25/11/2025
So, it’s the 16 Days of Activism, a global campaign running from 25 November to 10 December that raises awareness about gender-based violence.
You’ll likely see a wave of social media posts, morning teas, and community walks over the next couple of weeks - all intended to shine a light on violence against women.
But the hard truth? Awareness alone doesn’t create change.
It hasn’t yet, and it won’t now.
This issue is complex, but not because we don’t know how to address it. We absolutely do. Expert recommendations have been handed to local, state, and federal governments for years.
The problem is that they’re not enacted. Systems aren’t resourced. Prevention isn’t prioritised. And campaigns like this are often used as a way for institutions to look like they’re “doing the work” while avoiding the structural changes that would actually keep women and girls safe.
Awareness raising has value, but awareness without action is performance.
If you want to see real change in your community, it will take collective pressure, not just sharing posts or venting to friends.
It looks like gathering your people.
It looks like writing, calling, emailing, meeting.
It looks like pushing your council, state MPs, and federal representatives to act on the recommendations they already have, and to stop shifting responsibility back onto women and girls to keep themselves safe.
Change doesn’t happen because we talk about violence.
Change happens when communities organise, show up, and apply sustained pressure to the systems that hold the power to transform the conditions that enable violence.
I'm asking you to do far more than raise awareness. Demand action.
