SOLD OUT CONFERENCE RETURNS FOR FOURTH YEAR TO OMEGA’S RHINEBECK, NY CAMPUS
Featured Speakers Include: Nobel Prize Winner Wangari Matthai, Academy Award Winning Actors Sally Field And Jane Fonda, Playwright/Activist Eve Ensler, Omega Cofounder/Author Elizabeth Lesser, Comedienne Kate Clinton, Author Anita Diamant, Author Carol Gilligan
V-Day organizers from Troy, OH honored Barbel Adkins, a compassionate leader in their community at their 2004 V-Day event. Upon her recent passing, organizer Libby Scancarello asks that we all remember her work. Clearly, Barbel was a remarkable woman who can inspire us all with her beautiful dedication and compassion. Following is Libby’s tribute to Barbel:
Tribute to Barbel Adkins, 2004 Vagina Warrior, Troy, Ohio
On June 29, Barbel Adkins, our 2004 Vagina Warrior, lost her battle with heart disease. She was only 62.
Born in Germany in 1943, Barbel Adkins served as a Deputy Sheriff in Miami County, Ohio, in the late1970’s. At the time, victims of domestic violence had to be kept temporarily in jail for their protection. Barbel recognized the need for a better solution. In 1979, with financial assistance from local churches, schools and civic organizations, the Family Abuse Shelter of Miami County was established.
In 1989, Barbel expanded services to assist victims by establishing the first batterer’s intervention program in Miami County. This anger/rage education program, called “Alternatives,” works to assist batterers in acquiring new, non-violent ways of dealing with stress and anger. This program is heavily utilized by the Municipal Court System, the Children’s Services Bureau, and many other agencies.
In 1991, Barbel further expanded the shelter program to include the Buckeye House, an emergency shelter for men. Both shelters operate 24/7.
Over the years, Barbel has added new services such as court-based advocacy, counseling and transitional housing. A licensed social worker, Barbel was a well-known lecturer in the state of Ohio and authored many articles on Domestic Violence. She received numerous awards for her work and continuously worked to develop training programs and brochures for law enforcement officers, educators and medical personnel in her on-going quest to end Domestic Violence.
In 2002, Barbel participated in the V-Day event in Dayton, Ohio. She read “I Was There In The Room.” She had just witnessed her own granddaughter’s birth and her reading of that monologue in her beautiful German accent was profoundly moving.
In 2004, Barbel again participated in V-Day, this time in our hometown of Troy, Ohio. She was our Vagina Warrior and she felt honored to be chosen. It meant so much to her to bring The Vagina Monologues to our small town and she was surprised and delighted by how successful we were. She was very proud of our production and the amount of money we raised for the shelter and she spoke of it often.
Barbel often said that her work was a mission. Last year the shelter took in more than 800 people. Barbel turned away no one. I happened to be visiting the shelter one day when a woman arrived from several states away asking for shelter. She brought only what she could get in her car and had been driving all night. She spoke only Spanish. Barbel quickly found an interpreter and determined what this woman needed. “Of course you may stay; you’re safe here”, Barbel said. The woman nearly collapsed as the weight of worry and fear was removed from her. I watched in awe as Barbel hugged the sobbing woman and then, with tears running down her own face she hugged me and said, “I always cry. It doesn’t matter how many times I see this, I always cry.”
This amazing warrior woman had a great respect for all living things. Only one week before she died when she was not feeling at all well, she took a little bird with a broken wing to an animal rescue shelter. The world has lost a great soul, a loving humanitarian. Barbel Evelyn Marklein Adkins. She will be sorely missed.
Respectfully submitted,
Libby Scancarello, organizer, V-Day Dayton 2002, V-Day Troy 2004
This is a day of celebration. It is a day that we come together to pay tribute to the hundreds and thousands of people in Uganda and elsewhere who contributed their support through donations, and ticket sales for the banned V-Day performance of the play The Vagina Monologues.
As we all recall, the purpose of the V-Day Campaign was, first, to highlight the appalling violence meted out against women and girls in this country. The other was to mobilise resources for our sisters in Northern Uganda, who have been deeply affected by the ongoing conflict. The violence committed against women and girls has been one of the most devastating aspects of this conflict. These atrocities carried out by both the LRA and the UPDF, have occurred for the most part without redress for the victims. It is a source of great shame and discomfort that fellow citizens of this country are living under a regime of terror, displacement and despair even as we sit here today.
