Today is the first day of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence 2024 campaign and The Pixel Project is kicking things off with our 10th annual list of 16 female role models fighting to end violence against women in their communities. The intent of this list is simple: to highlight the good work of the heroines of the movement to end violence against women wherever they are in the world. The women in this year’s list hail from 16 countries and 5 continents.
Many of these outstanding women have shown that it is possible to transform the personal pain that came out of facing gender-based violence into positive action to stop violence against women, empower themselves and to show other survivors that it is possible to move forward with dignity and happiness. They have refused to let bitterness and pain get the better of them, opting to stand up for themselves and for other women and girls instead.
Others on this list may not have experienced gender-based violence inflicted on themselves but they have stepped up to do what is right: to speak up for women and girls who cannot do it for themselves, sometimes at great personal risk. All this requires immense courage, generosity of spirit and a strong enduring heart.
Without further ado, here in alphabetical order by first name, is our 2024 list of 16 female role models. We hope that these women will be an inspiration to others to get involved with the cause. To that end, we hope you will generously share this list via Facebook and Instagram to give these extraordinary 16 women and their work a moment in the sun.
It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.
Note: Information for all role model profiles was sourced via online research and is based on one or more news sources, articles and/or The Pixel Project’s own interviews with them. The main articles/reports from which these profiles have been sourced can be directly accessed via the hyperlinked titles. Please do click through to learn more about these remarkable women.
Written, researched and compiled by Regina Yau.
Inspired to support The Pixel Project’s anti-violence against women work? Make a donation to us today OR buy our 1st poetry collection, Under Her Eye. All donations and net proceeds from book sales go towards supporting our campaigns, programmes, and initiatives.
Female Role Model 1: Alcinda Lucas Dos Santos – Mozambique
Olympic boxer Alcinda Lucas Dos Santos was encouraged by her mother to take up boxing as a way to defend herself against school bullies and street violence. Several medals and years later, her hard-won status as one of Mozambique’s top boxers of any gender and as a prominent sports figure has inspired many women and girls to take up boxing as self-defense against gender-based violence. Dos Santos’s timely role in motivating women and girls to take up the sport for their own defense is no mean feat as according to the United Nations, at least 54 women in Mozambique face violence every day.
Female Role Model 2: Bandana Rana – Nepal
Bandana Rana trained and worked as a journalist before becoming one of Nepal’s foremost women’s human rights activists. She has spent over 30 years working in multiple fields including violence against women, gendered conflict, and engendered media through organisations and networks she co-founded and led including Saathi, an NGO dedicated to combatting violence against women in Nepal. On the global stage, she is the first Nepali woman to be elected as a member of the UN CEDAW Committee – a position she has held since 2017. When discussing her experience as a feminist changemaker, Bandana said: “I have found that when men and women work together, the work is speedier,” she said. “I think we need to educate our young boys. We need to groom them that way and that’s what’s going to be the change.”
Female Role Model 3: Bellanir Montes – Colombia
Bellanir Montes is a domestic violence survivor who started fighting for women’s rights in the 90s as a 16-year-old mother and community leader in Ciudad Bolívar on the outskirts of Bogotá. In 2011, she became even more determined to eradicate violence against women when her daughter, Nayibe Reyes Montes, a social worker at the Universidad Distrital, was killed in 2011 while defending a battered woman from her abuser. Today, she is part of the Colectivo Nayibe which is one of 13 organisations in the Network of Women of Ciudad Bolívar for Power and Peace. In her interview with Radio Nacional de Colombia, she said: “Women have been subjected to violence for centuries and for thousands of years, and here on the outskirts of the town, where there is poverty and marginalization, where most of us are women heads of household (not to say all of us), this is no exception. So we wanted to have a space for reflection and training. A place that would give us the opportunity to carry out work and be able to enhance it.”
