Gender Based Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Initiative aims to reduce and ultimately end gender based violence and sexual assault in the city.
In an effort to make Edmonton the best city in Canada for women, men and children to live work and play, the City is committed to preventing and addressing gender based violence. This initiative targets the root causes: inequality and discrimination.
This City Council initiative looks to engage all Edmontonians, but in particular, champions the role that men and boys play in the building of allyship and bystander skills to make our city safer, while improving the quality of life for people of all genders.
What is Gender Based Violence?
Gender based violence is the discrimination of someone based on their gender expression, gender identity or perceived gender. (Source: Status of Women Canada)
Often it is inflicted by someone who believes their own gender is superior, therefore they feel it gives them a right to control and/or hurt their victim.
Gender based violence is rooted in and intensified by other forms of discrimination such as racism, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and poverty.
In 2017, Leger engaged 600 Edmontonians through telephone interviews to understand their perspectives on sexual and gender based violence. The research findings show there are opportunities to increase awareness and understanding of the issues.
Did You Know?
- Canadian statistics report 1 in 6 women you know will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime
- Every hour of every day, a woman in Alberta is a victim of some form of violence by an intimate partner
- Almost 70% of domestic violence incidents in Edmonton go unreported
- Indigenous women are more than 8 times as likely to be killed by their intimate partner and 3.5 times likely to be victims of violence compared to non-Indigenous women