Violence takes many forms, from that which is sanctioned and normalised by cultural practice to that which takes place in the context of conflict. Violence against women and girls has yet to be adequately dealt with by the state and all our other institutions. Every minute somewhere in this country, a woman or young girl is subjected to one form of violence or another. Women are raped, battered, physically assaulted, mutilated, forced into marriage, forced to stay in abusive marriages, forced out of marriages, abducted, forcefully impregnated, forced to abort, it is endless. All of this happens, and society looks on in muted silence. It buries its head in the sand, looks the other way, trivialises the problem and moves on. In Uganda, where we boast of traditional family values, it beggars belief that we all allow this pandemic to go unabated. It is tragic that many of our religious leaders and institutions, especially here in Kampala that boast about upholding moral values, sit idly by as millions of women and girls undergo this degrading, appalling treatment.
And the minute women open their mouths to speak; to say enough is enough; to hold a mirror up to society and say ‘look, this is how you treat women like me, but we are taking it no longer’, then all, descend on these women like a tonne of bricks. They are demonised and condemned. They become the enemy who must be silenced at all costs for daring to do the unthinkable. For these are women who dare to hold society to account. Many religious leaders and others were virtually out on the street, strenuously opposing the play. Why one wonders do they not condemn with equal vigour the acts of violence we read and hear about every day in our media? It is these same voices, which include faith based groups that now oppose measures to protect the rights of women in the context of marriage. One wonders what they are upholding, moral values or patriarchy?
Whether it is through the benefit production of The Vagina Monologues, or demanding state measures for the protection of women’s rights, or even exposing abuse, the establishment regards women who do this as very dangerous. It looks for ways to ‘keep these women in their place.’ And that becomes its sole preoccupation. Rather than take up its responsibilities, it seeks to vilify those who call on it to do so.
On 15th February 2005, The Media Council followed this pattern with consummate precision. It caved in to the hysterical pressure from members of the public and also from certain sections of government, by censuring the play The Vagina Monologues. This it did on the grounds that the play ‘corrupts public morals’. The Media Council chose to silence a play that has been staged in over 76 countries and translated into over 35 languages. A play which has mobilised public attention and action to bring to an end the crisis that is violence against women. A play which has led to greater understanding of the impact of violence on women’s lives, and created opportunities for dialogue and the development of strategies to address it. Zimbabwe, staged The Vagina Monologues soon after it was banned in Uganda, in a church hall in Harare. MPs in Kenya, Members of the European Parliament have actually taken part in this play. Pakistan, Egypt, Burkina Faso, India, The Democratic Republic of Congo – all of these countries and more have staged this play. Adults in Uganda on the other hand, according to the Media Council ruling, are not capable of making up their own minds about The Vagina Monologues. It paternalistically decided to ‘shelter’ the public from this play, and in our view inadvertently played into the hands of those who use the apparatus of the state to illegitimately silence all forms of dissent. Its credibility and ability to analyse issues independently has been severely compromised as a result of the decision it took on this fateful day.
Throughout the saga of The Vagina Monologues, we were heartened by one thing. Many thousands of Ugandans were outraged by the hypocritical and hysterical outcry, and the ridiculous ruling by The Media Council. They connected to the issues that the play was expressing and engaged with it in a mature, sober and carefully thought out way. We received messages of support and solidarity from so many people, including government officials, MPs, the media, radio stations, and other members of the general public both here and internationally. Of all the tickets that we sold, only 20 people claimed their money back. The rest donated it in solidarity. This is a powerful form of protest and refusal to capitulate to the hypocrisy displayed by so many, not to mention the abuse of the rights of this country’s citizenry to freely associate and express their views.
We wish to thank you all for your wonderful support. Your generosity has enabled us to collect so far, Ugshs 20,563.562.00 (USD $11,805.00) for our sisters in Kitgum and Lira. We wish to thank you all for sticking by this campaign. Your support has been a great source of strength and has given us the impetus to continue.
We remain committed to working for an end to violence, intolerance, inequality and injustice. With your continued support, we know we will succeed.
