Jimmie Briggs says in the developed world, we need to look in the mirror and we need to start looking at race, class and ethnicity in how we address women's issues. There are more women raped in the US than in the Congo or Haiti, he said. By looking at these issues as ones that only happen to black people, or brown people, or to people who dont speak our language, we are not talking about what is happening at home, at the politician or the football player in the United States who killed his wife, Briggs says.
Hashim, the South Sudanese activist, says patriarchal systems are at the root of violence against women, and men do not want to give up control.
Nazir Afzal says domestic abuse in the UK costs the country 60 billion dollars a year so there is a business case for stopping this #twconf12
Nazir Afzal gives a call for action - people change things, it's down to each and every one of us. He cites an example of a woman who wore her wedding ring on her right hand, not the left. Asked why, she said 'becase they forced me to marry the wrong man'. #twconf12
Nazir Afzal says no bureaucracy changes things, it is people who change things. "A woman came to me a few years ago and I asked her why she was wearing her wedding ring on the wrong hand. She said,'Because they forced me to marry the wrong man.' This was her form of resistance." Afzal said our role is to be her voice to create change.
Jimmie Briggs asks how do we package what we're talking about today and reach people where they are - in the pub, at the pitch, in their offices and so forth #twconf12