Sharing the talk which I had given in the FusAid Global Women's conference on the campaign against Domestic Violence and gender-based violence. 1.5 trillion dollars, US dollars. Caught your attention?? Approximately 2% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Roughly the size of the entire Canadian economy. This is the global cost of violence against women estimated by the United Nations in 2016.
So, I guess, I can safely say that Domestic violence is not just a woman issue. It is definitely not a private affair which the society finds easy to ignore thinking that why get involved as it doesn't impact us. Well, now you know, you are paying for it in hard cash.
You know who else will agree with me that it is not a woman issue, it is neither a man vs woman issue. It is an issue which impacts the society as a whole. It is a world problem of epic proportions? Sir Patrick Stewart famously known as the captain of the starship USS Enterprise of Star trek.
He Says and I quote, "As a child I witnessed his repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him. If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down." He is talking about his own father. No seven year old boy or girl should go through something so traumatic.
Millions of women, countless men and kids live in fear, fear that starts somewhere from your gut and spreads all over, fear that makes you almost numb and that numbness in way, is a welcome escape from the horrible reality of life. How I know, I know because, I am a survivor too.
You see, The tragedy is that this is not happening in some prison camp under an evil dictator, it is happening all over the world, in what is supposed to be the safest place, our homes. Domestic violence touches more lives than we care to admit. According to WHO 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
A global study of more than 125,000 people from all socioeconomic backgrounds found, children who witnessed domestic violence had the same risk and incidence of PTSD as soldiers returning from war.
Brain imaging in infants shows that exposure to domestic violence – even as they are sleeping, or in utero – can reduce parts of the brain, change its overall structure.
According to a report by UNICEF, Studies from various countries support the findings that rates of abuse are higher among women whose husbands were abused as children or who saw their mothers being abused. We have to break this cycle of violence.
There is another type of violence which takes place along with domestic violence. Every, almost every victim experiences it on top of the horror of facing violence. I have faced it too.
You want to know what that is.... It is victim bashing.
She must have done something. He is quite nice to me, well he has never done this before has he??" or the classic ... "It takes two to tango." "Why didn't you leave sooner"
Anyone who asks these questions is subconsciously agreeing that there are situations where such behaviour is ok. There is no justification for violence. Period.
I am a big Pink Flyod fan and comfortable numb is one of their best songs.
It ends with... The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.
Please, don't let a child lose his/her dream. We as a society can not afford to be comfortably numb.
Ruchi Singh
#domesticviolence #violenceagainstwomen #genderbasedviolence
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