And to our sisters and daughters in Kitgum and Lira, you are in our hearts. Go with this very small token of our solidarity. Your courage and determination in the midst of all the devastation, is a testament to your strength and an example to us all. We undertake to strengthen our efforts to bring to this terrible conflict to an end.
Thank you all very much.
V-Day Uganda 2005
Author proceeds from the paperback edition of V-Day supporter Simon Doonan’s book Wacky Chicks will benefit V-Day. Doonan, the bestselling author of Wacky Chicks and Confessions of a Window Dresser and creative director of Barneys New York, will be reading and signing his latest book NASTY – My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints and Wacky Chicks this month in New York and Los Angeles.
In NEW YORK
at BARNES and NOBLE
Union Square
ON MONDAY JUNE 13TH at 7pm
In LOS ANGELES
at Borders
1360 Westwood Boulevard
ON TUESDAY JUNE 7TH at 7pm
To purchase a copy of Wacky Chicks, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743257898/qid=1118348084/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-3678208-3631017?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Simon Doonan also writes the “Simon Says” column for The New York Observer. He frequently contributes observations and opinions to myriad of other publications and television shows. He is a regular commentator on VH1, the Trio network, and Full Frontal Fashion. He lives in New York City with his partner, Jonathan Adler, and his Norwich terrier, Liberace.
Dear V-Supporters,
I am delighted to send you this final update from the 2005 V-Tour outlining a series of spectacular events in Brussels in April.
We arrived in Brussels on April 18 and were greeted by the leaders of V-Day Europe: Nicoletta Billi (Italy), Rada Boric (Croatia), Karin Heisecke (Germany), Mariana Katzarova (Bulgaria), Tamsin Larby (United Kingdom) and Marie Cecile Renauld (France). These extraordinary women met at the first Vagina Warrior Summit in Rome in 2002 where the idea of a large-scale V-Day Europe event was born. Under the leadership of Marie Cecile, Tamsin and Karin (and the stellar support of Emilie Danel, Eva Hornung, Marie Astrid Périmony and Irene Zeilinger), three years later their dream became a reality and a huge success.
On Monday a two-day workshop began for V-Day college and worldwide campaign organizers throughout Europe and Scandinavia. An astounding 55 women (and one man) representing 18 countries, such as Turkey, Slovenia, Iceland, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and France, to name a few, attended this first ever European V-Day workshop. Eve kicked things off with a large group introduction, a discussion of the evolution of V-Day over the last seven years and a fun group exercise requiring movement, sound and great creativity. She facilitated a lively discussion on men and women working together to end violence against women, she raised the idea of “non-resolution” as a solution which initiated an animated dialogue about the possibility of there not just being one way to do things but rather working together for the greater good and she ended the morning session with the entire group sharing their vision of what a world free of violence against women and girls would look like.
After lunch the workshop continued with the topic “How can V-Day work in your country” which launched a series of V-Day success stories and discussion. Some of the success stories discussed include:
During the next discussion, “What is the V-Day Europe Network” organizers used their time to brainstorm strategies on facing obstacles within their communities and ways to develop support among one another. We also heard from Diana and Esther from Mama Cash who helped financially support the V-Day Europe events in Brussels. The day ended with a dialogue between Bjorn, our one male attendee from Iceland, and the rest of the group about men becoming involved in local V-Day initiatives and Bjorn’s honest and meaningful ideas were extremely helpful for the group. Later that night the organizers, as well the general public in Brussels, saw the European premiere of V-Day’s documentary UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS at the Flagey and Eve led a Q&A (in French) after the film.
The second day of the workshop began with a dynamic panel discussion on advocacy, facilitated by Karin, and included the following speakers
The organizers raised some interesting points for discussion by asking the panel thought provoking questions like how to bridge the gap between the public and politicians so that their work as grassroots activists has some cohesion with the political agendas in their countries.
