Imagine you’re a woman, married, with children, living with your in-laws in a small apartment.
Imagine that whenever you decide to go somewhere or to visit someone, for example your own mother, you have to ask permission first from your husband, then your mother-in-law then the rest and most of the time the answer would be no, because …there is always a reason or no reason it doesn’t matter at the end.
Imagine always having a big fear to voice your opinion even on simple things, fearing the worst…
Imagine that one day you had enough of all this and you decide to get help to leave or to change your situation…
And then imagine that there is nowhere you can go, that the whole thing is a big conspiracy against women and that the police will most of the time mock you for exposing your family life and problems to everyone…or the only Women’s Shelter for battered women will tell you that they are “sorry but the shelter is closed for lack of funding and empathy” or the help-hotline not answering your call for technical problems (the lines have been cut because of change of address for unlimited time).
Imagine all the looks, all the judgments and prejudice against you; in you own family, in your work place, at the market, from the neighbors…
Imagine a husband threatening you to take your kids away, and you are almost sure he will since it is possible to find a way to bribe the judge…since you don’t have more money to give a bigger bribe.
Imagine you are the director of a Women’s Center in Armenia and you meet women in these situations more and more and you feel completely helpless and most of all angry because you feel that what you are doing is not enough.
That is how I am feeling these days. I need to do something about it; we all need to do something about it…
Happy New Year!
