One Billion Rising
‘Love is in the air.’ ‘Say it with roses.’ Valentine’s Day is being celebrated today in many countries of the world. But today also marks a call to action on behalf of the many women and girls across the globe who receive the sickening and unacceptable ‘gifts’ of violence and abuse. Up to 70% of women experience violence in their lifetime according to the United Nations. In other words, one in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten at some time in their life. Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria. The One Billion Rising campaign urges people to rise up today to dance and demand gender equality and justice and an end to violence against women.
We need massive cultural and societal shifts supported by legal, policing and sentencing changes to stop violence against women. Adult learning can make a huge contribution to this transformation. Through learning we can all inform ourselves, increase our understanding and learn what we can do to bring about change. Adult learning can give both men and women the information they need, the space to debate the issue of violence against women and build their courage and confidence to speak out and to challenge prevailing attitudes, cultural norms and violence when they encounter them.
Learning can support women to take greater control in the face of violence. One of my first teaching jobs was in a refuge for Asian women who had escaped abusive and violent relationships. I learned how hard it is to start a new life and the double difficulties you face when you lose your family and community, you don’t know how the system works and you don’t speak English. Learning was a route to a successful future for these women and countless others in similar situations. Donna, a 1998 Adult Learners’ Week award winner, was living in a women’s refuge after escaping years of domestic abuse and at a very low ebb when she joined the literacy class that started her on a journey to a new life as a teacher and community volunteer. With her tutor’s encouragement she gained confidence and self-belief that she could reach high then went on to gain a degree and qualify as a teacher.
The success of learning in giving purpose and decent futures to women who have survived violence and abuse is a recurring story, as we see in more recent Adult Learners’ Week award winners. Domestic violence forced Lucy to flee her home with her young children, becoming ‘a nervous wreck with no confidence’ in the process. Two years after joining a literacy class Lucy started a degree in Education Studies. A cookery course started a learning journey that helped Sandy to turn her life round from domestic violence and homelessness to having a job, friends, qualifications and purpose.
Many women survivors want to ‘give something back’ and learning can equip them to do this. Victim Support Cornwall runs the SUrvivors Supported into Empowerment, Education and Employment project (“SUsie”) which supports women who have experienced domestic abuse to rebuild their self-confidence and return to training or employment. Last year the NIACE Adult and Community Learning Fund supported Preparing for SUsie! Project, which trained women who had already completed SUsie as peer mentors to support and inspire other women to improve their physical and mental health and increase their chances of developing social and economic independence.
Supporting women survivors of domestic abuse is valuable but not enough. We need to stop the scourge of violence against women in all its forms and make gender justice the norm. This means working with both men and women. Adult educators can link with organisations such as the global White Ribbon Campaign (WRC), the first male oriented organisation to oppose violence against women campaign to ensure that men take more responsibility for reducing the level of violence against women. Adult educators can harness the power of adult learning to contribute to a social transformation that ends gender inequality and violence against women. We could start by learning the dance.
Leading up to International Women’s Day – 8 March 2013 - NIACE has invited international and UK writers to contribute to a series of guest blogs to mark the day. They will be addressing themes that include women learning literacy for: liberation, community involvement, activism and volunteering, health, families and work. Please look out for these posts and join the debate. If you’re interested in contributing a blog post please contact me at jane.ward@niace.org.uk.
This great blog highlights how Valentine’s Day will not have been the hearts and roses experience many women may have dreamt of.
The tragic, high profile incident, on the morning of Valentine’s Day, in South Africa demonstrates how violence against women is not limited to ‘particular’ groups, but transcends class, culture and country. Already, some of the media responses to the tragedy is to talk about the role of anger management – learning about self, for transformation.
Jane Ward demonstrates the power of learning to help women to deal with their violent past and transform their lives. This is very important but the responsibility for change does not only rest with the victims. Jane also highlights the White Ribbon Campaign, which is a vital element of the transformation of women’s lives; men must take responsibility, learn more about themselves, their relationships and stop the violence.
As Jacques Delors said, we must learn to be as well as live together.
WEA run a wonderful adult learning course called “Womens Lives” which provides women with the opportunity to both improve their literacy skills and to share their life experiences in a safe and confidential environment. As a tutor on this course I have been privileged to learn about the challenges faced by many women in terms of domestic violence and resistance from family members to their taking part in adult learning. I am always astounded by the courage and perseverance of those women and the impact that participating in the course has on them in moving forward in their personal and professional lives. 70% is a shocking statistic.