25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a day that honours the Mirabal sisters, links gender-based violence to human rights and marks the start of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV). As Take Back the Tech! has launched a 16 Days campaign exploring the movement against GBV, it's important to consider how this movement began.
Although women have resisted violence in a variety of ways throughout history, women's right to live free from violence was not formally recognised at an international level until the late twentieth century. In 1979 the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), an international treaty since ratified by 189 nations, though with reservations in many instances. The only states that have not either signed or ratified the treaty are the Holy See, Iran, Niue, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga and the United States.
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Image from Take Back the Tech! campaign in Colombia, Colnodo.