International Women's Day
8 March 2004

It Begins With Respect

Joint Press Statement

In conjunction with this year's International Women's Day (IWD), Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) would be participating in A Girl's Day Out - the chosen theme for 2004.

IWD (8th March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. The date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday.

Following the success of previous IWD celebrations, this will be the third year that WAO will be working with Red Com and 3R (Respect, Relax, Respond) the innovative television programme for young women. IWD 2002 was celebrated at the KLCC Park and in 2003, the Waterfront in Kuching, Sarawak.

This year, A Girl's Day Out will be celebrated at the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre on March 13th and 14th from 10am - 9pm and 10am - 7pm respectively. This particular theme was chosen in view of the recent rise in crimes against women.

In addition to the host of events lined up for IWD 2004, WAO will present a centre stage special called Men At Work. One of the main activities for A Girl's Day Out, Men at Work will feature several male celebrities who will carry out several work done at home in a given time frame. This is to engage in a serious issue of valuing the work done predominantly by women in the homes, through a fun platform.

Free gifts contributed by the Body Shop and Daisy Milk will also be made available at the WAO booth where visitors will be able to sign up as volunteers in addition to receiving information about domestic violence and various other issues concerning women's rights.

It is hoped that the two days allocated specially for this event will serve to encourage young women especially to step out and recognise their right to a safe environment. In addition to this, WAO also hopes that this event will encourage more active participation by men to stand out and speak out against violence against women.

While the responsibility of this awareness lies in everyone, there is no better time than now to break the silence and take positive action to ensure a safer environment for women.

Joint Press Statement
A Girls' Day Out - It Begins with Respect

The All Women's Action Society (AWAM), Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), Amnesty International (AI), Sisters in Islam (SIS) and Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) together with Red Communications' "3R", are happy to announce that we are joining together once again to celebrate International Women's Day 2004.

International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March by women's groups around the world. This is the third consecutive year that women's groups have worked with 3R to celebrate IWD with the aim of reaching out to young women and men in Malaysia. With the support and participation of corporate sponsor Kotex and other sponsors, there will be a public exhibition and performances at the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, Kuala Lumpur on 13 and 14 March 2004.

Sadly, with the many brutal incidents of sexual violence highlighted in the press lately, women and girls have become afraid of going out to public places and there are more restrictions facing women's activities and movements. We believe that women in Malaysia have the right to feel safe not only in the home but also in public spaces and should be able to have the same freedom as men to move around and participate in events and activities around them. Our theme for this year "A Girls' Day Out" - 'It Begins with Respect' emphasises this need to create a safer environment for women to be equal members of society.

After almost 20 years of struggle, AWAM, WAO and SIS are happy to note that our joint campaign has been embraced by women and men from all sectors of society. Today the elimination of gender violence is not seen only as a women's issue for women to battle on their own but as society's responsibility, with men and women from the government, NGOs and the corporate sector all coming together to find concrete ways of ending the violence in our communities.

Amnesty International brings the energy and determination of its 1.8 million members and supporters from all over the world to join women and men already leading brave and inspiring campaigns against gender violence. In its global Stop Violence Against Women campaign to be launched on the 8th of March 2004, Amnesty International will bring the power and persuasion of a human rights framework to this campaign.

The Malaysian AIDS Council is a crucial partner to this year's celebration; the United Nations has identified the theme for the World AIDS Campaign 2004 as Women and HIV/AIDS.

We are coming together this year to reach out to young women and men to highlight the need to make our homes, streets and public spaces safe for women.

Joint Statement by:

Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)
Tel: +603 79585287

All Women's Action Movement (AWAM)
Tel: +603 78774221

Sisters In Islam (SIS)
Tel: +603 79606121

Amnesty International (AI)
Tel: +603 79552680

Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC)
Tel: +603 40451033

Related Articles:

• Event - International Women's Day 2004
• History of International Women's Day - UN Site
• A History of International Women's Day in Words & Images - ISIS Site
• Talking Points - Men At Work