International Rescue Committee Launches Wake Up Call

by Alex DiBranco · 2011-01-13 08:42:00 UTC
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Have you ever wanted to shout at somebody: "Hey, wake up! One in three women around the world will be raped and abused over her lifetime"? Well, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has come up with a more effective way of issuing a wake up call.

On their new campaign site, The Wake Up Call, launched during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, anyone can submit commentary, photo, or video talking about violence against women and girls, and how they work to stop it. With submissions featured on their home page from Washington, D.C., to the Sudan, to the Congo, where rape has been used as a weapon of war for years, these stories provide a "wake up call" to people who currently aren't a part of the fight to end gender violence that it's a problem, people are working on it, and there are ways to help.

So instead of yelling at that less aware friend to pay attention, darn it, use the IRC site to send them an ecard issuing a wake up call. The excellent stories featured should do more to raise your friend's awareness of the violence facing women and girls around the world, and give them insight into how everyday people made their lives a struggle on behalf of these vulnerable persons. And if the person you'd really like to tell off is your Congressperson, well, the IRC site lets you send them a wake up call.

If you have your own wake up call story to submit about your own personal efforts, fantastic: share that too and make the site a better and better tool for educating and sharing information on gender violence.

Hear that alarm ringing? It's time to wake up. Spread the word.

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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