Gender based violence is a multi-faceted issue and can encompass physical, sexual, economic, cultural and emotional mistreatment based on a person’s gender.

Among the root causes of gender-based violence are existing social norms and the imbalance of power between men and women. Gender roles are learnt through socialisation beginning in early childhood and can limit what we think we can do, who we think we are and who we think we can be. Societies with rigid gender roles often deny women and girls the opportunities to progress in life and leave them open to mistreatment and exploitation.

To really address the issue of gender-based violence, we need to work with individuals, families, communities and societies to change societal norms and envision a different future. This includes breaking the silence around gender-based violence and hearing the stories of those who have been affected.Sharing the stories and experiences of women and girls who have been mistreated raises awareness of this deep-rootedissue, challenges the negative stereotypes that limit women and girls, and is helping to change the societal systems that keep many women trapped and isolated.

Over the last 16 days, we have tried to raise awareness of this global issue by sharing stories from around the world of women and girls that have been affected by gender-based violence. We have also looked at how individual people and communities are responding to this issue to empower women and create a different future in their communities based on dignity for all.

The stories of women and girls matter. They break the culture of silence and shame prevalent to some extent in all human societies. HCR will continue to use media rooted in local communities to provide a platform to share people’s stories, to bring groups together to address challenges and concerns, and to bring about lasting change that recognises every person’s equal and shared humanity.

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The Amplifying Voices Project was set up in 2015 as a collaborative venture between HCR (now known as Amplifying Voices), Feba UK and the Believers Broadcasting Network (BBN), a Christian radio station in Freetown.  BBN forms multi-stakeholder teams with partners including churches and local health clinics to visit people in their households and local communities and listen deeply to their stories, challenges, hopes and concerns.

These conversations with people feed directly back into radio programmes developed and broadcast by BBN. There is a twice-weekly show called Amplify that uses and responds to community voices and there is also a monthly radio drama produced to deal with sensitive issues identified such as sexual violence, rape, teenage pregnancy and ‘sugar daddy’ relationships.

Listeners and those involved in the visits see themselves as agents of change. The conversations shared and issues raised in the radio broadcasts are leading the community to take practical action to protect women and girls.

Scarcity of water and the vulnerability of girls collecting water were identified as major concerns, as men targeted girls and this was linked to high levels of teenage pregnancy. Djibrillah, a team member, said: ‘Girls used to go to the streams to collect water.  Water Tanks were installed so now this has reduced the need to fetch water and this has reduced teenage pregnancy.’ In another community they put in streetlights to improve the security for women and girls.

The project is also helping women and girls in relation to education and employment. A radio journalist and counsellor involved in the project said the following about *‘Patience’, a regular listener to the Amplify programme: ‘She was a lady who thought everything was lost and was intimidated by education.  Now she is very engaged. We encourage them and let them know they have something inside of them. All is not lost. She is about to complete her education.’

By working with the community to improve the safety and security of women and girls and to encourage them into education and employment, this work is having a transformative impact on the lives of people in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

*Not her real name

Image: Amplifying Voices Project team members on their way to visit a community in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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Any form of abuse leaves scars. A few years ago I participated in some focus group meetings with street living children, aged from 6 years to 16 years, to explore starting a radio project for Feba UK for these children in Kinshasa, DR Congo. It was particularly difficult to get street living girls to participate but we where able to include a small group of teenage girls. I was deeply affected by a 16 year-old girl who showed me several scars on her body that she had suffered from being beaten and being raped. These were her outward scars but she also had deep psychological scars from her suffering that couldn’t be as easily seen.

Shockingly, this girl’s experiences are not uncommon; as there are approximately 25,000 children living on the streets of Kinshasa and the number is growing. Many of the children are on the streets because they have been accused of being witches and as a result, been thrown out of their homes and excluded from their communities. Any child living on the street is marginalised, but girls are particularly vulnerable and to survive, many are coerced into sex work.

As the Feba UK radio project developed, the group of street living children helped develop a script for a radio drama series to address child witch accusations and the girls in the group were particularly keen on their experiences being reflected. The part of the drama that they wanted to include was the traumatic ‘baptism’ of young girls on the streets, which is when a girl newly on the streets is ‘initiated’ by being raped.  The girls were very vocal about ensuring that this was reflected correctly in the drama as their experiences and their suffering had previously been ignored.

By being based on the real life experiences of young street living children, the radio drama series and the wider radio project were able to give these children an opportunity to talk about their lives on the streets. Skills development was provided for these street living children to become youth journalists.  This innovative project helped the children find ways to improve their lives and helped change the perception and behaviour of the wider community towards them.

Improving the lives of street living children is a massive challenge and will not happen overnight; however, these youth journalists are persevering and using the media space to share stories, to promote healing and to protect the rights of street living children.

