Dressember: Wearing Dresses to Protest Violence Against Women

December 1, 2016 by Sierra K

Featured student: Courtney Robertson

No-Shave November (which supports cancer awareness through not shaving and raising money to kick cancer) is now ending, and a new month of making a global impact through bringing light and information is underway.

Dressember is a movement that takes place over the course of December. Originally, Dressember was not a human rights movement, but it has evolved over the past several years to have a special meaning and mission to women everywhere: Wear a dress each day of December in support of women’s solidarity and liberty, to combat human trafficking, slavery, and other violent forms of oppression.

Of course, the purpose behind Dressember is not just about wearing pretty dresses and using hashtags on selfies and social media posts, but it presents an annual opportunity for people across a span of different countries, to fundraise money to liberate people, generally women and children, who are sexually exploited and denied of their basic human rights, dignity, and agency.

Featured student: Erica Howard

Furthermore, Dressember is not only a movement, but it’s also a nonprofit organization that has partnered with other organizations, such as the International Justice Mission. Over the past ten years, IJM has freed approximately 20,000 people in different countries who are being oppressed and victimized through violence. Besides helping to liberate these people, they also partner with authorities in each country they work in to improve their justice systems.

In 2015, participants of Dressember helped to raise approximately one million dollars, nearly all of which has gone directly to the mission of IJM, along with A21, which is another human rights organization that focuses exclusively on resisting and preventing human trafficking.

So, if you see women or men wearing dresses throughout this wintry month and possibly shivering, know that they are expressing their support and favor of a good cause; they are dressing for the oppressed people who are subjugated and not given the same liberties, and who endure far worse conditions than just being a little cold.

I invite you to come along and join the movement, don a dress, and become involved by showing your support online. Awareness incites action and action is what inspires change!

Dressember’s Website: http://www.dressember.org/mission/

More Information Here: http://news.ijm.org/dressember-movement-celebrates-femininity-to–hit-hard-at-human-trafficking-and-violence-against-women