The next discussion, Women in War, was introduced by Eve and featured our own Vagina Warrior Yanar Mohammad of Iraq, whose group the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) is one of this year’s V-Day Spotlight Campaign beneficiaries. Yanar spoke of the realities in Iraq for women at this time – while the horrific stories of kidnapping, sexual assault, violence, lack of freedom, fear of leaving the house moved the group, there was an audible gasp when Yanar told the story about the woman government official who said on international TV (Al Jazeera) that “education is the key, we must teach women how not to make their men angry at them so that they will not beat them!” It was a true wake-up call and many of the workshop participants were visibly shaken by Yanar’s stories from the ground. Eliza Moussavea, a Chechen Human Rights Activist, relayed some of the unspoken atrocities occurring in Chechnya at this time. This was an incredibly powerful session and it inspired all of us to discuss how V-Day can continue to bring forward the issue of women in war and ending ALL forms of violence.
The final presentation on Women and Prostitution was led by Claude Boucher, Director of the Women’s Bus (Bus des Femmes)France, who also attended the Vagina Warrior Summit in 2002, and Sophie Hoffenberg, who works with Claude in the Platform against trafficking in human beings, a platform of organizations providing social, judiciary, administrative and medical help for victims of trafficking. They shared the overwhelming situation on trafficking of human beings in France and more widely in Western European countries. In France for instance, trafficking of human beings represents 70 to 80% of all prostitution and victims are mostly women coming from Eastern European countries and African countries. They also presented their new poster campaign, a national campaign against modern slavery, to be publicized in several cities in France and hopefully in other European countries.
The two-day workshop wrapped up with intimate discussions and networking among the organizers over an afternoon. The workshops with our organizers have a profound effect both on them and on the V-Day staff. Each organizer is moved in a different way and all have said how inspiring and motivating it is to share their experiences with one another and with us. As Anna, from Finland wrote: “The atmosphere of our V-Day Europe was something so beautiful that I almost start crying writing this now: beautiful people saying beautiful things; warmth, love, support. Like in a home that everybody should have. I’m buzzing with ideas.”
While the organizers got further acquainted over an afternoon lunch, Eve and the V-Team were invited to enjoy lunch with all the actresses who had come from Germany, France, Holland, Denmark, Croatia, Finland and Belgium and would be participating in the Jour-V performance later that night. Hosted by one of the actresses and owner of the beautiful Atelier IdeB, Ingrid de Borchgrave, the luncheon was a relaxed way for everyone to meet one another and enjoy being together.
The culminating event of V-Day Europe was “Jour-V” – a star-studded, multi-country, multi-language production of “The Vagina Monologues” at the beautiful Flagey theatre, which raised $40,000 (EUR) for the beneficiaries. Performers included Annie Lennox (UK, singer and songwriter), Anita Roddick (UK, founder Body Shop) , Rebecca Gomperts (The Netherlands, founder of Women of Waves), Mianne Bagger (Denmark, professional golf player and transgender activist attempting to get transgender women accepted to the women’s golf tour), Katja Riemann (Germany, actress). The beneficiaries of this glittering event included Rape Crisis Network Europe, Garance asbl, Solidarité Femmes et Refuge pour Femmes Battues asbl and Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. The event was sponsored by the European Commission, Mama Cash, Amnesty International and the European Women’s Lobby. And with the additional support of these partners – Commune d’Ixelles, Asticus Europe, Fnac, Just Campagne, Pierre Marcolini, Lefranc-Ferrant, Toni&Guy, ELLE Belgique, Le Soir, La Première, Ruinart, Mouchart, Dior, Théâtre de la Toison d’Or and IdeB the event was an exceptional and poignant end to the 2005 V-tour.
Media coverage of the event included all of the regional daily papers including the cover of Belgium’s Le Soir daily newspaper the day after the show, The Associated Press, as well as numerous magazines throughout France and Belgium. Advertising included bus posters throughout Brussels. In fact, we saw them at our every turn in the city!
The organizers, the actresses and the V-Team networked, socialized and said their goodbyes after the show at two packed receptions and everyone went away feeling connected by the experience over the two days and inspired to continue their work in their own communities all over Europe and the world.
And as one V-Day event ends a new idea is sparked an in full motion. Prior to the JourV event, Eve and Annie Lennox had met and discussed working together. After a few days together in Brussels an idea was born. Annie, having recently become involved with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Foundation in South Africa, and Eve have proposed a township tour of “The Vagina Monologues” for September 2006, where a series of performances will raise funds and awareness for the issue of HIV/AIDS and violence against women and girls.