If this article raises any personal issues please contact your local professional services or contact the helplines below.

In Australia: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

In UK: National Domestic Violence Helpline 0808 2000 247

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Combatting gender-based violence can take courage, sensitivity and wisdom. I met Mary*, an ordained minister working in a rural area in Kenya, who showed all of these qualities in her work to help women and girls.

In this particular area of Kenya, the challenges facing families include limited access to food and water, and high levels of illiteracy. Conflict within families and domestic violence is rife. It is common to see women with missing teeth as they have been so badly beaten.

Women cannot own animals or land and are very dependent on men. Early marriage is common, with girls as young as eleven often married to men in their fifties and over, frequently as a second or third wife.  When a girl is prepared for marriage she will have to go through the painful ritual of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Mary explains that she is ‘surrounded by this community – I could lose trust and [do more harm than good], so I interact with the families.’ Mary is notified if a marriage is likely to take place. Mary will try and talk with the family and if the wedding cannot be prevented in this way, then they will find a discreet way to get the young girl to safety and the care of the government.

After a girl is brought to safety, the government will start working with the family. The family is not informed that Mary has helped to get the girl protected and she would be at risk if her involvement was discovered:

‘I see girls, I feel angry, so sympathetic, they are very young and innocent. They don’t even know the man she will marry’. 

Mary is not always able to prevent a child marriage, or stop girls being ‘cut’ before their wedding ceremonies, or women being harmed or murdered due to domestic violence. Mary helps girls to remain in their communities, providing support, fellowship and togetherness.

All of HCR’s work with partners engages with and supports people and local communities and it is from within these communities that change can and does happen.

*Not her real name

Photo credit: Olivier Asselin – UNICEF

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Guest Post by Shilpa Shinde, Seva.

Let’s face it, India doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to valuing women! We rank 174th out of 189 on the gender inequality index.  As the leader of a small NGO I can tell you, it’s a man’s world and I have to work very hard to make my voice heard!  But the issue that has been bothering me most lately is the issue of stigma and particularly how women are affected by it.

Take my close friend Anugrah*.  She got pregnant before marriage and was unaware that she had been carrying a child for 3 months.  She admits she was very naïve and not aware of much in those days but she was very afraid that her parents and her community would reject her.

After she and her boyfriend discovered that Anugrah was pregnant, he secretly gave her a drug which he had been told would induce an abortion.  The effect however was to make her very ill, which raised the suspicion of her family, who eventually found out.  Anugrah and her boyfriend’s family then entered discussions and she was put under great pressure, particularly by his family, to abort the baby.  Augrah felt compelled to go through with the abortion, with the promise from her boyfriend’s family that they could get married soon afterwards.  Sadly, not only did they not keep their promise or help her through the procedure, which made her very ill, but they rejected her. They seemed more concerned for their image in society and the church.

Anugrah was blamed for not ‘not keeping her purity’, while the son was exonerated from any blame, stigma or shame. She has endured rejection and shame from her church and community and even been kicked out of her youth group.  Many of her friends rejected her.

Thankfully the story doesn’t end there.  Anugrah is now one of our key workers, helping our charity, Seva, serve poor and marginalised indigenous or Adivasi communities in our state.  She has amazing empathy, especially with girls and women, who suffer greatly.  And they love her… they know she feels their pain.

Seva is a key HCR-partner in India, using a community-centred media approach to bring about holistic transformation among tribal communities (see “Village gets a new voice”)

*Not her real name

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This year the UK celebrated 100 years of women being able to vote. Before that democracy was interpreted to mean “rule by the men” rather than “rule by the people”. This development has been repeated over and over again. Women around the world are be able to participate fully and equally in decision-making at community and national level. Sadly, in many communities, people are unaware of these national developments and the threat of violence is often used to prevent women from speaking out in public conversations.

In Pakistan women do participate in public life and Pakistan is one of an increasing number of countries to have had a female prime minister. But in some Pakistani communities it would be considered offensive for a woman to engage in influential conversations at community or family level. Women who try to do so face threats of violence and exclusion.

HCR supports a community-centred radio project in one such community. Community activists have worked together to get training and put community radio programmes on air. However, the participants in the radio work are all men. Women do participate in complementary off-air activities, and one lady, Zakia*, has been running health and hygiene workshops for women and girls. Another older lady in the community has offered her home for Zakia to run vocational groups for women and girls. The older lady said, “We have to do this, whatever the cost to me”.  Inspired by this Zakia also spoke to an HCR associate about getting involved in radio. She realised it could be very dangerous for her as it might invite repercussions from the wider community. But she believes that radio by women and girls, for women and girls would extend the benefits of the workshops to more people. Zakia said to our associate, “Someone must stand up and speak, and I will do it”.

