For the month of November, many organizations are seeking to honor victims of domestic violence and spreading the word about how it happens and how to prevent it. It’s all too prevalent, not just here in America but even more so, globally. Despite the fact that it is rampant, and this month is as good as any to highlight the issues, feminists are often choosing to harp on pettier issues — like the tampon tax or why the government won’t provide women with birth control. If feminists are truly for all women, they too should seek to help women cope with the notion that, sometimes, the most dangerous place for her is in a home with an abusive relative.
Here are real statistics, per the United Nations.
1 in 3 women has experienced physical or sexual violence – often at the hands of their partner. Yet, 49 countries don’t have laws criminalizing domestic violence. https://t.co/Fk9jkgqlw2 #HearMeToo pic.twitter.com/YkqDQ29iwx
— United Nations (@UN) November 25, 2018
According to their website, “One in three women experience violence in their lifetime, across all social status, class, race, country or age group. That’s one too many. For many of them, the #MeToo moment hasn’t come yet, because speaking out can have fatal consequences, and survival is a long and complicated journey.”
While some American women do face verbal, physical, financial, or spiritual abuse, there are others who choose to complain about issues that hardly scratch the surface of these problems. For many women around the world, especially in the Middle East, the problems they face are so great it’s hard to imagine. In many parts of the world, women are raped or murdered for speaking out on politics, refusing to comply with an arranged marriage, or ditching their hijab once and for all.
In Saudi Arabia, women are burning their niqabs. In Iran, women tie their hijabs on sticks and sway them silently, defiantly in the streets as they are arrested in droves. In the West, we put a Nike swoosh on it.#MyStealthyFreedom#WhiteWednesdays#حرق_النقاب#العبايه_المقلوبة https://t.co/2d47eKG9hJ
— Yasmine Mohammed (@ConfessionsExMu) November 22, 2018
Last year, Reuters reported the story of this woman who was buried alive because she “dishonored” her family.
Once only common in rural areas, women’s rights campaigners are concerned the practice of murdering women for what some see as “immoral acts” has also become commonplace, and accepted, in Iraq’s cities and towns, but the exact numbers are unknown.
Stories like this abound. Often, when I bring these stories to light and compare them to feminist complaints in America, I’m told that I’m setting up a straw man — that just because there are worse problems elsewhere does not mean they can’t whine about the tampon tax here (of course, they can). Pointing out that women in America enjoy equality while women around the world are raped and murdered is not a straw man, but a shift in perspective.
Domestic violence is an issue in America and worldwide. Women, regardless of political affiliation, should help spread awareness and provide support.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota
