ASR founder Andrea is in NYC this week for the UN Womens Conference on Women connecting with female leaders from around the world as they seek to create a more just society for women.  One of the women Andrea met this week was Hania Moheeb, an accomplished Egyptian journalist who is speaking out to call attention to the plight of women in her home country.  Hania has related her personal experience of the sexual assaults on women in Tahrir Square. 

According to an ABC News report last month, Tahrir Square has become a hotbed for violence against women with dozens of rapes occurring in just the previous several weeks.  According to Hania, there is a deeper, more troubling message behind this violence against women.  The violence could be meant “to show that women are not meant to be in the streets. Neither in the revolution nor at work, nor in the public transport so it’s a message also for women,” says Hania.  This is an even more powerful message given that it is occurring in the streets where the revolution took place just two years ago that included a call for a more open society for women. 

This year’s UNCSW (Commission on the Status of Women) is focused on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls.  6000 women from Austalia to Zambia, Guatemala to Nepal, are in attendance.  It is a truly powerful undertaking and we are honored to be represented by Andrea at the conference.

A frequent theme of this year’s conference has been the necessity of including men in the process.  Aid Still Required has been prescient in this arena as we have added courses specifically for men to our Haiti Trauma Relief project.  Participants report alleviation of stress and an ability to manage their anger which had previously been directed at their partners or family members.  To learn more about ASR’s programs for women and men in Haiti, visit www.AidStillRequired.org/haiti2013.