Discussion: Are we in the midst of a global movement for women’s safety?

By ⋅ February 25, 2013 ⋅ Post a comment

When a woman in Delhi was raped and murdered in December, people in India were outraged. But did India’s protesters help galvanize the world? On Tuesday, February 26, The World hosted a Google+ Hangout designed to ask those working in the field to dive into the question: Is this truly a global movement for women’s safety?

Panel Moderator: Jeb Sharp is show producer for The World, responsible for the program’s overall sound and editorial content. She is also a longtime correspondent with a focus on human rights. Her reporting on rape as a weapon of war won a 2009 Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma.


Leta Hong Fincher is a sociologist at Tsinghua University in Beijing and the author of China’s “Leftover Women” in The New York Times.


Rosemary Barberet is a sociology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. She represents the International Sociological Association at the United Nations and is a founding member of Criminologists Without Borders.


Anita Raj is a professor of Global Public Health and Medicine at UC San Diego, focused on gender-based violence and sexual health for girls in South Asia and immigrants in the US.


Lauren Chief Elk is the co-founder of the Save Wiyabi Project, an advocacy group that brings awareness to violence against indigenous women.


Jocelyn Kelly is the director of the Women in War Program for Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, concentrating on research of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


Rhitu Chatterjee is a correspondent for The World, and has reported on India’s response to violence against women.


Mary Kay Magistad is the Beijing correspondent for The Word, and has recently reported on China’s “leftover women.”


Angilee Shah is the social media manager at Public Radio International (PRI). She has been curating the #worldgender conversation since the Delhi rape and murder in December.


Do you have a question for our panelists? Post a comment below or tweet with the hashtag #worldgender.



Discussion

4 comments for “Discussion: Are we in the midst of a global movement for women’s safety?”

  • bmj789

    How does media coverage impact the ability of women and their larger communities to respond to GBV? Does it hinder or help to have the whole world watching and commenting?

    - Beth in Boston

    • angshah

      Just saw this very interesting critique of Nicholas Kristof’s coverage of violence against women: http://thefeministwire.com/2013/03/op-ed-nicholas-kristof-and-the-politics-of-writing-about-womens-oppression-in-darker-nations/. Sunil Bhatia writes:

      “I support Kristof for advancing causes for education and empowerment of women. But I also believe that by making himself the central, solo, and dominant hero in the narrative of fighting gender inequality, Kristof tends to undercut the very goals of women’s empowerment that he espouses so vociferously.”

      I wonder what you think of this kind of coverage and Kristof’s substantial role in telling these stories, Beth. How can we in the media tell stories, engage people but not disempower the people whose lives we report on?

  • Rhitu Chatterjee

    Hi, This is Rhitu Chatterjee. I think it helps. A lot. For example, in Delhi, both the protests and the media coverage of them, have even started to change men’s behavior. Several people I spoke to said that men in the city are for the first time conscious of how they’re behaving, and how they might be perceived as behaving towards women in public spaces. They’re being careful and respectful of women. That’s a HUGE change in Delhi’s culture. And the media has played a role in this change, that’s for sure. 

  • Deborah_B12

    It is excellent and timely to have this discussion and breadth of input. There are many forms of violence against women that are devastating to their lives. One of the more overlooked forms is violence perpetrated through the family courts, and this includes family courts in USA as well as internationally. Many women seeking to separate from or to divorce violent partners can find themselves the victims of horrific financial and other abuse through the courts. Uneducated/uninformed or biased judges frequently  become agents of violence and their courtroom are used to  legally abuse women. In family courts judges often tend to apply no fault and equal fault without any reflection or consideration. There have been several recent articles indicating that this type of violence is growing. In the US it is almost at epidemic levels as violent abusers tie up the courts in order to continue to abuse their partners/victims.  For many women, the sense of betrayal is great. Courts and judges are “supposed” to be places where they can seek safety, and instead courtrooms have become unsafe for women and judges aid the abuse. Such actions can also be against men too, but this discussion focuses on women, and legal violence perpetrated on women is severe and extensive.