Female Role Model 4: Deqa Yasin – Somalia
Deqa Yasin has devoted three decades to advocating for gender equality and women’s empowerment for Somali women. As deputy chair of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team, she was instrumental in enabling women to occupy 25% of seats in Parliament. During her tenure as the Minister of Women and Human Rights Development of Somalia, she presented the sexual offences bill, which would have been the first such bill providing dedicated legal protections for Somali women from sexual and gender-based violence including witness protections and safeguards for survivors. This bill stalled in Parliament and she faced brutal opposition from sheikhs and top parliamentary leaders as well as major online attacks. In an interview with The Global Observatory, Ms Yasin said: “We must broaden the discussion to encompass the myriad of risks women face when they seek political office. This includes addressing online violence, which extends beyond electoral cycles, and discussing rights, women’s empowerment, political participation, and the legislative and policy measures needed to elevate women.”
Female Role Model 5: Fidan Ataselim – Türkiye
Fidan Ataselim is one of the co-founders, the Secretary-General, and the Istanbul representative of the We Will Stop Femicides – a platform that monitors femicides and advocates for women’s safety in Türkiye. Ataselim advocates for the families of femicide victims, while working to raise public awareness of and build public support against femicide in Türkiye. She also works to enforce Türkiye’s Law No. 6284 for the protection of women and children against violence. In 2023, after an Istanbul court rejected conservative attempts to have the group shut down for “acting against the law and morality”, Ataselim told the media: “We will continue to fight. We will not give up our rights and political struggle.”
Female Role Model 6: Hermelinda Tiburcio – Mexico
Hermelinda Tiburcio is an indigenous Mixtec social worker from the Ñuu Savi community of Yoloxóchitl who became the first indigenous woman to publicly denounce a rape case in which Mexican soldiers attacked two women from her community in 1999. She faced threats until the UN stepped in to protect her. In the course of her battle for the rights and safety of Mexico’s indigenous women, she has also been the target of 3 failed assassination attempts. Her harrowing experiences have since become a symbol of the fight to end the exclusion, violence and systematic discrimination the indigenous women face. Tiburcio has stated, “I am aware that every day there is a possibility of dying, but I have decided to continue dreaming along with the dreams of many of my indigenous sisters who live waiting for a better Mexico, hoping that government institutions use public resources transparently, that institutions that administer justice are impartial and fair, and who give their lives for their children and for the future generation.”
Female Role Model 7: Jun Yamamoto – Japan
Jun Yamamoto was sexually abused by her father between the ages of 13 and 20. Today, she is a nurse who also campaigns for the rights of sexual abuse victims as the founding representative director of the Japanese sexual assault victims group Spring. Through Spring, Yamamoto works to push for reforms to the Japanese criminal code which can make it impossible for prosecutors to prove rape if the victim does not fight back against her attacker. In a 2019 interview with AFP, Yamamoto said: “When caught off guard or attacked by somebody who should be someone you can trust, you freeze in shock and cannot fight back. Even in a case where a father raped his daughter, the court says she could have resisted and lets him go. This legal situation is really a serious problem.”
Female Role Model 8: Lin Yu-Ting – Taiwan
Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting took up boxing at the age of 13 to protect her mother from her father’s domestic violence. Almost two decades on, she has become the first Taiwanese boxer to win a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics. Lin’s groundbreaking victory is also testimony to her strength and resilience outside the boxing ring when she was deemed eligible to compete despite being disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after reportedly failing flawed gender eligibility tests by the now-banned International Boxing Association. She faced a barrage of online bullying and misinformation that accused her of being transgender as she battled her way to her historic win. The people of Taiwan rallied behind Lin, with one Taiwanese commentator saying: “We will protect you as you protect your mom. You are the best Taiwanese girl.”
Female Role Model 9: Liz Guantai – Kenya
Liz Guantai was selected as a UN Women Global Champion for Women Economic Empowerment in 2015 and a Women Deliver Young Leader in 2020 following her contribution to the rights of women and girls in Kenya. As part of her work to eradicate violence against women in Kenya, Guantai trained community leaders on human rights with a specific focus on the negative impact of female genital mutilation and other types of gender-based violence on girls and women. This training enabled leaders to recognise and intervene in cases of violence against women and girls including providing support for survivors in collaboration with hospitals, the police, and the judiciary. As a law student, she wrote a Master’s thesis on marital rape in Kenya which recommends that “Kenya should explicitly criminalise marital rape in order to respect, protect and fulfill her human rights obligations pertinent to women. Moreover, it is recommended that a comprehensive response to marital rape requires the State to embrace both legal and extra-legal reforms that will not only criminalise but ultimately combat marital rape in the long term.”
