25th November, International Day against Violence against Women
The violence that we women suffer is a fundamental mechanism of the structural violence in all cultures. Violence is the social response given through all times to dominate, exploit, control, degrade, humiliate… and thus to impose ourselves on others. This treatment is exercised against women in their daily lives; and in war, gender violence increases exponentially.
Women, at least half of the population, have been culturally considered inferior, property of men, with the function of serving the interests of the patriarchy, the nation and militarism. Being regarded as ‘inferior’ has implied our exclusion in social spaces – exclusion internalized in both genders and exclusion which, in itself, is violence against women, both physical and psychological.
Violence has modeled our relationships, as a result of which respect, consideration and good treatment towards women has not been a part of the process of socialization. We feel that violence continues to pervade our culture, causing women to not give primary importance to our right to be persons and we do not value ourselves for who we are, rather in terms of who our partner is. In this way, we adopt the position of victim and accept degrading treatment.
The challenge is to reject the thought of being a victim and always focus on our right to be well treated.
Women in Black observe that in order to work against violence towards women, it is necessary to keep in mind that learning, utilization, socialization and normalizing of all violence throughout history is the cause for the mistreatment and assassination of so many women. To make progress towards the eradication of this violence, we think it is necessary that:
♀ Everyone must think about what violence in human relations has entailed and does now imply and redefine the changes that we must make in our conduct.
♀ Educate from infancy the right to be well treated and to treat others well.
♀ Education in school must stimulate self-esteem of both girls and boys in order to overcome the culture of domination of one over the other.
♀ Society must not tolerate degrading treatment or the assassination of women for the very fact of being women.
♀ Our governments must allot economic and all sorts of resources to ensure the safety of women who suffer violence and to facilitate their liberation from this type of treatment, so they can be free agents of their own lives and future.
We remember especially all those who have been assassinated for being women, their daughters and sons also assassinated and the orphans that this violence creates.
Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain