Day against violence against women, because it is celebrated on November 25 – Corriere.it

the November 25 It is celebrated worldwide World day against violence against women. But where does this anniversary come from?

The story of the Mirabal sisters

To find out, you need go back to 1960. On November 25 of that year, in fact, three sisters were assassinated by agents of the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. After being arrested in the street on the way to jail to visit their husbands, they were beaten and thrown into a ravine by their executioners who tried to pass off brutal violence by an accident. It was immediately clear to public opinion that the three women had been murdered. Patria, Minerva and Mara Teresa Mirabal – these are their names – they were known as activists of the underground group Movement June 14, detested by the government. Due to their militancy, in January 1960 they were also arrested and imprisoned for a few months.(the in-depth study on Few stories).

The fight against the dictatorship

The three sisters also went down in history with the name of The butterflies (butterflies), for their courage to oppose the dictatorship and fight for rights. On August 3, 1960, after public pressure and reports of human rights violations made by the Organization of American States against the regime, President Héctor Bienvenido resigned in favor of Vice President Joaquín Balaguer, while Trujillo was assassinated. May 30, 1961. The three sisters were remembered in 1995 by the Dominican writer Julia Álvarez in The Time of the Butterflies, a book from which the film was also taken. In the time of butterflies with Salma Hayek in the role of Minerva (trailer here).

The institution of the day

The United Nations assembly established the Day in his memory: November 25, 1981 The first International Feminist Meeting of Latin American and Caribbean Women was held and from that moment on, November 25 was recognized as a symbolic date. In 1999 it was also institutionalized by the UN with Resolution 54/134 of December 17. A further step was taken with the recognition of violence against women as a social phenomenon to combat, thanks to the Vienna Declaration of 1993.

The symbol of red shoes

Especially in Italy, the symbol of the fight against violence against women is the Red shoes, “Abandoned” in many places to raise awareness. The symbol was created in 2012 by the Mexican artist. Elina chauvet with work Red Shoes, and thus it has become one of the most popular ways of denouncing femicides. The installation first appeared in front of the Mexican consulate in El Paso, Texas, to commemorate the hundreds of women killed in the Mexican city of Juárez.