A new online project aims to highlight the problem of gender violence in Cambridge.

Sixteen Days in Cambridge, operating primarily through Facebook and Wordpress, aims to give a voice to students and staff at the University of Cambridge and residents of the city.

Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international movement which originated from the first meeting of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991. It runs from the 25th November, the International Day Against Violence Against Women, until the 10th December, the International Human Rights Day.

Since its inception, over 5,000 groups in almost 200 countries participated in the Sixteen Days project as well as organisations such as Amnesty International, the World Health Organisation, and many more local, grassroots projects.

Although the editor behind the Cambridge branch of the project is remaining anonymous, their aim is to post once on each of the sixteen days. Contributions are encouraged from the student and resident body of Cambridge, from creative writing or photography to essays.

The project website states that the aim is to emphasise that “everyone is affected by gender violence.”

“Nearly all of us will know someone close to us who has experienced it, or have been affected ourselves,” states the website, “We’d like this to be a platform for survivors of assault, abuse or rape to tell their stories on their own terms. But it’s also a space for those have been more indirectly affected and for bystanders."

In a survey of 2,156 men and women by the National Union of Students (NUS) published in September 2014, 37 per cent of women and 12 per cent of men who responded said they had faced unwelcome sexual advances. 

Furthermore, according to new World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 30 per cent of women worldwide have experienced partner violence.

Contributions can be emailed to sixteendaysincambridge@gmail.com or submitted by messaging the Facebook page.