International Woman’s Day

Today, please remember all the women in your life and celebrate them.

Today, please think of all those women in the world who do not have reason to celebrate, nor do they have anyone to celebrate them.

Today, let’s think of ways we can make the world a better place for them – a world in which they too will be celebrated.

Today, I want to share with you parts of a speech given at a memorial celebration for Damini, a young women killed in Delhi.  The speech was given by Mariam Thomas, president of the Indo-Canadian Women’s Association in Edmonton Alberta on  February 15, 2013.

Today, the words of Mariam’s speech should give all of us the incentive to make next years International Women’s Day a more encompassing day of celebration worldwide.

Good evening to all the dignitaries and friends who have gathered here
to solemnly honour not only “Damini” a daughter of India but all the daughters
of the world who have been murdered by violent, horrific and absolutely heinous
means
In December 2012, a 23yr old student was brutally gang raped by five men in a
moving bus in the Indian capital –Delhi. Her male friend and she were beaten
with an iron rod and thrown off the bus onto the road, barely conscious. A
minute prior to the incident she was just another one of us, going home after
watching a movie with a friend. Then suddenly she becomes the random victim of
a crime so mindless and horrific.Last week in Johannesburg, South Africa a teenager was gang raped, sliced open
from her stomach to her genitals and left for dead on a construction site. Last
year South Africans were shocked when village boys gang raped a 17yr old
developmentally delayed young girl. The crime came to light when one of the
rapists made a cell phone video of the rape and posted it on the internet. It
went viral.
In Papua New Guinea, a mob stripped, tortured and bound a woman accused of
witchcraft and burnt her alive in front of hundreds of witnesses.

All these cases and events have provoked outrage and anger. The gang rape in
India has led to a fierce and unprecedented debate on attitudes to women. The
walls of silence surrounding sex crime have cracked. It has triggered citizen’s
uprising for a collective call for action. In Johannesburg, the rape and
mutilation has sparked a rare outburst of anger. In Papua New Guinea, the
public fiercely retaliated by stating that it was absolutely reprehensible that
women, the old and the disabled are targeted for alleged sorcery or wrong and
brutally murdered

Around the world, violence against women and girls is a sad daily reality.
Statistics compiled by the United Nations shows that abuse and brutality
inflicted on women and children are real and increasing at an amazing rate.
These numbers do not take into account victims who remain in silence for fear
of reprisals.
According to the UN, in the United States of America a woman is beaten by her
partner every 15 seconds. In South Africa, a woman is raped every 23 seconds.
In Bangladesh, almost half of the women have suffered physical abuse at the
hands of their spouse. In Canada, every six days a woman is killed by her
intimate partner. Every day there are more than three hundred women and
children staying in emergency shelters to escape domestic violence. In 2009, 67
women were killed by their husbands or boyfriends. In 2010, there were 582
known cases of murdered or missing aboriginal women. In just one year, 4
hundred 27,000 women aged 15 and up were reported to be victims of sexual
assault.

The women who are beaten and tortured every day never signed up for this type
of tyranny. They were just fighting for their lives. It’s happening everywhere
and no one knows how to contain it……………….

Gender based violence affects all of us. It destroys families; weakens the
fabric of our society and takes a heavy toll on our communities and or economy.
All women have the fundamental right to live in safety and security without
fear of violence, abuse, or oppression in their relationship…………..

This is a time for each one of us to stop, think and reflect. We need to do
some soul searching within ourselves. Our attitudes and our mindsets towards
women of different color, religion, status and position and ability need to
change. We as parents, teachers, educators, need to instill in our children that
everyone no matter who they are needs to be treated with respect and dignity.
Conversations with our children about treating everyone with respect can start
in our homes. We need to tell ourselves that we have the power to work hand in
hand with each other and with agencies and organizations at the municipal,
provincial and federal levels in combating these brutal tendencies. We need to
initiate conversations with our provincial government and municipal council in
creating a vehicle through which the voices of women can be heard, ensuring
that our voices are included in the decision making process, in the
development and implementation of policy pertaining to women’ s health and
safety

Violence against women is a powerful barrier to women’s equality and a
violation of women’s human rights. It is a complex systemic problem that
requires a comprehensive approach in developing a solution. Every woman is a
human being who needs to be treated with dignity and respect

The above is shared with permission, and is taken from the February, 2013,
Indo-Canadian Women’s Association newsletter.