The Gender Equality Committee of Cooperatives of the Americas is raising awareness about gender-based violence as part of a multinational campaign to end violence against women and girls.
Named Ni Una Menos (Not one [woman] less), the campaign started in 2015 Argentina and soon spread across the continent featuring region wide protests in response to the murders of teenagers and women by men in their lives.
According to the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean, in 2018 alone 3, 529 women lost their lives as a result of gender-based violence in the region. Countries with the highest rates include El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Bolivia.
“Co-operatives continue to be the highest example of actions towards a change of direction in international action, the Non-violence pacts, workshops on healthy masculinity and an important budget dedicated by co-operatives to education for peace, are a sign of the concern that exists in relation to the subject,” wrote in a statement Xiomara Núñez de Céspedes, president of the regional Gender Equality Committee of Cooperatives of the Americas (ACI-Americas).
She added: “It is imperative to raise awareness that we must break the paradigms of a patriarchal society to become a more just and egalitarian humanity for all according to co-operative values and principles.”
