The Lawyers
“With armed guards for protection.”
Who: Hina Jilani and Asma Jahangir
What: As lawyers, they pursue questions relating to women’s human rights.
Sisters
“The law protects victims of terrorism but not families like ours.”
Who: Carmen Sanchez and Ana Ortiz Salvador
What: Organise relatives of murdered women.
Transit and Safety House
“The women are so keen to learn.”
Who: Maison Dorcas
What: Help Panzi Hospital’s patients who have been the victims of violence to make the transition back into society.
The King
“I don’t want my daughter to be a ‘good girl’.”
Who: Kgosi Mabe
What: Uses his position as tribal king to work against violence against women.
The Course Leader
“I can’t un-do what happened to Maggie, but I can decide what I’m going to do with my life. The same is true of everyone who takes my courses.”
Who: Susan Omilian
What: Works with abused women who want to thrive.
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 Village Activists
“You only have to look at the TV series, and how badly the women behave. It’s because they haven’t been circumcised!”
Who: BLACD (The Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development).
What: Visit the villages to talk about genital mutilation, and have radically changed the situation. These days only one in ten girls undergoes genital mutilation; previously the figure was nine in ten.
The Midwife
“When I look back on it, I feel genuine regret and compassion.”
Who: Enayat Abdelhanid
What: Midwife who has changed her opinion and is now opposed to genital mutilation.
“I used to circumcise up to twenty girls a day, and I was paid in money, tea and sugar. We used to cut out three parts. We held the girl down and she usually screamed. When I look back on it, I feel genuine regret and compassion.”
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 Psychologists
“When I started working I was naive, and my aim was to have families reunited.”
Who: Elena Zolotilova and Tatiana Pavlova
What: Fighting to open the city’s first women’s shelter.