In response to the message sent out regarding the focus of discussion for the next few weeks, it struck me that in the text, "creating safe environments" referred mostly to environments outside of the home, thus the reference to "unsafe streets" for women.
Violence against women, committed by the unknown person in the street or on public transportation etc certainly occurs and I don't want to downplay the importance of this. However, I hope that the discussion in the following weeks also will focus on how to create safe environments in the private and public spaces in which all women live, work and carry out their daily lives. We know that the incidence of violence against women and girls is incredibly high throughout the world and so often takes place in the spaces that are often assumed to be "safe" or to be "off limits" for discussion, many times because the discourse about "family" and "home" are so strong that to begin to talk about sexual violence committed by family and friends is threatening to the core beliefs, concepts, and values of many societies. Yet it is the violence that is perpetuated by "loved ones" that needs to be exposed if we are ever going to develop strategies that address these profound problems. Work that we in Ipas Mexico (www.ipas.org) have been conducting during the past 18 months -- developing a comprehensive model of care for survivors of sexual violence, in collaboration with the Department of Health in Mexico City, that will be implemented in public hospitals -- has enabled us to conduct interactive workshops on the issues of sexual violence and legal abortion with hundreds of health care providers. Similar comments have been expressed by participants in all of the workshops -- the majority of women attended to for sexual violence are young women who have been raped by a family member or friend -- what do we do? Here I return to my original point -- I hope to hear from others throughout the world that have engaged in programs that work toward creating a safe environment in all the spaces in which women carry out their lives. Deborah Billings, PhD Senior Research Associate Ipas Mexico Mexico City [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***End-violence is sponsored by UNIFEM and receives generous support from ICAP*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe end-violence OR type: unsubscribe end-violence Archives of previous End-violence messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/
