16 Days of Activism

Did you know that at least one out of three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime? I didn't. I could be cynical and suggest that the UN has skewed its statistics to make for more sensational publicity, but I doubt that's the case. The recent surge in instability across the border in eastern DRC has led to such drastic increases in the incidences of sexual violence that aid workers are calling the region "the worst place in the world to be a woman." A couple of months ago, a woman in one of the camps here left her newborn baby in the bottom of a pit latrine - because she believed that her brother would not let her join his household in Burundi if there was an additional mouth to feed. It's not an exaggeration to say that the burden of poverty weighs more heavily on women - they are less likely to have access to education, more likely to be targeted by traffickers, more likely to be forced into early marriage or sexual encounters, and more likely to be trapped in situations where their rights are limited and their voices silenced. That all of this is perhaps more visible here does not mean violence against women is a problem unique to the developing world; women in the US, Canada, Europe, etc. are certainly not immune to gender-based discrimination and violence.

To add to the list of things I didn't know before, today (November 25) is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It's also the anniversary of the assassinations of three of the Mirabal sisters by Rafael Trujillo in 1960 ... and it marks the first of 16 days of activism that symbolically link violence against women and human rights. So the 16 days start today, include World AIDS Day (December 1) as well as the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre (December 6, and conclude with International Human Rights Day on December 10.

I've heard rumors of celebrations and speeches being planned in the camps, so perhaps I'll be able to follow this post with pictures and stories that aren't quite as sobering...