What you can do for #MeToo
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
The #MeToo campaign has made sexual violence impossible to ignore - we need to seize this opportunity to take action.
Call on the BC government to take a concrete step towards addressing sexual harassment and violence on university campuses where sexual assault is far too common.
This week, our social media feeds lit up with the hashtag #MeToo. This powerful -- and at-times painful -- campaign has raised awareness of how many women, femmes, and non-binary people are impacted by sexual harassment and violence.
The sheer volume of people sharing the hashtag has made it clear that almost no woman has been free of this issue in her lifetime. But now we have an opportunity to turn this social media conversation into action.
Women are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence on post-secondary campuses, with a heart-breaking 1 in 5 Canadian women experiencing sexual assault while at university. [1]
Provinces have the power to legislate policies to prevent sexual violence at colleges and universities. While BC has introduced a law requiring sexual violence policies at post-secondary institutions, it doesn't go far enough. [2]
Let’s use the momentum of #MeToo to get concrete action on addressing sexual violence. If enough of us demand improved and enforced sexual violence legislation for post-secondary institutions in BC, we can channel the #metoo movement towards tangible change on campuses, as part of the larger fight to change rape culture in Canada.
Will you sign the petition calling on BC to act now to improve, strengthen and fund legislation to ensure post-secondary institutions have effective sexual violence strategies.
One thing that the #MeToo campaign has made clear is the immense scale of the problem, and the profound need to take tangible action towards changing a deeply rooted culture of sexual violence.
Sexual violence is often difficult for victims to report and even more difficult to prosecute. Only 0.3% of perpetrators of sexual assault are held accountable. [3] The stats we do have on harassment and assault at post-secondary institutions may even be underreported due to the systemic barriers to reporting assault that many people face.
There’s no single solution, but there are many steps colleges and universities can take to make things better. But the province will need to strengthen legislation to ensure that schools take action.
A massive petition could channel the energy of the #MeToo movement into political pressure to strengthen policies against sexual violence on campuses.
Quebec just announced it will spend $23 million over 5 years to support post-secondary institutions develop and implement sexual violence prevention policies -- and we need BC to do the same. [4] Without funding, programs will not be able to be thoroughly implemented.
We’re in this together,
Rachel, Chloe, Brittany, Katelynn and the Leadnow team
Sources:
[1] http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/4106721/Our-Turn-Action-Plan-Final-English-2.pdf
[3] see [1]
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