One Billion Rising: moving to end violence against women
Women for Refugee Women support One Billion Rising - video
Half of all women who seek asylum in the UK have been victims of rape. The Women for Refugee Women charity demands justice for women and supports One Billion Rising as part of its mission to empower women who have sought sanctuary in the UK to speak out about their own experiences – and give a voice to women who are all too often unheard and unseen.
Vía The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2013/jan/21/one-billion-rising-violence-women?CMP=twt_gu
Eve Ensler's plans for an international day of action to combat violence against women this 14 February has already achieved several things, not least a sense of solidarity among those who seek to join in, wherever they may be in the world. This solidarity is long overdue.
For too long the women's movement has not worked effectively across borders. Too often, some western feminists have occupied a position of cultural superiority – my dear, those poor Indian victims of acid attacks, those poor Somali girls with their practices of genital mutilation, those poor Muslim women all hidden in their hijabs. Meanwhile, other western feminists have fallen into positions of cultural relativism – who are we to speak for Muslims, for Indians, for Somali women? Their experiences may not be about sexual inequality, but about religion, about caste, about culture; we cannot afford to speak about any experience beyond the borders of our own country, or even our own life.
But the debate that is gaining ground now is based neither on superiority or on relativism. Alongside concern about the gang-rape in Delhi, we have seen growing discussion about how sexual assault too often goes unpunished in the UK too. Alongside reportage of sexual violence in Syria has been increased engagement with how young men in the UK can be educated to become more respectful of women. The specificity of different situations is being addressed, together with a recognition that this phenomenon of violence against women crosses borders. The many events planned for One Billion Rising across the globe showcase this growing sense of solidarity and remind women in many different countries of our shared experiences and our shared strengths.
I am made constantly aware of how violence against women crosses borders because of the work I do with refugee women in the UK. Women for Refugee Women published a report last year showing that half of the women who seek asylum in the UK have been raped, and two thirds have experienced gender-related persecution in one way or another, such as trafficking for forced prostitution or female genital mutilation.
The women who make contact with Women for Refugee Women have often survived extreme persecution of this kind; they may have been tortured and raped by armed police, they may have been forced into prostitution, they may be trying to save their daughters from the fate they have suffered. Yet at the same time many of them are keen to speak out and campaign for more equal futures.
The short film we have made for One Billion Rising shows some of the refugee women we work with, their songs and their dances. I hope it shows others what I see every day I go to work, that if we are genuinely to move to a more equal future we must recognise the courage of women across the world. Feminism is about a lot more than trading insults on Twitter; it is a movement that has already transformed lives and will continue to do so if we work together.
Watching the films that other women and men have made about their decisions to take part in this day of action, and hearing about the diverse events that are planned, is very heartening for those who long to see a safer world for women. Of course, One Billion Rising is not an end in itself. It is a marker and a stepping stone, a marker of where we are now, and a stepping stone to a future of greater solidarity and hope.
