You're my Shero! Send in your story of a woman hero

“We all have Sheroes in our lives who inspire us, whether it be your mother, your bus driver, your boss, or your daughter.”

On 25 November, women from all the over the world will come together on the day to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

In conjunction with this international event, the Singapore Committee for UN Women is running Sheroes – a photo competition celebrating the female heroes in our lives.

Sheroes focuses on glorifying “the strength and inherent power in every woman”, as opposed to highlighting the vulnerability and helplessness of female victims.

To take part in this competition, any Singaporean resident over the age of 13 can submit a picture of their ‘Shero’ via this Singapore Committee for UN Women Facebook link.

Each entry should have a brief description of who the person is and why she is your Shero. For those who’d like to vote, just click this link to view the entries.

Entry submissions and voting will close at midnight the 25th November, Singapore time.

We had a peek at the entries– they are truly inspiriting portraits of incredibly dynamic and strong women some of us call our ‘Sheroes’! Here are a few heart-warming images we found:

“My Shero is my grandma Helen. When she was very young her family was unable to take care of her so she had to join the Great Eastern Circus alone as a trapeze artist, tight rope walker and juggler. Here she met my grandfather and had two of my uncles while still travelling and performing around the Himalayas as a teenager. To escape the turmoil from the border disputes between China and India they moved to Australia where I had a great education.” – Tashi

“This is my mother – a woman of exceptional strength. She raised me and my other 13 siblings almost single handedly, working hard as a canteen stall operator, waking up at 4am and walking miles and miles away to set up her stall. When she was younger, she went to Raffles Girls School and dreamed of becoming a teacher but life had other plans for her.” – Arni

“Carole runs a shelter for girls who escape early marriage and genital mutilation, the victims of the conflict between traditions and human rights. Today there are 72 girls in the shelter, girls who gave it all up for a chance to education and a marriage of love. Carole does what she can to council, nurture and educate these girls. She runs community outreach programs to educate and influence the right people: elder men and women, young boys and girls.”

Women of Singapore, let’s not tolerate violence against us in any form. Be inspired by your ‘sheroes’ – spread awareness about violence against women in your social circles and let’s come together to put a stop to this terrible form of violence – right now!

About violence against women in Singapore

Violence against women in any form – mental, verbal or physical – is abhorrent. But it still continues to happen every day, all over the world…including right here in Singapore.

The rate of lifetime violence against women in Singapore is 9.2 per cent, according to the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisation 2013 country report.

That’s approximately 2 in every 20 women being assaulted in one form or another. And that’s only based on the reported cases.

In truth, half the battle is getting the victimised women to come forward and report any abuse to the authorities. But all too often, they are scared to do this for a variety of reasons.

Because of this reluctance to report, the true figures related to violence against women are probably much higher than the officially reported figure.

There is a solution to this problem – it’s called ‘creating awareness’.

By raising as much awareness as possible about violence against women, hopefully women will feel empowered enough to find their voices and speak about any kind of violence against them.