In February of this year the brutal killing and mutilation of 25-year-old Ingrid Escamilla, her body skinned and missing some of its organs, and the abduction and murder of 7-year-old Fátima Aldrighett, her tortured body discovered in a plastic bag, sparked enormous outrage in Mexico and around the world.
According to my friend, who lives part-time in Mexico and works with a foundation that supports disenfranchised women and children in Cabos, these atrocities are the norm.
There is an astonishing level of violence against women in Mexico — an average of 10 women were killed every day last year, according to official government figures.
In my country, Canada, a woman is killed every week, and now worldwide, we have the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here’s what Angela Marie MacDougall, the Executive Director of Battered Women’s Support Services in Vancouver, wrote March 17th:
Angela Marie MacDougall, based in Vancouver, Canada, Angela is the Executive Director at Battered Women’s Support Services
I write today from Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS), where our volunteer and staff team continue on the front-line supporting survivors of gender-based violence with crisis intervention, counseling, and legal advocacy.
Like our counterpoints across B.C., the women who access our services are navigating violence against women and gender-based violence including domestic and sexual violence, poverty, substandard or precarious housing, substance use and ill mental health, sex work and sexual exploitation, as well as, compromised immune systems resulting from these factors.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses specific challenges for women in our communities. Our services and programs are the vital community-based response positioned to make a difference.
I have written to our federal and provincial governments seeking additional funding support to assist women and women-serving organizations in B.C., and specifically in Metro Vancouver where BWSS is based.
Self-isolation is becoming mandatory and in general, women in B.C. have the primary responsibility for unpaid housework, emotional labour, and caregiving responsibilities including child and eldercare. Women will inevitably have to take on these increased unpaid responsibilities.
Like the front-line service providers in women and women’s serving organizations, women are paid less than other sectors and the women who access our services are more likely to work in the gig economies or part-time employment or other similar job precariousness.
Members of our communities have increased vulnerabilities to work interruptions and stoppages due to COVID-19. And it bears repeating that many people who access our services also experience grinding poverty.
Our counterparts in China reported that as millions of people are spending time indoors, there have been increasing instances of domestic violence citing the COVID-19 pandemic a contributing factor in 90 percent of the cases.
We thoughtfully and strongly consider increased rates of violence as we are navigating decisions about service interruptions and closures. A few organizations like BWSS are being forced to close or seriously scale back our services. We must not allow the support systems for women in B.C. to be weakened during this unprecedented time.
Angela Marie MacDougall is a speaker, educator, and advocate who has worked domestically and globally on issues of gender equity, women’s rights and human rights for 30 years. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Angela is the Executive Director at Battered Women’s Support Services – a leading national advocate ending gender violence.
Today, March 27th, because of Covid-19 pandemic
the Canadian government announced $50 million in funding:
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Meanwhile, around the world, secrets about old rituals are being exposed. In Nigeria, here is a very disturbing ancient custom.
As we bravely look at all abuse, and use our tools, especially the Violet Flame, we help bring the world to balance, into EQUAL LOVE for the feminine and the masculine.
Denigration of the feminine or the masculine,
— any kind of judgement of self/others —
pulls us out of Divine Alignment.
Doing the mental-emotional balancing individually within, it is an automatic — As Within So Without — the world slowly comes to balance. We are here to remember our original purity.
Understanding the within work, we open the heart
for GENDER EQUALITY to become our reality without.
If you are interested in a Skype session with me, to learn more about balance, please contact me through my About page here.
I share how to work with Universal Law,
Divine Qualities, the Violet Flame, I Am statements,
and dimensional growth patterns to create peace within
and discover the joy of sacred purpose.
THE SCALES OF JUSTICE, OF WORTH AND OF THE UNIVERSE, IN BALANCE