We are also thrilled that after many years of trying, V-Day Europe enabled Eve and Dame Anita Roddick to finally meet one another and as a result Anita has joined our esteemed V-Counsel, the advisory board of V-Day.
Another V-Season has come to an end. Nearly 2,300 events in over 1,100 communities, raising millions of dollars to end violence against women and girls in local communities around the world, and this was possible because of so many of you, or loyal supporters and friends. I hope you celebrate these great successes!
Jerri Lynn Fields
Executive Director
PS – If you haven’t heard, we have another young Vagina Warrior in the world to celebrate, Carrie Rethlefsen! Carrie is a high school senior who attended a college benefit of “The Vagina Monologues” where she purchased an ‘I © my vagina’ button.* Carrie wore the button to her high school to raise awareness of violence against women which resulted in her suspension with school administrators calling the button offensive and inappropriate. A senior close to graduation, she was threatened with expulsion if she continued to wear the button. Clearly a case of free speech, Eve spoke with her during the height of the controversy to express support. Thrilled by the call from her ‘hero,’ Carrie told Eve she had no intention of backing down. Having garnered the support of the ACLU of Minnesota, the case generated national media attention. On May 3rd, Carrie with the support of over 40 students held a protest at the school planned in conjunction with the school administration. She [heart]‘s her vagina** and the rights of women everywhere! Read the full story here: http://www.vday.org/contents/vday/press/media/0505051
*I [heart] my vagina
** She [hearts] her vagina
Dear V-Supporters,
We are well into V-Season 2005 and I wanted to share our travels with you as we get a glimpse into over 1,100 communities around the world putting on V-Day events to end violence against women and girls.
V-Tour 2005, Leg One
Rhode Island
The V-Day 2005 V-Tour began in the small, but very Vagina Friendly state of Rhode Island — there are 8 V-Day events there this year! To help kick off V-Day 2005 events in Newport, Eve participated in a number of wonderful, grassroots events:
Yale
Marie Otsby directed and organized a spectacular V-Week which included a variety of artistic workshops, a Violence against Women of Sexual Minorities – panel discussion coordinated by the LGBT Co-op, (co-sponsored by MARS: Men Against Rape and Sexual Violence) a Master’s Tea with performer/activist Nighat Rizvi, a screening of “What I Want My Words to do to You”, a project presentation on sex trafficking in Iraq, Religion and Women: an interfaith panel discussion, Vagina art gallery opening, and Sexual Violence in War: a discussion focusing on women in Iraq.
Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN
A first in V-Day history — a V-Day production on an all men’s campus! Professor Jennifer Young and Lucinda Huffaker, Wabash faculty and staff respectively, wanted to see V-Day happen on campus. Lucinda’s daughter, Amy, attends Valparaiso College so they invited female students from Valparaiso to perform in this historic event. We knew we were going to have a great time when the first male student we met had a t-shirt with “VAGINAS…” on the front and on the back: “…it’s not HOW you love them, it’s THAT you love them.”
Click here for an article on the event:
http://www.wabash.edu/alumni/news.cfm?news_ID=2243
St. Xavier, Chicago, IL
This is the third year of ongoing opposition lead by the Cardinal Newman Society to stop Catholic College V-Day events. (Background on this issue can be found here: http://www.vday.org/contents/vday/press/release/0403011)
We decided that visiting a Catholic campus or two was definitely a must this V-Season! First stop, St. Xavier:
V-Day Chicago 2005
While in Chicago we wanted to help raise awareness for the upcoming V-Day Chicago 2005 event. This is the 4th or 5th V-Day Chicago. First brought to Chicago by Mary Morten, this year Mary is being honored as a Vagina Warrior by C.C. Carter, the V-Day 2005 organizer, at their event on March 5.
Iraqi Activist Yanar Mohammed To Be Presented “Vagina Warrior” Award
At The Flagey In Brussels, Tuesday 19 April 2005 At 20:00
On Tuesday, April 19, the first European “Jour-V” benefit performance of “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler will attract celebrities and politicians from all over Europe. Produced by V-Day Europe, the aim of the festive evening will be to raise awareness and vital funds for women’s organizations that work to end violence against women. The event will address an international audience.