Female Role Model 10: Lü Pin – China
In 2009, Lü Pin founded Feminist Voices, which was China’s largest new media channel on women’s issues and feminist advocacy. It was instrumental in the country’s grassroots feminist movement and #MeToo advocacy before it was permanently banned by the government in 2018. Prior to Feminist Voices, she was a journalist for China Women’s News and founded the electronic newsletter Women’s Voice. While Lü was attending the March 2015 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in the United States, Chinese officials detained five of her sister activists who had been organising a public protest about sexual harassment. She decided to remain in the U.S. after learning that the police visited her Beijing apartment. Since then, she has shifted to online activism and advocacy in support of Chinese feminists. In her Washington Post op-ed about the resilience of China’s #MeToo movement: “While voices behind many other social criticisms have disappeared in the harsh political climate in China, the #MeToo movement has miraculously shaped a broad feminist community and launched fierce debates on women’s rights time and time again. Mainstream opinion is still misogynistic, but society increasingly has to acknowledge the visibility of feminist views and respond, even in reactionary ways. The few celebrities accused of sexual assault, such as Wu, surely make #MeToo known to more Chinese people.”
Female Role Model 11: Meenakshi Raghavan – India
Meenakshi Raghavan is the 82-year-old leader of the Kadathanad Kalari Sangham martial arts school. She has become renowned in Vatakara, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, for her focus and commitment to empowering the next generation of young women by teaching them Kalaripayattu, India’s oldest martial art. She trains her students at no charge and believes that the teachings of Kalaripayattu will instil physical strength and mental resilience in girls and women. In her interview with The Guardian, Raghavan said: “Kalaripayattu plays an important role in building mental strength and self-confidence. Offering girls hope and empowerment…Given how crimes against women are increasing everywhere, it is important that young girls are equipped with the techniques of self-defence. It is not just a skill, it has become a necessity and essential for survival.”
Female Role Model 12: Munnira Katongole – South Africa
Munnira Katongole is a 22-year-old South African activist fighting for women’s human rights including participating in efforts to secure zero-tax-rate legislation on sanitary pads. She is also a climate justice advocate who was part of the South African Institute of International Affairs’ Youth Policy Committee on climate. She sees climate change as a wake-up call to transform the systems of exploitation that maintain discrimination against young women of colour. In her Generation Equality interview with UN Women Africa, Katongole said: “Millions of women and girls are being abused and killed every day, simply for existing in this white, patriarchal society. How can one not speak up for gender equality? I’m an unapologetic, radical, Black feminist. Seeing young girls suffer and even die, completely unnecessarily, fuels my activism. […] The world as we know was built on the backs of women of colour and continues to be vivified by young women of colour. We are not asking to be listened to, we are not owed favours, we WILL have our rightful and due seats at the table.”
Female Role Model 13: Sara El Outa – Lebanon
When the Covid lockdown in Lebanon resulted in a spike in domestic violence cases, Sara El Outa and her team at the Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering (RDFL) used online counselling to provide emergency victim assistance including psychosocial and legal support. RDFL prioritised requests from girls and women living in rural areas and under vulnerable conditions and El Outa also engaged and collaborated with youth groups to widen RDFL’s outreach efforts to serve those in need of cash assistance or protection from gender-based violence. In an interview with Jinha, a women’s news agency in 2020, El Outa said: “The Lebanese Democratic Women’s Gathering provides legal, psychological and social support for women survivors of violence. Due to the economic crisis, we have provided financial support and transportation allowance to the survivors of violence for two years. We have distributed hygiene products to women because the prices of hygiene products have increased particularly after the explosion at Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020. The economic situation has deteriorated further, and we have also provided counseling services not only for women and survivors of violence, but also young people and those suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.”
