INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE

NOVEMBER 25, IS THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR
THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Kenya (Daily Nation) - The 16-Days of Action for the Elimination of Violence against Women run from the November 25 to the December 10, which is International Human Rights Day recognising that women’s rights are human rights. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the United Nations formal recognition of November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The date also commemorates the anniversary of the brutal murder of three sisters, named Mirabel, who in 1960, were killed in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo, for their political activism and outspoken resistance to the regime at that time.

United Nations’ Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon notes that violence against women continues to persist as one of the most heinous, systematic and prevalent human rights abuses in the world. He said it is a threat to all women, and an obstacle to all of the UN’s efforts for development, peace and gender equality in all societies. According to the BBC News, the latest Home Office figures suggest that in one year, 106 people were killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales. Domestic violence is not the only crime or type of attack where women and girls become the usual target because of their gender. According to the Home Office, around 10,000 women are sexually assaulted and 2,000 women are raped every week. Forced marriage, "honour" killings, trafficking for sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation are all crimes exclusively or mainly perpetrated against women. An opinion poll commissioned by the Home Office in February this year, revealed that it is thought that a woman should be held fully or partly responsible if she worked as a prostitute and was sexually assaulted or raped, if she was drunk and was sexually assaulted or raped and that it is acceptable in certain circumstances for a man to hit or slap his wife or girlfriend in response to her being dressed in sexy or revealing clothing in public. These attitudes can create cultures where offenders feel justified - and where women and girls feel they may in some way "deserve" to be attacked or abused.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

“It is certain, O Partha, that those who take refuge in me, even the lowborn, women, merchants, as well as the working class, attain the highest goal.” (Bg. 9.32) - This is the translation and here the commentary I use in my upcoming book Bhagavad-gita: "Its Feeling and Philosophy": “Women are mentioned in this verse because of the social impediment to their study of the Vedas in times gone by, as well as the fact that a woman's birth can subject one to the kind of repression they have suffered from over the centuries.” The spiritual position is that everyone - men and women - should be submissive to Krishna. If, for example, in a married relationship, the wife is more submissive to Krishna, her husband should follow her. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu found that Mukunda's son, Raghunandana, was more Krishna conscious than his father, he considered Raghunandana the father and Mukunda the son.

Śrīla B.V. Tripurari Maharaja :
"Women, Lower Birth, Highest Goal" - Sangas Vol. II, No. 25
Sri Caitanya Sanga - http://www.swami.org/