For the first time ever, Eve Ensler, V-Day Founder and playwright of “The Vagina Monologues,” will be joined by by a cast of European celebrities and politicians, including Annie Lennox (UK, Singer, Songwriter) Anita Roddick (UK, founder of The Body Shop), Fadila Laanan (Belgian Minister for Cultural Affairs), Marie Arena (Belgian Minister ), Veronique de Keyser (Belgian MEP), Isabelle Durant (Belgium, Senator ), Goedele Liekens (Belgium, journalist), Ingrid de Borchgrave (Belgium, designer), Katja Riemann (Germany, actress), Lara Fabian (Belgium, singer), Laurence Bibot (Belgium, actress), Mianne Bagger (Danemark, professional golf player), Soda (Belgium, TV presenter), Rebecca Gomperts (The Netherlands, founder of “Women of Waves”), Nicole Croisille (France, singer), Marja Leena Junker (Finland, actress) and Sophie Duez (France, actress) for a multilingual benefit performance of her award winning play.
V-Day Europe will present Yanar Mohammed, Executive Director of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), with the “Vagina Warrior” award in honor of her work defending women’s rights and stopping atrocities against Iraqi women. Through OWFI, Ms. Mohammed is working on the development of a women’s shelter in Baghdad to protect women who are fleeing from violence and “honor killings.” In addition, she serves as the Editor in Chief of the newspaper Al-Mousawat (Equality). Mohammed has been featured in major and international media including BBC, The Guardian, CNN, The New York Times, TIME magazine, and many more.
Jour V Beneficiary organizations include Rape Crisis Network Europe (http://www.rcne.com), Garance asbl (http://www.garance.be), Solidarite Femmes et Refuge pour Femmes Battues asbl and Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (http://www.equalityiniraq.com).
To buy tickets:
In Belgium Ticket Fnac : 0900-00600
From all countries in the world call +32 56 85 42 30
From Belgium and France tickets can be booked online at
http://www.fnac.be or http://www.fnac.com (write Jour V or Monologues du
Vagin in the search field).
This exceptional performance closes a two-day workshop around the concept of the V-Day movement and the issue of violence against women. This workshop will be led by Eve Ensler, Founder of V-Day, and other V-Day activists from all over Europe. The first day will be focused on the concept of the movement and ways to raise money and awareness through benefit performances of “The Vagina Monologues” for women’s organizations working with survivors of violence. V-Day activists from the UK, Iceland, and many other countries, will present their work and answer questions of the participants. This first day will end with an exclusive screening of the award winning documentary “Until The Violence Stops” about the V-Day movement. To be screened at the Flagey theatre at 20.00.
The second day of the workshop will be more political and will gather NGOs, activists and politicians to develop together political strategies to put an end to the issue of violence against women. Yanar Mohammed, Founder of the Organisation for Women’s Freedom in Iraq, will also be there to present the situation of women in Iraq.
With the support of the European Commission, Mama Cash, Amnesty International and the European Women’s Lobby, Partners: Commune d’Ixelles, Asticus Europe, Fnac, Just Campagne, Pierre Marcolini, Lefranc-Ferrant, Toni&Guy, ELLE Belgique, Le Soir, La Premiere, Ruinart, Mouchart, Dior, Theatre de la Toison d’Or, IdeB
About V-Day Europe: V-Day Europe is the European branch of the V-Day global movement. V-Day Europe’s website http://www.vdayeurope.org provides information in English, French and German and invites groups all over Europe to join the movement.
OPINION: Commentary
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=2216
As the media buzzed about whether the U.S. would sign onto an important document, women at the actual U.N. meeting focused on violence against women around the world. Last in a seven-part series on the Beijing Platform.
Editor’s Note: The following is a commentary. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women’s eNews.
UNITED NATIONS (WOMENSENEWS)–The first thing a longtime United Nations observer notices at a gathering like Beijing Plus +10 is the presence of actual women.
Thirty years ago–when the first U.N. World Conference on Women was held in Mexico–it was mostly men who came, especially from the more tradition-bound “third-world” cultures, to debate the issues for women.
But for the past two weeks here, conference rooms have been filled to standing-room capacity with women.
Among them: African women, Asian women, Nordic women, Indigenous women. Women nursing their feet in new white tennis shoes. Women making the smallest bowl of soup do for a meal because without help from some sponsor they could not have come.
