hindrance to have a husband as this will tarnish the image of a girl. It was equally important for adult women not to disclose rape cases for the same reason. Loosing virginity before marriage means a lot morally, religiously and culturally and also most of the time it happens in the locality where almost everybody is a relative. Very often the victims have fear and are ashamed to stand in a law court or at a hearing giving testimony of how the case happened. There is a lot of insensitivity to the victim as the focus is often on the resultant effect of tarnishing the image of the family and the relationships. The intervention by the court is mainly a way of breaking the culture of silence for rape cases so that others will not emulate the wrongful practice. Meetings organised by the WPGs attracted a lot of interest and debate in the communities. Issues discussed include among others early & forced marriages, right to inheritance by women, wife battering and divorce, forms of discrimination and FGM. The women pressure group members are also often involved in conflict mediation on the above issues. One of the women who benefited from the women’s pressure group sensitization programmes was courageous enough to report her rape case as narrated below.
hindrance to have a husband as this will tarnish the image of a girl. It was equally important for adult women not to disclose rape cases for the same reason. Loosing virginity before marriage means a lot morally, religiously and culturally and also most of the time it happens in the locality where almost everybody is a relative. Very often the victims have fear and are ashamed to stand in a law court or at a hearing giving testimony of how the case happened. There is a lot of insensitivity to the victim as the focus is often on the resultant effect of tarnishing the image of the family and the relationships. The intervention by the court is mainly a way of breaking the culture of silence for rape cases so that others will not emulate the wrongful practice. Meetings organised by the WPGs attracted a lot of interest and debate in the communities. Issues discussed include among others early & forced marriages, right to inheritance by women, wife battering and divorce, forms of discrimination and FGM. The women pressure group members are also often involved in conflict mediation on the above issues. One of the women who benefited from the women’s pressure group sensitization programmes was courageous enough to report her rape case as narrated below.
aaitg_2010_annual_report_0.docx