YWCA’s 2022 Week Without Violence: Centering Survivors

This year we focus on how today’s most divisive issues and headlines are impacting victims and survivors of gender-based violence.

Join us from October 17-22, 2022 as we raise awareness, elevate survivor voices, talk with policymakers, and more with a common goal: centering survivors so that together, we can end gender-based violence.

Background

Week Without Violence is part of a global movement to end violence against women and girls with YWCAs across the country and around the world. At YWCA, we know that not all violence is acknowledged or responded to equally. That’s why, for more than 20 years, YWCA has set aside one week in October as a Week Without Violence.

Supreme Court decisions, state legislation, and rising wave of hate and violence have created a chilling landscape for survivors. From gun violence and mass shootings to reproductive health restrictions, anti-LGBTQ+ laws, and police violence, some of our nation’s most contentious issues directly impact the safety and well-being of survivors in unique and especially harmful ways.

As our nation heads to the polls in November amidst the increasingly contentious rhetoric and political division surrounding abortion bands, “don’t say gay” laws, access to firearms, and more, voters will decide the outcomes of more than 7,000 local, state, and federal offices.

To ensure the voices and needs of all survivors are addressed, it is critical that we center survivors in these discussions and in our voter education and GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts. By raising awareness of the ways polarizing issues impact survivors, we can bridge divides and build support among voters, candidates, and policymakers for the services and solutions survivors need.

FACT SHEETS

• Gender-Based Violence Overview
• Challenges Faced by Survivors of Domestic Violence
• Wheel of Power & Control
• Gender-Based Violence & Health
• Gender-Based Violence & Technology