Every one of them “a mover and shaker in her own country,” as an official from the International Labor Organization expressed it, “or they wouldn’t be here.”
They gathered for “Beijing Plus 10,” the decade-later meeting to assess and reaffirm the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, in 1995 in the Chinese capital, that wide-ranging document identifies 12 critical areas of concern including poverty, education, violence and mass media and is widely regarded as the strongest policy statement in support of women’s rights ever made by the international community.
Discussion Replaces Silence
The Beijing Declaration was affirmed, even by the U.S. delegation, which backed off its widely reported ringer amendment on abortion after that caused an immediate outcry from more than 150 organizations worldwide.
But while affirmation of the declaration–and what the United States was going to do about it–was the main discussion that this event received in the mass media, the women inside the actual meetings were focused on talking about something else.
Sometimes shy and hesitant, these women openly discussed topics from how to acquire property rights which, though often theirs on paper, were not granted to how more female doctors could increase opportunities for entering fields like surgery, instead of always getting steered into gynecology. And they broke centuries-old taboos by talking about the violence and sexual abuse of females, which had been shielded in their cultures as too personal for public airing.
The event was sprawling and mammoth, hard to sum up, with overall attendance recorded by the U.N. Department of Public Information at just over 2,600, including a sprinkling of men. Some were from the more than 6,000 nongovernmental organizations registered. Another 1,847 came with delegations from the 165 member states of the U.N. More than 150 registered from U.N. agencies and intergovernmental organizations.
Streep, Ensler and Tutu
Altogether, participants spoke out at press conferences, strategy sessions and panel discussions that attracted names as well-known as actress Meryl Streep, Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler and South Africa’s Desmond Tutu.
Streep, who chaired a press briefing for the New York-based women’s rights organization Equality Now, said she was there–not because it was an “exotic” thing to do–but because her grandmother raised three children, was the smartest person she had ever met, yet could not vote in her own lifetime.
Ensler chose to launch one of her V-Day Violence V-Campaigns; events designed to end violence against women and girls. This one pressed for recognition of and solidarity with the 200,000 Korean “comfort women” who were conscripted into service as sexual slaves by Japan’s military during World War II.
Ensler’s opening-night event, on Feb. 28, proved an appropriate start to two weeks of presentations in which rape and sexual abuse were major themes.
Universal Threat is Violence
According to the talented individuals who keep the women’s movement going, the biggest universal threat to women is violence, from the trafficking of women and girls by gangs of men and boys to the spousal abuse that costs the City of New York alone $500 million a year, according to the U.N. Development Fund for Women.
In the United States, some of that cost includes emergency-room visits, court action and law enforcement, as well as the money lost to employers from reduced productivity and absenteeism.
Across the United States, according to UNIFEM’s executive director, Noeleen Heyzer–a women’s rights leader in her own Southeast Asia–women and girls are raped or otherwise sexually assaulted routinely–some 15 percent of those before reaching age 17.
Worldwide, according to the studies, 1 out of every 3 women has been beaten, forced to have sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime, usually by someone known to her.
Those figures of reported cases of abuse–never mind all the cases that never get reported–include “dowry murders” in India, where wives are sometimes killed, often by burning, so that husbands and in-law families can extract a dowry from the next wife.
They include “honor killings,” most common in Muslim countries, where women and even young girls are killed–more than 1,000 each year just in Pakistan–or otherwise punished to atone for the offenses of their own male family members against women or for such non-crimes as having been raped.
The figure also includes women who have been raped in war, which was recently made a crime by the International Criminal Court.
The figure also includes the trafficking in women and girls across borders for sale into prostitution and slave labor.
A World Bank report has placed violence against women on a par with cancer as a global cause of incapacity and death among women of reproductive age, calling it a greater cause of ill-health than traffic accidents and malaria combined.
Certainly, it was a subject that needed airing. And with hope, at the next big convention on women, there will be major progress to report, from every part of the world.
Pat Orvis is a U.N. correspondent who has traveled extensively on assignment in all the developing regions.
