One in Three Women

This month, women's rights advocates are calling on men and women to join together to fight gender discrimination. They're meeting in New York for the 53rd session of the Committee on the Status of Women [March 2 - 13]. And in South Africa, two NGO's are reaching out to men to help end violence against women. They're also looking at ways to help reduce some of burdens borne by women, like providing almost all of the care for those with HIV/AIDS. From Washington, William Eagle reports.

Johannesburg community activist Dumisani Rebombo says one out of six men in South Africa commit physical violence against women. Research by Witswatersrand University showed almost one third of sexually experienced women report their first encounter was not consensual.

Rebombo is an organizer with the Men as Partners outreach group, part of the NGO EngenderHealth. As part of his work, he begins by recounting his own story. When he was 15, he and his cousin raped a girl. Later, his football team gave him a standing ovation.

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In April of 2007, I was confronted with what seemed to be a no-brainer situation. A few classmates and I were discussing favorite movies and "The Hills Have Eyes" came up. Seeing as how I had never seen the movie and a good friend of mine had to get up and leave due to the violence, we tuned out as best we could. One of our fellow students asked why we hadn't seen the movie and my friend replied, "The opening scene is of a rape!" This was enough for me to chime in with my two cents. I told him that I felt there was no need for the plot line to show a rape being performed for the sake of the movie. This fellow student was persistent in telling me that the actors were being paid to be raped and it was all in justification of the movie. I couldn't help myself. I told him as sternly as I could that rape is never justified, and can never stand to be. My good friend, "Jane", and I wanted to prove this third party, "John", wrong. Jane & I came together on Facebook and made a group titled, "Rape is NEVER Justified". The conversation left the classroom and John began instigating the conversation online. Therefore, I pasted the IM transcript into the group. We invited our entire lists and before you knew it, we had 30 and 40 people in our group in less than a week. Eventually, we moved out to the Cause & Page applications as well as Myspace.

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A Communist Women’s Right Activist Beheaded in Iraqi Kurdistan, December 2008

Nahla Hussain, a women’s rights activist and the leader of the women's league of the Kurdish Communist Party and mother of two children, was beheaded at her house in Kirkuk, in north of Iraq. She was alone in the house at the time of her death. According to the police some unidentified men have entered her house on Thursday night, but the circumstances that led to the attack are unknown.

However, violence against women who do not observe Islamic laws and dress code has become a common phenomenon in Iraq. Women’s rights activists, secularists and communists are under constant threats by different reactionary factions, including the Islamists.

In the context of Iraqi society, “the circumstances that led to her death” are quite well known. Under the rule of nationalist parties in Kurdistan the violence against women has risen dramatically. Just recently the Sharia law became the governing law in Kurdistan. Moreover, since American led attack on Iraq, which unleashed Islamic and tribal terrorism, women have become victims of brutal violence and terrorism. Nahla Hussain was brutally murdered because of her convictions and political activities; this is a well-known fact. She was the victim of misogyny and reactionary forces.

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Toward Healing: A struggle to survive sexual abuse and hope for a better future, January 2009

Jackie Shaw

Many people ask me how I ended up going seminary with some of the thoughts I express about God. I am often very angry with God and refuse to believe the easy platitudes I have heard in church. My experience has shown me that very little is ever easy. And yet, I have known God’s grace and I want to share that experience. To get to my experience of grace, I have to recount my experience of brokenness and God.

I started going to church when I was seven years old. My mother decided I needed to go. So, I would be dropped off at church for Sunday School and picked up when it was over. Things went smoothly with me going to Sunday School for about two years. Then my experience of church and life in general changed drastically.

At that time, my mother got a job at a local grocery store to pay for my sister’s preschool. This meant that my father had to watch my sister and me before it was time to go to church.

Shortly after mom started her job, the three of us remaining at home started a new ritual. Dad would tell my sister to go downstairs to watch cartoons and when she was gone, he would call me into his room. Then he would molest me until it was time to get ready for church. Every week when he was done, he’d say, "You better go get ready for church." Sometimes he would threaten me with what would happen if I said anything to anyone about what he did. He made threats, but never really had to because the way life was in that household was like walking a tightrope over a field of land mines. The slightest slip or turn would have been a catastrophe.

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Shining Lights: Creating Faith Communities of Healing, January 2009

Nicole Sotelo

Nicole Sotelo is author of “Women Healing from Abuse: Meditations for Finding Peace.” She coordinates www.WomenHealing.com and leads retreats for abuse survivors. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, she currently works for Call To Action, a Catholic justice organization.

In the winter holiday season, it is common to see Menorah lights, Solstice trees or Christmas stars ablaze. Unfortunately, Christmas 2008 will be remembered by those attentive to abuse for another blaze: a recently divorced husband who dressed up as Santa and sprayed bullets and fuel at a holiday party of his ex-wife’s family, killing nine people as the family home went up in flames.

The article I read about this tragic Christmas story had quotes from a member of the husband’s Roman Catholic Church community who seemed unaware that anything was wrong in this man’s life. This is not uncommon. Most people of faith, no matter the religious affiliation, do not know that one in three women in their congregations are or will be domestic violence survivors in their lifetimes or that one in six men were sexually abused as boys. Most believers also do not know that they can make a significant difference in whether or not their fellow believers receive help and healing.

Imagine if someone in this man’s Catholic Church had known of the problems facing the family mentioned above and had provided the resources for help? It may have saved nine people’s lives and the suffering of an entire community who knew them. In this new year, consider making not only personal resolutions, but communal resolutions. What can you do in your community to make 2009 safer for those suffering from abuse?

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