From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World:  Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women ( http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/)

For many of us in the church, action begins with prayer.  Prayer grounds us and helps us speak the truth into the world, and so we offer you these prayers for each of the 16 days as food for reflection and action.

Violence against women and girls manifests itself in many ways. On one side of the spectrum, there is rape, domestic violence, and human trafficking. On the other, less physical but more insidious are pornography, girls forced into prostitution, and harmful assaults on girls’ body image. Whether done by physical force, or words and pictures, violence against women and girls women robs women of their souls and self esteem.

• Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.
• 64% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date.
• Only about half of domestic violence incidents are reported to police; only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police.
• The National College Women Sexual Victimization Study estimated that between 1 in 5 college women experience completed or attempted rape during their college years.
• More than half of all rapes of women occur before age 18; 22% occur before age 12.

The International Anglican Women’s Network (IAWN) has set the issue of violence against women and girls as its #1 priority for the next several years.   Our General Convention has passed many resolutions on this issue, but this is the first time that women in the Episcopal Church have created this campaign through a partnership between ECW, AWE and EWC that began in 2010.

We encourage people — women and men, girls and boys — to mark the 16 Day period by using these prayers, every day during the 16 days, in personal or corporate prayer and worship. We also hope that sermons will be preached, articles will be written, and the bulletin insert will be used as we move through the 16 Day period.   Please share your actions for the campaign on the blog, http://episcopal16days.wordpress.com.