Makeup brand tackles gender-based violence
Women’s Month is traditionally dedicated to empowering women in a world historically geared towards men. While the festivities celebrate womanhood, they also offer a platform for important, often-overlooked conversations concerning women’s rights and experiences.
This year, beauty brand Avon took the celebration a step further. Its launch of a new makeup line coincided with a panel discussion aimed at shedding light on the critical issue of gender-based violence, which continues to plague women around the world.
The speakers for the panel discussion included representatives from Avon’s partner organizations which were Gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation (GWAVE) Executive Director Onna Rhea C. Quizo and Lynn Pinugu, co-founder of Mano Amiga Philippines and She Talks Asia. Also gracing the discussion were social media personality Mimiyuuuh and pageant queen Pauline Amelinckx.
Throughout the discussion, the ladies expounded on the various kinds of gender-based violence that unfortunately occurs all over the world. According to Quizo, the most common type that occurs in the Philippines is violence against women, and the four categories under this were physical abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and economic abuse.
“For us at GWAVE, usually our highest case is usually psychological abuse but that is because a lot of women when they go to us, they don’t have enough evidence to file for physical abuse because every time they were physically abused in the past, they had no one to turn to and they try to hide it,” said Quizo.
Pinugu pointed out that the Philippines has some of the best laws and regulations in the world when it comes to gender-based violence but it is hindered by its implementation as well as the country’s culture.
“I think what we’re really fighting against is culture [like the normalization] of the culture of abuse… for some industries, some people… they’ve accepted that [abuse is] a fact of life and that’s so wrong,” said Pinugu.
Mimiyuuuh pointed out the presence of victim-blaming in the country which has allowed certain issues such as violence against women to continue for the longest time.
“Kaya parang hindi na-e-end yung cycle because hindi natin ginagawang… accountable yung mga abuser so I think that’s the culture that we really need to end right now,” said Mimiyuuuh.
“It’s important for us to also believe when a person or a victim or survivor rather, comes up and speaks up with her story and with [the] collective help of different people, that story can make a difference and that cycle can then end. We need to be able to realize… [that] safe spaces don’t just exist. They are created by us and we all have a part in creating those safe spaces for people to feel free to speak out and shine bright,” said Amelinckx.
In support of the efforts made towards mitigating the issue of gender-based violence, Avon announced that a portion of each sale of the Hydramatic Shine Lipstick from its new Make-up +Care range will be donated to the beauty brand’s partner charities that aim to help survivors of such acts.
Avon’s new makeup line includes hydrating lipsticks as well as serum foundations which have active skincare ingredients that treat and protect one’s skin in an instant and in the long run.
The Make-up +Care range’s lipsticks have the world’s first matte lipstick that has a patented hydrating core which allows lips to stay moisturized. The hydramatic shine lipstick line has 10 shades while the hydramatic matte line has 12. The makeup line also has a new 3-in-1 skin-improving foundation which has five shades.
The #SpeakOutShineBright with Make-up That Treats You Well event was held on March 7 at the Powerplant Mall in Makati.