For more information:
The United Nations–
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/
Pat Orvis – WeNews commentator
“Until the Violence Stops,” a Lifetime original documentary, has been honored with a Gracie Allen Award by American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) in the “Special Program” category. The Gracie Awards recognize outstanding programming by women, for women or about women. “Until the Violence Stops” profiled V-Day,, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, which grew out of Founder Eve Ensler’s award-winning play, “The Vagina Monologues, and was part of Lifetime’s “Stop Violence Against Women” campaign in 2004.
Until the Violence Stops follows the grassroots impact of V-Day in five international communities while exposing the pervasive and cultural forms of violence that women experience all over the world. Directed by Abby Epstein, the story begins at a star-studded V-Day benefit at Harlem’s Apollo Theater and travels to regional events in Ukiah California, the Philippines and Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, culminating in the opening of the first V-Day Safe House for girls in Kenya. What emerges is an alternately devastating and hopeful look at the global and grassroots efforts in motion to stop violence against women and girls. Featuring appearances by Tantoo Cardinal, Rosario Dawson, Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, LisaGay Hamilton, Salma Hayek, Rosie Perez, and Isabella Rossellini among others.
The documentary world premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and broadcast premiered on Lifetime Television in February. It has been screened at the Amnesty International Film Festivals in Amsterdam and Vancouver, as well as at the Miami and Maui Film festivals. In September, Toni Childs, David Ricketts, and Eddie Free received the 2004 Emmy award for “Best Original Song” for “Because You Are Beautiful” and in November, the film won top honor – the Gold Audience Award – at the Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver.
The documentary is available for rental on Netflix via http://www.netflix.com and for purchase from Docurama, http://www.docurama.com/productdetail.html?productid=NV-NVG-9702, or wherever fine DVDs are sold. Price: $26.95.
The Gracie Award will be given at the AWRT’s gala on Wednesday, June 22 in New York.
Click here to read the American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) press release
Amnesty International Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Michelle Linder at 212/633-4268
Sheila Dauer at 212/633-4251
(New York) – Iraqi authorities must take effective measures to protect women and change discriminatory legislation that encourages violence against women, Amnesty International said today in a new report, Iraq: Decades of Suffering. The report focuses on the disproportionate effect of government repression and armed conflict on women and girls in Iraq, documenting how women in Iraq have been targets of violence because of gender discrimination in society and the lawlessness that followed the U.S.-led invasion, which has resulted in the restriction of their freedom of movement. This report is part of Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign.
“Iraqi authorities must introduce concrete measures to protect women,”said Abdel Salam Sidahmed, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International. “They must send a clear message that violence against women will not be tolerated. This can be done by investigating all allegations of abuse against women and by bringingthose responsible to justice, no matter what their affiliation.”
According to the report, members of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq allegedly have received threats related to their advocacy for women’s rights. Chairperson Yanar Mohammed reported that in January and February 2004 she received several death threats by e-mail from an Islamist group known as the Army of Sahaba. She asked US officials for protection, but reportedly was told they had more urgent matters to address.
The current lack of security has restricted severely the participation of women in civil society, particularly in education, employment and political decision-making and constitutes a major obstacle to the advancement of their rights. Since the 2003 war, armed groups have targeted and killed several female political leaders and women’s rights activists.
The report also demonstrates how gender discrimination in Iraqi laws contributes to the persistence of violence against women. Women remain at risk of death or injury from male relatives if they are accused of behavior determined to have brought dishonor on the family.
“Iraqi authorities must review discriminatory legislation against women and bring it into line with international human rights standards. Mostimportantly, they must ensure that the new constitution and all Iraqi legislation contain prohibitions to redress all forms of discrimination and gender-based violence against women,” said Abdel Salam Sidahmed.
Amnesty International has repeatedly called on armed groups to immediately end the violence against women, including harassment, death threats, violent attacks, kidnapping and killing. Amnesty International equally calls on the U.S.-led multinational forces to investigate promptly all allegations of violence against women, including sexual attacks by their forces or other agents and improve safeguards for women in detention.
“Women must be at the heart of the political decision-making process in Iraq, particularly when dealing with issues directly pertaining to women,” concluded Sheila Dauer, Director of Amnesty International USA’s Women’s Human Rights Program. “Women should be represented at all levels to protect women’s interests. Women in the next government must take the lead in ensuring that Iraqi legislation is in line with international standards that protect women against violence and discrimination.” To read the report, click here:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=9E865CC4FD535B2880256F73005E4047