Vodafone’s Campaign to Combat Violence Against Women With the Hashtag #Benvarım

Vodafone has started a new communication campaign to increase awareness on combating violence against women. In the campaign with the motto “Don’t mask the pain, raise your voice against violence with the hashtag #BenVarım”, Vodafone shows that it stands against violence and supports women with the Easy Rescue app, Easy Rescue, developed by Vodafone Turkey Foundation.

New features like screen reader for people with disabilities and Arabic language support for refugee women are added to the Easy Rescue app used by 331,000 women to date. The app also supports women with the help of informative content, explaining what can be done to combat violence.

Vodafone, acting to be a goal-oriented company, has started a new communication campaign to increase awareness on combating violence against women. In the campaign with the motto “Don’t mask the pain, raise your voice against violence with the hashtag #BenVarım”, Vodafone shows that it stands against violence and supports women with the Easy Rescue app, Easy Rescue, developed by Vodafone Turkey Foundation. The aim of the campaign released to the public on all channels as of early July is to invite people to raise their voices to combat violence against women with the hashtag #BenVarım. As one of the campaign’s supporters, famous actress Doğa Rutkay supports the campaign with her voice.

Vodafone’s new campaign is promoted in an online meeting with the participation of Vodafone Turkey Foundation Chairman, Hasan Süel, and Doğa Rutkay. Hasan Süel stated that violence against women was a prominent problem not only in Turkey but also around the world and added:

“ As Vodafone, we look at the role our company plays with respect to our economy and society from a broad perspective. We believe that every step we take should serve a purpose. We act with the aim of “being a goal-oriented company” worldwide. For that purpose, we aim to touch the lives of 1 billion people by 2025. Therefore, we have started a communication campaign to increase awareness on combating violence against women. Unfortunately, we saw that the number of violence cases increased during the pandemic in Turkey as well. According to the data released by Istanbul Police Department, while there was a 14.5% decrease in the number of public order violation cases as a result of “stay-at-home” promotions for Covid-19, the number of domestic violence cases increased by 38.2%. Research shows that domestic violence rates increased by more than 25% in some countries due to quarantine. Women mask the violence they face along with their pain. In this campaign, we invite people to raise their voices to combat violence against women with the hashtag #BenVarım. Because we know that no more pain will be hidden under masks as long as we stand together. We support this campaign with our Easy Rescue app, “Easy Rescue “, and want to remind once more that we are a brand standing by women against violence. As Vodafone, we will continue to develop projects to support women using the power of technology.”

Doğa Rutkay stated:

“Violence against women is a common problem all around the world. We should fight this social problem together. I am happy to be part of Vodafone’s campaign that highlights the importance of combating violence against women. I kindly request from everyone to support the campaign and share their ideas with the hashtag #BenVarım. The more we raise our voices, and the more people support this campaign, the stronger we are in this fight against violence against women. We should join our forces, our hearts, and walk in this road arm in arm.”

The Easy Rescue app is renewed

The Easy Rescue app, “Easy Rescue”, which was released 6 years ago to support protecting women from violence and inform them about the fight against violence, is renewed. The app developed with the support of the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Services downloaded more than 331,000 times now has an accessibility option: VoiceOver feature for iOS users and TalkBack for Android users. Thanks to this add-on, visually impaired women will have audio support as the selected items in the app are read out loud. Plus, it will be possible for refugee women to use the app thanks to Arabic language support enabled throughout the app. In addition, the Easy Rescue App support women with its informative content that increases awareness on different types of violence and explaining what they can do when they face violence during the pandemic.

Emergency numbers can be dialed with one button

The Easy Rescue app enables women to easily call their relatives or the police when exposed to violence. They can save up to 3 contacts they would like to reach in case of an emergency. With its Shake-to-Warn feature, women can send their location to their previously saved contacts via “Urgent SMS” by shaking their phone. With this app, the emergency numbers of Alo 183, 155 Police Emergency Line, 156 Gendarmerie, and Domestic Violence Emergency Hotline can be dialed with one button. The address and phone information of the nearest Centers of Fighting Against and Monitoring Violence of the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Services can be found on the map inside the app. Women can also access the content on what they can do when they are exposed to violence. With the “Walk Me Home” feature, which was added to the app last year, users can share their location on the map with the person they like during a journey or situation where they don’t feel safe. In this way, the person with whom they share their location via the app can track where they are simultaneously. If they go off the route they share, the related contacts receive an SMS notification.

To watch the commercial of the #BenVarım campaign against violence: