. . . You will not always be able to solve all the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have, because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.
Michelle Obama
Happy New Year! I am writing this column on the eve of the new liturgical year, Advent, but by the time you are reading it, we will be launching the new calendar year of 2023. Advent and Christmas will be behind us and we will be embracing 2023 with the usual sense of hope and anticipation that accompanies each new beginning. May the gifts of the Advent season: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, and the light and spirit of the Christmas season not be packed away with the Christmas decorations! Instead, let us embrace the Epiphany season in such a way that we show forth these gifts of the two previous liturgical seasons in all that we do.
We know that the new year is often approached with the ubiquitous New Year’s Resolutions that usually involve embracing change of some sort (diet, exercise, sleep, relationships, work and leisure habits, organization, etc.). Would that we could change the reality of gender-based violence (GBV) by adopting some New Year’s resolutions that would reduce, even eliminate its pervasiveness. It is a sad reality, however, that the gifts of Advent and Christmas are not the lived reality for those who are victims of gender-based violence and discrimination.
It is all too easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed when one hears that globally 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence of some sort. Learning that there are deep systemic, structural, and cultural roots to GBV may not seem to lessen the feeling of helplessness, but gaining greater knowledge of what fuels GBV does, indeed, help one understand why it is so pervasive. When it comes to perpetrators, it is not a simple matter of a “few bad apples”. Gaining a greater appreciation of the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, coupled with adverse community environments for those who are perpetrators and victims of gender-based violence opens the mind to change the narrative around GBV. It is within our power to increase our awareness of the growing body of knowledge around GBV.
To introduce White Ribbon Sunday (Nov. 20/22) with its pledge never to commit, condone, or remain silent about all forms of gender-based violence and discrimination and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (Nov. 25 – Dec. 10), the Anglican Church Women Diocesan Board was invited to co-host with the Canadian Mothers’ Union a significant portion of the Mothers’ Union virtual Biennial Meeting 2022, dedicated to increasing understanding about the roots of gender-based violence. With the Biennial Meeting 2022 theme, Hope All Things, as a backdrop, we were privileged to welcome Sue Bookchin and Dr. Nancy Ross, co-founders of Be the Peace Institute, as presenters and facilitators for an hour and a half session on Nov. 19/22. And, what a privilege it was.
What are some key things we learned on that Saturday afternoon? For starters, the acronym GBV for gender-based violence is an umbrella term for a host of other acronyms: DV (domestic violence), IPV (intimate partner violence), FV (family violence), SV (sexualized violence), SH (sexual harassment), and VAWG (violence against women and girls) to name some of the common terms – there are more! We learned the United Nations definition of GBV and the fact that gender-based violence can occur in any relationship; however, the predominant victims in domestic violence are women and the predominant perpetrators are men. We looked at statistics and learned of the costs and consequences/repercussions of GBV. It is indeed sobering.
In order to help broaden our understanding of GBV and its structural, systemic roots, we engaged in a poll and discussed our responses. We learned that gender-based violence is much more complex than bad men and weak women. The criminal justice system is not able to successfully address the complexity of GBV. If there is any doubt about this conclusion and the challenge of women leaving an abusive situation, take the time to view the video, Pathways to Justice: https://youtu.be/80hi9_LViXw A pre-alert: the content is difficult. We need to change the narrative around GBV: We need to make room for viewing gender-based violence through a peace building lens where features of safety, belonging, and voice are honoured.
Participants were asked to consider a scenario of an abused woman and in small groups to both comment on how common we felt the description was and, significantly, with the 4th Mark of Mission of the Anglican communion being to seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation, how does the scenario inform one’s actions and contribution to the bigger picture? This was, and is, a challenge.
Fortunately, Sue and Nancy left participants with a full array of resources for follow-up and further engagement with the complexity of gender-based violence (articles, websites, short films, podcasts, books and the link to the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission). They noted that the Commission Reports and Round Table Discussions specific to gender-based violence are like a master class on the complexities of GBV!
Before we finished our time together, and mindful of the theme, Hope All Things, Sue and Nancy offered the following hopeful developments on the GBV horizon: Recent federal and funding announcements regarding gender-based violence and the fact that restorative / transformative approaches to addressing GBV are gaining ground.
You can experience the 90-minute workshop we benefitted from by accessing this link: https://canadianmothersunion.ca/meeting
With the theme Hope All Things as inspiration, let’s resolve in 2023 to change the narrative around gender-based violence as a way to begin to change the trajectory of this scourge.
