Saturday, November 05, 2005

10 Anti-Violence-Against-Women Campaigners' Sets; £20

In Saudi Arabia last April a female TV presenter allowed photographs of her battered and bruised face to be publicised in order to draw attention to domestic abuse.

Rather than having people respect her bravery in allowing her damaged face to be on public display and in highlighting domestic violence, she was hit by a shockwave of outrage from across the country. Conservative islamic leaders had felt that she had too 'western' an image, and had resented her for some time - but when she went public about her husband's physical attacks on her, their anger intensified and fed the fury from many of Saudi Arabia's people. Last week she had to run away from both her home in Jeddah and from her country. Having fled in 'mysterious circumstances' she is now in Paris, and has said that she is no longer safe in Saudi and that she will never go back.

Domestic violence like this is ignored, tolerated and even accepted in some places. With this present, 10 sets of materials to assist those attempting to change these attitudes will make their way to those who need them. These people's efforts start small then grow - and Oxfam has already seen evidence of progress in these projects in South Asia. We women in the UK enjoy the protection of society's attitudes now - although not necessarily throughout our history - and we owe it to other women around the world to help them, as our debt of gratitude to those in our history who helped us.

[from Oxfam Unwrapped, www.oxfamunwrapped.com ]

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