WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
Some 47,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members in 2020. This means that, on average, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family every 11 minutes. Where trends can be calculated, they show that the magnitude of such gender-related killings remains largely unchanged, however, with only marginal increases and decreases over the past decade.(UNODC,2020)
On the face of it, the portrait of our society visible to the naked eye depicts that a relentless effort is being made to create an inclusive and safe environment for women to exist fully in their identities, live with free will and autonomy over their bodies; and this picture gives the impression that thanks to being in the 21st century, where “everyone” is progressive and times have changed, women too are afforded the privilege to reach for the stars and dream as big as they wish as far as their ambitions, stretch themselves far beyond the restraints of outdated traditions and stereotypes.
However, the reality of this portrait is in fact still sort of an impossible dream to catch at the moment, because women, all over the world, are still deep in the pits of misogyny hell; suffocated by systems backed by tyranny and bigotry, the fear of a blade held to their necks by someone they have entrusted to love them or protect them, a threat to their dignity and humanity stands in the way regardless of where they are or who they are with - and at any moment, their lives can be stolen from them and no one but them will be held accountable for the circumstances that led up to that fate. The adversities of womanhood are inescapable to the extent that no woman survives the ordeal, so much so that they have been made aware of it too, that this world is not a place they can call sit still and call home yet! And that is only one of many signs that, as a society, we have failed women!
Nonetheless, not all hope has been lost! There were generations before us that stood up to the horrid mentalities towards fair treatment of women and advocated for the end of atrocious acts of violence against women, and now, the banner has been handed to us to lead the march going forward and move the fight for women’s rights far beyond the limits that failed our predecessors.
So, where do we go from here?
Written by Atukunda Noeline
