Share your voice! 
Soroptimist International, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl
Scouts, the World YWCA, and the Friends of Cambodian Child’s Dream Organisation
invite you to participate in a worldwide conversation about violence against
rural women and girls: experiences and solutions. 

We have developed a list of seven questions
and we want to know YOUR thoughts!  We
will be collecting responses – written, audio, video, or photo – over the
coming weeks as we prepare for the Commission on the Status of
Women taking place in New York from 27th February to 9th March. 

This year’s CSW theme is “the
empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development
and current challenges.”  We will be
taking these questions to the event and capturing responses in person,
culminating in a side event with panellists from each of our
organisations. 

If you would like to participate, please answer any of the
following questions in 2 minutes or less – don’t forget to tell us your name
and where you’re from!  And feel free to
share your response in any format you like. 
They will all be edited together after CSW to create a film which we
will distribute far and wide.

1) What are the risk factors, including cultural and
societal norms, which render rural women and girls around the world vulnerable to
violence?  Are they different from those
facing women and girls living in urban or peri-urban areas? What are the
specific challenges facing young rural women?

2) Do rural women and girls experience violence differently
from women and girls living in urban or peri-urban areas? Are there specific
challenges facing young rural women?

3) What kinds of interventions, from your first hand
experience, work best in a rural setting? 
What types of educational and awareness measures are proving effective?

4) How are rural women and girls leading change in this
area? What more can be done to build the leadership of rural young women and
men to respond to violence in their communities?

5) How can policies or legislation work to reduce incidence
of violence against women and girls in rural areas? Are sufficient resources
being directed towards addressing the problem?

6) How can we create safe spaces in rural communities for
women and girls experiencing violence?

7) What are five simple, cost-effective strategies to
address violence against rural women and girls?

Women
and girls in every country across the world are being subjected to many forms
of violence; those living in rural areas face different risks to violence and
challenges in responding.  Empowering
solutions may be different in rural settings as well.  We all have the right to live free from violence
and the fear of violence and to be aware of our rights – and find the voice to
create a global movement and actions to end violence. Building from a whisper to a shout, we need
to talk, join together and inspire action around the world!

Send your responses to hq@soroptimistinternational.org. If your file is too large to email, then contact us at the same email address and we will find an alternative! We look forward to hearing from you!