“I’m not brave, I’m afraid, but I have no choice.” 
Hina Jilani, human rights lawyer, Lahore, Pakistan

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 Doctors

“No-one really knows how to circumcise a woman.”


Who:
Magda Adly and Joseph Kamel.
What: Magda works with rehabilitation of victims of torture and violence in the home, and Joseph is a local doctor.  


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 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 Radio Presenter

“The media are hugely important because what we don’t show doesn’t exist.” 


Who:
Martha Gomez
What: Journalist who for the last seven years has been broadcasting Tolerancia Cero (“Zero Tolerance”) a radio programme about violence against women.


The Women’s Shelter

“Several women who have stayed at Dastak have been murdered by their families when they have dared to venture out.”


Who:
Dastak shelter
What:
Offer protection to women who have been subjected to violence or threats of violence. Lahore’s only private women’s shelter.


The Men's Group

“It annoys me that people keep asking ‘Why doesn’t she leave?’ People seem to want to lay the blame on the woman, when the only valid question is - Why does he hit her?”


Who:
Sara Brammer
What:
Psychologist who treats violent men.


The Children's Clinic

Red Riding Hood versus the Wolf


Who
: Teddy Bear Clinic
What:
Offer support to children and young people who have been abused.


The Mothers

“Why didn’t the police show me the whole of my daughter’s body, just a left foot which was sticking out?”


Who:
Rosaura Montañez
What: Member of a network of mothers who have lost daughters. 

Araceli disappeared on the 30th of June 1995 and was found four days later on a refuse tip on the southern outskirts of the city. She had been raped and strangled. She was 19 years old. No-one has been found guilty of her murder.


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 Lawyer

“I hope to go to court with my own mother one day, but she doesn’t want to. Not yet.”                    


Who:
Valentina Frolova
What: Lawyer at the Crisis Center for Women in St Petersburg.