Since 2004, the SamuSocial Peru has been providing support services to women victims of domestic violence at Huaycán, substituting for the lack of public welfare services.

Due to the violence of the guerrilla until the beginning of 1990’s, Martha’s family ran away and settled down in Huaycán. The young woman stayed at the Samu Social centre and is still followed by the mobile staff. She testifies:

It began when I got pregnant, he used to come home drunk in the middle of the night and he slapped and kicked me. I was terrified. He was always watching me and prevented me from going at work. I stayed because he threatened to take out the children.    

They have suffered a lot from this situation, they have seen everything. Despite, I did my best so they can go to school and learn to read and write. The last time my husband stroke me, I went to the police, but they didn’t want to listen to me.   If the Samu didn’t exist, where would I have gone? They were the only ones who hosted me. They helped me going out of this situation and thinking about my children education. Mrs Beatriz (a Samusocial Perú educator) has always told me I could cope. Look at me and see where I am today! I run my own market stand and this man will never hurt me anymore.

The Kering Foundation is proud to support Samusocial Peru. If you want to contribute to this project, you can raise funds! Get connected on Catapult, the first crowd-funding platform dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women.

On the occasion of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women that gathered 6.000 of representatives of civil society, Western and Muslim countries overcame their differences of opinion to adopt an “historic statement” according to Michelle Bachelet, ex-UN Women's Executive Director.

The 17-page 'Agreed Conclusions' of the Commission, adopted on last 15 March by the 193 UN Member States – Iran, Libya and Sudan included -, condemns in the strongest terms violence against women and girls that “could not be justified by any custom, tradition or religious consideration”, whereas according to a World Bank report, more women between the ages of 15 and 44 die in rapes and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria combined.

The statement set out a code of conduct for combatting violence against women by implementing particularly through education and awareness-raising actions, to address gender inequalities in the political, economic and social spheres.

Executive Director of UN Women during 2 years – and former Chilean President - Michelle Bachelet plans to return home. Following the announcement of her departure, the UN Secretary-General has designated Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director, as the Acting Head of the organization.

Learn more about UN Women.

Eve Ensler shares with us the reasons of her involvement and her point of view on the main ways of action to be developed to end violence against women. With V-Day and the One Billion Rising campaign, she has convinced one billion people to rise up and dance last February 14. 

Read the interview.

"I think the hardest thing we have to confront is patriarchy, the mind-set of patriarchy which has been drilled for thousands of years into our body and cells and thinking. We have to go at the problem of violence against women from many angles. We must create laws and then fight to make sure they are applied. (…) We must make this issue the major issue of our time".

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Kering Foundation pursues its objective to raise awareness on violence against women by presenting, in a partnership with the store La Fnac, French committed actresses’ photographs at the Fnac des Ternes.

After listening several women’s testimonies, the director-photographer Carole Mathieu Castelli asked actresses to embody these emotions. Come to visit the exhibition A Travers Elles, from the 1st March to 15th of April. Portrays will be sold at an auction led by the auctioneer Candice Osenat,  to the benefit of Fédération Nationale Solidarité Femmes, a French association fighting against domestic violence, a PPR Foundation’s partner since 2009.

To learn more about the exhibition

Today, around the world, one billion women, that is one woman out of three, will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.

After 15 years of activism fighting violence against women through creative projects, V-Day, international movement created by Eve Ensler, the writer of The Vagina Monologues, launches a worldwide event: one billion of women and men, rising and dancing against gender-based violence on 14 February 2013.

François-Henri Pinault, the Chairman of the Kering Foundation, did the choice to join One Billion Rising movement: “As the chairman of an international company, it is my responsibility to raise awareness among our employees and stakeholders about violence against women.”

Watch his video message!

One Billion Rising - François-Henri Pinault, Chairman of the Kering Foundation from Kering Foundation on Vimeo.

Stay tuned on One Billion Rising website!