Facebook supports women empowerment causes on its site. To date, more than 28 million users have participated
KFC worker vs customer dramatic fight at i-CIty, Shah Alam video went viral on Youtube. A Mexican woman turned to Youtube to seek justice as a sexual harassment victim. Egyptian government went down after its citizens got united through social media. Without any doubts, public is turning to social media whenever problem occurs, in the hope of creating impactful awareness and eventually finding solutions to the problems.
Facebook is trying to accomodate such need and created ‘Women Connect‘. The special page encourages people to pledge and participate on various featured causes & advocacy pages focusing on women. Millennium Development Goals is one of the main featured sources. A few other featured causes including: Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, Girl Up, and Men Can Stop Rape Campaign. The total supporter numbers have currently reached more than 28 millions.
“By building technology that allows people to easily connect and share, we are helping women’s organizations and causes connect with supporters around the world. Are you connected to women’s causes and advocacy Pages?” – Facebook through Facebook + Journalists page
About the featured causes:
1. Milennium Development Goals
MDG refers to common goals pledged by all 193 nations of UN members to solve global problems including poverty, child mortality, and AIDS by 2015.
2. Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence
The Center provides a safe home for domestic violence victims, and the most important things, provide them with options of what to do next when they come back to the society.
3. A Real Man Doesn’t Raise His Hand on a Woman
This is an African-made cause that was created in the light of ending gender-based violence in Africa. Up to date, the cause has received more than 100,000 likes as a symbol of support. People are sharing stories about the violence towards women they witnessed as well as the qualities ‘a real man’ should posses.
Although created for good intentions, a number of people think Facebook should first focus on managing its filter to minimize graphic and undermining contents including pro-rape pages (although existence of such pages are still being questioned) before creating awareness page like Women Connect. Another concern is the current Facebook filter still censors breastfeeding images.
Controversies aside, we should focus on educating ourselves on the issue and support women empowerment campaigns. Malaysia is not lagging behind in women causes with Facebook presence.
The recent Sexual Harassment OUT (Shout) campaign is an initiative by rights-based organizations in Malaysia to educate the society about sexual harassment and the local law against it. There are also NGOs like All Women’s Actions Society (AWAM) and Sister in Islam (founded in 1993) who dedicate themselves towards a better living quality for Malaysian women.
Support fellow women through women empowerment causes!
