16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign
#16Days #GBVTeachin
The 16 Days Campaign invites human rights activists, gender justice advocates, experts placed within academia,
survivors of gender-based violence and the larger online community to join a Twitter teach-in during the 16 Days
Campaign (November 25-December 10, 2015) exploring the multiple effects and causes of gender-based violence
(GBV), the right to education for all, and how militarism intensifies the denial of this right as well as the prevalence of
GBV for diverse marginalized identities. Identities discussed will include race; ethnicity; caste; sexuality;
socioeconomic, transgender, and indigenous status; and more. The more is up to you and depends on your
involvement!
You just need a Twitter account where you can follow @16DaysCampaign on Twitter and use the hashtags #16days
and #GBVteachin to participate!
What is a #16Days #GBVTeachin?
Teach-ins are series of several, continuous tweets from a single source that revolve around social justice topics. Linked
together with a unique hashtag, teach-ins are essentially tweetable lectures that are meant to educate a wide, general
audience.
They are effective as awareness raising tools because they take advantage of Twitter’s global platform, are brief and
accessible, and can double as a means of knowledge-sharing between organizations and activists. Like actual lectures,
Twitter teach-ins also allow for dynamic interaction between their audiences and those who tweet them. The online
community can provide its input by tweeting questions and comments to the teach-in hosts.
While this year the Campaign’s focus is on “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Make Education Safe for
All!”, the topic you choose to share will reflect the area of expertise or advocacy you and your organization do. So this
means some might conduct a Teach-In on targeting of girls’ schools, whiles others may focus on the importance of
resourcing women’s human rights work.
What is the Goal?
 Strengthen awareness about linkages between the denial of the right to education for both girls and boys and
other genders, gender-based violence and militarism (see What is Militarism? );
 Highlight information, stories, and resources of genders, individuals, and communities possessing
marginalized identities that can intensify our experiences of violence and the denial of our human rights
 Examine through information sharing the role of different actors in perpetrating acts of gender-based violence
and other human rights violations.
Discussion Format
Participants will tweet their teach-in information on selected dates. During the date you have chosen to participate, as
a convener you will share information on Twitter that you have drafted into 140 characters along with whatever links
to resources you have (if any). For examples, see the Storify from last year: You can prepare this information ahead of
time and simply start posting it when it’s your turn to share with both hashtags #16Days #GBVteachin. If you have
your tweetable content prepared ahead of time, a great strategy is to schedule and share that information via
HootSuite or TweetDeck or another online Twitter application.
The online community will also be able to contribute by tweeting its own teach-ins, questions, and short responses by
using the hashtags #16days and #GBVteachin. The 16 Days Campaign will then highlight participants by retweeting
their teach-ins to reach more audiences.
A Space for Learning
Ideally, organizations should be able to make links between GBV and the very broad and intersectional nature of
militarism 1. With that said, the teach-in by its nature is meant to be open space for learning. The teach-in is meant to
provide a platform for organizations working on GBV to share their expertise, information, and analysis on a particular
issue with a broader 16 Days Campaign audience. It would be excellent if you are capable of deliberately making the
links between the issues you wish to tweet about and the broader issue of militarism, but that is not a requirement.
Sample Teach-In
The following teach-in explores how discrimination on the basis of ethnicity intensified violence against Bosniak
women during the Bosnian War. Participating organizations are encouraged to compose teach-ins that explore the
intersections of two or more marginalized identities with GBV and militarism and also to prepare multiple teach-ins.
Teach-ins’ lengths and content are discretionary.
Nations r built around hierarchies that designate certain ethnicities as ideal & others as ‘Other’ #16days
#GBVteachin
Militaristic nations designate violence, & especially VAW, as a legitimate means of subjugating and
subordinating the ethnic Other #16days #GBVteachin
Rape has been employed in modern conflict to destroy this Other by forcing its women to bear the
enemy’s children #16days #GBVteachin
While all women were targeted, ~60,000 Bosniak women were raped on the basis of their ethnicity &
forced into rape camps #16days #GBVteachin
Connect with Us!
Twitter: @16DaysCampaign
16 Days Campaign: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu
16 Days Listserv: https://email.rutgers.edu/mailman/listinfo/16days_discussion
Online Campaign Calendar: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/campaign-calendar
Blog: http://cwgl.tumblr.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/CWGLRutgers
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16dayscampaign
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/16DaysCampaign
Email: [email protected]
Center for Women’s Global Leadership
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
http://cwgl.rutgers.edu
1
16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. 2015 Take Action Kit, Information Sheet on What is Militarism? (Afrikaans) (Arabic)
(English) (Estonian) (French) (Spanish)