A group of women have decided to speak up against it, and October has been earmarked for an awareness campaign about Violence against Women.
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| Link to VAWM blog |
1. Domestic violence – Physical violence against the woman by husband/partner and other family members
2. Violence against girl child including deprivation
3. Sexual violence - including marital rape, date rape
4. Emotional/psychological abuse
5. Dowry related violence including Bride Burning
6. Female Infanticide
7. Acid attacks
We would be delighted to have your support for VAWM Oct 2011. The plan is similar to CSA April 2011. We have a blog (http://www.vawawareness.wordpress.com/) on Violence Against Women where we invite guest posts, expert posts and anon survivor stories.
We also would urge bloggers to post on this topic on the blog all through October, first announcing the awareness campaign and second, posting on any aspect of this topic they feel strongly about.
We also have a twitter handle (@VAWMonth) which will tweet information about VAWA and invite experts, NGOs, counsellors, etc to take questions.
Do let us know if you would be interested in participating, and how would you like to participate. Also, if you have any leads to NGOs or organisations you think we should partner with do let us know.
The email to write in to is vawawareness@gmail.com.
Do post about this initiative on your blog, and use the above image to link to the VAWM blog. Also, if possible, do put the link up on your side bar. Help to spread the word.
I will, of course, be sticking to reviewing a few books that are related to the topic, some written by experts and some by survivors. Some may even be fiction.
I am painfully aware, of course, that for every survivor who has come out with her story, there will be thousands who are facing violence mutely every day, some of them with scars that last a lifetime, and many thousands for whom the violence proves fatal- either the way of homicide or suicide.
There may be millions more who may not be actively facing violence in its injurious form, but being discriminated against for the simple fact of being born a woman-- little, piffling things that can eat away at one's self-esteem, not having real choices, and being criminalised for the choices that they do make from the ones left to them. All of which can have debilitating repurcussions, preventing them from ever being able to tap their full potential. Something that is commonplace in most homes. Subliminal violence, I would call it. Insidious, and all the more dangerous for that.
I would like to share this, too. Yesterday, I was sitting in my usual place near the children's play area in my complex, reading a book that I mean to review. A lady from the complex, with whom I was on just a nodding aquaintance, came by and showed interest in the book I was reading. When I told her about this initiative, she came up with a surprising (actually not so surprising) question. According to her, the women who have any access at all to a blogpost were women with at least some priviledges. How does this 'armchair variety of awareness' help the common woman? Does it seriously have a trickle-down effect? Even if there is, isn't the change too slow to be of any significance? And for all the apparent awareness about these problems, aren't the papers everyday full of just such cases?
Any answers?
5 comments:
You know, for some topics, a day or month, however dedicated is not enough. Violence against women is one such topic. I end up having a half-hearted response to a month dedicated to women...I feel it is not enough. Not that it shouldn't be done, just a 'what's the point of just one month when for us, with all of us working for it, it will take a lifetime?' view point.
I respect people who do this and whole heartedly got into CSA - a topic not as spoken of. Violence against women is one thing that I would like to see more action on....more talk is nice but not enough. Could we not have a Violence Against Women - ACTION month? That would take things a bit further.
I'll answer your question -- women of all classes and backgrounds deal with various kinds of violence. I believe that spreading awareness helps by
1. arming these women (who could be following this initiative online) who might otherwise be keeping quiet because "it doesn't happen to people like them"
2. helping them recognise, support and otherwise help other women they know who may be facing these problems -- from maids to neighbours to friends and family members
Sue said it.
@Sangi: Agree with you that just talk is not enough. Also that a month is too short a period. However, like all changes, this change too will take a long time. Maybe not in our lifetime. Maybe not even in our daughters' lifetimes. Just as it has taken people more than a few centuries to be aware of the fact that a woman is a full human being with equal if not more abilities than a man. (The Bronte sisters had to write under male pseudonyms, and came out to claim their own books under their real names only after their books had attained acceptance and praise by critics and the common person...J.K.Rowling also didn't publish under her full name for her publishers' fear that a book written by a woman about a boy wizard might not be taken seriously!)
Action is required, yes. There are many people, men and women, out there who are working for this. In the meantime, we can only do our bit. Drop by drop, the ocean will be created. If this is all I can contribute to the cause in the public sphere, I should not shirk from doing this bit. Of course, I need to do my bit at home, too...teach my daughter right from wrong. If everyone did their bit, whatever is possible for them, I think we will go a long way.
Sue: Thanks for the answer- but sometimes I despair for the atate of affairs of women. Just like Sangi up there, no matter what I say in response to her comment. Sometimes there seems to be no end to the misery caused by the mindset.
Thanks Chox.
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