Written by: Anna Gavine, Year 2 Co-teacher
What is Dressember? That’s what I asked the first time I heard about it. Then a very good friend of mine explained: It’s a way that thousands of women (and men) are advocating around the world to speak up against the injustice of modern-day slavery.
Basically, each year people sign up to wear a dress or tie for the 31 days of December. How does that help? Good question. It mainly serves as a way to start a conversation about the issues that are going on in our world today, such as forced child labour. For someone like me, who is completely out of her comfort zone wearing a dress, I would hope that people would notice and want to know more about why. By starting the conversation, and having it at a time of year where giving is on people’s minds, we hope that it will inspire and ignite others to join in and donate to help fight to free the millions of people who are trapped in modern slavery.
We are the ones who can speak up for the voiceless, and raise awareness of this appalling issue that is affecting women, children and men across the globe. Dressember is changing people’s lives by having programs for the prevention, rescue and aftercare of victims in this industry.
The main vision: A World Without Slavery.
Our motto here in Shanghai: Until All Are Free.
If you would like to know more about Dressember, visit https://www.dressember.org.
Some of our teachers have decided this year to be advocates for the cause; to step out of our comfort zones and comfy pants and wear a dress everyday. If you see one of us, let’s have a conversation. We believe that together, we can change the world by changing the way we dress.