“I was held captive for three months altogether.”
Anette, Stockholm, Sweden

Women’s Table

“What we see is a state which does not take responsibility for its people.”  


Who:
Mesa de Mujeres (Women’s Table)
What: Network of researchers and activists who investigate feminicides.


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 Lawyer

“Sometimes I sit in the courtroom and hold her hand, or stroke her back. I don’t want her to feel she is alone.”


Who:
Susanne Croné-Morell
What:
Is the victim’s own lawyer – the plaintiff’s lawyer.  


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.


The Police Stations

We needed special stations and police officers who were trained to listen and understand.”


Who:
Women’s police stations
What:
Handle reports to the police and investigate crimes which affect women in relationships.


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 Statisticians

“Mutilations are the worst.”


Who:
Aurat Foundation
What:
Create the only statistics on violence against women by reading every word of the country’s newspapers.


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 Village Mother

“I used to sit up at night waiting for him to come home and beat me.”


Who:
Motshidisi
What:
Uses her position as “village mother” to work against violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS.  

Both Motshidisi’s daughter and her ex-husband died of AIDS. Since then she has talked and talked and talked about the disease - and about the violence. Slowly, people are beginning to respond.


The Inspiration For A Law

The number of cases reported to the police is growing by the day.”


Who:
Maria Da Penha
What:
Brazil’s new law on violence against women bears her name. She herself runs an institute to spread information about the law.


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.