Posted in: Campaigns, Featured, Forced-Evictions
Immigrant women who are survivors of sexual violence in the U.S. face additional barriers to support in the form of language differences, a lack of culturally relevant services, and navigating complicated legal systems.
Our latest in-depth playlist takes a look at one aspect of the political turmoil in Egypt that many would rather keep hidden: gender-based violence.
On March 8th, the world celebrates International Women’s Day. It’s a somber celebration, though: despite progress in some areas, more must be done to end impunity for perpetrators of gender-based violence.
Men are joining the movement against violence against women like never before. The One Million Men. One Million Promises campaign is unifying their voices, and using video to amplify them.
As a citizen of a nation that’s infamous for policing other countries’ human rights abuses, I rarely examine the abuses enabled by the discriminatory structures of the United States criminal justice system. So when I was asked to compile a video playlist for WITNESS’s participation in the global campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, I began to think about the lack of introspection amongst Western voices critical of gender-based violence.
Women describe their rapes from behind black face scarves in videos on our site that documents sexualized violence in Syria. We have no photos of women whose faces aren’t covered. We have few photos of survivors of rape even with their faces covered. Sometimes these women hide themselves for religious reasons or for safety—for fear of retribution for speaking out—but oftentimes they cover themselves out of mortification. Rape has taken their cultural purity.
Over the last half-century, the Burmese have endured a violent military regime, censorship, ethnic tension, and religious conflict. As these videos indicate, the conflict in Burma affects minority populations and their women the most.
Imagine dropping your child off at school every day, afraid that you won’t be back at pick-up time. Imagine staying with a violent partner because calling the cops could tear you away from your kids. Imagine arranging for a neighbor to take care of your children in case you disappear — which could happen any time. Tough to imagine? This is reality for millions of immigrant women in the United States.
I was disturbed by PBS’s new film, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women. The two-part series is inspired by the 2010 book of the same name written by New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn. Accompanied by high profile celebrities, Kristof takes viewers on a tour of the dangers that women face in the developing world.
In commemoration of the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign, we are highlighting activists and organizations who are using the power of video in their campaigns to address gender-based violence through a series of guest posts. Read previous posts in this series.
