Theatre against gender-based violence

In the interest of promoting the recognition of signs of violence, in order to encourage women to cut cycles of abuse and seek timely support from institutions, the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of Women (ISDEMU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the InfoSegura Regional Project, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), hosted the presentation of a play and a dialogue with community leaders.

The activity, which is part of the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence and a joint awareness campaign on violence against women and femicide prevention, was chaired by UNDP Resident Representative Maribel Gutiérrez, and ISDEMU Director María Lilian López, with more than 100 women leaders from the departments of San Salvador and La Libertad in attendance.

Titled "Someday," the performance by the theatre group La Cachada led to discussion on everyday situations where women experience violence throughout their life cycle, and in the both public and private spheres.

The ISDEMU and UNDP campaign shared messages on social media outlets, and implemented activities in municipalities in Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Salvador and La Libertad with women leaders, justice operators and community leaders to demystify the idea of violence against women as a linear phenomenon, alerting Salvadoran women about behaviours and aggressions that may be normalized in their relationships, encouraging them to seek support.

"To reduce violence, we have to foster the empowerment of women overall, including the political and economic dimensions. The campaign will have been successful when there is a reduction in the statistics on violence, changes in cultural patterns," emphasized the UNDP Representative.

The campaign will also seek to inform about the services women can access to get out of cycles of violence. The ISDEMU director stressed the importance of preventing and addressing violence and urged women to find out about and use the toll-free, 126 hotline and the 126teorienta.gob.sv platform, when they need it.

This article was originally published on the UNDP El Salvador website.