The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic, Patria, Bélgica, María and Antonia, were well-known dissidents of the regime of Rafael Trujillo, which was responsible for the murders of scores of opponents, including a massacre of 20,000 to 30,000 Haitians in the borderlands one bloody October week in 1937. The Mirabal sisters protested vehemently against Trujillo, until an unknown assassin attacked them too. Since that day, women’s groups marked November 25 as a special occasion.

On this day, November 25, in 1999, the United Nations also designated every November 25 to be International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The day not only calls out politically-motivated violence against women, but also domestic abuse and other forms. At the 2011 event U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a public address “Violence against women and girls takes many forms and is widespread throughout the globe,” adding “On this International Day, I urge governments and partners around the world to harness the energy, ideas and leadership of young people to help us to end this pandemic of violence. Only then will we have a more just, peaceful and equitable world.”