#WhatIReallyReallyWant Is What We NEED

August 19, 2016

Do you know what the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) really really wants? We want an end to violence against girls and women. We want equal pay for equal work. We want quality education for all women and girls. We want accessible and affordable health care. We want gender equality. We want RESPECT.

Collage of NNEDV staff holding signs Messages on signs include: respect, respect for all women and girls, equal pay and paid family leave.

Today, World Humanitarian Day, NNEDV reaffirms that violence against women and girls is a violation of human rights; therefore, working toward its eradication is a humanitarian cause. In 2015 at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, world leaders committed to making gender equality a reality by signing onto seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, of which goal five is a commitment to Gender Equality. These Global Goals build on the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals that aim to end poverty, fight inequality, and tackle climate change by 2030. [1] #GlobalGoals is challenging individuals to share what they really really want for women and girls to communicate to the United Nations this September. See others who support goal five, and what they really really want here.

Violence against women and girls prevents them from participating fully in society, and has negative consequences not only for individuals, but also for families and communities. Violence against women and girls is not only a grave violation of human rights, but also has a “multiplier effect across all other development areas.” [2] Yes, we really really want gender equality, but this world also needs gender equality to create a sustainable future.

#WhatIReallyReallyWant is a world with complete gender equality. Do you want the same? Join us to help end domestic violence as a humanitarian.

(And visit NNEDV.org on Women’s Equality Day – Friday, August 26th to find out how we imagine a world where full equality has been achieved!)

[1] http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda.html

[2] http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sdgoverview/post-2015-development-agenda/goal-5.html