Will We Eliminate Violence Against Women?

This is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the beginning of a 16-day campaign that concludes on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. Hearing this on the news this morning nudged me to search out the lawn sign we picked up a couple of years ago through one of the members of Granquinte who is a very active part of the Trenton United Church congregation (she's in the photo below). 

Violence against women is a pernicious aspect of our culture despite decades of efforts to educate and legislate to bring it to an end. Often we are aware of the grim physical realities of this violence. Today we are far more aware of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, although the recent murders of several Manitoba women whose remains were discarded in landfills is a bleak reminder that this racist femicide continues. 

                                                                      Granquinte members 

At least 850 women and girls in Canada were violently killed between 2018 and 2022, according to the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability's annual report. This means a woman or girl is killed every 48 hours in Canada and those numbers continue to rise.

Today and during this campaign we also need to be aware of what is now termed "coercive control", what is often a pattern of threats, humiliation and intimidation used to frighten or punish the victim. When Ruth was an outreach worker for a women's shelter she had conversations with clients who would say "he never hits me." Yet they lived in fear of their partners who controlled virtually every aspect of their lives. Ruth offered to meet with a woman whose partner wouldn't allow her to drive, or to have any money, and didn't know the downtown of the community which was walking distance from where they lived. 

As regular readers will know, I often wondered how the congregations I served could be more supportive of those who are often in the shadows of society until there is a "newsworthy" act of violence. We can certainly make the effort individually and collectively to be attuned to the issues and to support the shelters in our communities. Men need to be actively involved in this effort.

We can also affirm that when we are followers of Jesus we reject any expressions of faith suggesting women be subservient to their partners and uphold the right to safety and equality.