By Patricia Scotland
As we head towards the end of the year, many of us will soon be surrounded by our family and friends sitting around dinner tables as we celebrate the festive season. Looking around the table and reflecting on the fact that, on average, every third woman you see will have experienced sexual or physical abuse at some point in their lives.
This
violence is not a remote act happening in other people’s homes, it lives all
around an uninvited guest at the table. It thrives on secrecy, infiltrating
homes, communities and workplaces. Yet we are nowhere near an appropriate
global response that addresses the scale of this problem. If we are serious
about tackling this issue, we cannot continue down the same path, or we will
rob ourselves and women around the world of the future and life they deserve.
