On International Women’s Day, Wednesday, March 8, Cowichan will Rise Again, staging the 5th Annual One Billion Rising event to gather and to share in community against violence against women.
One Billion Rising is a global movement conceived by Eve Ensler, outspoken author of The Vagina Monologues, to unite women and allied men around the world to oppose the prevalence of violence against women, that sees one in every three women subjected to physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime.
Cowichan’s event includes speakers from local community stakeholders: First Nation’s elders, health care service providers, transition house administrators, and social support non-profits, who gather around One Billion Rising’s banner to share, to empower and to energize, raising awareness of the issue in the community.
Its prevalence in the community cannot be understated. Provincially, the Cowichan Valley has been highlighted by the Ministry of Health as being in a crisis situation with regard to this issue specifically, and to many of its contributing factors.
Rise to honour those who have suffered violence locally and globally at noon in Duncan City Square.
Learn Debbie Allen’s choreography for the dance “Break the Chain”:
