International women rights activist Eve Ensler, well known for her play The Vagina Monologues, is in Guyana as she continues her work in helping grassroots women to take control in addressing the issues that most affect them.
Theming up with the Caribbean American Do-mestic Violence Awareness (CADVA), Ensler, who is also behind the ‘One Billion Rising’ worldwide movement, was part of two activities addressing various forms of violence against women.
On Sunday evening, a panel-styled forum was convened at the Pegasus Hotel under the theme the ‘State of Female Justice: Social Justice with Love’ during which various women from around the country ventilated the issues that most affected them.
“We need to have our women come together and decide collectively what justice means to them,” said Dianne Madray of CADVA during a media briefing on Sunday and who added that Sunday evening’s event would have set the stage for transforming the second phase of the ‘One Billion Rising’ campaign in Guyana.
Last night, an artistic presentation titled ‘Let the Women Speak’ was to be staged at the Theatre Guild where stories that occurred in Guyana would be transformed through the arts. Two such stories are those of murdered former Queen’s College student Neesa Gopaul, whose mother and stepfather are before the courts for her death, and mother of one Babita Sarjoo who disappeared without a trace a few years ago.
Madray committed herself and CADVA to ensuring the voices of women in Guyana are heard adding that she had also committed to the family of Sarjoo to ensure that they receive some justice.
“We need to have a better data system for missing persons [and] with the support of One Billion Rising and CADVA we are going to begin to look at the missing persons’ act and see how we could put some things in place…,” she said.
She also named DNA testing issues revealing that Eureka Lab is now on board to assist families who are looking for loved ones.
“I am sick and tired of it, I think that it is time that we do something more rather than talking about this,” Madray said.
Meanwhile, Ensler recalled that after The Vagina Monologues was first staged in New York, many women would line up to speak to her and while she expected them to talk about their wonderful sex life, they instead they spoke about how they were beaten, raped or abused.
She was overwhelmed and together with a group of friends later decided to use the play to highlight those issues of abuse; this was in 1996 and saw actresses such as Whoopi Goldberg performing. During that staging, monies being raised were given to local groups that were working to end violence against women and girls.
“…After that the movement just kind of exploded around the globe, it spread to 140 countries where the play was performed in 48 languages and through the efforts of grassroots activists it raised $175 million over the last 18 years,” Ensler said adding that the money went to grassroots women fighting the wave of violence affecting women and children.
It was in the 15th year after Monologues was created, Ensler said, that she was in the Congo—where she has a charity that assists abused women—dancing with the women when the idea of ‘One Billion Rising’ took root. She noted that the one billion represents the fact that one out of three women worldwide is raped, beaten or otherwise abused daily and she thought what would happen if women danced globally to highlight these issues and to end violence.
The first staging of the movement happened two years ago on February 14, which according to her began a “new energetic determination on the planet which then took front page news in many, many countries putting violence against women on the map in a way it had not done up to that point.”
She said ‘One Billion Rising’ is a movement and not a non-government organisation but rather an energy and not owned by anyone nor is it centralised but women across the world take it, own and do what they want with it.
She described violence against women as patriarchy which is rampant worldwide; the story of rampant destruction on the bodies of women.
Madray said the goal is to create a cross-regional coalition with sister organisations throughout the region.
She admits that follow-ups are what is lacking and she recommitted herself to remaining in Guyana for a while to ensure that the two events are not one-offs but that they generate some form of change.
Ensler added that it is the grassroots groups who have to decide what they want as it is in the hands of the women who are most impacted by the violence.
“I think it is really important that we take the lead from grassroots women on the ground who are going through the most difficult [situations],” Ensler said.