HCR is supporting women who want to engage in public life through radio. We are also speaking up for the many women whose voices are not heard because they have been intimidated into silence by the threat of violence.

*Not her real name

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The keystone to transformational development is building trust and relationships. At HCR we endeavour to build trust with all people we work with, as we walk alongside communities. Trust is critical and particularly highlighted when working on family violence and women’s empowerment issues. In the Mid West, Western Australia we are continually confronted with family violence issues. Women who we have built trusting relationships with, come to us in all levels of distress due to family violence. As the Family Law Act 1995 in Australia states:

Domestic and family violence occurs when someone tries to control their partner or other family members in ways that intimidate or oppress them. Controlling behaviours can include threats, humiliation (‘put downs’), emotional abuse, physical assault, sexual abuse, financial exploitation and social isolations, such as not allowing contact with family or friends.

Women who have shared their stories with us have experienced controlling behaviours from physical assault to financial exploitation, and when victims come to us we support them to seek appropriate services. All women and men need to be empowered to stand up to all types of intimidating behaviour. Alongside supporting individual women, we also work with community champions and local services to develop community media strategies to help provide critical information to those in need with regards to family violence. This includes recording and broadcasting community service announcements about services available. We are passionate about working on this issue and making a stand, because violence is never okay.

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I photographed the billboard above recently in a remote village in North Kivu in the DRC. It depicts two men molesting a woman with the words: “You wouldn’t do this if it was your mother, would you!” It is a stark reminder of the widespread use of rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated in this country, notably as a weapon of war and coercion. Ravaged by over twenty years of conflict, with 3.7 million internally displaced people, UNWomen estimates that over 1 million women have been raped in the DRC.

HCR’s partner station in North Kivu, Umoja FM seeks to prevent and respond to sexual violence by building community resilience and changing attitudes about the value of women and girls, especially their education. The station runs programmes which provide counselling and trauma healing for survivors as well as advice for young people. In a meeting with listeners a few weeks ago I heard many stories of how the radio station has made a huge difference since 2016, when it was launched by Feba UK in collaboration with HCR and a local NGO, Esader.

One listener said: “In Watalinga (district) there was an attitude that we had to marry our girls at a very young age and so there was no point educating them. But the radio has changed all that, and I should know, because I used to think like that.” Another said that although many NGO’s had come and gone, the radio is always with them, helping them, bringing new ideas.

Station Manager Baraka Basweki told me, “We are changing community attitudes towards the value of women and girls. As one person changes so they influence another and another – you can feel it is different now.”

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“Gender inequality exists throughout Kenya, but it’s particularly bad in this part of the country,” says Harriet Atyang, the manager of HCR partner station Amani FM in Tana River.   In many situations Harriet says women are subjected to abuse and violence, but it is rarely reported, as it seen as a cultural norm.

Recounting a story where one young girl was given by her parents to an old man, Harriet said, “A woman is often seen as a man’s property.  Many men see the role of women is purely to give birth and look after the home, but they don’t have a voice and are left out of decision-making.”

It is for that reason that Amani FM has many programmes to promote change like “Jamvi la mwanamke jasiri”, or ‘Carpet Talk’. The idea is that the carpet is a place where people can sit and feel comfortable and confident to share their concerns.  By airing women’s stories, Amani FM is starting a community conversation and they find that men are engaging positively with the issue too.   With the help of other Non-Government Organisations and counselling services, the station is helping women to find help and making the community aware of their rights.

“Judging by the number of calls we are getting to the programmes, we are having an effect.  Many are calling in and really opening up with their personal stories,” says Harriet. “It is going to take time, but however long it takes, we are going to keeping working with communities and other stakeholders to bring about the change that is needed.”

Image: Harriet and Esther from Amani FM interview community members.

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Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience higher rates of family violence than in the general population. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 2018 report found Indigenous women were 32 times as likely to be hospitalised due to family and domestic violence than non-Indigenous women. Indigenous women are also less likely to report abuse.

Indigenous people in Australia often have higher risk factors for family violence such as poor housing and overcrowding, financial difficulties, unemployment and social stressors. However, it needs to be clear that the perpetrators of this violence are both Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners.

Recently, an Aboriginal Elder spoke to me of his concerns of violence against women in the community. It saddened him, as traditional Aboriginal culture respects women as the givers of life, as nurturers, the same way Mother Nature gives and nurtures us. Both should be respected.

However, it’s evident after not only speaking with this Elder, but many more communities across the Mid West and Gascoyne of Western Australia, that the intergenerational trauma of the invasion of Australia has caused a major impact on the life and culture of the one of the oldest cultures in the world.

At HCR we work with Aboriginal communities to support them to develop their own health messages and campaigns which help deal with many of the risk factors for domestic and family violence. This approach allows local people to share their knowledge in a culturally relevant way for their local community.

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