Increasingly intense climate change & disasters disproportionately damage the safety and rights of women & children, worsening gender inequality at alarming, unprecedented rates. Only by involving the entirety of society can we truly overturn social norms, attitudes, and public discourse to invoke lasting action on systemic and individual levels. As the Generation Equality Forum’s landmark 5-year plan for global action from 2021-2026 is a critical building block, with evermore urgency, we are focusing on three of the forum’s directives – gender-based violence, socio-economic equality & justice, and the intersection of feminist action with climate justice – all while incorporating the United Nations CEDAW treaty and Sustainable Development Goals.

Now is a vital moment for activists, feminists, allies, the government, civil society, private sector, entrepreneurs, social media and more – to drive urgent action and to create transformative change impacting generations to come! TCAV (Taiwan Coalition Against Violence) is an alliance of 39 individual experts and 40 non-governmental organizations working on diverse issues, such as domestic violence, sexual assault victim protection, child protection, etc. TCAV has been a leading advocacy non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and elimination of gender-based violence in Taiwan for years, implementing CEDAW and SDGs. Engaging youth in cooperation with elders, we extend the system-based advocacy to community-based advocacy and turn SDGs from global vision into local action.

In order to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental health, and disaster risk reduction, we have taken steps beyond that scope. TCAV has extended our concern to not only focus on the prevention of gender-based violence, but also to the fact that “violence to the earth is also violence to women and children.” To create a public understanding of this unintuitive issue, we’re entering the conversation by collaborating with Taiwan’s elderly community care stations/focus points to promote the benefits of low-carbon healthy living principles. The Soil container created by The Low-Carbon Healthy Living Foundation is an open exhibition to engage with local focus points on the concepts of empowerment & autonomy in climate justice – becoming a base for more diverse feminist movements.

This event connects SDGs with the risk factors for violence. By integrating the know-how of TCAV to approach grassroot efforts forming violence prevention & protection networks, communities can learn freedom from violence, stigmas and stereotypes. TCAV drives gender equality and sustainable impact from a local to global scale, which when combined with multilateralism we can march closer to a future generation of equality.

Each of the three speakers represent a key aspect in the multifaceted movement from Soroptimist’s international aid efforts to TCAV’s local empowerment entities to sustainable low-carbon living technology. The theme will be examined from both global macro perspectives and individual micro actions, sharing a united vision on the future of gender equality.