimates
that one in three women around the world will be raped, beaten,
coerced into sex or otherwise abused during their lifetime. According
to the Human Rights Watch, global abuses against women are relentless,
systematic, and widely tolerated if not explicitly condoned. Combatants
and their sympathizers in conflicts, such as those in Sierra Leone,
Kosovo, the Congo, Afghanistan, and Rwanda have raped women as a
weapon of war with near complete impunity. Men in Pakistan, South
Africa, Peru, Russia, and Uzbekistan beat women in their homes,
while these governments alternatively refuse to intervene or do
so in ways that make women feel culpable. As a direct result of
inequalities found in their countries of origin, women from Ukraine,
Moldova, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, Burma and Thailand are
bought and sold, trafficked to work in forced prostitution. Though
real progress has been made through grassroots international efforts,
violence and discrimination against women are global social epidemics.
In the United States, it was only recently, beginning in the 1970's
that women began to speak out about their personal experience of
violence. Much work remains in order to break the silence and shame
regarding the victimization of women and children, including misconceptions
about the prevalence of the problem.
In the United States, a woman is assaulted by her partner every
nine seconds. Nationwide, according to the 2000 Crime Clock calculations:
there is one rape every six minutes. Violence against women is often
perpetrated by someone the victim knows. Thirty-percent (30%) of
all female murder victims are slain by their male partners . Strangers
commit only one out of every four sexual assaults. In a recent study
of over 6,000 college women, fifty-seven percent of those who reported
having been raped reported that the assault occurred on a date.
Violence against women, especially domestic violence, has tremendous
adverse affects on children: typically, at any given time, at least
half of all residents in domestic violence shelters are children.
California, with its diverse and committed array of women's advocates,
has made strides in combating violence and providing resources for
women and children, yet the problems persist. The California Department
of Justice says 196,880 incidents of domestic violence were reported
to California law enforcement agencies in 2000 . Between 1990 and
2000, statewide arrests for domestic violence increased 17 percent,
from 43,760 to 51,252 . According to the 2000 Crime Clock calculations:
there is one rape every 54 minutes in California. In the Sacramento
area, domestic violence is reported to police every hour, 365 days
a year (8,760 reports per year). In Sacramento County, there were
more than 446 reported rapes in 2003 alone, a figure which has not
declined significantly over the past ten years. In order to change
any social condition, we must educate ourselves and others about
its significance and impact. Founded in 1980, the California Coalition
Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) promotes public policy, advocacy,
training and technical assistance on the issue of sexual assault.
In their 2000 report: "A Vision to End Sexual Assault,"
CALCASA challenges Californian advocates to "present sexual
violence as a human rights issue" and to "discuss myths
and facts about sexual violence and eliminate the shame surrounding
victims." While the problems of violence affect all women and
children, research suggests that low-income women and women of color
are at potentially greater risk and face often insurmountable barriers
in their efforts to find help for themselves and their families.
Both CALCASA and UNIFEM call for campaigns that educate the public
about the devastating impact that violence against women has on
society. The WTBN committee is committed to answering these calls
to action.
Most of the time, despite its magnitude and global pervasiveness,
violence against women is socially invisible, seen as individual,
unrelated incidents. Even in the United States, private citizens,
policymakers and funding agencies believe that the situation has
markedly improved, while in fact, violence has not decreased and
still affects, in devastating ways, the daily choices which women
make.
As a Presidential election year, this year is an extremely important
time to step up visibility on these issues, including raising awareness
on the international interconnections. Part of our challenge is
to keep the issue of violence against women on the "front burner"
and create a nonpartisan groundswell for innovative policy approaches
to the challenge of ending violence against women. From our vantage
point in California's State capital, we believe we are perfectly
positioned to help make that case.
How can I get involved with Sacramento Women Take Back the Night?
For information on how to contact Sacramento WTBN and get involved, go here.
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