Female Role Model 14: Shaza Ahmed – Sudan
Shaza Ahmed is the Executive Director of Nada El Azhar, a women-led organisation that assists survivors of gender-based violence and provides mental health support and life-saving provisions as part of a famine prevention plan in Sudan where more than 7,000 new mothers are at risk of death and gender-based violence–including intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, and human trafficking–has increased exponentially since the start of the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. In an interview with the UN, Ahmed said: “We need to recognise this crisis for what it is: it’s a protection and gender-based violence crisis […] I will call for a joint effort to address the needs of women and children and to put them at the centre of the humanitarian work in Sudan. We need to address their different needs, different hard times, and different solutions. We’d like also to make sure that they are well consulted and well represented. For example, we need to have a focus on women and girls with disabilities, because their needs and concerns are completely different.”
Female Role Model 15: Taya Carneiro – Brazil
At the age of 24, Taya Carneiro became the president and co-founder of the of the Libertarian Union of Trans Women of the District of Brasilia where she led a campaign to push back against deep-seated transphobic prejudices in Brazil such as the idea that being transgender is a medical disorder. Her activism focused on the investigation and creation of collectives that promote the rights of the LGBTQ+ community and improve general understandings of trans identity as a form of preventing gender-based violence towards trans women. As a Masters student in communications at the University of Brasilia, she researched gender, sexuality, and discrimination and access to employment and income. In 2017, she presented her case of violence against trans women in New York for the UN International Youth Day. Carneiro died in June 2023 at the age of 30.
Female Role Model 16: Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine – Australia
Tessa Boyd-Caine is the CEO of Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS) which was established as an initiative of Australia’s first National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022 (National Plan) by the Commonwealth Government and all state and territory governments of Australia. Originally a criminologist, she has worked in health, criminal justice and human rights organisations in Australia and internationally. As the CEO of ANROWS, Dr Boyd-Caine has spoken, written, or released statements about ANROWS’ research findings on a wide range of issues related to violence against women and girls. In 2024, she spoke to SBS News about migrant women facing workplace sexual harassment in Australia. In an ANROWS media release, she stated: “It is a fundamental right to feel safe at work. Yet many migrant and refugee women in Australia are deprived of this basic security. The evidence shows that addressing sexual harassment, racism, and exploitative conditions in isolation is inadequate. We must understand that these issues are interconnected if we are to improve conditions and safety of migrant and refugee women in Australian workplaces.”
Photo Credits:
- Alcinda Lucas Dos Santos – From “Mozambican woman starts boxing for self-defence, reaches Olympics” (Context/Thomson Reuters Foundation/Amilton Neves)
- Bandana Rana – From Bandana Rana on Twitter
- Bellanir Montes – From “#EscúchameTambién | 6 voices against gender based violence in Latin America” (Open Democracy)
- Deqa Yasin – From https://deqayasin.com/
- Fidan Ataselim – From https://esitlikadaletkadin.org/fidan-ataselim-has-been-featured-on-cnn-internationals-list-of-gender-equality-advocates/
- Hermelinda Tiburcio – From “#EscúchameTambién | 6 voices against gender based violence in Latin America” (Open Democracy)
- Jun Yamamoto – From Spring
- Lin Yu-Ting – From Wikimedia Commons (Office of the President of the Republic of China, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons)
- Liz Guantai – From https://inerela.org/
- Lü Pin – From China Change
- Meenakshi Raghavan – From “Meet ‘Samurai Amma’, the oldest practitioner of Kalaripayattu” (Sportskeeda)
- Munnira Katongole – From “I am Generation Equality: Munnira Katongole, youth activist for social change and climate justice” (UN Women Africa)
- Sara El Outa – From Women Deliver
- Shaza Ahmed – From “‘Women-led organizations are heroes of the humanitarian work in Sudan’ – Interview with activist Shaza Ahmed” (UN Women)
- Taya Carneiro – From tayacq (Instagram/Taya Carneiro)
- Tessa Boyd-Caine – From ANROWS
