The Women’s House
“We give all the women a make-over; it helps them feel that they have become a new person.”
Who: Sin Violencia
What: Takes in women from around 40 women’s shelters all over Mexico.
The Police Commissioner
“The turning point was 2004, with the new law on violence in the home. Violence against women was no longer a private matter.”
Who: Adolfina Prieto
What: Heads LIBRA, the special police unit which combats violence against women and also offers survival courses to women who have lived with a dangerous man.
The Men’s Network
“Maybe it was time to shoot a few men … ?”
Who: Hans Hansson
What: Started the men’s network in Piteå and runs treatment sessions for violent men.
The Listeners
“Conversation could do more good than all the medicine in the world.”
Who: CAMPS (Centre D’Assistance Medico–Psychosociale)
What: Gives psychosocial support to families who have been subjected to violence in South Kivu.
The Pioneers
“As far as the politicians are concerned, it’s a reality that doesn’t exist.”
Who: Casa Amiga
What: Centre for support and advice for women who have been subjected to violence.
She was a retired accountant who settled in Juarez where, in 1993, she began to notice the many reports in the local paper of young girls who had been found murdered and raped. Why was this spate of murders not attracting any attention?
The Project for Equality
“Damaging women is like killing the roots of the tree.”
Who: Mathilde Muhindo
What: Former parliamentarian who runs a project to promote equality in villages in South Kivu.
The Conversation Group
“If he beats me I’ll leave him – or will I?”
Who: Lise-Lotte Nielsen and Ann-Margret Fick
What: Social workers who lead conversation groups for abused women, organised by the social services.
The Home for Young Mothers
“We won’t hide the girls away, they have nothing to be ashamed of and they have rights.”
Who: Hope Village Society’s home for young mothers.
What: Offers support and education to street children who have become pregnant.
The Researcher
“It is still the woman who is given the blame. People say it’s her responsibility to hold the family together.”
Who: Natalia Lokhmatkina
What: PhD in the study of abused women in the Russian healthcare system.
The Therapist
Is your family more important than you yourself?
Who: Maria Cristina D’Almeida Marques
What: Runs group therapy sessions and offers counselling to abused women.
“Someone who lives in a violent relationship loses track of time and appointments – in fact, of everything that’s going on around her,” says therapist Maria Cristina D’Almeida Marques. “A woman who is the victim of violence focuses on the man and his demands.”
The Imam
“Sexual response is important. Mutual pleasure is good for the marriage.”
Who: Hassanein Abdelhakam
What: Religious leader who has changed his opinion and is now oppose to genital mutilation.