Gabriela launches warning for women vs abuse

MANILA, Philippines — Women’s rights group Gabriela launched the initiative “Warning for Women,” which aims to educate women on the prevalence of abuse.

The “Warning for Women” is a visual with a link that can be edited into teleserye clips shared online.

Upon seeing the warning, viewers can report any sights of domestic violence they see in real life to Gabriela through the link.

“This simple warning is where the fight against apathy begins. The Warning for Women serves to turn an online audience into real activists for women’s rights,” Gabriela said.

The group pointed out that mainstream media regularly uses the image of an abused woman as entertainment, which in turn normalizes violence against women.

“A cornerstone of the typical television drama, the domestic violence in media is becoming more and more common but reports are still few and far between. The recent rise of online uploads also means that these images are becoming more and more commonplace, normalizing the sight of domestic violence,” Gabriela said.

Moreover, Gabriela recently introduced Gabbie, a Facebook messenger chatbox which helps make the reporting of sexual harassment easier.

READ: Gabriela launches anti-sexual harassment chatbot ‘Gabbie’

According to the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority, a total of 10,963 women from age 15 to 49 experienced various forms of physical and sexual abuse.

In 2016, the Department of Social Welfare and Development served 399 cases of battered women, 157 cases of sexually abused women and 274 cases of sexually exploited women.

Last year, 23,775 cases of physical injuries, 1,897 cases of rape, 2,030 cases of acts of lasciviousness, 551 cases of attempted rape and 127 cases of incestuous rape were reported to the Philippine National Police.