P.E.I. residents hold march calling for end to gender-based violence

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — About 150 people marched down the streets of Charlottetown Thursday evening to raise awareness about gender-based violence during this year’s Take Back the Night event.

Take Back the Night (TBTN) is the earliest worldwide movement to stand against sexual violence, specifically violence against women.

Events began in Europe in the 1960s to protest the lack of safety women experienced walking the streets alone.

This movement has grown to hundreds of events around the world.

In a Facebook post following the march, Natalie Jameson, minister responsible for the Status of Women, said the event was “moving beyond measure”.

“Together we marched as a symbol of our shared commitment to a world free of gender-based violence in all its forms.”

The 2020 initiative to revitalize the Take Back the Night tradition in P.E.I. was spearheaded by the P.E.I. Rape and Sexual Assault Centre.

HISTORY

• Take Back The Night is the earliest worldwide movement to stand against sexual violence, especially violence against women.
• TBTN events began in the 1960’s in Belgium and England with protests about women not feeling safe walking down the street alone at night.
• In 1973, in the United States, a group of women at the University of Southern Florida dressed in black sheets, held broomsticks, and marched through campus demanding a women’s center.
• In 1975, a crowd in Philadelphia held a Take Back The Night Event to protest the murder of a microbiologist walking home after work.
• In the 1970s, San Francisco had a number of rallies in protest of “snuff” pornography and violence against women.
• These early protests sparked hundreds of events on college campuses and in communities of all sizes and locations, all hoping to bring awareness to sexual violence and provide support for victims.

Source: Take Back the Night Foundation